Next update?

[Inge Jones]

Unfortunately, we run into an issue here: if an employee posts in there saying "oh thats a neat idea!" - it sort of will imply that said idea may/will end up in the game when a derivative of it will be in the game and not the extra idea.

Graham Nardone of The Sims has a good style here. He says if he likes an idea but also reminds us that he doesn't decide everything that goes into the game so not to expect it. Sometimes he even goes as far as to say the idea has been under consideration but we're not to get our hopes up. Most players like and trust Graham. Yes, some people get their hopes up anyway and rant and rave, but The Sims has a good solid customer base regardless, even the people who rant and rave are doing so because they're going to or have bought it!

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

So you'd prefer noise over signal regarding community postings/interactions? Just curious to know. [happy]

Sometimes making empty conversation is polite and bonding. Saying "I've got nothing interesting to say so I am going to eat this meal in silence" gets your meal companion more riled up than stating a few inanities about the weather which is already clearly visible through the window.

 

[Curlyriff]

But i would love to see some more responses from you guys as well, it doesn't even have to be about the game itself but can be about the Alpha experience as well :

- Are there more or lesser bugs then expected ?
- Which area get the most complaints/requests and is there being worked on?
- What do you think about the creative things that are already being build? (Is everything being used as you "envisioned" it?)
- Whats the general "spirit" in the team nowdays? Does it have it's affect on the team? (Since the game has gotten overwhelming positive feedback since the alpha)
- etc etc

This is what I would like to hear about. I am fine with how the game is going but a quick Q&A on the wider stuff that Frontier are doing, how they are feeling and all that would be great.

The only other thing to note would be to have all the interviews that are happening, the posts on FB to either be linked or added direct to the forum by one of the members here so that we don't have to trawl all over the internet to find the information out there.

The forums are the direct link between your customer base and yourselves so having some official posts here would at least make some of the community feel more involved.

Regards,

Adam

 

[Angelis1]

Yeah, upon re-reading back on that post of mine now - I misread and took the post the wrong way. [ugh]

Which information exactly are you referring to? [...]

Just nope !!! [bored]
You can not say that ... Seriously ! No !

I post a huge 10km post just here explaining what the problem is, in a summarizing post (which is the opinion, at least, of a portion of the community)

[...] We have a plan, and we're still going strong with it. Please do have some faith.

And that's the problem !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't want to have faith, you are not a god. I want to talk with you and interact with this project, just because we can make this game better together (Frontier and the community), and because we don't want to feel like sheep consumers that you tease, we don't want to be simple numbers.

The "Alpha Feedback Forum" and the "Suggestions and Ideas" seems to be a pure lie when the "Alpha Bug Reporting" seems to work like factory.
Do you understand that ?

If you do not want to interact, if you want us to wait quietly, each updates, reporting bugs but without giving feedbacks and suggestions, delete outright these forums !!!
Because at the moment, you have an agenda, a plan, and all the feedback, ideas, suggestions, debates (sometimes inflamed), during literally months, serve no purpose, and we are just the numbers that I mentioned above.

It's not as if we are asking to access your secret documents either ...

Some company would fight to have a community as passionate and committed as we are. And not only have kids screming "I want to play the final game nowwwwww, release it !!!" or worse ... stupids fanboys saying "The game is just perfect, Frontier is perfect, they know everything better than you, just wait and don't ask something", fighting all those who are a bit critical and trying to make things better.

Instead of that, you have a community that (most of the time) is constructive ... But we are not part of the plan.
Some of us spend entire days to debate and carry forward ideas, suggestions and to give feedbacks, and ... you keep everything secret.

If you don't want that (and this is not something "wrong" by the way, just a different strategy, like other companies) then close your "Suggestions" and "Feedbacks" forums, stop giving us false hopes telling us that "you are listening" and by letting us believe that "we have a role to play" in the dev process, when it's not the case.

And if it's the case, then talk WITH us, and not TO us.
we can be simples "consumers" or a contructive "community", it's your choice after all, but we are not children.

[mad]

 

[Vampiro]

Just nope !!! [bored]
You can not say that ... Seriously ! No !

I post a huge 10km post just here explaining what the problem is, in a summarizing post (which is the opinion, at least, of a portion of the community)

And that's the problem !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't want to have faith, you are not a god. I want to talk with you and interact with this project, just because we can make this game better together (Frontier and the community), and because we don't want to feel like sheep consumers that you tease, we don't want to be simple numbers.

The "Alpha Feedback Forum" and the "Suggestions and Ideas" seems to be a pure lie when the "Alpha Bug Reporting" seems to work like factory.
Do you understand that ?

