Bill, your ardent support of mobile platforms is admirable but they aren't practical in all circumstances. Consider the following:
1. N3V does not have a track (pun?) record of having "good", stable, reasonably bug-free releases.
2. The full-fat version of Trainz is a highly complex and demanding application.
3. There are games that can be enjoyed, passing time while on the subway. Trainz is not one of those.
4. Developing for multiple platforms detracts from the main effort of both improving TANE and developing NEXT, neither of which is a trivial undertaking. We've already seen what happens when N3V has supposedly focused all its efforts which is early-TANE. Don't think I want to see what happens when they're spread too thin.
5. While there is money to be made in the mobile market, this market is still very much a juvenile and superficial demographic centered around whales, in-app purchases, lootboxes and pay-to-win models, all of which are a cancer to mainstream gaming and not something Trainz fans would like to see infecting our ecosystem anytime soon. We already have DLC and DRM.
6. And finally, Trainz on mobile simply hasn't translated to any noticeable improvement to the ecosystem. If anything, it's made it worse. Just ask anyone who's had to wade through hundreds of - for lack of a better word - utter crap from mobile users on the DLS. Even for the mobile players it's not much of an experience either. Content has to be extremely optimized and hence restricted, performance and graphics are mediocre. Why do you think the majority of threads from mobile users are asking for this route or that train? Because you don't just plonk an Ocemy engine or JR's Coal Country on a four-inch Android and expect it to run anything close to decent if at all. All you end up with at the end of the day is an uninspiring train driver and a flat battery.
N3V will do good, at least in the near future, to avoid significant investment of time or money on mobile platforms.
1. N3V does not have a track (pun?) record of having "good", stable, reasonably bug-free releases.
2. The full-fat version of Trainz is a highly complex and demanding application.
3. There are games that can be enjoyed, passing time while on the subway. Trainz is not one of those.
4. Developing for multiple platforms detracts from the main effort of both improving TANE and developing NEXT, neither of which is a trivial undertaking. We've already seen what happens when N3V has supposedly focused all its efforts which is early-TANE. Don't think I want to see what happens when they're spread too thin.
5. While there is money to be made in the mobile market, this market is still very much a juvenile and superficial demographic centered around whales, in-app purchases, lootboxes and pay-to-win models, all of which are a cancer to mainstream gaming and not something Trainz fans would like to see infecting our ecosystem anytime soon. We already have DLC and DRM.
6. And finally, Trainz on mobile simply hasn't translated to any noticeable improvement to the ecosystem. If anything, it's made it worse. Just ask anyone who's had to wade through hundreds of - for lack of a better word - utter crap from mobile users on the DLS. Even for the mobile players it's not much of an experience either. Content has to be extremely optimized and hence restricted, performance and graphics are mediocre. Why do you think the majority of threads from mobile users are asking for this route or that train? Because you don't just plonk an Ocemy engine or JR's Coal Country on a four-inch Android and expect it to run anything close to decent if at all. All you end up with at the end of the day is an uninspiring train driver and a flat battery.
N3V will do good, at least in the near future, to avoid significant investment of time or money on mobile platforms.
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