Is the wording 'full version' and 'Complete game' confusing people?

[Gazz292]

i've seen a lot of complaints from people that the recent patch which took the simulator out of early access mode does not have the content whey were expecting in it. 

i am wondering if this is because of the wording used to announce that SimRail is now out of early access :



So people see the 'Full Version' and 'complete game' wording and think that they are going to get every single thing ever mentioned in the development logs over the past 2 years, 

Some of us know that there has been a lot of extra features and content added by the devs at the request of players, way exceeding the original plan of things include in the sim, and hence there are a lot of features that will be released in the future....

Stuff like :

• A single player save function,
• Train (and hopefully) route editors,
• The input / output system,
• Console versions,
• Shunting (which people expect to mean spending a few hours in the sidings running a shunting engine back and forth over many points arranging waggons to make up trains, and not changing cabs or uncoupling from a train at the end of a run) 
• The DLC's for German, Austrian and American routes, 
• Mechanical signal boxes
• The CD163 loco... and so on.

 

Would changing the wording used to describe that SimRail is now out of early access make things better?  but what wording to use?... and is this possibly a translation issue (like we had a year ago when 'joystick support' was released, but it was really 'steam gamepad support' and the wording got mistranslated from Polish into English and upset a few people. 

[Skully]

In essence they missed their mark, which is a bummer.

[PlayWR]

Isn't shunting already available to be used for scenarios?

[Skully]

In the Alpha we had shunting working in multiplayer. I haven't seen anywhere it would only be available in single player in the "full version". Ty2 is similarly not noted as limited to single player.

Mechanical signal-box which is still being advertised on the Steam page is non existent in the "full version" although still on the roadmap.

So yes, calling this a "full version" is wrong.

[Gazz292]

4 hours ago, Skully said:

In essence they missed their mark, which is a bummer.

but at the bottom there is a disclaimer saying that dates are approximate and may change. 

The way i see it, this update is the release from early access mode, and there are lots of new things to be introduced into the sim,  just it's taking longer than the dev's expected. 
 

[Skully]

On 12/19/2024 at 6:20 PM, Gazz292 said:

but at the bottom there is a disclaimer saying that dates are approximate and may change. 

The challenge is not against the dates but against the content and description of what constitutes "EARLY ACCESS EXIT".

The current delivery does not satisfy the expected content so early access should have been prolonged.

[Gazz292]

7 hours ago, Skully said:

The current delivery does not satisfy the expected content so early access should have been prolonged.

That's exactly why i made this post...  some people were expecting the 'full version' to have everything in it that was ever mentioned in dev logs, posts on discord and even posts random players said they wanted in the sim, 
and the wording on steam does imply that 😞

But from following on the forums and discord i knew that there was a lot of things we are getting later and not in this update,  but people who only read the steam pages do not know this. 

[MozzaBurger]

I feel they've got overly ambitious overly fast.

Like DLCs for other countries. Why ? Poland is huge. So many interesting lines and equipment can be added without having to create many other signaling systems, assets, terrain, textures, etc. and these lines can be interconnected to the existing network AND in multiplayer which is, to me, THE ONE HUGE selling point of SimRail over TSW : seamless driving, dispatching (and potentially shunting) over long distances on many different realistic routes and timetables.

They need to refine the sim, the scenarios, bring the editor online (the community will gladly help fill some missing content without asking)

This is a fairly niche gaming market with limited ressources due to limited players. Focus should be on the core routes and game mechanics, potential paid DLCs like the ET22 and much more to support that model. I'm ready to accept that business model since it's simply too niche of a hobby. As long as it's not a total ripoff like TSW has been for years now.

I agree the "full version" wording is outright misleading. It's nowehere complete, full, finished, whatever. They could have just worded it "leaving Early Access" (or simply not change anything at all). It's overly ambitious and at this rate will take many years to ressemble what we were hoping for.

But they should first and foremost refocus themselves on the core product and railway network, make every piece of equipment work in the current multiplayer environment would be nice... Having the line DLCs to generate more revenue and content is a must. And I'd say : editor would be a must. Have the community actually help them in creating custom interesting scenarios. This is espacially true of shunting where the multi doesn't really have any provision for interesting stuff to do without causing problems to the whole server potentially. Having single player complex shunting yard tasks to either drive or dispatch would be a very nice addition to repetitive long haul driving as it's a very interesting part of the railway industry behind the scenes. Refine the current simulation : braking just isn't cutting it. It is way better than TSW, no argument here but still... Heavy freight should imply "G" timing selection and somewhat realistic delays. In the aforementioned shunting scenarios one could be required to switch wagons to the correct brake timing (P/G and a bonus for bulk wagons : the loading selector (not sure of the correct english jargon, I'm a railway worker but French ^^ ))

Small details also : the "gamey" parts with score and penalties. It's already nice but I could see more driver actions being scored like having a bonus if you cut off the traction in overhead line breaks ("neutral sections") and like a small penalty if not (-10 or something symbolic as not to overly annoy people ^^), having a small penalty if you trip the overload relay/stay in resistor range too long. You know : player engagement stuff. Also scoring dispatchers (bonus/penalties for dispatching in time, using interlocks correctly, slap on the wrist for Sz, etc. ^^)

Anyway. I'm kinda sad this game is so promising and yet straddles the line of abandonware most of the time it's scary.

Edited January 1 by MozzaBurger