If you do not want to interact, if you want us to wait quietly, each updates, reporting bugs but without giving feedbacks and suggestions, delete outright these forums !!!
Because at the moment, you have an agenda, a plan, and all the feedback, ideas, suggestions, debates (sometimes inflamed), during literally months, serve no purpose, and we are just the numbers that I mentioned above.

It's not as if we are asking to access your secret documents either ...

Some company would fight to have a community as passionate and committed as we are. And not only have kids screming "I want to play the final game nowwwwww, release it !!!" or worse ... stupids fanboys saying "The game is just perfect, Frontier is perfect, they know everything better than you, just wait and don't ask something", fighting all those who are a bit critical and trying to make things better.

Instead of that, you have a community that (most of the time) is constructive ... But we are not part of the plan.
Some of us spend entire days to debate and carry forward ideas, suggestions and to give feedbacks, and ... you keep everything secret.

If you don't want that (and this is not something "wrong" by the way, just a different strategy, like other companies) then close your "Suggestions" and "Feedbacks" forums, stop giving us false hopes telling us that "you are listening" and by letting us believe that "we have a role to play" in the dev process, when it's not the case.

And if it's the case, then talk WITH us, and not TO us.
we can be simples "consumers" or a contructive "community", it's your choice after all, but we are not children.

[mad]

Angelis, in a certain way i agree with you. Like i posted before, i would love to have some more feedback as well.

I do think however this case isn't as black and white as it seems to be. I DO believe they are checking the suggestions and feedback section. They just don't respond to it.
For all we know they might write down all request and how many votes each request get's and they -might- consider the most requested features. Or they might just look at the forums for inspiration on what to implement.

Im in no way, shape or form trying to say you are wrong, but i just want to point out that not responding doesn't have to be the same as not reading.
It might again come down to them reading the forums but don't want to respond because we will take it as a confirmation and will be let down if the idea doesn't make it.
But again, this doesn't mean our suggestions are put into the trashcan. (And thus we DO matter)

And im speaking just for me, but when i look at what the game is right now, i think they do deserve some credit for knowing what we want. So guess they have been listening in a way.

And uhm Frontier? Did you read the 1001 requests for custom music? You will see, they will put it in the game [tongue]. (oops )

 

[stuk71]

Ouch...

 

[Inge Jones]

Ouch...

wrt?

 

[BernyMoon]

Can we people stop this? We all are hyped but this post is silly. First of we paid in order to play the alfa but no one forced us. They are working really hard and we keep demanding. It is true that they released updates to fix bugs and it has been a while since the last one, but in a month we will be playing the second alpha.

I am just worried about 1 thing. They streamed the game every week before the first alpha and they are not doing it before the second one comes out. Does it mean that we will not get a lot of new content and because of that they have not a lot of new things to show?

 

[Inge Jones]

Lol BernyMoon! "Shut up complaining everyone, it's MY turn to complain!"

 

[Empo]

I honestly would like some honesty in Frontier's agenda. Just make a post saying something along the lines of

Hi guys, we haven't forgotten you but we are extremely busy atm wrapping some stuff up on our other game/have had some vacation time but we are coming back on the project asap/[insert any other possible plausible reason here].

would go a long way.

 

[ManiaMuse]

Think some people need to learn to have some patience and be grateful for what they have put out already.

The game isn't due to come out for at least another 7-8 months assuming it is released on schedule, no way is it going to be anywhere near ready at the moment. Their main priorities are of course going to be fixing the many bugs that arise from the basic game engine + improving some of the core mechanics like they have said they are still working on the path system and coaster editor and also many time consuming things to work on like the terraforming tools etc.

They've been honest with their description of the alpha build and what you were paying a premium for. You're paying the extra to be able to play some part of the game much earlier than everyone else, like the demo discs you used to get with game magazines, but you're not really a part of the development process other than reporting bugs. You're not suddenly a part of the team adding features and ideas to the game, only Frontier get to decide what goes in the end product and whether they have time to do it before launch.

I'm sure they have been reading the suggestions board but tbh a lot of them and either way too grand in scope or far too detailed from people who want the game to be a pure coaster/building/hotel/zoo/waterpark/darkride/lighting/fireworks/bouncy castle simulator. And some of the suggestions like custom music/UGC they have flatly said they are not putting in at launch, I think you need to respect that instead of asking for it 5 million times (yes they know people want it, they've said it won't be in /endof)

Ok yes there has been radio silence recently but I am sure they have their reasons, give them space or maybe take a break from the game until the next update or even full launch otherwise some people will be burnt out from

 

[Linck]

So I came here to know about the updates. I tried to read some pages but there is 13 of them. Could anyone summarize to me if there is any official info about next updates? Like when, and what.

