Are CO/PI in expectation control mode

[Lord Canterbury]

I can help but think CO/PI have noticed the hype train has gone into orbit and are looking to tether it down a bit.

Obviously there is the reddit iAmA pulling down the map size hype-storm.

Then there is the "commitment to modding" video, which to me looks to pop the super-hard-core-gamer-ultra-real-simulator-hype-bubble.

First, at 1:55, there is "What we as a team try to do is pick stuff out of reality and try to streamline it and have the fun parts come out and use those as the game." and again at 2:30 with "I wouldn't say its a complicated game, but it has certain levels under the surface"

Personally it think it might be wise to calm expectations. I'd guess that what we can hope for is a decent wee city builder... but I think a lot of people are hoping for the game-of-my-dreams-everything-that-SC4-was-and-everything-that-SC4-might-ever-have-been-and everything-I-might-ever-have-wished-for-in-a-city-builder-and-much-more-besides.

 

[gsxdsm]

I think CO is going about this the right way. Build a super solid base game and expand it over time. It makes sense financially and from a stability perspective.

The modding interface is way above what we've ever had in SC4 or SC5 - the built in map editor, asset editor, and an OFFICIAL API? Holy crap. I think we are all missing how open this really is.

 

[Hannodb]

There is no toning down my hype. Yes, ofcause if you expect the realism from a Star Trek Holodeck program, you are going to be severely disappointed. But that is not what this game is to me. It is the real Sequel to Sim City. (Simcity Societies and Simcity 2013 don't count. Cities XL came close....but deviated from core features that made SC great) As such, I accept there are going to be limitations and annoyances. But it is still going to eclipse SC4 as the city builder king.

And by the time I grow tired of the vanilla version of the game, there'll be a universe of mods and DLC's to spice it up again.

 

[kosh22]

I agree with OP that the hype over this is in danger of shattering the actual product success. I have never known so much hype for a game. I don't recall SC5 being this tense. I do recall desperately counting down the days but I am pretty sure I have not been as desperate for time to whizz past as on this occasion. Even the hype for Elite Dangerous did not feel this huge. Are we setting up us or even CO for a fall? It is clear from this forum that many people's expectations are too high at launch. I do hope the forum will not fill with haters after March 10th.

 

[Hicksimus]

I think they are and I hope they are successful at it.
Back when I got the first Fable game I hadn't heard anything on it and I played through it liking it enough to play it again. It was a bit simple but it had some charm. Then several years later I heard somebody call it a huge failure so I looked it up and people had been so over-hyped that a lot of people hated it and they hated it for things that they perceived as missing even though the game didn't need them...sort of like how some people are really put off about the difficulty of extending the map size....I bet the size it ships with will be fine.

 

[Hannodb]

I agree with OP that the hype over this is in danger of shattering the actual product success. I have never known so much hype for a game. I don't recall SC5 being this tense. I do recall desperately counting down the days but I am pretty sure I have not been as desperate for time to whizz past as on this occasion. Even the hype for Elite Dangerous did not feel this huge. Are we setting up us or even CO for a fall? It is clear from this forum that many people's expectations are too high at launch. I do hope the forum will not fill with haters after March 10th.

SC2013 had hype? I didn't experience any of it. EA killed it off with two words: "Online only". I will never understand why people would consider buying a game which requires a constant internet connection, especially since the problems with that is well known. Do that to a genre that does not really lend itself to multiplayer to begin with, and you basically killed the game before it was born.

There's a difference between the C:SL hype and the SC2013 hype. With SC2013, it was a: "I want a new proper city builder so bad, that I'm going to ignore all the obvious fundamental flaws of this game and buy it anyway." - hype, vs a "I as am fully informed about the features of this game as one can hope to be before lauch, and not only could I not find any serious fault with it, but it actually exceeds my expectations" -hype.

 

[Deville]

Not before the game, that would slow sales. But I can already smell the shitstorm brewing up because not everything will be perfect, even if it should be better than CiM2 (which I hope it does, CiM2 was not really what was promised before release). But I never really complained, it was obvious that the coders where at their limits and just were not able to fix some things, so no hard feelings there.

I think CO is going about this the right way. Build a super solid base game and expand it over time. It makes sense financially and from a stability perspective.

That would of course be nice, but is not how CO has worked in the past.

