‘extended Period Of No First-party Releases’

For those of you that missed this post, DTG JD posted the following message:

‘After the Spirit of Steam release, we will have an extended period of no first-party releases, and dedicate the time to solving a lot of longer-term issues (primarily focused around post-Rush Hour, but we may go further back if we have the scope to)’

The full message can be found here, under post #142

I personally think this is a good thing, as since Rush Hour release, things have been pretty ‘messy’ regarding fixes, updates and QA checks. This gives the opportunity for DTG to go back and amend things, as well as more importantly fix any major bugs and issues. It also allows them to fix some long standing core issues, such as the save game bug.

Please, spend the time wisely DTG. This is your chance to make TSW a more stable and consistent game.

 

Here is my wishlist for this 'extended' period of no first-party releases:
Fixed Save Button.
Fixed Brighton Main Line PIS.
Fixed Class 387 PIS *This is a Southern Service to Brighton calling at Brighton and Brighton*. Pretty sure it should say 'This is a Gatwick Express Service to Brighton, calling at Brighton'.
Better Stability.
Fixed Performance.

 

Definitely good to see, DTG really need to take a break and work on what’s been built already, further development of content on their current foundation is only going to make things worse.

 

Well, that should be great ! If SOS will not need itself to be fixed first....but lets be optimistic.
If not only the post Rush hour mess can be fixed...
Now lets keep our hopes low in order not to be disappointed..

For me it would be : all bugs fixed, all services doables on all routes with no red light, a working save feature, BML with rush hour passagers, no more stucked passengers..., working safety features... In fact things that should work since start...

No new features before fixing that is not working actually... That also thé reason that i fear SOS may be harmful..

 

I think we should wait and see how successful it is before we get excited, but this won't be the first time this forum's jumped the gun. Also I thought we were all in a mad panic that there's nothing else on the roadmap and how will they keep players interested, cos without new releases players get disinterested, they leave, dovetail's money dries up, they go bankrupt, everyone's computer explodes and the world ends.

If it is a success, then great.

 

For my part i can very well live with no releases if things go get fixed through this time. We will see.

 

Extended period could mean just about anything though...

Six weeks, six months, a year?

This also goes against previous mantra that those working on fixing the core are not the artists building the routes and stock packs.

Good news though if the more glaring issues can be fixed, save game obviously number one but also sounds (i.e. better and more of them) and the dire lighting.

Edit: And the cynic in me also wonders if this will morph into TSW3 and we all pay again…

 

I really would like like them to fix the broken station directory in Riesa - Dresden. It's a really annoying issue for me personally and ruins the immersion when playing.

 

Wonder, therefore, if they're also going to be looking at things like scenery.

 

That makes me a bit hopeful, I just wonder why something important like that is burried in a discussion on the Playstation forum... Thanks for making me aware of that, explains why the "roadmap" is extremely empty and hopefully means that actions will follow all the PR talk we heard for the last 1.5 years.

 

I pointed this out right after the post and it got ignored so nice to see it has caught on. I think the streaming schedules that we are seeing are showing this, there is more TSC than TSW and some novel streams as well as a slightly lighter schedule.

Now that we are all aware this is happening and can see the benefits of it I hope we don't see quite as many what are you working on? or why is the roadmap so quiet? posts. We have to accept that there is a tradeoff so the QA team and devs can fix up the existing issues rather than make new content. It is what we wanted and it is a good thing for the health of the game in the longer term.

 

Totally agree- this is a pretty major announcement IMO, and should have been posted in the "announcements" section.

As for the pause in first-party releases, I'm also a bit hopeful as the core definitely needs work.

 

It does sound like a good thing, before we know it that waiting period will end and hopefully the game will be in a better state... let's hope.

 

In real life it can say Southern on the PIS, as they borrow some Class 387s from GX for peak time services to Brighton.

 

Hopefully this will mean the preserved content updates will appear sooner too.

 

[QUOTE="... (primarily focused around post-Rush Hour, but we may go further back if we have the scope to)’

...

It also allows them to fix some long standing core issues, such as the save game bug.[/QUOTE]

The worrying part is they suggest that fixing anything like the save game bug would be done at a real push, if they ever get time, but I hope they actually put this one at the top of the list, above post-Rush Hour issues, or at least alongside them. Not entirely sure what they mean by "the scope". However, I'm sure TrainSim-Matt would have to agree that the save game feature is a core one that absolutely should work without question, and should have worked from the beginning of TSW, if not patched urgently after launch. There can be no more excuses.

I want to be able to play this game, and the only way I can do that is if I can save progress on a route then resume without broken red signals that prevent progression.

 

Probably means that those who normally work on routes and locos will be pressed into the bug fixing effort instead.

I too somehow missed JD's statement. It has to be a good thing if it's sustainable.

