I am so remaking this for my next project
Community Forums/Technical Discourse/I am so remaking this for my next project
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| A c64 (the 2x1 pixel aspect look) style I think will be fun. I might expand it with different locations, weather, maybe a world map or a grand tour mode where you travel the world earning train-miles to save-up to buy a new thermos. Maybe even a super secret Dwayne Dibbly character unlock. It's train spotting got to jazz it up some how. On researching this game I also turned up some Blitzbasic related gossip Eight years later in 2003, a PC games company called Demon Star released another train spotting simulator, called Train Tracking. The company claimed their game was the first ever train spotting simulator, although the gameplay is nearly identical to Sensible Train Spotting. British game journalist and former Sensible Software employee Stuart Campbell reacted to this by buying a fully registered copy of Train Tracker and making it freely downloadable from his web site, daring Demon Star to take legal action. Traintracking was a game I saw floating around Blitzbasic forums at the time. Cant help but feel Sensisoft (who stopped trading at this point) were pulling a Nintendo in regards to claiming ownership. |
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| I love the humour -> WELL DONE MY SAD FRIEND This would make for a good mobile game. I reckon a lot of sillyness can be applied to this type of game: 1. Hidden easter egg animations (like those in IK+) 2. Random events like train surfers, people walking by on the platform. 3. That character on the bench needs to misbehave. 4. Some of the passengers in the windows should be getting up to shenanigans |
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| I love the humour -> WELL DONE MY SAD FRIEND Yes lol. Time up sad man, and a slurp from his thermos after each round. Well you could make the scrolling smoother for one, it's surprisingly jerky for an Amiga game. There is no animation, so dancing sheep and singing cows in the freight cars. Maybe one of the passengers 'mooning' at you lol. Lots of possibilities there. |
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| Oh yes !! Maybe steam outline by regions ?? I'm stunned, such a game really exists ? Have fun and wrap up warm cps.. |
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| WELL DONE MY SAD FRIEND! in the green anorak, takes another shlurp of black tea. Couldn't believe the video was eleven minutes long, until I watched until card 3, the tension was palpable. Maybe spruce it up with some Virgin trains..... |
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| I remember Demon Star's version of the game. I helped design some of the levels. Hard to believe that was THIRTEEN years ago... My how time flies. :/ |
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| I really like the stuart vs Demon star saga, not quite as good as Jim Sterling vs. digihom. If I do remake I'll have to put some resferences to Seni\Stuart and Dmeon star, maybe logo's on trains. |
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| That is awesome! LOL. Was this a real commercial game? I had an Amiga BITD day and I don't remember this at all. A remake could be much improved, but still keep the anorak factor just right! Keep us posted! :D |
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| I remember hearing that this game existed but I thought it was on a PD disk rather than commercial. |
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| Was this a real commercial game? Sensible created a game called Sensible Trainspotting, a fun simulation of the bizarre anorak's pastime to be given away for free on the coverdisk of games magazine Amiga Power. It was Sensible's last original game, and was intended as a little "thank-you" farewell gift to the company's many fans. |
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| Eight years later in 2003, a PC games company called Demon Star released another train spotting simulator, called Train Tracking. The company claimed their game was the first ever train spotting simulator, although the gameplay is nearly identical to Sensible Train Spotting. British game journalist and former Sensible Software employee Stuart Campbell reacted to this by buying a fully registered copy of Train Tracker and making it freely downloadable from his web site, daring Demon Star to take legal action. http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/ripoff.htm |
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| Yep, that's where I got my quote :) |
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| Had a few hours spare today so did a quick pass on this, remade the graphics to 2x1 pixel look (c64 style), setup 3 tracks with randomly generated trains and random lengths and carriage types. Looks a little jerky as a 30FPS gif.  |
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| That looks excellent - really looking forward to seeing what you do with it... |
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| :D All board! |
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| . |
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| Probably won't cost you a weeks wages to get on one, either. |
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| It's coming along, at this stage probably should not have spent more time pimping the trains and added a coal wagon train than coding. Looks a little jerky as a 30FPS gif.  |
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| Coming along nicely :) |
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| Here's a thought for you. in essence a trains number if made of two parts AABBB where AA is the engine type and BBB is the actual number check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Rail_modern_traction_locomotive_classes for better lust with pics of loco, color ,etc |
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| @Adam - I think AABBB is a good idea, I am struggling with the font I used to fit 5 characters but I'll work that out. I was also considering instead of letters & numbers to have coloured symbols, triangle, square, circle, cross but I might add that a different mode for the console exclusive PS4 release, after all they seem to releasing any only crap on that now. Up next is to add some scenes to the passenger train windows - nothing too rude ofc. |
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| I've never heard of this game but it's a neat idea and the gfx look nice. Only, the real fun is all about the relaxing part, as soon as it gets stressful, the fun is over (like with real train travelling). |
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| More or less up to the Amiga version in play-ability now, just need to balance the round times, train frequency etc. What left to do; * Title screen * Win/Lose screens\popup window * More train types * More backgrounds * Fancy up the platforms with some poles, benches etc. * Sound What I might do; * Add weather effects * Add people\litter on the platforms * Add a map of the UK with dozens of train stations, like a Mario 1 over-world where they're linked, choose a station complete it and unlock the adjoining ones, goal = to complete all stations. I am also toying with the idea to apply a filter to the images to give it a less pixel look. filtered  normal  |
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| Awesome stuff. Please make sure that you add an animal wagon train too. |
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| I kind of like the unfiltered look as it makes it more retro (IMO) so would prefer (if possible) a filter being optional in-game. Looking quite excellent so far. |
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| It's looking good :) But for me the numbers/letters aren't as clear as they need to be - especially filtered. |
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| Unfiltered look is better imo. Excellent stuff! |
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| Yep, I too prefer the retro/unfiltered look. I like the sound of the UK stations/world idea; helps to keep interest and motivation up. :) |
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| @Steve E - I am likely to change the font as it doesn't have any lower case letters. I'll probably use the C64 font or a nes font of some kind. |
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| I have lost enthusiasm for this project (not worked on it for weeks) so I plan to wrap it up this weekend, game play will be identical to the Amiga version. I'll post again when it's up on my itch.io |
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| I have lost enthusiasm for this project This is probably my biggest problem with programming. I get driven with a new idea and code for hours and days. But as soon as the project is no longer new and fresh, I tend to loose all motivation and start on my next great idea. I have several half finished projects that I want to get back on, but never do. I did find out that itch.io has a bunch of contests they call code jams. I joined one a couple of days ago, hopefully it will keep me motivated enough to finish. Don't know if I'll make it as I signed up half way through the contest. |
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| yep I can vouch for itch.io game jams. They give you a final date to get as much as possible done and in a playable form. I've got my eye on one at the moment, and have 12 days to finish. Been it is 1 so far! |
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| This is probably my biggest problem with programming. I get driven with a new idea and code for hours and days. But as soon as the project is no longer new and fresh, I tend to loose all motivation and start on my next great idea. Preaching to the choir - the moment I come to the point of the "usual polish" sounds, menus etc. my energy drops. As you can see didn't get it down this weekend but... soon™ Been meaning to get on board a game-jam... soon™ |
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