Also, I've been looking at the community manager posts here, and I have to say, they at least reply to some comments. I've seen many videogame forums where there is 10+ threads begging for a feedback about something and the cms don't even go there and post that its not the time to release the info or something. So that's already above average I would say, at least in my experience.

 

[BernyMoon]

Lol BernyMoon! "Shut up complaining everyone, it's MY turn to complain!"

I didn't complain. I said i am worried about something. A lot of people here are DEMANDING.

 

[Inge Jones]

So I came here to know about the updates. I tried to read some pages but there is 13 of them. Could anyone summarize to me if there is any official info about next updates? Like when, and what.

Also, I've been looking at the community manager posts here, and I have to say, they at least reply to some comments. I've seen many videogame forums where there is 10+ threads begging for a feedback about something and the cms don't even go there and post that its not the time to release the info or something. So that's already above average I would say, at least in my experience.

This is a slightly different situation from most games because, unusually, Frontier charged about double the game price to those taking part in this. This is probably at least partially responsible for the extra demands.

 

[Angelis1]

Angelis, in a certain way i agree with you. Like i posted before, i would love to have some more feedback as well.

I do think however this case isn't as black and white as it seems to be. I DO believe they are checking the suggestions and feedback section. They just don't respond to it.
For all we know they might write down all request and how many votes each request get's and they -might- consider the most requested features. Or they might just look at the forums for inspiration on what to implement.

Im in no way, shape or form trying to say you are wrong, but i just want to point out that not responding doesn't have to be the same as not reading.
It might again come down to them reading the forums but don't want to respond because we will take it as a confirmation and will be let down if the idea doesn't make it.
But again, this doesn't mean our suggestions are put into the trashcan. (And thus we DO matter)

And im speaking just for me, but when i look at what the game is right now, i think they do deserve some credit for knowing what we want. So guess they have been listening in a way.

And uhm Frontier? Did you read the 1001 requests for custom music? You will see, they will put it in the game [tongue]. (oops )

Indeed, indeed. Nothing is black or white.

You points to the problem in your answer. You say it yourself "They just don't respond to it" ! That's all the thing, interaction !!!

Let's be pragmatic and analyze the situation. Months ago they said to us "We are listening you, if you are debating being constructive, we will listen", letting us think that we will have an influence on the artistic and technical choices, an influence on the development process, which is just amazing and can help everyone in the story (with this idea : Frontier have a game wich sticks to the expectations of customers, and we have a game that suits us). The deal seems to be perfect for both. So we started to talk, and talk, and talk, spending days and days, debating about new features, new content, trying to find why this is better than that, how this feature can work better and explaining why, listing everything, sometimes bickering (because it's also a good way to develop an idea).

To take a strong exemple, we even suggested a solution for the "path system problem" that currently exists BEFORE the release of the alpha (This shows that we all have a good vision of the game, and how to help to improve it)

Anyway, now, months after, it's maybe time stop listening, and start interacting with us.

And no, saying something about a debate is not making an official confirmation that something will be in the game, like Brett C said.
We are not babies, we are able to understand what is something "on the list for after release", and what is "planned for the 1.0"

For exemple you post this :

"Good idea guys,

We noted that this suggestion was frequently proposed and ardently debated.W e discussed this idea with the team during our last working meeting. We are not sure if we are going to implement this idea into the game, and this functionality will not be integrated in version 1.0 because our planning if full until here, but but we are interested to know why [Insert a question here] / what you think if we integrate this instead : [Insert an idea here].

Best regards
John Doe, Frontier Director of Whatyouwant"

Or something like :

"Hi,

Following this suggestion [Insert the link of any debate], we saw that opinions are divided between [Insert Idea 1] and [Insert Idea 2].
We decided to launch a poll to determine whether [insert choice here] to know if we need to add this on the "todo list" after the release.

Best regards
Jane Doe, In charge of community"

I don't know, this is just few random exemples.
It is even possible to mix all that with some "marketing bla bla" if they want, by adding "Our team is working to create the best game in the world" or this kind of prefabs sentences that "marketing guys" like a lot. But at least, there is an interaction.

I mean, let's be honest for a second, for now, we have been able to vote for choosing the name of a mascot (by changing "Gulpee" to "Gulpee Rex"), which is certainly one of the least important decisions possible. So, yeah, it's fun, but this smells more like a "false marketing plan", more than the interaction with the community. This is THE ONLY (official) influence we had on the game for now. The only one we are aware of !!!

Seriously, It's not that hard, people can have the feeling to do it for something, this also allows Frontier to have direct access to its base, and everyone is happy because member feel they are not a simple "alpha tester" who have "the right" to post bug reports for $74.99 (or more than $100 for some alpha+CHC members), but members of a real community, able to interact, question and influence the developers, to make the game even better.

