Upcoming Birthday & State of Asset Editor and Console

[TripleAgent]

Part of the problem is misalignment in expectations: They have probably put a lot of engineering effort into the console release, and most of the community could not care less about it. Similarly, they are probably putting a lot of effort into the asset editor, but until something comes out, it has no measurable impact on the consumer. Putting more resources into bug fixing would help their image, but what do I know?

Along those same lines, the fact that we're over a year after launch and they've refused to show or disclose any progress they've made on the asset editor whatsoever makes people inherently question whether any progress is actually happening. Given the issues with the game itself, to be brutally honest, players are losing faith that CO can actually do it.

 

[BoraBora]

CS1 was by no means a complete game if we consider how many DLCs and core functionalities they added and overhauled on it during the past ten years. On those terms, CS2 is equally a complete game on that regard.
Do bear in mind that the core game of CS1 at launch, and even a year after that, was missing some pretty important and essential features such as day-night cycle, weather, several transit options, terrain modification tool, just to mention few.

I suggest you reminisce on that state with the video City Planner Plays few months ago

I don't need a video to remind me CS1 was a complete and enjoyable game at release, contrary to this incomplete, unoptimized bugfest with brokenb or missing simulation mechanics CS II was. Even considering the day/night cycle and weather as "essential", they were introduced 6 months after the release in the After Dark DLC so you calendar is wrong. As for mass transit, it was nice but definitely not "essential". Most DLCs were neither important or essential. They were mostly games into the game, like Campus or Airport I didn't even cared to buy and don't start me on Plazas and Promenades or Sunset Harbor, poor and bugged DLCs obviously marketed to pay for the CS II development, though we didn't know it at the time. Have you seen anyone asking for fishing inudstries or blimps in CS II?

The most essential feature, the full modding support was there at release. So were the animations, a feature anybody can expect from any building game since last century. The bikes were added 6 months later, they're still missing in CS II.

Another thing I haven't forgot: CS1 was the first try at a city building game from a tiny studio, developed in 2 years and sold 28 €. Most bugs were patched in the following 2 months and none was game-breaking. CS II has now been developed since 7 years by a 30 people studio with many subcontractors for good measure (just read the credits) and sold 50 € (or 90 € for the UE with some vaporware added). Yet it's still incomplete and bugged, still missing essential features included in CS1 10 years ago.

 

[Serverofdoom99]

It might be delayed hopefully as it means more time for fixing CS2 bugs and maybe making the DLC better long term

Yeah but can we just get the content we paid for and then they can fix whatever. Because obviously they can release it. They are just slowly dropping things. I play on GeForce now. Which doesn’t have mods. ( figured they would by now, said last year that they were working on it.) so I just want assets.

 

[Mad_Gasser]

So what happens if they just cannot find the root cause or develop a fix before the deadline?
What magic creates the fix for them in this case (in zero time, of course, as the deadline has already been missed)?

You’re making it sound like bugs can take months and months no problem. Issues of that proportion are not bugs. They poor quality software shipping. That should be addressed with quality control up front not army’s of bug fixers. They are fixing tons of stuff 2 years after release. That’s not “oh gee a bug” that’s an alpha product shipping. We are their alpha testers sadly.

For example with the asset editor, this is why they are having so many problems getting their bearings. They aren’t planning out the steps, assigning timefreames for each, assessing dependents, testing, retesting, regression testing, etc.. If they can’t give a date it’s because they don’t know the scope of the issue and are just meandering their way through it.

 

[Mad_Gasser]

Usually a rollback of an update is the best option to do but that does not equal to a fix. Rollbacks are usually fast to execute and it allows end users to proceed as normal. However, an actual fix would be finding out the root cause of the issue and make needed changes to the code to make it disappear. That does not always happen in hours or days. Sometimes if the error is clear enough, the fix can indeed be applied right away but that is not always the case.

You can always blame testing or quality control, but you do need to keep in mind that those are humans who create them. People make mistakes, and when the number of moving parts is large enough, it is sometimes difficult to take all corner cases into account.

I agree with most of this. But if you’re planning fixes in an upcoming release then that means you need to isolate the problem, plan the steps to fix it. Put timeframe around those fixes, assign it out so that multiple fixes can come together in a release. It takes planning/testing with adequate timeframes for retesting and QA regression testing. Based on that, you can estimate when the fix will be done and communicate it. Things like the asset editor has been vaporware for YEARS. That’s not a bug. That’s just not scoping the task at hand properly

It’s not right for us all to be sitting around waiting for a game we paid good money for to stumble along for so wrong. It’s not a mysterious force causing all this. It’s IT cadence deviating from best practices.

 

[Sacavain]

CS1 was by no means a complete game if we consider how many DLCs and core functionalities they added and overhauled on it during the past ten years. On those terms, CS2 is equally a complete game on that regard.
Do bear in mind that the core game of CS1 at launch, and even a year after that, was missing some pretty important and essential features such as day-night cycle, weather, several transit options, terrain modification tool, just to mention few.

I suggest you reminisce on that state with the video City Planner Plays few months ago

CS1 was the first release in a new franchise. While it lacked some features on release, you're getting some facts wrongs. Day & night cycle was added less than 6 months after with the release of After Dark DLC. Weather in the form of snow less than a year after CS1 released. Landscaping tools weren't perfect, but they were a feature, so I'm not sure what's even your point there?

Do you know what else CS1 had at launch? Modding support in its entirety (assets included). I would agree with you that CS1 is a decade old game that had a narrower scope than CS2. But I don't think that cherry-picking wrong examples of missing features is helping your point, especially when we're 18 months after release without a way to import custom assets in CS2.