Hi TeaForTwoGames!
I have played patch 6 and 7 of Snowtopia and I love what you guys have done! This game has SO MUCH potential, and I can't wait to see what you come up with next :)
I do have a couple of suggestions that I think might be easy to add into the game in the near future (disclaimer: I am not a game developer....unless fooling around making blender models counts):
1. You could add in a function that automatically names runs and lifts from a preset database. The game currently allows the player to change names of runs and lifts, TRUE. HOWEVER, as the player builds their resort bigger and bigger, it can be somewhat cumbersome to name every single run and lift manually, but at the same time, nobody really wants to see all their lifts and runs named numerically. To make this function work, I imagine you guys would need a database or list of potential names for the game to choose from when the player creates a lift or run. Ski runs (in real life) have different naming conventions based on their difficulty, and lifts (also in real life) have different naming conventions based on the lift type (double chair, quad chair, express quad or high-speed quad, and gondola for instance, where I am from in Canada). I think it would be really cool if the game reflected this. To create the database of lift and run names, you guys could even reach out to your audience on Twitter or a Google Poll so we can all help compile the list! You could create different databases for different languages too (English run-names are obviously different from French or German ones), either for different language markets for the game or for different map regions within the game, or both. This function would obviously have to evolve as new types of lifts are added (if that's happening). I could make and email an example of some lift-and-run-naming conventions to explain what I mean a little bit better, it that would help :)
2. From a gameplay graphics perspective, I get that a lot of the current game assets (lifts, etc) are placeholders, but if I had to recommend one easy-ish thing, it would be adding in more trees on the current or future maps. At least where I ski in Canada, our ski resorts tend to be built partially above and below the tree-line. The trails that cut through the forest for runs are very visible characteristics. I think that the game might feel more realistic with denser tree coverage, especially in valleys. I could be wrong, but I don't think this would require making new models and could be performed relatively easily within the existing game.
I have a bunch more ideas (as an avid skier and gamer, I've been waiting for a graphically-advanced game like this to come out for AGES) but I'll leave it at that for now :) aussi, où êtes-vous situés? J'ai vu quelques commentaires en francais, et en premier j'avais pensé quebec...? Mois je viens de Toronto mais je fais du ski chaque année a l'ouest du Canada et parfois dans les cantons de l'est ou Tremblant au Quebec :)
Bonne chance avec tous, et vous êtes fantastiques! J'attends attentivement la prochaine version :)
- Matt