Next update?

[harag]

What's happening here (to me personally) is that I have got bored with laying paths, especially as the path system needs a lot of improvement, and although I have tested the modular building, it's not an aspect of the game that particularly interests me. This means I have stopped playing PC altogether now until May 24th. In the meantime I am increasingly investing time in the rival game, which regardless of any other shortcomings. has sufficiently frequent turnover of new builds to keep my attention. I am not sure PC devs have leaned the right way in this decision to only emerge from hiding three times before release at the end of the year. I think they did say three alpha releases didn't they?

I agree with the first part of this, I too have basically stopped playing until the next update - there is only so much I can do with paths and the rides - I wish I had the patience to make decent looking building like Sillvarret, but all mine just end up being boxes with plain looking windows on the I can't seem to spend 3 hours on just one building at the moment. However - I'm on the forums practically everyday and watching let's plays and time builds as I'm loving the look of the game, I'm more wanting the simulation side of it rather than sandbox.

In the mean time I'm keeping an eye on "the other one" (though not played it/bought it), and also Parkitect too as that is coming to steam in a couple of weeks.

So roll on 24th! - Frontier - Just want to say you're doing a great job, keep it up and keep working - we can wait for the updates!

 

[jamesviago]

Pathing for example, we've have copious amounts of feedback on how it functions in the game. We agree, it needed some TLC to get it to where we want it. Another example is how out game client utilizes CPU/GPU, we've begun work to trim out the cruft that causes the odd-increase in utilization. Please note that of me listing those two example does not confirm they'll be fixed in the next phase of alpha - it's an ever evolving process.

There's also when we opened up the window for you all to name one of our park mascots, Gulpee. See here and here.

I'm here for the long run. I was around for RCT3 development as well - it's been a long 12 years in the wait.

Thank you kind sir. Good to hear. These little tidbits mean a lot. Thanks again.

 

[Inge Jones]

Ah I have now discovered that if you want to get more info between alpha releases you can join the coaster head club for £25 and then there is a special forum where you can get more developer updates. I guess that's why the rest of us don't hear much.

 

[widlanquebec]

Hi,


How ? where ? When ? Please communicate on that !!!! give us proof of that and make sure do not too much silence too long in the future.

Thanks

Yes, I'm asking myself the same thing. I don't see (except for bugs) any dev feedback or very few about the community feddback. Are they listening? Probably... But about what? Which community feedback suggestions are they working on?

When I bought Early Bird, I tought I'll have the feeling to contribute to a game by beta testing it and give my feedback. But we hear nothing about all the alpha suggestions... Maybe the CHC hear more about these feedback, but as an Early Bird without CHC member, I don't see posts about what's next.

I really hope that this will change in the following weeks.

 

[veldor]

They have chosen to say nothing until the 24 May big update, that's a pity.

 

[malos1]

Well I like that alpha so far works a bit laggy on my surface book even.

Was hopping to know what to expect in the next release.

Like is it a content patch with more goodies to build with, or is it a feature patch like new alpha rides work in progress. or feature enabled shops that work.

I don`t want the team to waste time writing all those blogs and ❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎ that starcitizen got bullied into. but a month This is what we are doing is helpful.

 

[Thokari]

Frontier does not get a free pass from me just because they are building a solid game.

They do from my side, though.
Above anything else, I would like them to put the time into sorting out issues and making the game better.

 

[Abletudu]

I hope Frontier realizes that not everyone can afford the CHC, so a little bit more info on this side would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SymphonyX]

They do from my side, though.
Above anything else, I would like them to put the time into sorting out issues and making the game better.

Your certainly entitled to your opinion, but can you explain how one team member, most likely a community manger like Brett, taking a few hours to write up a status update slows the development of the game? Keeping the community updated is very easy and will not hinder the development in any way. In fact, it will only help the developers by reducing the number of repeat and known bug reports and will keep the alpha testers engaged and wanting to continue testing the game to find more bugs.

 

[BigDaddy1]

I have to agree, the communication has gone from OK to poor. From the devs side sometimes its easy to miss, since you are listening and paying attention, but they forget from our perspective we dont actually know any of this.