 

[Zac Antonaci]

Just nope !!! [bored]
You can not say that ... Seriously ! No !

I post a huge 10km post just here explaining what the problem is, in a summarizing post (which is the opinion, at least, of a portion of the community)

And that's the problem !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't want to have faith, you are not a god. I want to talk with you and interact with this project, just because we can make this game better together (Frontier and the community), and because we don't want to feel like sheep consumers that you tease, we don't want to be simple numbers.

The "Alpha Feedback Forum" and the "Suggestions and Ideas" seems to be a pure lie when the "Alpha Bug Reporting" seems to work like factory.
Do you understand that ?

If you do not want to interact, if you want us to wait quietly, each updates, reporting bugs but without giving feedbacks and suggestions, delete outright these forums !!!
Because at the moment, you have an agenda, a plan, and all the feedback, ideas, suggestions, debates (sometimes inflamed), during literally months, serve no purpose, and we are just the numbers that I mentioned above.

It's not as if we are asking to access your secret documents either ...

Some company would fight to have a community as passionate and committed as we are. And not only have kids screming "I want to play the final game nowwwwww, release it !!!" or worse ... stupids fanboys saying "The game is just perfect, Frontier is perfect, they know everything better than you, just wait and don't ask something", fighting all those who are a bit critical and trying to make things better.

Instead of that, you have a community that (most of the time) is constructive ... But we are not part of the plan.
Some of us spend entire days to debate and carry forward ideas, suggestions and to give feedbacks, and ... you keep everything secret.

If you don't want that (and this is not something "wrong" by the way, just a different strategy, like other companies) then close your "Suggestions" and "Feedbacks" forums, stop giving us false hopes telling us that "you are listening" and by letting us believe that "we have a role to play" in the dev process, when it's not the case.

And if it's the case, then talk WITH us, and not TO us.
we can be simples "consumers" or a contructive "community", it's your choice after all, but we are not children.

[mad]

Hi Angelis,

First of all I think it's important that we all discuss the topic rationally and calmly. I understand your passion for the subject and I'm happy to respond but let's try and make sure that we've doing so in a constructive manner.

The first thing I want you to know is that the feedback and suggestions forums are here to help make sure that the community can give their feedback and the development team can include those considerations into development. Already we've had some great feedback and we're looking forward to talking about the changes and updates coming to Alpha 2 very shortly.

I understand that it can be tricky waiting to see the next iteration of development but rest assured that the feedback from the community is vital in our development and will be something we will be giving more information about very soon.

Thanks,

Zac

 

[Angelis1]

Hi Angelis,

First of all I think it's important that we all discuss the topic rationally and calmly. I understand your passion for the subject and I'm happy to respond but let's try and make sure that we've doing so in a constructive manner.

The first thing I want you to know is that the feedback and suggestions forums are here to help make sure that the community can give their feedback and the development team can include those considerations into development. Already we've had some great feedback and we're looking forward to talking about the changes and updates coming to Alpha 2 very shortly.

I understand that it can be tricky waiting to see the next iteration of development but rest assured that the feedback from the community is vital in our development and will be something we will be giving more information about very soon.

Thanks,

Zac

Hi Zac,

Noted.

I'm glad you read (and understand) what those 13 pages say.
Nothing more to say than : Thanks [heart][up]

Can't wait to read all of this. [yesnod]

 

[Linck]

This is a slightly different situation from most games because, unusually, Frontier charged about double the game price to those taking part in this. This is probably at least partially responsible for the extra demands.

I see, yeah that makes sense. So there is no info about the next updates right?

 

[Dalenotchip]

I'm sure they have been reading the suggestions board but tbh a lot of them and either way too grand in scope or far too detailed from people who want the game to be a pure coaster/building/hotel/zoo/waterpark/darkride/lighting/fireworks/bouncy castle simulator. And some of the suggestions like custom music/UGC they have flatly said they are not putting in at launch, I think you need to respect that instead of asking for it 5 million times (yes they know people want it, they've said it won't be in /endof)

I just want to be able to choose how the Toilet Paper is inserted in the spool in the bathrooms. (over or under) . I want to see the peeps freak out and come out mad after it keeps tearing on each square.

Is that too much to ask?

 

[Brett C]

I see, yeah that makes sense. So there is no info about the next updates right?

Currently, the two main core additions to the next phase is terraforming and roller coasters.

 

[Brett C]

I just want to be able to choose how the Toilet Paper is inserted in the spool in the bathrooms. (over or under) . I want to see the peeps freak out and come out mad after it keeps tearing on each square.

Is that too much to ask?

That's probably a bit too focused and detailed.[squeeeeee]