Prototype, inspired by or fantasy?

[martinvk]

As I build my route, using Google Earth as a guide, I was wondering how close do you have to be for a route to be considered prototype? Or from the other side, how far can you deviate from the real thing and still be considered prototype? And once you leave prototype territory, how long does "inspired by" last until a route becomes fantasy?

I realize that you can never get every rock and twig exact in but are there any generally agreed upon conventions for this sort of thing? It is after all a Simulator so we are just simulating the real thing, not copying every rivet and tree.

 

[magickmaker]

It's a good question, but it doesn't always have a good answer.

On one hand, some people might say that Inspired by stops the moment you change something.

On the other, they might say that as long as you have the feel of the route, then you're good to go.

I think that it's really up to you. If for example you take a route that did exist, let's say for argument's sake, Central of Georgia and say that Southern never got its fingers on it; modeling the route thusly, then yeah, it's pure fantasy.

However if you take the same route, and say it was inspired by the actual line, but keep it in the feel of Southern and its operations, then it's a different beast entirely. Even if some of the sidings or switches don't match up.

 

[gisa]

Yeah this is a tough one.

I guess that in the end it's up to you in how prototypical YOU feel it is. Someone who is really working hard to try to make it prototypical will probably be one of the very few trainzers who knows what should be where. Sometimes this is important and sometimes not.

In the end, most of what we do is sitting in the cab so you could argue it doesn't have to be perfect but if you like taking screenshots that requires more depth which means more accuracy is required. It's even worse when you get cumulative measuring mistakes (I did this in the last route I released).

I think if you feel that it is genuine then you can call it that. The community can decide the rest but yeah this is obviously a simulator and I don't think it's possible to 100% duplicate what has been done anywhere (hence that would be cloning reality right? :hehe: ).

I personally try to get most/all the buildings I can in the right spot and when I can't, I make a compromise here or there. If I've made measuring mistakes, I try to compensate in ways that should not be so noticeable to the average user. I think that, if in the end, someone who drives along it feels like it is the real deal, then we've succeeded!

My 2 cents...

:wave:

Gisa ^^

 

[Driver_Col]

I would suggest that there no "black and white" answers as they are going to be subjective. From my perspective:

Protypical - An attempt at the real thing. It happened.

Inspired By - The real thing with some creativity. It could have happened but not likely.

Fantasy - Totally imaginative. It did not happen.

Trying to fine tune definitions for these will never get concensus. My idea of prototypical is that it must have a realistic feel of the original. i.e. I could almost be convinced that I am there! I do not need to count rivets, check the position of trees, or even the buildings on the station approaches. However, I do expect to see rivets, trees, and have buildings of a similar nature on the station approaches.

It was an interesting question!

Regards. Colin.

 

[stagecoachdriverdave]

Pretty much all of my routes are inspired by prototypes, but go no closer to reality than that. If I have been inspired by a certain station I will usually create something that looks similar but done my own way, and name it as such. For instance my route inspired by the Lymington branch in Hampshire looks nothing like the real thing (and isn't supposed to) but includes some hallmarks of it such as; a main line connection, town station and Pier station - Named the Lymehurst Branch (Lymington/Brockenhurst combined).

Matt S