Upcoming Patch & Content

[TetraDax]

You're going on vacation for two months...again. (And not to be that guy, but vacation from what? We've got little evidence you've done anything since the last one. Bugs introduced before the last one aer still in the game!)

Look, I am one of their loudest critics on here, but for one they literally have to offer that vacation as according the, ya know, the law, and secondly they are still human and deserve one. You don't have to be happy with the result or the pace of COs work, I'm not happy either, but it is still work. Especially in an industry like gaming that is severely suffering from crunch times, mass-burnout and a lot of stress, people do need a break.

 

[MarvinAnimation]

What about animations for citizens and police and fireman and parks and sport parks and bikes and building up buildings. So that way we can have life in the game then it looks dead or boring?

 

[Sociopathsive]

Thank you for the rework, fixes and transparency!

 

[PabloPC1]

Why nobody talks about the public transport system? I think it is an important part of the game but no one seems to say anything.

I think it needs these improvements:
In the map you can barely see the lines
It is also very difficult to locate subway stops when you click on public transport in the normal map
Naming metro stops is a mess (you have to name the stations an the platforms individually)
You don’t see directly the number of people waiting in which stop neither the name, you have to point it with the cursor
You cannot see the lines in a proper 2D map, with connections to other lines
You cannot see income of individual lines or transport type (as cs1)
The buses have weird steering in a sharp curves
All the tunnels seems to be flooded, even if they are not close to a water source
And more


Please, I just ask you to consider these changes for a future fix. Thank you

 

[DiNardo1910]

I'm glad to see the game is approaching 1.0 status. About time.

I'm also glad to see that Paradox has taken over communication from Colossal Order's CEO.
It's nice to have professional communication that doesn't blame the players.

 

[Splosioneer]

Can medium density office, medium density commercial, and mixed office be added to the game?

 

[Gaseous Stranger]

yes they have recently made 4 more job positions available and were looking for staff but working at a small studio in finland isnt really an option for many professionals in game development, so its not easy to recruit talent

Maybe they should re-think their approach to work, requiring devs to work in-person in Finland.

It is the 21st century, after all. Remote work options exist.

 

[ptahs]

Thankyou for the update, it definitely sounds like it's going in the right direction. Please keep releasing the Dev diaries. The communication is really appreciated and helps spread the word what the dev team is currently working on.

I can't wait for the asset editor to come out, this will really change things up!

 

[Gaseous Stranger]

The shift in communication is wonderful! Please keep this up!

As soon as they took the microphone away from that CEO, it improved greatly. Some people are just not meant for public facing communications

 

[MattGameDev]

Delays are one thing. This content is, as they said, very low effort for them. It would be a quick-win to release it. We paid for it at release. They should have planned better and not promised release timeframes to get sales if they cannot deliver even now, more than 200 days after release.

Their reason (we do not want to release paid content until we are satisfied with X and Y and Z) is a bad reason since multiple players already paid for this content.
If they just release, we get what we paid for and others can choose whether or not to buy. Right now, there is no choice, only money paid without goods delivered.

But thank you for becoming personal for no reason and calling names.

So, in short you are again late with everything. Congratulations.

The "economy patch" (if it even deserves that name - frankly, from your own and other descriptions it doesn't sound much like adressing the economy but just giving some more information to the player and maybe some additional options to interact with it) will require around 50% more time than you have announced just one month ago.

The "next patch" (meaning the one after the "economy patch") apparently will not be released before September. How could it when your personnel is on vacation till mid of August? That is more than three months from now.

The attempt to get something running for consoles seems to have ended in disaster, not meeting the minimum requirements. Chances are that even one whole year after the initial release it will not be finished.

Well, all this gives us a pretty good image of the state in which you did release the game in October last year. Well, water under the bridge or so they say.
But as I said above already, still you are missing each and every timeline. Each time.
It doesn't hinder you to cash in though. That you do get done in time. Always.

I will predict something now:
I expect support for the game to be officially terminated in the second half of next year.
And I think any employee of CO is well advised to look for other jobs now. Luckily they will have some weeks time to update their curricula vitae. That will be needed.

