impressions – Train Fever Official Website (archived) Sat, 06 Sep 2014 16:58:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 First Impressions… suggested improvements (long post alert!) /forums/topic/first-impressions-suggested-improvements-long-post-alert/ Sat, 06 Sep 2014 16:58:40 +0000 /forums/topic/first-impressions-suggested-improvements-long-post-alert/ Continue reading ]]> So I thought I’d leave some feedback on here as so many others have done.
 Firstly I want to congratulate the devs on potentially making something amazing that could last for years, especially with mod packs etc… for a 3 man team you guys have done a fantastic job, please keep it up to make this fantastic game even better. The detail on the trains is incredible

 I gave the game a good 6 hours of gameplay last night and noted down some things that I think could use an improvement, some of them may already have been noted but I’ll list them anyway. I’ve split them into game play and graphics / aesthetic sugggestions;

 Gameplay

  •    Introduce inflation into the game, both in revenue and costs. Things should cost the same in 1850 as they do in 1950

·         Give people names instead of numbers

·         Zoom to mouse cursor rather than center of screen

·         Fix switches, the way they function right now is so clunky and disorganised. For example in the screenshot below, I just could not get the track to come out of the depot and snap parallel to the line when the cursor. It would not join the line either

·     Allow replacement of vehicles from vehicle window. An idea of how to do this would be to select the item you want to upgrade, then select what to replace it with from a pop up menu, then it automatically goes to the depot, replaces, and returns to service. In the case of trains allow all cars to be replaced at once, or just the engine, select cars. Possibly have the option of removing cars)

·         Have the option of buying cars in a depot and them assigning them to a train, this would call the train into the depot, add the cars and send it on its way

·         Make objects in depots draggable rather than having to click on the arrows to move them around. Also with the move / sell icons, make them stay in one place rather than realigning with every item you move / sell

·         When sending a train to the depot, receive a notification when it arrives there

·         Edge scrolling while dragging road / track

·         Speed limits for dirt tracks / roads

·         Road vehicles wait at track crossings

·         Vehicle preview window should not open automatically, but should be an option. Having a visual preview of 10 vehicles you have just built makes the game laggy

·         Depot should be able to hold wagons and not become a train until you add an engine

·         More information on how payments gets calculated

·         An option to allow trains to crash if you don’t plan signals correctly

·         Track building really needs an overhaul. Having to build each section before moving on to the next really doesn’t work. You should be able to plan out the whole line using click as a waypoint, then build at once when you are done. This would prevent so many holes / ridges in the terrain from building to a certain point then demolishing after realising you are unable to continue

·         Ability to select a number of vehicles in a depot and assign them to a line, rather than all of them

·         Industries are built randomly, existing industries close if they are not serviced. New towns founded occasionaly

·         In View Lines Window have heading clickable to arrange by that column

·         In View Lines window lines should be ordered 1,2,3,4, not 1,11,12,13…. 2,21,22

·         Spacing doesn’t seem to work correctly, it looks like there can only be a maximum space between vehicles rather than them being spaced over the entirety of their line. This is possibly only noticeable over longer lines (can provide a savegame as an example of this if necessary)

·         Passengers should unload and load simultaneously

 
 Aesthetics

·         Trains go all the way into depots instead of stopping and disappearing

·         Drivers for open fronted vehicles

·         Level crossing sounds

·         Camera Panning to be locked to direction of train instead of facing in on direction. You should be able to rotate the camera to view the train, then click to center it on the forward direction again

·         I personally the ‘Aww yeah’ really annoying, I don’t know why it just sounds cheesy

·         Notification should be black & White before certain date

·         Goods to be displaying in weight volume and not simple units, adds more realism

·         Allow station to be built on a gradient rather than cutting out landscape so harshly

·         Dual track station with platform in the middle

·         Dirt Road crossing looks terrible 

·         Player contrasted bridges don’t render when zoomed out past a certain level

 

·         There seems to be border around the edge of the screen beyond which trains aren’t rendered, look really cheap

·         Train doors should only open on platform side 

·         Goods wagon doors don’t open when loading / unloading

·         Instead of highlighting vehicles / stations / depots when hovering over them, have the mouse cursor change instead. I think it ruins the beautiful views when everything selectable gets highlighted in white. Again this could be an option for those who prefer it the current way

Sorry for the huge post, just throwing ideas for improvements out there along with everyone else. Once again I’m really impressed with this game and think it can only get better 😀

Rick

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Release Impressions /forums/topic/release-impressions/ Thu, 04 Sep 2014 21:05:30 +0000 /forums/topic/release-impressions/ Continue reading ]]> in order of significance:

0. inacceptable/engine
0a) 250MB Savegames
0b) cant choose directory
0c) no rolling Autosave
0d) small preview window for selected vehicle leads to massive stuttering, totally unnecessary, then just get rid of it!!!11eleven

1. Newbie-friendliness
1a) Pseudo-Tutorial
1b) Pseudo-Handbuch

2. Usability
2a) no planning function, no undo
2b) every vehicle has to be replaced manually!
2c) no dual track laying
2d) no upgrades eg of train stations possible
2e) cant reserve areas for future use
2f) UI is just a flood of windows
2g) no comparison of properties when buying vehicles
2h) laying tracks is much less user friendly than necessary

3. Gameplay
3a) no level track crossings
3b) freight/passengers are strictly separate, no post
3c) every train station has this front building prepositioned, so no real terminal stations (Simutrans)
3d) crucial options are not moddable via txt file (Simutrans/OTTD)

4. Ambience
4a) background music
4b) green suburb grass, everywhere

The most massive problems exist in the most important fields, especially for usability, this is incomprehensible.

Overall, the game is in Open Beta. Open Beta/early Access is great, but if you sell this game as “released” in the current form, you earned yourself the bad steam reviews.

In development and especially in the release phase a person was missing, who has the experience and overview to see those issues and prioritize them, to the point of no releasing in this state or changing to open beta. A typical engineers project, where money was saved by not hiring seemingly “unproductive”/non technical staff.

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