CO Word of the Week #9

[SuspectPizza]

We'll have the upcoming patch and then we expect the next one to be alongside the Public Beta for code modding and Paradox Mods. Each patch cycle takes additional time, so batching patches in larger portions allows us to spend more time on the actual fixes and improvements. We'll do our best to bring you the modding update as soon as possible, and everyone is hard at work making sure that patch includes as many bug fixes and improvements as possible.

Hi there, thanks for the update. I'd just like to say something about the timing of the patches.

With one patch now (January-ish?) and the next one (probably) by the end of March, that's two whole months without an update while I feel like a patch full of meaningful fixes/improvements could be released at least bi-weekly. The relatively frequent patches were what kept me coming back to the game and reporting bugs and checking in on the forum. From the pre-Christmas WOWs I was under the impression that we could get at least a couple of patches (with one focused on performance) before anything else (modding, DLC, console release etc.). It might save the team some valuable time, but I'm not too sure the players want to wait two months for a bigger patch.

On the flip side, if the remaining bugs are not superficial and require more time and releasing bigger less frequent patches allows you to get more work done, then fair enough. I'd just keep in mind that people aren't gonna be too thrilled about that, so at least informing them about the progress on some of the more serious bugs might be a good idea. There were a lot of suggestions from the community on how to do that in WOW #8 (like a public bug board, writing about it in WOWs, a roadmap, ...) so please consider giving it a try.

Good luck!

 

[Endureth]

Fix the in-game graphs.

 

[DanielR80]

Time to delete my bookmark to this forum. This game is dead (at least to me).

Your top 3 priority for mod support is to announce it? You already did that last year!

And of all things you announced for this year, only the console version will make you money. Given the bad reputation this game now has, how many people will buy it for console? Not many, I guess... As far as I know, the console pre-orders got cancelled, so they need to actively go back and buy again, another hurdle...

But you want to do a console release asap anyway, which suggests to me you actually need that money so you can keep working until the first paid DLC (happening next year?) brings in a new cash flow. SteamDb shows a steady decline of users with only ~8k players now (weekend peaks at ~12k), good luck keeping them around until then...

If you're still around in 3 years and have the equivalent of a Cyberpunk 2077 2.0, call me... I might buy it in a sale

 

[HideoKuze]

With all these terrible bugs to fix, you fix the DOG PROBLEM FIRST???????!!!!

 

[Johnnysims]

Two months has become a whole year...

Specially the content Creator Packs, that as I said time before, some of us already have paid for it on the Ultimate version, and we are still waiting.

Right now, I am so disappointed, specially after this WoW that I will leave the game on hold and come back later. I think it's better than continue following all the news, playing, feeling frustrated and ending leaving the game forever.

Yes, and the release date is Q1 for Beach Properties, which is on track for release she said. So the stuff you paid for is still on its timeline.
What is delayed is the free region packs since that was supposed to be part of PDX mods.

 

[A lowborn Emperor]

With all these terrible bugs to fix, you fix the DOG PROBLEM FIRST???????!!!!

Oh no, you poked the Elephant in the room
There actually could be a valid reason for fixing that, if it's a quick/easy fix and the dogs themselves may have an impact on performance just because they exist as agents in the game, maybe.

 

[TripleAgent]

I think it’s time to seriously consider partial refunds for those who bought the expansion pass with the game. I was willing to wait several months, but this is getting to be unacceptable.

We've been asking for months and they've consistently refused to address it, I wouldn't get my hopes up even though it is the right thing to do. It seems like they're intent to brute force their way through the bad release no matter how much it harms the community.

 

[HideoKuze]

Now I can say it for sure, I will never buy any DLC of CS2, never recommend it to my friends, and never change my negative reviews on steam (maybe add more negative reviews on it). DON'T CLAME that YOU HAVE DONE SOME WORK UNTIL YOU DO, ESPECIALLY FOR RELEASING AND SELLING A GAME!

 

[Johnnysims]

When you sold us the game, you didn't tell us that we'd have to wait over a year to play what we paid for. I bought the deluxe edition for $89.99, and after 4 months, I'm left with a game full of bugs and broken promises.

Now you're saying that DLC and expansions will be released throughout the year... but when? December 2024? I feel kind of scammed by this attitude, and you took my money all at once.

The release schedule is on Steam. What you paid for is not being delayed further. There is Beach Properties in Q1 which could be by end of March. Then after that there will be more of the DLC you paid for as per the release schedule.

 

[HideoKuze]

Oh no, you poked the Elephant in the room
There actually could be a valid reason for fixing that, if it's a quick/easy fix and the dogs themselves may have an impact on performance just because they exist as agents in the game, maybe.

There is a mod that improves my simulation speed 2 times, I wonder why CO never did it. And no mention the thousands of bugs that have not even been responded to by CO in this forum.

 

[Gonzoez]

It's like taking to a deaf person ... Your continue to refuse to provide any ACTUAL information or ACCEPT responsibility...

Did you discuss REFUNDS with paradox? We would never buy a game if we knew that we can play it only after a year long waiting for what you ADVERTISED and promised.