Lots of folks have been suggesting a " pause and repair " period for quite some time but many thought it couldn't be sustained business wise. While not specifically a response to forum postings, I think recent threads have had some effect on future plans.

It's certainly a reason to be optimistic about the future of the game. I, for one, will gladly forego new dlc if those long-running problems are dealt with during the intermission.

How long? Doesn't matter if it's protracted, as long as current and subsequent releases are better for it.

 

I also suspect, or at least hope,
that a great deal of this stand-down will be devoted, behind the scenes, to reworking procedures and organization so that in future QA and beta, and for that matter the inclusion of standardized features, is regularized and brought back from the goat-rope they have become. There is little point pushing ahead with more DLC until the testing regime is straightened out.

 

Necessary, but unfortunate as that will mean no new 1st party reveals for a while (was hoping to finally see some loco DLC). Does this also means the new German route (whatever it is) will also be "delayed"? Since it seems the release of the steam route can't be too far off? Unless the German route is something short again, like the Harlem one.

 

I’ll believe it when I see it. I will only get excited about fixes when I’m reading patch notes for them and have verified that they didn’t break something else. There seems to be a lot of hope in this thread and I hope it’s not being misplaced. An elusive downtime mentioned by a community manager may not be anywhere near the size some people seem to think it’ll be.

 

Yeah, definitely something that deserves better clarification via news article or at least a paragraph in the next roadmap at least, instead of just a passing mention in a "random" thread.

 

Things must be really grim internally if they went with this approach. No one does it proactively, especially not the DTG we know. It has a direct impact on revenue and because of this, I don´t expect it to be a long period.

But hey, it can be worse. Other developers fix issues after 26 years - https://www.pcgamer.com/quake-the-26-year-old-fps-gets-new-accessibility-options-and-maps/

 

Bakerloo timetable ;_;

 

Hopefully they can also fix crashes on SFJ, it's the only route that crashes with UE4 error for me.

 

They need to get the Dynamic Dispatcher to work first

 

Appreciate the words, but I'll believe it when I'll see it. We have already heard enough BS by DTG...

 

It could be that the German route is being made mainly by outside contractors. DTG have lots of individuals and companies making their content for them.

 

I too am wary of what will happen. We’ve heard several ‘we have learnt our lessons/we will not make the same mistakes/we will do better next time’ etc sayings and excuses from DTG for it to not materialise, with us ending up at square one again.

Though the fact that this has been mentioned on a public forum must mean that there has been some serious conversations being taken place internally.

However, it would be nice to have some clarity on this, rather than it being posted on a random thread on the PlayStation section within the forums.

DTG, it’s up to you to to try and communicate effectively again. Something which has been lacking for several months on these forums I have found.

 

I am somewhat torn over this. Of course I want to see issues fixed in previous releases but I didn't want it to come at the cost of seeing new content. I am the player who likes to constantly have a carrot dangled in front of me when it comes to this.

I doubt this extended period will be as long as some people are surmising in this thread though...after all, releasing content keeps DTG's books in the black

 

The very fact that they are holding up on new DLC - which costs them hard cash - is an indication that they are serious about this. That doesn't guarantee that they'll succeed, but it's more than lip service.

 

Frankly, I'll believe it when I see it. Although that announcement should've been posted in the announcements section of the forum. This frankly is long overdue. There's no point in releasing new dlc's when this game is riddled with problems that seem to affect newer dlc's as well.

Hopefully they will finally fix the save function during this period. It's been 5 years

 

The cynic in me says that the majority of the Dev team have been employed on SoS and this "extended period of no releases" is nothing more than they don't have anything to release after SoS.
Will anything change, will anything improve? Maybe but I don't hold out any hope.

I do however look forward to being proved wrong

 

Also that they have realised Scouse Steam is going to fall down badly if the main bugs are not sorted.

 

I would be interested to know what is actually being worked on, is it ps5 and 4 errors, Xbox sound, rush hour, bakerloo timetable we’ve all paid for yet not received , optimisations, preserved crew work etc etc.

I’d envisage there is still something in development. If it takes up to a year to do a route and they’re stopping I suspect it will be for 4-8 weeks max and something else is already part baked otherwise it could be next year before anything which absolutely won’t happen.

im hoping this “standard features” lark is sorted so we get more Dresden lighting etc.
My gut feeling is this break is in direct correlation to the most recent stream and there’s internal consultation happening with staff about how to move resource about, I could be wrong but feel it’s possible. Too much has happened lately for their not to be some staff training, performance management, training etc ,

 

Well I suppose one bonus of no new content is that we might start seeing flash sales to bring in a bit of extra revenue, pick up the routes like RT, IOW, Arosa or WCL which no way I would pay full price for.

 

During this extended downtime, I hope DTG will keep the community updated as to what they’re working on and even involve the community, so as many issues can be fixed as possible. I have a list as long as my arm, I’m sure others do too.