 

[kosh22]

SC2013 had hype? I didn't experience any of it.

Ye there was hype. You must have missed that. It was mainly the misplaced hype of a new SImcity after so many years. Personally I had no issue with an always on internet connection, I have no problems with my always on connection. And if multiplayer had been properly implemented with gifting working etc etc.. But lets not get into that.

At the end of the day hype is hype regardless of its nature. And in that there is a danger.

 

[Jokurr]

There was hype but there was also tons of backlash before the game was released. Small maps, online only, limited transport options, limited control over density, all of those things caused a good number of people to (vocally) write the game off before it was released. And this isn't including all of the simulation issues people didn't know about before release.

 

[meck01]

I don't have any expectations apart from a solid city building game which will get better over time.

It won't be perfect and there will be issues/bugs, however hopefully the developers will listen to our feedback and change the game accordingly.

As for 9 tiles not being enough - no one can no for sure until we have played the game.

 

[GMeador]

I spend more time on this form than all my other forums combined- because it's always good for a laugh.
I don't know which is higher- the hype about the game or the perceived disappointment because it won't have this, this, that, this, or this. CO can't win for losing. It will never match how good people expect it to be, nor will it ever match what people would like it to be. Our perceptions of the game (both the over-hyped good and shortage of "wanted" features) dooms it before it's ever released.

Will some people like it? Of course. But based on the posts here it seems to me that most will be disappointed in one way or another.
Too bad. Looks like a great game and much better than anything that came before it.

 

[Nichollz]

If that mod video was aimed at stemming hype then they did a bad bad job!

 

[charlesnew]

Yeah, I'm also worried about the hype for this game. I'm hyped myself, but I know that the game won't have everything at launch, and even post launch. All I know is that I WILL enjoy it. Well, I'm 95% sure about that.

 

[Mithkabob]

I spend more time on this form than all my other forums combined- because it's always good for a laugh.
I don't know which is higher- the hype about the game or the perceived disappointment because it won't have this, this, that, this, or this. CO can't win for losing. It will never match how good people expect it to be, nor will it ever match what people would like it to be. Our perceptions of the game (both the over-hyped good and shortage of "wanted" features) dooms it before it's ever released.

Will some people like it? Of course. But based on the posts here it seems to me that most will be disappointed in one way or another.
Too bad. Looks like a great game and much better than anything that came before it.

Nah, there is just a lot of burn wounds from other city builder titles that leads to this environment here, combined with the usual fact that most people come to a forum to find information or complain about something. If you looked at the CK2 forum right after Way of Life patch hit you would have thought that the game was completely unplayable... and yet Steam stats showed 5000 people were playing the game just fine apparently.

 

[karolans]

For me the best part is that CO/PI didn't really "create" the hype, this time it seems to be genuinely coming from players who like what CO does. I'm still expecting a big deal of disappointment on release, but in my heart I believe the future is bright! ;D

 

[TotalyMoo]

For me the best part is that CO/PI didn't really "create" the hype, this time it seems to be genuinely coming from players who like what CO does. I'm still expecting a big deal of disappointment on release, but in my heart I believe the future is bright! ;D

So much this. I work every day with trying to respond with what we're not featuring and calming people down, it's like reverse marketing

 

[yuuzhantar]

So much this. I work every day with trying to respond with what we're not featuring and calming people down, it's like reverse marketing

There are tens of threads which don't have any official response

 

[Greygor69]

So much this. I work every day with trying to respond with what we're not featuring and calming people down, it's like reverse marketing

Should have made some of these

 

[Greygor69]

There are tens of threads which don't have any official response

And many that don't need any.


Hmm, that might be a little unfair, but is still sorta true.

 

[KR153]

In a certain way Star Wars and the citybuilder genre have something in common:
The very moment a new one is announced everybody starts to make it up in their minds. And as in Star Wars everybody has his own agenda what should be featured and what is essential ect.
I predict that both Episode 7 and CSL will be very successfull and will both have a certain degree of disappointed people left behind... how can it be any different?
In one way CSL has a clear advantage: While Ep7 will forever be a finished product, this game might have potential to evolve, maybe even to become a real great game.
The contact with the community and the tools and support already given at such an early stage demands respect. Very rare in this business.
I for one will at least keep an eye on this one, who knows what the future might bring?