Collector post for off-topic posts to: Can you guess the next key feature for Trainz?

n3vpolsen

Administrator
This thread is a collection of the off-topic posts moved from the main thread which asked specifically for KEY FEATURES. Many of these items raised are better described as "fixes" and are not things that can be plastered on a billboard for advertising or used as the "MAIN REASON" for users to be excited about or to buy the next product.

I am sure some people will be upset that their post was moved, but please reconsider the topic and if you would like to re-post in the original thread, do so by remaining on topic.
 
I have some guesses!

1. Update the passenger load to have realistic people walking into the passenger cars like how Dovetail Games does with Train Simulator 2016 (or Railworks).
2. Allow routes that are merged into mega routes to each keep their original geographical region.
3. Add a moon to the night sky for a realistic night time effect.
 
A version that will work on ATI cards without heating it to 100C, even in TS12 mode (and that actually looks like a 2016 game).

But with the serious hat on, proper scenario or activity editor along the lines of MSTS or TS20xx.
 
Concentrate on fixing the CORE FUNCTIONS that have been neglected. Such as fixing all the Driver setup and Driver character scripts which are stuffing up the Driver functionality. Fix up the save function so it actually saves, I have had so many track and road spline repairs only for them to disappear after saving and leaving missing items scattered all over the map. Fix up the SHADOWS so it stops stuttering at random places on map. Fix up CAB SWAY in internal view so it doesn't cause a drop/jump going thru level crossings(I have gone back to PEV's swaying, I find it better).
 
Having just brought T:ANE. I was frankly disappointed. There was so much cheering in the streets and lots of "trainers" involved that it is a bit of a let down. The things I would like to see are:
Make it more user friendly or marked share will fall.
Get rid of any route that needs payware
Remove all routes like those in TS12 that when downloaded look like a 5 year old put them together. Are routes checked before being added to the DLS, I don't think so. They should be removed.
Check routes work, Kings Cross has errors at Skegness that are still not fixed. Spent months putting it right in TS12 so will now add to T:ANE for my own use.
Listen to the customers, although some of them are not as enlightened as they seem to be. There are some very good "Trainers" out there.

As I thought there is likely to be a massive number of comments on the Forum just like TS12. In theory there should just be a reasonable number.
This was a big chance to get it wright as it is a new ERA but it could fall at the first fence. Which would be a shame.
 
Can you guess the next key feature for Trainz?

No, I don't believe I can.

I would hope that it will be moderate and achievable. Actually I shouldn't have to guess it should be the most voted for stretch goal from the KickStarter.
 
Actually I shouldn't have to guess it should be the most voted for stretch goal from the KickStarter.

That surely would only apply if the Stretch Goal target for funding was achieved (which it wasn't). If the money was raised for any Stretch Goal then we would be obligated to deliver the feature (as we did with the 4th goal which was achieved 4 months after the cut-off date for funding). Since the supporters did not provide the funding, the obligation ends.

Taken to the logical conclusion of your philosophy, because we listed something as a Stretch Goal, until Goal #25 was completed, no new concepts could be attempted for a product that clearly is being developed subsequent to the delivery of the "TANE" Kickstarter campaign.

It concerns me that we are meant to be discussing something new and exciting and people are dwelling on the past. Everyone appears so focused on their "one thing" that must be fixed/implemented while ignoring the commercial reality that wages, servers and other costs need to be paid.

That said, we are cognizant of the order of Stretch Goals and also how close the order of the voting was. We are also looking at the best way we believe we can generate the revenues to provide people with everything being discussed here and more - but in the order of what makes the best commercial sense.

The items listed above are NOT off the list, but they are not the KEY FEATURES that will drive customers and revenues. They are important and they will be fixed, given time and funding to do so. We have come a long way in the past two years and we will travel a lot further in the next two. Hopefully people will begin to realize that helping us generate new customers is something they can all do by getting behind us, while driving customers away ultimately ensures their Trainz dreams will not be fulfilled.
 
EDIT: What's the point of guessing this new key feature, if the attempt is going to be "Off-Topic?"
 
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Still miss the old Content Manager, so form of upgrade to this with similar functionality to Trainz 2010/12 would be good.
 
That said, we are cognizant of the order of Stretch Goals and also how close the order of the voting was. We are also looking at the best way we believe we can generate the revenues to provide people with everything being discussed here and more - but in the order of what makes the best commercial sense.