I’m hopeful the extended down time yields some very tangible, positive improvement.

 

Oh my, the time has come!

I am so glad that this is going to happen. I wished for them to take a "DLC break" for a longer time for now, so I'm very glad to hear they will do this. And if it goes well, I hope they do it again in the following years. Erasing bugs, implementing new features - I'm more than willing to wait for a year for new DTG DLC if I instead get a working save function, better rendering, better performance, less bugs, route merging, scenario planner 2.0... or other stuff, etc.

And even if it's "just" bug fixing, I'm happy to wait for a year or two if that means we get the better product.

 

I think DTG are waiting to see if SoS is successful. If so then they will look at creating more steam routes, if not well there are some other lines that run Electrostars for release in 2023.

 

I think they'll have already decided which routes they'll be doing over the next (up to) 18 months, or at least have a rough idea.

 

Routes will be locked in, dlc won't be a year away. It's a business. This will be nothing more than a brief period of reflection and sweeping up

 

I think they'll have started the German route but they're going to just give it to a small team for a while after Steam, so it'll take a bit longer while they do other stuff. I highly doubt the entire TSW department of the company will be downing tools.

 

They won't be downing tools but the route building and loco building teams who aren't involved in SoS should be helping the preservation crew fix up the existing routes.

 

If DTG have already implemented the 1-team-per-country infrastructure, then we can take an educated guess about who’s working on what. The German team is obviously already working on a route and based on Brandon’s comments, we can reasonably assume that another US route might already be in the works as well. A pessimistic appraisal of the situation would be that the UK team (along with anyone not currently busy on the other projects) will have maybe a few weeks of downtime after SoS before being assigned to the next UK project. All just speculation though.

 

It doesn't really contradict their statement. You've misinterpreted what they mean. As a digital design employee in any sense, you have multiple skills.

People who are working on the core will only work on it until they've finished. That's called prioritisation - where you assign someone a job to do which they're best suited for. But because they have other skills, they may be used elsewhere afterwards or not even for TSW2.

As a graduate digital designer, you have programming skills, modelling skills for 3DS, knowledge on environment creation in unreal engine or unity, and game building. Those are a broad set of applicable skills to be used at DTG.

Developers for TSW2 may work on a route and then fix a loco, indulge in personal projects in their spare time or experiment. People at DTG move about different teams when they're needed. The preservation crew itself is not a fixed set of people, developers from the main game and route production may move into the preservation crew once they've finished because of their applicable skills.

 

I doubt it will be a year or two until we get a new DTG DLC. After all, they do need a source of income, and that’s new DLCs. Also bare in mind we have a new german route arriving, probably some time after SOS

 

I'm afraid I don't agree with the majority here that this is a totally good thing.

While there has been a trickle of DLC, as it currently stands, I feel we seem to already be in a period of hardly any first-party releases - UK content and all rolling stock DLC especially! So the thought of not having much first-party releases for an extended period following SOS, a route I already hold no interest and feel is taking up too much development time, is very frustrating.

Why you ask? I know it's stating the obvious, but it's frustrating that many of these existing bugs should have already been fixed a long time ago. Granted that certain fixes are much-needed - such as the save game etc - but how realistic is it that a lot of the major bugs will actually be fixed, without new ones appearing too, as has been the case recently such as the 313 random derailment or the missing call-on signals on London Commuter etc.

I appreciate bug fixes are important, but a lack of first-party releases is worrying for however long this period is. In the 'old days', the roadmap with a plethora DLC listed for the year or so ahead was an exciting time - the 313 might of been there for a long time, but my excitement for such releases kept me interested in the game and, most importantly, keeps the game fresh with new content.

 

A full roadmap can also be advertisement. And the most important part, it keeps people interested.

Also customers can make plans of their budget.

 

cloudyskies21 Most of us here shout ¨Fix the game, then release new content properly¨. This makes sense because content on a broken base is bad. Do we want another TS where the developers are afraid to touch bugs in order to not break the game due to its design? I surely don´t.

All brands are running to provide new content as fast as possible, despite it not being needed but since the customer has been bombarded with the fact that it needs new content all the time, it actually thinks it needs content all the time.
No, we don´t need content all the time. We don´t need to be told what we like. We need good experiences which are done with passion and involvement. And this takes time, lots of time.

Are we upset that Euro truck launches a map expansion per year? Not at all, the reviews show ¨Very positive¨ next to each. What do we see next to expansions for TSW 2? Pfff, mediocrity.

This is definitely needed. I am afraid it won´t receive the time it requires but we will see in the end what they do with this opportunity.

 

Or they just need ro read the timetable properly, and use the real data. Dynamic platform allocation isn't needed because the platforms are already specified in the WTT.

 

Let’s wish them well as I’m sure we’ll all see some benefit.
Not that they will succeed in making everyone happy.

Personally I’m looking forward to more sales if they need more revenue.