Next update?

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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.

I understand your point. You felt you were paying for your own "be part of the alpha" experience, at least to some extend, which is understandable, and there is nothing wrong with that.

However, I personally think a bit different about this.
In order to be able to make this bold move of "releasing" an unfinished game for triple the price, you have to be very determined about it, and frankly, it has to be good already, otherwise there would be huge backlash.
I felt I was first and foremost supporting Frontier in terms of money and feedback, to create an exceedingly good game.
So if my money and time helps them to do exactly that, then my expectations would be 100% fulfilled.
I personally don't really care all that much about "Dev Diaries" or anything, really. I think it's nice, but in the end those things have no bearing on the quality of the game.

Like I have said before, at this stage, now that they have gotten a lot of feedback to work with, it is also really difficult to release more information, because the risk of misunderstanding is very high, as the expectations are very high.

Again, I am not criticizing your feelings about this, but If I had to put the intentions of this campaign, as I felt about it, into one single phrase, it would go something like this:

"We want to create a really awesome game, but we need money, time, and feedback. Will you help us? We will try to keep you up to date as best as we can, but our promise is that the first priority will be the game itself."

Besides all this, I guess there will be updates, but they will be likely to include only things that we will indeed be seeing in the game in the near future.
 
Fair enough Thokari, you have a good public spirit :) But Frontier could have put a donate button up and simply given a forum badge and a thank you to donors, instead of presenting the extra tiers as actually *buying* something extra. And then offered the tee shirts as normal merchandise separately. Then we would all have known where we stood. I have often donated to games in development, not expecting anything extra - but the difference was it was not presented as a premium extra - I knew I was only going to get a paypal receipt :D
 
Thokari, the thing you're missing is the human element. Lots of people are raising issues, and if they don't feel that they're getting any response to those issues the drive to find and report them will diminish. The QA team is doing a good job of responding to individual bug reports to acknowledge them, but the larger functional issues are still unaddressed (e.g. janky pathing, PBP building limitations). All I'm looking for is a simple bit of feedback to say "here's what we've gathered from the Alpha so far, here's what we think are the big issues, and here are some ideas about how we might address them". This would generate discussion in the community, and keep the testers and players engaged while waiting for Alpha 2 to drop.

Of course, more developer interaction (dev diaries, Q&As, etc.) is always welcome as it continues to drive the hype train, which I think is starting to lose a bit of momentum. For the first couple of weeks after the PC Alpha released, my Facebook feed was basically full of people talking about PC and posting their creations. In the last couple of weeks the PC content has been somewhat sparse and is now being replaced by RCTW stuff. We really need something to get people talking about it again. :)
 
Wait, is that not the point of the "Coaster Head Club" ?
They made it pretty clear that you can interact with the staff in that part of the forum, If you made a mistake and bought the early alpha without reading the other options and what certain things would get you... then its just as dumb as the guy who complained on facebook about buying his kids stuff at a Vue cinema for £70 when he could have bought his own stuff.
 
All the extra merchandise offered reminds me of Kickstarter where if you give a certain amount you get a tee shirt, wristband etc. and, if you give another amount you get a name stone. I guess they did it this way so that they would not appear desparate for funding, plus by doing it this way Kickstarter does not get a share of the funds.

Don't get me wrong here, I don't blame them at all. Poducing a first class game takes money and what we have in the 1st phase of the Alpha is certainly 1st class, but it wouldn't hurt to take about 10 to 15 minutes to type out a few short lines lettting us know what suggestions or criticisms are under advisement and will be addressed.
 
I was feeling hype train withdrawals.
And i'm also sure that a community manager doesn't have anything to do with development and is hired to "Manage the community" So daily posts from Brett won't take away development resources.

But i'm in agreement that the Alpha was priced fairly.
If it was cheaper Frontier would have too many reports to handle. The price limits the amount of testers.

This is far from the best Early access i have taken part in (I think that goes to The Forest)
But it is also far from being the worst.

The quality of the EA is enough to insure i see this till the end. As it is the end product that's important, not its development process.
 
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Wait, is that not the point of the "Coaster Head Club" ?
They made it pretty clear that you can interact with the staff in that part of the forum, If you made a mistake and bought the early alpha without reading the other options and what certain things would get you... then its just as dumb as the guy who complained on facebook about buying his kids stuff at a Vue cinema for £70 when he could have bought his own stuff.
The only thing happening in the CHC at the moment is the weekly poll / image thread. The last real developer interaction (a Q&A with Sam Denney) was almost three months ago.
 
Wait, is that not the point of the "Coaster Head Club" ?
They made it pretty clear that you can interact with the staff in that part of the forum

To be fair that's not really the case, whilst from time to time (not been one for a while) there is the odd Q&A session it's not really a forum for regular discussion with the dev team. Not complaining but just stating facts [cool] As I said before though I think we can expect the hype train to start up again in the coming weeks.
 
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I don't know what we are talking about here.

We know, because they said so, they are working hard on the paths. They showed artwork, animatronic, ride etc.