That is what you call commercial reality. Other requests are commercial risk. The key is to balance the two. :eek:
 
It concerns me that we are meant to be discussing something new and exciting and people are dwelling on the past. Everyone appears so focused on their "one thing" that must be fixed/implemented while ignoring the commercial reality that wages, servers and other costs need to be paid.
I think what people are really dwelling on is the present, not the past, the past is TS12, the present is TANE. You might have moved past it, but we are the ones currently using it. Of course everyone is focused on having a solid working programme, its what they have paid for, they haven't got it yet.


If you want people to help promote your product to generate sales for you, then deliver something worth ranting about. Currently I wouldn't recommend TANE to anyone, graphically, its pretty, but functionality, usability and stability, its got a way to go. SP1 is an improvement from what I have seen so far, its what the original release should have been like but the damage has already been done. When you advertise that there are over 500 bug and crash fixes in the service pack, that is a clear signal TANE should never have been released to the general population to begin with in my opinion.
 
I absolutely agree - and that balancing act is a tricky one indeed. It is very easy to complain about an issue but a very different thing developing a strategy that meets short, medium and long term commercial goals (i.e. "pays the wages today and provides a revenue stream to develop future products that will pay the wages in the future). If everyone who really wanted Trainz to succeed got out there and spread the word about the potential of what could be created, we would get more customers, creating a larger revenue base, leading to more staff and more features being added more quickly.

The opposite is also true. From the latest newsletter, I have been reading survey response about people concerned about even trying TANE because of reports they have read on these forums. Their money is still in their pocket which is reducing our capacity to add the features you all would like to see.

The cycle can be self-perpetuating in a cycle one way or the other. SP1 has noticeably turned things around, but there is plenty more work to be done. With the support of our community, we will make greater strides forward. With negativity from the community, the problems are more likely to grow than be resolved.
 
You just came out with tane. Yet here you are moving on the next one. Atleast use something like Unreal Engine 4 this time. Honestly, if you use it, transfer all the functions of ts12 and tane. Youd have a badass game with great features and accessibility that would put you above the rest. Especially with content creation and surveyor. But, thats all on you to decide. I honestly think tane should be finished first.
 
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Rather than an SP2 I wish they's get it right the first time, before they release it. I paid for Tane then I had to pay $25 more for SP1. I can't download due to my rural slow internet connection. It would have taken 8 hours to download SP1.
 
iannz - our posts crossed, so I will answer yours here.

Please check how many bugs were fixed in the latest Microsoft or Apple update (or Steam or 1,000 other software programs). The reality is that software has bugs, some minor, some major. Under your utopian concept of not releasing TANE until it is bug free (and by the sounds of it, that means not even releasing it today) then there would be no TANE at all. Our doors would be shut, and you would all be elsewhere since these forums, the DLS and any Trainz support would not exist - those are the commercial facts. We are not announcing that we are abandoning TANE development (read the news release - it heads the list) and we will continue improving the foundations we have laid.

The question is which strategy would you prefer? Our current path - a future that is currently looking bright (with a profitable company planning future releases), or a past that includes an obituary to N3VGames which would have closed down while trying to attain the impossible dream of a bug-free release?

Thankfully, (even though the people on these forums may not believe me since I am often accused of lying when I present the commercial facts that don't match people's pre-conceived notions) TANE is selling really well. Our mobile division is also doing really well with Trainz Driver Journeys adding significantly to our iOS revenues. Not only that, the recent survey that several hundred people have completed indicates that TANE is their favourite version of Trainz ever (sure there is a bias there, but the point is, lots of people are very happy).

Would we love to have released TANE SP1 a year ago? For sure! Did we choose to keep it under our pillow until the time was right? Of course not.

We worked as hard as we could with the resources we had, and that is our ongoing strategy from here on (but now with a smaller, but far more sustainable team). We don't sit around twiddling our thumbs and ignoring the feedback. Our goal is to achieve everything on the lists above and far more. The best method to achieving that goal is to either wait a long time or to generate more sales, increase staff numbers and achieve the goals quicker.
 
Rather than an SP2 I wish they's get it right the first time, before they release it. I paid for Tane then I had to pay $25 more for SP1. I can't download due to my rural slow internet connection. It would have taken 8 hours to download SP1.

It takes me 10-12 hours to download in the city, which means it's done by morning. Of course the disks will take even longer (and cost more as you say).
 
I left last year when I saw TANE going steadily down hill and out of sight into a dark tunnel, and now I have been reading some of these comments.
It looks to me that I had made the right decision, how the news letter has the nerve to say that TANE is the best peoples choice, with a strait face, I will never know. You don't even have the fundamentals working correctly.
 
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