Save this game fast... bugs & flawed gamedesign are getting out of control

[Chante Goodman]

Hey all! Here's a recent message I posted on the fourms.

Hi everyone! I've got a quick update for you. We are planning on releasing an update this week that will be relatively small, but will focus on the more critical fixes. One of those is the infinite loading bug in Franchise Mode. Another is some players loading into their zoos and being kicked back to the menu. We are aiming to get this update out in the latter half of the week. Hopefully this will resolve many, if not all of the issues regarding these two bugs.
We are aiming to get another, broader update out in a few weeks that will look at some smaller bug fixes, such as the Arctic tag bug.

"Hey all,
So regarding the Arctic tag - We will be removing the Arctic tag and animals from the Arctic Pack will instead be marked with their respective continent range (ie. North America or Europe). With this, it will allow them to have plants which fully match their biome. The animals will still be marked as "Arctic DLC", but this will not affect their continents.
We have this planned for a future update. To my knowledge, this won't be in the next update we will be releasing, but instead the one after that, which we will be releasing in the next few weeks. I hope this helps "

Thanks for all your support so far. Please continue to post of the Issue Tracker! It is imperative to getting these fixes out.

 

[AlexVonHumbug]

Or they just released a broken game and never fixed them properly (just 1 or 2 updates p if you were Lucky)

Was a big fan of Black and White/Black and White 2 - play as a God with a creature - but both had a lot of bugs and missing promised features
(Peter Molyneux had a reputation for promising features not ending up in the game or less impressive)

they seem to follow that tradition.

 

[Caduryn]

I too miss the days where game makers could take their time and release a polished title. I don’t however put this on the game maker tho as usually deadlines have to be meant which is everything that’s wrong with the gaming industry nowadays. For me I can’t complain as I usually only play sandbox and haven’t experienced too many bugs except for the occasional staff member stuck on a path. I actually give frontier credit with the job they’ve done so far and also a good example is jwe as they’ve listened to requests and wants of players. To me I enjoy turning the micromanaging off and just enjoying the game without some of the hassle. But it’s great to have that challenge also tho.

Yeah....the good old Times...
Where Computers where build just out of a few Components and not Millions over Millions different Types of CPU, GPU, RAM, Cooling and what not like it is Today.

So.... pretty impossible to release Games like in the "good old Times", no one can test any System to work or it would take 10 Years just for Compatibility-Testing

 

[LN]

"Good old times" where games where either crap, looked ugly or easy to play and make. Also demands and expectations from customers weren't too high in that period.

Yeah.... "Good old times".....

 

[paul78]

You do got a good point. I remember buying zoo tycoon 2 in 2006 and thinking well the animals don’t look the greatest and then you get used to them and say there really not that bad. A decade of mods later and you say wow they really were pretty bad. But for all blue fangs credit for the time that was a pretty complex game that had very few bugs. Of course I’m by no means saying a slight to frontier as this is ten times more advanced. Heck I couldn’t even go back to zt2 at this point.

 

[LN]

You do got a good point. I remember buying zoo tycoon 2 in 2006 and thinking well the animals don’t look the greatest and then you get used to them and say there really not that bad. A decade of mods later and you say wow they really were pretty bad. But for all blue fangs credit for the time that was a pretty complex game that had very few bugs. Of course I’m by no means saying a slight to frontier as this is ten times more advanced. Heck I couldn’t even go back to zt2 at this point.

I know that was not the way you wanted to present it.

But "old games" weren't that great at all, limited in content and replayability. With the advancement of today's game programming that is a lot different. Many more calculations happen beyond what we see on the screen. I can totally see that when this game or the beta was released the topic title was still spot on as new tech always needs time to be perfected.

But the game stands very well as of today IMO.

 

[NL_Mutso]

If you go even further back, games were extremely difficult.
3 lives and you have to restart the whole game

I actually owned Battletoads - ohw… that was real stress..
(most times I didn't even make it to the race level)

I think zoo tycoon 1 actually had some feeding issues/zoo keeper issues in their first version.
I had a legal and illegal copy (was easier to play the game without disc) with both being different versions.

 

[paul78]

@Luuknoord I have to agree I’ve had very few bugs or crashes since the release. I’m not saying all people don’t have a genuine beef about bugs in this game. But I’ll admit when the beta came out I had a hard time with even the simple things. Making a habitat then you need the door and path. Then the trade center. I was going to wing it when I first played then I got in and thought you know tutorial time. But it does take awhile for new players to take it all in.

 

[LN]

@Luuknoord I have to agree I’ve had very few bugs or crashes since the release. I’m not saying all people don’t have a genuine beef about bugs in this game. But I’ll admit when the beta came out I had a hard time with even the simple things. Making a habitat then you need the door and path. Then the trade center. I was going to wing it when I first played then I got in and thought you know tutorial time. But it does take awhile for new players to take it all in.

Absolutely true.

I've played Planco and most controls are the same (Planco didn't even have a tutorial). So that learning experience I already got, and it did make the entry into the building mechanics of Planet Zoo easier.

Game mechanics for animals where new for me to learn. So yeah, that took some time. My first zoo was a disaster, and I didn't want to invest more time into it, so started a new one. Taking all the lessons learned into that new zoo. And it's going really well, with everything/everybody happy.

Jumping in and just doing your thing is something you can get away with in Sandbox with all settings adjusted so everything is in "happy mode".

That won't work for scenario's, challenge and franchise though.

 

[MightyRevenge]

You do got a good point. I remember buying zoo tycoon 2 in 2006 and thinking well the animals don’t look the greatest and then you get used to them and say there really not that bad. A decade of mods later and you say wow they really were pretty bad. But for all blue fangs credit for the time that was a pretty complex game that had very few bugs. Of course I’m by no means saying a slight to frontier as this is ten times more advanced. Heck I couldn’t even go back to zt2 at this point.

People underestimate the power of nostalgia. You look back to a game from a long, long time ago, and think it was absolutely perfect, when in reality it isn't. In-fact it probably had a lot of bugs, but either you were little or you played a long time ago, that you just erased it and kept the good parts. I mean, that's literally how our brains work. We only hold on to what is necessary.

It's a disservice to compare any game to a game from that long ago. Don't get me wrong, I grew up with those games and I love them to bits. I also know that we should learn from our pasts not to repeat it. But what I know most is that I shouldn't let my nostalgia cloud my judgement. We are light years ahead of where then, and we need to keep improving and moving forward. Less blame, more constructive feedback.