Would they do a release without being tested properly everyone would scream: "They don't listen to us. We want refund. Why did they do that?"

It is a shame really.
 
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I don't know what we are talking about here.

We know, because they said so, they are working hard on the paths. They showed artwork, animatronic, ride etc.

Would they do a release without being tested properly everyone would scream: "They don't listen to us. We want refund. Why did they do that?"

It is a shame really.
Once again, I don't think most people are shouting for a release. Just improved communication about the feedback that they've received to date. :)
 
I don't know what we are talking about here.

We know, because they said so, they are working hard on the paths. They showed artwork, animatronic, ride etc.

Would they do a release without being tested properly everyone would scream: "They don't listen to us. We want refund. Why did they do that?"

It is a shame really.

I can't talk for people from CHC but we have 2 consecutive post saying they haven't had any real interaction for 3 months.
That's a service people have actually payed for! Im not sure how i would feel about that if i owned CHC.
 
The only thing happening in the CHC at the moment is the weekly poll / image thread. The last real developer interaction (a Q&A with Sam Denney) was almost three months ago.

That's how I see it too. I paid my £25 a couple of days ago, read the CHC forums, and thought "uhhh..." Like Thokari I will happily let them keep my money in the hopes it will help to make a splendid game, but the taste in my mouth isn't as sweet as it was, now that the rival game has been keeping my interest levels up by constant interaction with the users - for no extra money!
 
The topic of the thread is update. It is 24th May and that is that.

And i am not CHC. So i cannot talk about that. I paid for Alpha. It clearly states what i get.
Extra Information not included.
If the CHC users have a problem their club might be the best place to discuss.

We received a lot of information. They are answering nearly every bug report. So where is the quiet?
 
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Though I am dissapointed in frontier with the lack of communication, people who are experiencing bugs should remember that it is indeed an alpha and that theres an update in May, and to wait until May for that update (in which certain bugs may be fixed and more content) :p

They can't exactly fix said bugs and decide to just randomly update bugs if they're sorted in their scheduled update.
 

Joël

Volunteer Moderator
People, please be patient. The team is gearing up to provide more information on the development of the game and the way the feedback has influenced development. It was said so in the CHC.

As for the interaction with Frontier staff in the CHC, it was never said how often and when it would be. I get the feeling a lot of people here are spoiled with great stuff, but keep demanding for more. I get the feeling some people never seem to get enough.

Be grateful for what we have received so far. Again, please be patient. Frontier will provide more insight into the development of the game when they are ready to do so, and not sooner than that.

Thank you Frontier for making Planet Coaster, and for making it a fantastic game! [up]
 
I as an Alpha tester would expect some kind of acknowledgement that they are even looking at our suggestions. Come on, how long does it take to type up something like:

We have seen a lot of people asking for this, this, this, this (substitute "this" with the actual suggestion) and think that they are interesting and will look into that, though they may or may not be used.


That whole thing took me about 2 minutes, surely they could find a few minutes every once in awhile to type something and post it. All I am asking for is a few minutes of typing, or why should I continue to make any if it seems like they are being ignored.
 
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People, please be patient. The team is gearing up to provide more information on the development of the game and the way the feedback has influenced development. It was said so in the CHC.

As for the interaction with Frontier staff in the CHC, it was never said how often and when it would be. I get the feeling a lot of people here are spoiled with great stuff, but keep demanding for more. I get the feeling some people never seem to get enough.

Be grateful for what we have received so far. Again, please be patient. Frontier will provide more insight into the development of the game when they are ready to do so, and not sooner than that.

Thank you Frontier for making Planet Coaster, and for making it a fantastic game! [up]

I have to agree with Joel here. Many of us have been on these forums from the start and have accepted the way Frontier have been developing this game. We have waited patiently for the Early release to start and were blown away with the quality of everything. Frontier, even gave us the two coasters, which are still not fully developed, as a bonus, because the guys who attended the Press Event asked for this. Frontier could have withheld the coasters, but decided to let us have them, which was not part of the first release.

Since the early release, the forum has received many more members and it has created a lot more different discussions. Yes, I agree, Frontier have not been as active just lately with new information, because as well as dealing with many small bugs in the game, are preparing everything that will be in phase 2 of the alpha. We just need to be patient and wait another month and I am sure we will be rewarded with more amazing stuff, which will bring the game to a different level of play. The biggest update will be the terrain tools and maybe some more coaster types, maybe a few more rides and maybe a couple more themes. We just have to take each update as it comes and just allow Frontier, to release things when they feel they are ready. There are the questions of transport rides and water rides which will come into the game, but these will probably be for phase 3, later in the year.

Just improve your building skills with what he have got so far and experiment by designing different parks from the landscapes already available. You can even amaze yourselves, what you can create, by using a little imagination with just the building pieces we have so far. I know not everyone is creative and I wouldn't say I am, but I have learned quite a lot by observing what others have done, to create some really nice parks.
 
I played the alpha for a few hours but without the terrain editor its not as fun so just waiting for that, and extra scenery and start creating the parks the proper way.
 
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