One hit wonder.

The "spiritual sequel" to Transport Tycoon Deluxe: Chris Sawyer's Locomotion is the latest game from him - general discussion about it here please!

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eobet
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Post by eobet »

I just did this quick mock-up, too see if it would work, and I think that it does. This is an octagon grid. It creates small squares between the main tiles, but I believe that this is of little concern, as only diagonal rails & roads run through them.

Elevation might require a lot of graphics, but then again, the landscape could be 3D. Heck, I wouldn't even mind if he retained the old 2D tiles, but had track and road laying separated from the grid, with more flexible elevation and turns (imagine high speed turns for trains).

Mr. Sawyer has had years to come up with something new. The fact that he didn't makes me stand by my claim: He is a one-hit-wonder.
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Post by Born Acorn »

Hes been developing this game sincebefore RCT, he just tried rollercoasters on this TTD2 engine and enjoyed the result. after rct he started working on this again.

P.S it has corners going uphill, meaning uphill spirals are possible. but to overcome this, the 'to high for supports' message would probably pop-up
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Post by JamesM »

eobet wrote:He is a one-hit-wonder.
You obviously have a very limited understanding of the term 'one hit wonder'. :roll:
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Post by Tyrell »

I'm having somewhat the same concerns as eobet when it comes to the (still unknow) gameplay of Locomotion.

For all I know, CS has made two games, or to be a little more accurate,
he has made two game series. (TT & RCT)
Despite the fact that those where really good games, its still a low number.
(not taking in account the games that used CS skill's in assembly programming,
as these concerns are about game play, and not about the programming part of them)

However, on the other hand.
The fact that CS has put more long turn effort into his games than most other game makers is a good thing.
(to many times game makers leave the game for what it is after releasing it, bug invested or not.
To leave for the other side of the hill.)

The CS problem is ... the high expectations of TD fan's that have waited for this for decades. ;)

Taking in account that he did not really liked TD-Patch, or what it did for/to the game play.
I think its better to look at Locomotion as a new transportation game and take it from there.
Instead of looking at it as the a follow up, or major improvement over the TDD serie.

(No way he is going to beat TTD+Patch, simply because its unbeatable ;) ... and he is not trying to do so.)
(mmm, that remind me of something. think OpenTDD should be called OpenTDDPatch) ;)

Time will tell ... if your willing to wait for it.
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Post by lobster »

if Locomotion would be fancy 3D-Mapping-Voodoo-UnrealTournament-like graphically, i would probably hate it. it's the old school feel that makes it touchy. f*** new games, gimme old school.
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Post by Da_Imp »

You know what's odd? Ppl refer to TTDX and RCT as one and the same game, although the engines are really different, just like the gameplay. If we take a look at the Quake series, the engine differs (every other quake version) but the gameplay is (almost) identical. Even games like UT2004 are practically "point and fire" games. And nobody complains! As soon as a game like TTDX gets a facelift ppl start to complain. Which is odd considering the amount of info on locomotion available... Perhaps the GFX are a bit disappointing but that doesnt mean it cant be fun and Mr. Sawyer is a one hit wonder... I mean, Duke3D's gfx suck but it still beats the living hell outta most modern 3D shooters :)

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Post by hatebreed »

I think it was more like "I'm here to kick ass and chew..." 8)
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Post by Da_Imp »

Heh you're right... My memory's a bit rusty nowadays :)
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Re: One hit wonder.

Post by hatebreed »

eobet wrote:I am afraid that Mr. Sawyer might be a one hit wonder.
Personally I don't see that as a bad thing. The way I see it is that every one of his games (since Transport Tycoon, since I don't know his previous ones) is just a piece of his one hit wonder. So, for me, and I'm sure for others too, his hit hasn't finished with the release of TTD, but continued until now. And about Locomotion, I guess we'll see after it launches if it's part of his continuous hit or not.
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Post by jomohke »

You do realise he programs this all by himself, don't you? Not to mention that he uses assembly.

That means the development team behind openttd is bigger than locomotion, and they are using an easier language to program with.

I can certainly say that I respect what he does.

It seems as though he is quite an asm devotee, and if that is the case you should add 10 years to the development time if you expect him to code a whole new "modern" graphics engine in asm. Remember, he has been tweaking this current engine for a decade now, and it would be a huge effort to start a whole new one from scratch, so he's exploring everything he can with this engine, pushing it to it's limits. Are there any other modern games still written completely in asm?

Once a common occourance, it is now fairly rare to see an independant/lone developer who gets their games on all the game shelves around the world. Rollercoaster tycoon sold incredibly well.

To achieve all of this programming solo in asm, I would not call him a one hit wonder, just someone whose development style limits him severely of time and thus the capability to explore many areas of gaming.

;)
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Post by Korenn »

jomohke wrote:Are there any other modern games still written completely in asm?
nope. none whatsoever. which probably has a reason.
asm is perfect for programming (parts of) operating systems and embedded processors and the like, but hasn't been for games for years now...
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Post by Bart »

...you missed out a part

Most games need to be written fast, and for multiple platforms... which makes it logical to write it in a common language such as C or alikes.
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Post by eobet »

Regarding the assembly bit, yeah, I have massive respect for him doing the game all on his own.

However, it has been shown that most modern C/C++ compilers are just as fast (and sometimes faster) than hand written Assembly (they can do scheduling, packaing and cache tricks which are extremely difficult to calculate by hand).

Also, I believe (though I could be wrong) writing the game in Assembler means that next year, or the year after, when 64-bit architecture becomes mainstream, we won't be able to run the game.

Time for a OpenLocomotion then, perhaps? :)

Of, if he uses the same GRF format, perhaps we can mod the graphics and touch them up a bit for him?

I still think he should have innovated a bit more.
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Post by Bart »

eobet wrote:Regarding the assembly bit, yeah, I have massive respect for him doing the game all on his own.

However, it has been shown that most modern C/C++ compilers are just as fast (and sometimes faster) than hand written Assembly (they can do scheduling, packaing and cache tricks which are extremely difficult to calculate by hand).

Also, I believe (though I could be wrong) writing the game in Assembler means that next year, or the year after, when 64-bit architecture becomes mainstream, we won't be able to run the game.

Time for a OpenLocomotion then, perhaps? :)

Of, if he uses the same GRF format, perhaps we can mod the graphics and touch them up a bit for him?

I still think he should have innovated a bit more.
Well, that funny little house you did, looks a lot more attractive then anything seen on those 6 screenies so far :D
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