Please, Can we get an update on the game updates already ? :(

[SmallMuffin11]

The thing with this thread and all the discussions made what i think is the biggest thing is this:

If the devs communicate the process as normal human beings, ideas, reasons, Blog or even a video of the game ideas meeting, this makes people feel valued and it makes everyone feel that they are a part of the game creation. That motivates to play. to share and to influence others.

As the best example is facebook  People want to be engaged, but for them to be engaged, you have to share something.

The real life communication would help to make this company unique and valued not only for the game, but for the community.

Another thing "They are fixing the bugzzzzz, everyones buzyyy" It only takes 1 person, to sit in the development meeting, to create a 1000 word blog post every 2 weeks, which then has to be approved by management. That is called quallity communication management.

[noisycat]

10 hours ago, CodingKitteh said:

I don't understand your logic because it is as if Klei has been neglecting communication because of this thread exists. One existed before another, and it is the lack of communication that is the precursor. The thread was made in response to the lack of information, not the other way around.

No. I just used this thread as an example - the general idea is "if we tell about something, people are going to ask more questions", and believe me, in game dev saying "we might add some new plants next update" is just as good as promising it. And if you fail to deliver, expect to hear some whining. That's just how the industry works and players (app users too) get mad easily - especially if they paid money.

 

11 hours ago, CodingKitteh said:

A simple communication is, "We are currently working on a next content update that adds some mechanics like XXXX to increase the depth and complexity to XXXX. This will add new end game play styles," with a sneak snapshot or two.

No release date, no specific additions, etc.

That's basically what I said in the first sentence.

18 hours ago, noisycat said:

It's true that the devs could just say something like "well, we have looked into this system and we decided to do this and that, no promises but expect it somewhen".

 

11 hours ago, CodingKitteh said:

Look at successful games that had community communication: Minecraft Alpha/Beta, Stardew Valley, Terraria

Look at unrealistic promises that had overhype: No Man's Sky

Look at Kerbal Space Program and their dev blog. They do weekly summaries of what they accomplished and it works well both for community and developers. Although I cannot imagine Klei doing something like this, I like this particular method of communication most.

Just to state the obvious, I'm not against communicating with players. Quite the opposite, I would strongly encourage it if that was up to me to decide, but it should be done right to avoid unnecessary promises, arguments and hate in general. 

[Kasuha]

1 hour ago, noisycat said:

Look at Kerbal Space Program and their dev blog.

I was a fan of KSP for years and I could watch the evolution of that blog over that time. I loved reading the blog while HarvesteR was still working on the game because he was really putting his soul into it and was talking about actual things he's doing or problems he's facing, also explaining why some things don't and can't work the way players would like. Most of the others were 'spent time bugfixing' or 'implemented some scripts'. Filler words not really telling anything. By the time I lost interest in the game, the blogs were 'still working on localization' one after another with no actual interesting information.

There's also the opposite side of it: it costs the devs' time. Initial blogs made KSP devs spend almost full day a week putting together and polishing their post. Later they switched to most just writing a paragraph and one person collecting it and polishing, but together it was still about a manday spent on making a blog post instead of working on the game. With limited size of the team, it's still a lot.

Klei doesn't do it that way but they still spend time communicating with us. Instead of making blog posts, they make Twitch streams every week where they talk about the game, about the community, and reveal things they want to reveal.

Not talking about things they're preparing for has one advantage - we won't get hyped on features they intend to add initially, then drop because they don't work well with the game. We'll get to know them when it's pretty much decided what and in what form will stay in the game for the release. And we'll get to play with them when released instead of making up some fantasies about them from incomplete descriptions and then being disappointed about the reality. It's a different approach than KSP team uses but I wouldn't say either is better or worse - each has their pros and cons.

[noisycat]

My primary concern is that the players don't know what's being developed currently. It's just pure curiosity, and believe me, I'd like to have enough time to watch gamedev streams (no sarcasm intended, I'd really like to). Anyway, the note doesn't need to be as complex as ksp used to be, just a few sentences about current progress.

34 minutes ago, Kasuha said:

Not talking about things they're preparing for has one advantage - we won't get hyped on features they intend to add initially [...]

True that, and as I stated in my previous posts - this requires the community to be much more understanding. Although both games are fun for me (and many other players), it seems for me that KSP is a bit more technical and suited for a little older audience, so most forum users there happen to know a little more about development and treat developers with respect (afaik KSP community mostly consists of people somehow connected with computer science and science in general).

I will try to clear my point of view, because I feel like I overcomplicated it.

Firstly, I support communication with fanbase in any way that suits the audience. I know there are many people in this world who don't really care about devs and their work, so when something goes not like they wanted they will start throwing bad words at other people before diving into the topic and reading any official/unbiased news. It's like an avalanche, I hope you get what I mean. This applies to changing or cancelling features, delaying the release, and so on but also can be as simple as making game harder (and just telling about it might induce s-storm). Of course it only applies to situation where certain decision comes from reasonable thinking or unpredictable events - the devs carry all the responsibility to provide the game they promised for money they received and people should speak loud when they don't (NMS for example). Just a little more understanding for both sides! There's no way to put it all in a ruleset - every situation is different! And that's pretty much what I actually meant.

[Whispershade]

I was tempting to write some rambling mess about player expectations and developer trepidation to release information early but instead of just reiterating what's already said I'm just going to say I agree with noisycat.

And that nobody wants a Molyneux.