As for the assumption that its hard to communicate and would take key people away from development, thats pure . They simply need to do something simple like a weekly update. Once a week have the community manager/PR people do an update for the community. Its not hard and it should be a KEY part of their job. Finding 30 minutes a week to do an update post with a few followups is not hard and would do a world of good here.

 

[Inge Jones]

I think given that some of us have actually paid *extra* for the early access, and some of us have paid even *more* on top for extra information updates, then yes there should be more or better communication. If it was just like the rival game where it costs the same whether you buy it early or late then that would be a different matter.

 

[inspectorgadget1]

Realistically I would assume they are preparing to step up the updates/feedback in the weeks leading into Alpha 2 once they've finalised what is due in that. Come mid-May the majority on the forum will be content again [cool]

 

[Thokari]

Your certainly entitled to your opinion, but can you explain how one team member, most likely a community manger like Brett, taking a few hours to write up a status update slows the development of the game? Keeping the community updated is very easy and will not hinder the development in any way.

From my own experience as developer I would argue that one person is hardly able to do this alone, without either running the risk of great miscommunication, or keeping people busy for exactly this purpose alone.
Now that we already have something in our hands, the expectations from "status updates" would be a lot higher.
I would bet you that most of the time, "we are working on X" would be interpreted as "you are going to get X in the next update".

In fact, it will only help the developers by reducing the number of repeat and known bug reports and will keep the alpha testers engaged and wanting to continue testing the game to find more bugs.

This is non sequitur to me. How would an update about upcoming features reduce the number of repeat bug reports?
A "bug report" should not be confused with a "suggestion", but judging from many posts in the bug forum, this often seems to be the case.
Considering there are bugs being submitted without having checked the bug forum itself for duplicates first, I remain in doubt.
I'd argue it would get even worse, if aforementioned expectations were not met.

I am not criticizing the desire for more content, or status updates for that matter. I have that, too.
But in my mind, creating good software is very much a matter of priorities. And judging from what has been delivered so far, Frontier have their priorities straight, and that is what wanted to support, given most of the posts here say otherwise.

 

[Periocus]

Just four weeks left to dicuss this topic. Also an option that one does not get bored.

 

[Stream]

I honestly feel very disappointed in the lack of communication since the alpha release. I don't need fancy devlogs or even a bunch of screens, but I feel like the total lack of communication is a bit of a slap in the face to the people that have not only spent $75 (or more) on the alpha, but also spent a LOT of time testing and brainstorming about how to improve the game. All we need is some info about what you guys have decided to change, and what we can expect in the next update. Will we get more theming items? More rides? New coaster types? Any news on water? Etc. I get that you don't want to make empty promises, but at the same time... at least give us some idea about what you're planning on including and/or updating. That's not too much to ask I feel, especially when you have a large team and dedicated community managers.

 

[widlanquebec]

I get that you don't want to make empty promises, but at the same time... at least give us some idea about what you're planning on including and/or updating.

Exactly [up]

 

[Kjester75]

Well done is better than well said.

 

[UltimateAirtime]

They have already told us what to expect in phase two. The main new thing is, the Coasters! I know they have been a little quiet, but I'm sure they will start showing us more as we near phase 2. They have already given us an amazing alpha, just think about what the future phases and the full release will be like.

 

[Palaber1984]

Well guys i have enough to do with building and being creative. Instead of talking about lack of information you guys should play the game by building building building.

The best builders here are those who don't complain here. So if you getting bored please be patient!

Edit:
But I hope that they release a "bug free as possible" game even if the game has to releases in 2017

 

[Inge Jones]

Well done is better than well said.

You may be right, but in that case they shouldn't bother charging extra for early access and another extra tier for early news. If all they are doing is getting us to testing and writing bug reports that they're not going to communicate about, they shouldn't charge US extra for OUR extra work and reports, if we're not getting anything more back than we would if we just waited and bought the finished game. I thought they were going to make the process more fun for us as *premium paying* testers by being more interactive.