The developer did an AMA on Reddit. I've collected some screenshots so you don't have to go there:
this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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It's distressing how many people are stupid enough to think this game is going to be feature complete on launch. "There isn't a mode of transport that fits my personal opinion of how transport should be done??!??!? I'M NOT BUYING THIS!"
K. It's published by Paradox. It will probably be under continual development like the original was for nearly a decade. Hop on whenever it looks like something you're into. Fuck.
Yeah, imagine how stupid it is to think a game would be feature complete on launch! Never mind the entire history of computer gaming up to the blatant rip-off cash grabs of the last few years...
You can't be more than about 10 years old if you think the "entire history of computer games" only launched feature complete games.
Motherfucker, RETAIL BOXED RELEASES IN THE 90's would have shit added on after publishing. The only difference is that you didn't get regular patches that added new features, you had to wait until the expansion pack came out. Online multiplayer games where you couldn't play with anyone that had newer map or character packs. Shit that would be a minor update now used to come out as full price releases.
Hell, if a company released a "sequel" that had as little new content as Doom 2 did compared to Doom they'd be fucking crucified. "WTF, man, only like 30 levels and two new enemies? BUT MODDERS ALREADY MADE MORE LEVELS AND ENEMIES!??!?"
"Games only released feature complete!" - Someone that has literally never played Starcraft, Diablo, Unreal Tournament, Doom, SimCity, Duke Nukem 3D, or literally hundreds of other games I can't be arsed to list.
It's odd you used SimCity because the expansions are two skin addition bundles and updating the modding tool.
I think I understand what you're trying to say, but "feature complete" isn't the term. While "stuff was added" to boxed copies back in the 80s and 90s, it wasn't to the degree you see today.
Also consider most boxed copies didn't see updates. They didn't until the early 2000s because most people didn't have (reliable) internet access. Hell I played a different version of Counter Strike than a friend of mine for months because his internet was awful and his download kept failing.
https://simcity.fandom.com/wiki/SimCity_2000#Versions
SC2K was released DOS/MAC only. A later release "Special Edition" added a mod tool, a few scenarios, and the shocking ability to play it on Windows. There was a scenario expansion pack. There was also a completely separate commercial release with this thing called "networking." Dunno what that is.
Three separate commercial releases, all of which had different features.
You are 100% wrong about boxed games not getting updates. They did, you just had to get lucky enough to buy the most recent release of the game. Imagine for a moment if EA released a game then did bug fixes but made you buy the game again if you wanted the fixes. Yeah, that shit was COMMON. Some companies would offer bug fixes on disk but most would just lawlgoturmoney. All the arrival of the internet did was make it so that patches could be delivered separate from a retail release without physical media.
"Feature complete" is literally the fucking term used by the person I responded to. Try reading.
Yes people with different ideas on what should be a core feature of modern city management are stupid. Honestly even when CS1 came out the car-only approach felt a bit anachronistic.
If you don't care about that, that's fine. But being disappointed that there's basically been no progress in this matter in the past 10 years doesn't make people stupid.
So what features do you lose so you can have the time to develop bicycles?
Development is ALWAYS a tradeoff.
I'm a software developer, I'm well aware. I can't look info their development schedule or budget. And as a user it's my prerogative not to care. Either the software does what I want or it doesn't.
In this case we're asking the developer to consider adding a feature and letting him know we don't consider the product feature complete without for our use case.
They are free to take the suggestion or not. No one involved here it's acting particularly idiotically imo.
I think, people are especially worried that it's an afterthought. Many of the most dedicated city builder fans do want to play around with different modes of transport. It's quite the contemporary topic in city design.
And so, yes, those folks would have probably preferred other features to be left out and rather bikes to be part of the core game.
Those folks.
Now how about the rest of your player base?
Many of us love building beautiful fantasy cities. And it suck when you can only build cities that are worse that reality. Ok. I do understand, that there is not every mode of transportation from the start. But biking and walking!?