It's very clear you both have no idea how game development works. You think they didn't plan accordingly for release? You think they don't know releasing easy content would be a win? You think they like seeing the community hurt on things they worked incredibly hard on? I know we don't know each other but i'd like to think you both are more intelligent than that. It's not up to the development team, it's stakeholders at Paradox. Whoever at the top-level says "we need this now" or "we need to do this first" is what the development team follows with. That's the reality of the game industry as a whole - development teams only get so much voice to speak with. In some instances, they ship games broken even when the development team says "hey, that's not ready yet". Hell, look around at the industry; Call of Duty for example - each game that comes out is objectively broken. Does the development team care? Probably very much so, but stakeholders don't care. They tell them they are releasing it anyways.

Please stop being toxic towards the Dev team and actually gain some insight into how the industry works before thinking all the folks at CO are evil, pure, a$$holes. Because I can probably say they aren't, and they are trying their absolute hardest to make this game they desperately love even better. The game got off to a rocky start sure, but that doesn't mean every time a patch comes out you have to be aggressive and slander all the work they've done. Simply refund the game and don't come back to the community. We simply do not need your kind here.

 

[Wilward]

Thanks for the update!
It sounds very promising, I've been waiting for this economy patch as I'm one of those players who doesn't just want to paint pretty cities, I want there to be some gameplay as well. I'm looking forward to picking the game up again, once this rolls out.

Now just missing the Asset Editor and a steady pace of DLC's.

Keep it up team. The launch might have been too early but if you keep communicating and pushing out solid releases the trust will be back.

Happy holiday season to all Nordic friends!

 

[Tersnaus]

Please stop being toxic towards the Dev team and actually gain some insight into how the industry works before thinking all the folks at CO are evil, pure, a$$holes. Because I can probably say they aren't, and they are trying their absolute hardest to make this game they desperately love even better. The game got off to a rocky start sure, but that doesn't mean every time a patch comes out you have to be aggressive and slander all the work they've done. Simply refund the game and don't come back to the community. We simply do not need your kind here.

I 100% agree. I purchased two copies of the Ultimate Edition, putting me in the same boat as others who haven't received everything I paid for yet, but I'm more than fine with the dev team continuing to focus on the bigger issues than some extra DLC for me. I know it will come.

I live in Denmark, and we have the same approach to holidays as our Nordic neighbours. I feel that I have a very good work/life balance, and I'm glad that CO employees have that too. Generally parts of June, all of July, and early August are quiet(er) times for companies here, and I doubt that in CO's case it means that the office is completely shut down. Development continues, but with the understanding that some members from your team might be out for two weeks or so. I can understand that they wouldn't want to release something during this period.

For me, most of the annoyances or problems I encountered in the game have been temporarily fixed with mods that others have released. This makes it easier to be patient while CO continues to fix the base game.

Thank you CO for the better communications around updates, and I continue to look forward to them in the future.

 

[PicoPicante]

Maybe they should re-think their approach to work, requiring devs to work in-person in Finland.

It is the 21st century, after all. Remote work options exist.

From a business point of view, remote work is not as simple as "just hire people in other countries," especially for a smaller business.

Once you decide to hire a single person in another country, you are subject to the entire corporate law base of two countries. There are businesses that facilitate that called PEO's (professional employment organizations) but oftentimes they charge high overhead because they're literally the ones hiring the new employees in the new countries, and have to make sure they conform with whatever the laws of the host country are re: compensation, benefits, holidays, banking, legal, etc...

Because of that, many PEO's won't even consider offering the service unless you're hiring multiple people in a given country unless you switch over your entire team, including your domestic workers, and even then that usually adds multiple thousands of (currency) per person.

I wish it were simpler, believe me! I WFH in Canada for a small org in the US, and the only reason they're willing to do that is because I'm a US citizen which simplifies things for them (I pay my Canadian taxes directly rather than through payroll deductions and opt out of employer provided healthcare). I'd much rather move to Europe since my partner is a Dutch citizen, but Dutch law requires that all workers have to be employed by a Dutch company, and that's a nonstarter at present.

 

[Civ5rako]

You think they didn't plan accordingly for release? You think they don't know releasing easy content would be a win? You think they like seeing the community hurt on things they worked incredibly hard on?

I am just taking this part of your posting.

No, they did not plan accordingly for release.
They mismanaged the whole project from start to end. They were three years late when the game was released. Three years.
Well, that's bad enough, isn't it?

But wait, there is more. Not only have they been late, but even with those additional three years they delivered something which barely worked, and is more than just flawed even now. Not to mention that major parts of the advertised software product are still in beta or even far from finished.
What about their first DLC? Advertised in a way which can very well be called "misleading". And poor content, to say the least. Even that they didn't manage correctly. And they knew what they would have to deliver and when. But no, they even weren't able to produce content which would meet the DLC's name.