We, as a community, have question and as THE community that feeds you we DESERVE ANSWERS, not just vogue updates without any meat on it

I don't want to be part of the community that you feel ok to humiliate and ignore. I want my money back and move on to a more honest developer.

 

[HideoKuze]

CO should provide (partial) refunds to those players who pre-ordered because they made false claims before the game was released that the mod platform would be online soon, and had invited mod makers to develop mods in advance to ensure that players could use the mods soon. Now with the postponement of the mod platform, it is foreseeable that the distribution channels of mods will face fragmentation in the future.

 

[ImanIdgit]

Q3 generally relates to the calendar year, while fall is an Americanism, where I come from we say Autumn.

woah there, slow them horses, whoever thought using actual months would be a good thing

Making a comment does not equate to a worry/concern/issue js

Actually, Q3 is an acronym that stands for the third quarter of the fiscal calendar or calendar year. Eg: If CompanyXYZ has a calendar year that ends December 31st, then Q3 would be the financial results for July 1st to September 30th.

However, if CompanyXYZ has a fiscal calendar, then Q3 could be a different period. Eg: CompanyXYZ has a fiscal calendar that ends on June 30th, then Q3 would be the period from January 1st to March 31st.

 

[timfrombriz]

With all these terrible bugs to fix, you fix the DOG PROBLEM FIRST???????!!!!

Agree 100% on this. Theres so many bugs which are simulation breaking, and this is just a visual glitch.

For the Expansion Pass, the artists have the Beach Properties content almost ready and we’re on track for its release.

So if theres time to work on this.... why haven't you worked on finishing the missing textures (ie. snow) and all the animations missing from the game (ie. emergency services, parks)?

 

[DiNardo1910]

Still no apology, and still no offer of refunds.
Maybe next week?

Take my downvote.

 

[HideoKuze]

And why would you want to 'reduce the amount of individual patches', what you should do is fix those bugs that seriously ruin the gameplay and release them A.S.A.P rather than merge all small patches into one and release it in weeks or even months. The only explanation I can imagine is that you haven't really fixed any serious bugs like the Land Value Problem, the balance problem of schools and parking lots, and the simulation performance problem. Like the problem of the capacity of schools and parking lots, they only take you about 10 person-hours to change and test it, but no, you didn't fix it, you chose to solve the dog problem! Do you know what I've been doing for the last 48 hours? I found that most of my traffic stream is caused by can't find available parking spaces (even though I have built dozens of them), to reduce the traffic looking for parking to improve my simulation speed, I keep building them until I can't teardown more residential buildings to building parking lots. But it's still not enough.

 

[Abitus]

I guess it's at least fair to say thanks to Mariina for not blaming us and for keeping things factual this time.
I guess also thanks for annoucing honnest and realistic delays, even if they're disappointing.

That being said, I think I can come with a quick response to that :

This. I'm not a city painter, I want a simulation. I want to manage a city and all that comes with it.

I think that for the moment, we should just stop waiting for CS2 to get better, and play Highrise City instead. Everything CO fails or misses is well done by this ridiculously small team :

• A working, rational and understandable simulation
• Great in-game tutorials, transparency about how the simulation works
• Very pleasant support and interaction with the team on their discord
• Frequent updates with a lot of fixes and improvements (the one from late november mentioned a 15 times better performance)
• A first DLC covering real expectations from the players (planes and metro, which the game was not even originally planned for) for a price so small that it's actually a pleasure to buy it just to support the team (3€ when the same DLC from CO would easily cost 25€)
• No toxic communication, no false advertising, no blaming on the community

HC team is more than 10 times smaller than CO. And yet we keep hearing that we have to understand that we have to be patient because CO is a small team etc. The world is totally upside down, but I least I know who I want to support.

I still want to come back to CS2 when it gets better. But in the meantime, HC seems a much better occupation for me at least. The scale of the game is not as ambitious as CS2, but at least it's an honnest game.

 

[unmerged(524934)]

We've been asking for months and they've consistently refused to address it, I wouldn't get my hopes up even though it is the right thing to do. It seems like they're intent to brute force their way through the bad release no matter how much it harms the community.

Agreed, that's my feeling too - they/PDX have got the money and the Steam refund window is well and truly shut, there's no obligation other than a moral one on them to make amends by refunding. As I said above, they will have to deal with the Expansion Pass content debt (hence the focus @co_martsu mentions in her post), because I could see a case for them ending up on the wrong side of consumer protection laws if they don't deliver on that, but other than honouring that commitment, the rest of it can just be "whenever" and "soon as we can, honest".

 

[martin4444]

Oh wow. This game is in a far worse state than I expected. So, we did get a beta release after all. Nothing was ready to be released. Alright, no worries. Paradox is now off my shopping list permanently until things change to my satisfaction. I can hold a grudge for a very long time, so don't think I will give in later in life and buy games from that distributor.

 

[Gaseous Stranger]

For the Expansion Pass, the artists have the Beach Properties content almost ready and we’re on track for its release.

Oh thank goodness, for a second I was worried that paid DLC would be delayed more and you wouldn’t be able to rake in even more money.

Will there be any actual beaches for the Beach properties DLC, or will those only be possible with Dev Mode?