[WIP] Game like Locomotion but without as many limits

[Killianbass3]

Hello one and all, its me Zane and I am about to forgo a monumental task building, from scratch, a game like Locomotion. You all may ask if i have any skills at programming the answer is no, but I've signed a contract with a person who can and what they will be doing is teaching me how to do such work and in return ill help him with his AI named Ian. So with that being said i will add that i will have to use Locomotion's .exe as a guideline to see what all is entailed in such a game and WILL NOT be making a copy of the game. As I have come to know I can use the original dat set within Locomotion and freely distribute it for free that means that most of the graphics are done. Some of the graphics have to be changed such as the GUI(The in-game interface) for the purpose of it not resembling the game too much. Now for the most important part from you the players what things should be changed from what Locomotion has done wrong?



For now I hope that all goes swell.
Zane

[Walter1940]

I am since November 2006 in the forums. In all the years many had the idea to build a "new" Locomotion. But it requires not only a good programmer, but also a lot of money. Because someone has to pay it all. You also need a lot of free time. But who has it all? And do you really think that a game like Locomotion can be sold again today? Today will be provided by the buyers and players other requirements. 3D, other graphic details and more.

For several years now, a team in Switzerland is working on a new game. It looks not bad. It is at the level where it would buy young and older players. I think. It's called "TrainFever". http://www.train-fever.com/ Whether that may be a sequel to Locomotion remains to be seen. But it's better than nothing. (This game can not drive the vehicles of locomotion.)

I wish you good luck for your project. But now I stay realistic. It will go down as the dozens of attempts before you. Many have suggested a restart. But again there is a lack of programmers and / or money. I would not go as bad, but we remain realistic. Alone can not you it and others can not or will not.

[Alberth]

Hello one and all, its me Zane and I am about to forgo a monumental task building, from scratch, a game like Locomotion. You all may ask if i have any skills at programming the answer is no.

ok, may I suggest that you first learn to program, and tinker for a year or two in an open source project? OpenTTD would be an obvious candidate, but really, anything simulation with real-time movement will be fine. It doesn't have to be transport related. You'll want something in the language you learned. It will give you a better understanding of how these programs work internally, and how version control systems, issue trackers, project management, and releases work. Also, you'll find out if you can really work out how to solve a problem yourself.

Now for the most important part from you the players what things should be changed from what Locomotion has done wrong?

You're ahead of yourself by about 7-10 years. You don't want more features, you want less. Locomotion was a 4th generation game. CS started with TTD, then RCT1, then RCT2, and then Lomo, and he knew how to program. I have been working at FreeRCT for nearly 4 years every weekend, and often in the evening during the week as well. I know how to program, but FreeRCT isn't a game yet.

Don't aim for glorious features until you can walk. Don't try to walk before you can crawl. Don't crawl until you can sit. In other words, first aim at something that works, then at something that you can call a game, and then much much later, add nice features.

[glenjimen]

a monumental task building, from scratch, a game like Locomotion.

This is basically what Smallfly is doing; building P1SIM. (It's even on this forum!)

I agree with Walter1940, start small and consider what resources you have (money, time, experience, ect.)

I like your enthusiasm!

[doxlulzem]

FREEDOM OF MODDING
Patching. Being able to make NEW forms of signals, not just reskins. Improved interface. Drag-and-Drop stations and rail/road like in TTD. Canals. Aqueducts. Better bridges (I hate the brick bridge). More vehicles. No item limits in scenario editor. Not a square form of scenario generation. Better, simpler industires without long, complicated chains that have workers and stuff that have no definite starting and ending points (YETI and FIRS I'm looking at you). Better planes. Bigger maps. More ships. More realistic scale.
That's a couple of ideas...

[andythenorth]

Also ponies.

[doxlulzem]

Also ponies.

YES
Ponies
And maybe some older vehicles

[maquinista]

Hello one and all, its me Zane and I am about to forgo a monumental task building, from scratch, a game like Locomotion. You all may ask if i have any skills at programming the answer is no, but I've signed a contract with a person who can and what they will be doing is teaching me how to do such work and in return ill help him with his AI named Ian. So with that being said i will add that i will have to use Locomotion's .exe as a guideline to see what all is entailed in such a game and WILL NOT be making a copy of the game. As I have come to know I can use the original dat set within Locomotion and freely distribute it for free that means that most of the graphics are done. Some of the graphics have to be changed such as the GUI(The in-game interface) for the purpose of it not resembling the game too much. Now for the most important part from you the players what things should be changed from what Locomotion has done wrong?



For now I hope that all goes swell.
Zane

Maybe You can star from FreeRCT:
http://www.freerct.org/

It's a game based on RCT, so there are parts of the code that could be shared.

The problem at this moment is that they doesn't know how to manage multi tile elements (a roller coaster loop or a curve), but You can implement roads and tramways now modifying some parts of the code.

Also, OpenTTD could have useful code for path finding or city development.

[Alberth]

The problem at this moment is that they doesn't know how to manage multi tile elements (a roller coaster loop or a curve)

False, coasters support multi-tile track pieces already, we just don't have multi-tile graphics to go with that.

Edit: Or rather, multiple single-ish tile graphics, as drawing is performed in single tiles.

[PhiliThunder]

Also ponies.

YES
Ponies
And maybe some older vehicles

Yes it would be great with som older vehicles and ponies.
locomotion cant be earlier than 1900.