And still it doesn't end there.

Have you even read the posting which started this thread?
Everything in there is an announcement of delays. Granted, they have tried hard to make it sound nice, but in the end it is just that: announcing that everything they are talking about will be late.
"Economy patch"? 50% more time till release than initially announced.
Next patch after that? Earliest in September, so at least three months from now.
Console version? Unlikely to be released in October.

And that is the only reason why they are showing up in the forums right now: to deliver that message.

The whole CS2 story is a story of unmet goals, late deliveries and even then in bad shape.

Well, you may be fine with having paid your money at a given point in time and then put to wait for an undefined amount of time for an adequate product in return. Good for you. Glad you don't have to care about it.
But it is people like you who allow gaming companies to go away with that kind of behaviour. And then even blaming the ones who point it out - that's bold, to say the least.

 

[Andycapet]

probably the best birthday present I could have ever had

 

[SimNationJan]

Any update regarding support of mods in GeForce now??

We are working with our partners to try to find a solution, and if we do you will let you all know!

By paint you mean drawing those surfaces like its possible with mods already, similar to drawing lots for the specialized industry or actually some kind of paint brush?

Also, is the limitiation of "around buldings" intended, so it can only be used around buildings or was that just a figure of speech and we will also be able to draw those surfaces in areas where there arent any buildings?

Currently, it is planned in the same way that is available through DevUI and with certain mods. However, we wanted to implement it as an option for those that do not use mods.

Thank you for the update

Since you always say you love player feedback, why not open an open optional beta branch on Steam like most of the games of this genre do this days?

I could only help you get more feedback, track down bugs and system configuration specific problems you might miss otherwise. It will also relieve some pressure that people think that nothing is being worked on.

A lot of studios from smaller games to big games like Diablo 4, Sea Of Thieves, Elder Scrolls, No Man Sky, Manor Lords, etc do this.

Between the team size and their current priorities, this is not something CO can support at this time.

 

[unoace1006]

I am taking your posting just as an example of the apparently positive reaction. Nothing personal.

Guys, have you read that announcement?
CO/PDX are active this week because they have to admit that again they have missed each and every timeline. It is just a litany of delays, postponements, unmet timelines.
After the "economy patch" there will be a time period of almost three months (if not more) in which nothing is going to change for the better.
And I am predicting radio silence after the "economy patch" again.

That is what they have just told us, nothing more. Ah, and console players shouldn't be too hopeful, that they did tell us as well.

I understand your frustration. And I think we also have to trust that they’re working as fast and as diligently as possible.

The world is all about trade offs. Do they invest 40 hours implementing creator packs or do they invest that time on the economy rework or other improvements?

I’d rather have a better patch than 40 new assets across 2 new packs. Of course both would be great, but at least they’re being realistic.

 

[unoace1006]

Upcoming Creator Packs
As a result of this extended feedback and adjustment period for the economy patch, the Creator Packs will be pushed to post-summer. Even though the Creator Packs require relatively little time for implementation from Colossal Order, we want to make sure the upcoming economy patch has the intended result, and that we have time to also evaluate your feedback before we release any new paid content. This means we will move the Creator Packs to release after the summer

Thanks for the clear communication and articulating why.

It sounds like you would like to accompany free content with paid content and that’s commendable and this also allows you to invest more effort into the bug fixes, economy, and other improvements. I wish I could have my UE content but I understand the decision.

Looking forward to the patch!

 

[TripleAgent]

Between the team size and their current priorities, this is not something CO can support at this time.

Why does team size affect hitting the button to make the branch that you're currently testing a public beta? From my understanding all it does is create a separate beta branch with the patch that you're currently working on. I've seen games with solo indie devs use the beta branch!

 

[maarten_714]

Any update regarding support of mods in GeForce now??

Probably not gonna happen..... Officially, NVidia (just like Microsoft and Sony for consoles) does not support mods, but there are ways to "sideload" mods if the mods are on Steam. There is a tutorial for CS1 on how to do that, but it is very buggy and not guaranteed to work. Since CS2 does not use Steam for mods, there needs to be official support from NVidia to allow mods from within the game client.

From what I hear they are trying to work with NVidia to make this work, but it doesn't sound too promising..... I really don't know if it is ever going to work, but I wouldn't count on it happening any time soon.