[MAJ] Cities Skyline 2: How Not to Start a Game – Paradox Interactive, Steam, Colossal Order, Microsoft Store – News

I know it was just yesterday that there was rugby, so you might have missed it, but there were also some big shocks in the Cities Skyline 2 community. The game that was revealed on March 6 of this year has actually since been the occasion for the release of a game as entertaining as we rarely have. We’ve seen it, most notably what led to the console’s release being postponed a month before its release, and the matter culminated yesterday with a message from the developers on the game’s forums. I’ll explain all of that to you.

We can’t say we didn’t see this coming, but Cities Skyline 2’s launch is set to be a very whirlwind one. The game is certainly eagerly awaited, as the first name has taken the place of the best city building game since the masterful collapse of the last SimCity, but after 7 years of updates, we can believe that Colossal Order is off to a good start. Preparing for the release of the second opus. Apparently, it’s not enough.

This must be said after its unveiling and announcement on March 6 A timeline of videos com. devlogs every two weeks, everything had to come together to keep the player occupied until the combined release on PC and console on October 24. In terms of in-house videos, not only were they really great, with voiceover explainer videos, but also videos from the developers clearly showing I never wanted to speak English in front of the camera And who had to improvise YouTube user From the day he was restricted and forced. Especially since the game version featured undecorated objects, holes in the scene, and people walking like ducks. But don’t worry, we’re told, it is Builds The old one doesn’t represent the current game at all. Oof.

Then there was Gamescom in August, which was supposed to allow gameplay to be showcased, but where all the possible components were brought together to not show the game from its best angle, see instead: instead of clumping a few elements together YouTube user Known to the first game community, they have collected 12 YouTubers Completely or almost unknown, as they had never touched the first part, in order to relax them, they were strapped to their chairs while their table was lifted by a crane over the Cologne Autobahn due to the sunset that dazzled them as they passed. And I moved on to wireless microphones that obviously all used the same frequency when they wanted to start the event and that were interfering with each other. The game version isn’t very well finished around the edges but it’s a beta, don’t worry.

In short, bi-weekly videos have been resumed and added He lives Every Wednesday, but again, led by two Community Manager “quite a lot”excited” And He clearly has little broadcasting experiencecutting each other off or fighting to move in different directions, when they are not uttering little cries of delight in front of this or that feature.

These were also added 3 waves of play recorded 2 weeks apart by YouTubers The usual aspects of the game this time, but in forms limited to 30 minutes and then one hour of play, with a ban on exceeding certain levels, as well as a ban on not talking about certain topics including modifications and game performance.

Then on September 28, there was a bolt of lightning: the console’s release had to be postponed because “expected performance would not have met expectations.” All pre-orders for the console are refunded and the mini and recommended configurations on PC are up a notch, moving, among other things, from the RTX 2080 to the RTX 3080 as the recommended graphics card. It then became clear that the game was not yet optimized and other aspects also were not up to expectations yet.
Furthermore, one of his recent videos about the population had to be postponed so he could reflect the latest changes. Except that if the population was more diverse, we could especially see that the current version was as successful as the beta since the same issues appeared there.

And here we go back to yesterday, 8 days before the game’s release. In the face of growing concerns about a release not being fully completed (natural disasters don’t look like anything, cars run through asphalt, textures are still missing, etc. etc.), pressure was mounting to see if the performances would at least exist. And, above all, above all, if what made the success of the first game, modding via the Steam Workshop, with 400,000 mods, would be very present because until now we have only seen the “Paradox Mods” button in the game menu without any other explanation.
So, cornered and realizing that the longer they waited, the worse things would get, the studio finally decided Divide the message into two topicsbut not at all the kind that allows appeasement.

In fact, the studio privately warns that the offerings may be more or less there, or less than more, seeing as how a next-gen game requires fairly modern hardware (We’ve already done that with Starfield) and that the best thing to do is to release the game as is, even if that means improving it later… And what about modifications? It’s worse.

The map and structure editor that has been present since the release of the first game will not be present when the second game is released, but later. The game also completely abandons the Steam Workshop that all players are accustomed to, switching to an in-house solution called Paradox Mods. It comes from a good intention: to be able to offer console players a lot of mods that were previously reserved for PC players only. Except that this mod browser is not ready either and will only be available after the game is released. For mods to be shared, only assets, and thus buildings, vehicles and perhaps maps, will eventually be shared on console, but none of the utility items that made the first game so successful will be shared. Again, some assets that are considered fairly realistic can be removed to the point of showing registered trademarks. All mods ported to consoles must first be verified by the studio, but also by Microsoft and Sony before they can be shared.

It is clearly a restrictive gas factory that will not suit everyone: console players will have only a part of the mods from among the set of those that will be released on PC and there will be none of the utilities that are so popular with the PC community. PC players should have all the mods available, but under the hood that studio limitations and controls don’t limit the mods available too much, without knowing yet what the internal browser will look like or be easy to use. Mod creators simply do not know where they will publish their mods, in the absence of a Steam Workshop and with the uncertainty that the modding paradox leaves them with the same creative freedom as before and accepts their creations under conditions less equal to what Steam offered in terms of ease of use.

In short, the dispute has been raging since yesterday and it is not the message And common questions It has been released urgently this evening which will reassure them as they are content to say that modding has always had a place in the studio’s games and that Paradox Mods, willy-nilly, should not change much from the Steam Workshop. In short, everyone is now eagerly awaiting two dates: October 19, because YouTubers will then no longer have a non-disclosure contract to respect, and they will be able to talk openly about everything they liked and especially what they did not like in the game. And on October 24, the game’s release date, to know the completion status in which it will be released. Prepare.

Updated 10/19: For your eyes (and ears) only, Colossal Order has just been released Atrocious launch trailer Created using a trial version of the game, in additionLong paper Wanting to be reassured about the paradox of modifications but also showing here is at best a sketch, at worst a photomontage of what the thing could be. Finally, YouTube users raved about the performance and minimal configuration It’s almost unplayable While others using the Ryzen9 7950X3D and RTX 4090 are able to get between 40fps and 60fps… at 1440p. And still promises just as much.