Won't Chuggington dominate this market? They have some online games on their web site at the moment, and a few months ago they were doing a public beta of a downloadable game.
John
John
Tiny Trainz
- Thread starter JRT
- Start date
There is no comparison between Fury and Tiny Trainz, Fury had to be coded from line 1, the code is already done for Tiny Trainz and quite capable of this kind of thing, MyVirtualHome uses the Jet engine for their 3D home design program and this looks like a combination of the two 
As an aside Greg Lane is the Chief Technology Officer of MyVirtualHome :hehe: :hehe: http://mvh.com.au/portal/index.php
Cheers David
As an aside Greg Lane is the Chief Technology Officer of MyVirtualHome :hehe: :hehe: http://mvh.com.au/portal/index.php
Cheers David
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Pommie is the only person who's possibly come close to the reality of it all in this massive and quickly festering thread.
Have any of you ever considered that the folks at Auran may not have lifted a single finger to create Tiny Trainz? Maybe it's the work of a third party, and N3V and or Auran have decided to market it under the "Trainz" banner?
Many marketing companies are constantly on the lookout for ways of making more money by doing less work. This program could easily have been developed in China where I understand one of the Directors of N3V or Auran resides.
It may well use the JET engine, which as Pommie points out, is also being used for MyVirtualHome, a brilliant free home design package masterminded by Greg Lane. Maybe even Greg's team of skilled designers is also responsible for Tiny Trainz?
Greg was also one of the masterminds behind the original marketing of Trainz, along with the development of a massive on-line community working around the Trainz core. Such wonderful thinking kept Auran's production costs and retail prices to a minimum, yet at the same time created a legion of devoted followers, many of whom are still here today.
I think Auran have forgotten that bit. They're happy to tell us little white lies - "2009 is the world-building forerunner of 2010, the forthcoming Engineers Edition", and release an unsupported product to get some additional income. By unsupported, I mean; no User Guide, no CCG and virtually no (sorry, I mean NO, ZERO, ZILCH) online support.
What Auran were hoping for, but never got, was a heap of Content Creators parting over thirty bucks for TS 2009 and churning out massive amounts of new content to make TS 2010 the smash hit that it's never likely to be.
Had the Content creators played ball, TS2010 would have, and should have been a hit with everyone, but judging by the amount of content available, making the switch just doesn't seem worth the effort.
So, if I were in Auran's shoes, I too would be looking out for third party products that may help make up for the money they're likely to lose with the premature release of TS2010.
Have any of you ever considered that the folks at Auran may not have lifted a single finger to create Tiny Trainz? Maybe it's the work of a third party, and N3V and or Auran have decided to market it under the "Trainz" banner?
Many marketing companies are constantly on the lookout for ways of making more money by doing less work. This program could easily have been developed in China where I understand one of the Directors of N3V or Auran resides.
It may well use the JET engine, which as Pommie points out, is also being used for MyVirtualHome, a brilliant free home design package masterminded by Greg Lane. Maybe even Greg's team of skilled designers is also responsible for Tiny Trainz?
Greg was also one of the masterminds behind the original marketing of Trainz, along with the development of a massive on-line community working around the Trainz core. Such wonderful thinking kept Auran's production costs and retail prices to a minimum, yet at the same time created a legion of devoted followers, many of whom are still here today.
I think Auran have forgotten that bit. They're happy to tell us little white lies - "2009 is the world-building forerunner of 2010, the forthcoming Engineers Edition", and release an unsupported product to get some additional income. By unsupported, I mean; no User Guide, no CCG and virtually no (sorry, I mean NO, ZERO, ZILCH) online support.
What Auran were hoping for, but never got, was a heap of Content Creators parting over thirty bucks for TS 2009 and churning out massive amounts of new content to make TS 2010 the smash hit that it's never likely to be.
Had the Content creators played ball, TS2010 would have, and should have been a hit with everyone, but judging by the amount of content available, making the switch just doesn't seem worth the effort.
So, if I were in Auran's shoes, I too would be looking out for third party products that may help make up for the money they're likely to lose with the premature release of TS2010.
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Whoever mentioned this idea in the first place should be shot. Along with the second man who told everyone else!
For God's sake, Auran! You are getting worse and worse every year! Just churning out games once or twice a year, all of which always end up being filled with millions of bugs that are left alone by your millions of service packs, hotfixes and patches!
How about this:
1. Start a game project.
2. Get the core working done.
3. Make some demo content using all the features of the game.
4. Test them.
5. Build the rest.
6. Notice how I say build. That doesn't mean put non corrected, original Trainz content in that only works because it's built in!
7. Maybe get the community involved in some way. Content building a prime way.
8. Test everything! Make sure everything is as flawless as possible! (but knowing Auran, as flawless as possible actually means riddled with bugs!)
9. When everything's sorted, give it to the community!
10. Remember that a good game doesn't take a year. A REALLY good game takes at LEAST a year.
11. Say good-bye to your millions of followers who are continuously appauled by this rubbish.
12. A dog is for life, not just for Christmas!
Understand? Doesn't look like it to me!
Oh,never mind,this whole thing has confused me!
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In reply
Hi there JRT,
I'd like to think that I had the wisdom to have done as you suggest but rather I made Trainz because I liked trains and I thought it would be a cool project to do. Nothing more.
It is very humbling to see so many of the people that I know still here on these forums after so many years. Who knows what will happen in the future... suffice to say I still chat to the people at Auran
Best wishes to you all.
Greg Lane.
Hi there JRT,
I'd like to think that I had the wisdom to have done as you suggest but rather I made Trainz because I liked trains and I thought it would be a cool project to do. Nothing more.
It is very humbling to see so many of the people that I know still here on these forums after so many years. Who knows what will happen in the future... suffice to say I still chat to the people at Auran
Best wishes to you all.
Greg Lane.
Hey Johnk,
It's been a while
Thanks for the very kind words. I think however the success of Trainz, and the wonderful community that built around it, can be attributed to a great team of people who believed in the product.
If there is one thing I do take credit for it's getting the input of as many trainz fans as I could, even those that did not like the product early on.
I think by creating a community development atmosphere where people not only felt a part of the production cycle, but actually were a part of the production cycle, we (Auran and the community) built a product that was continually improving and one in which everyone felt that a part of Trainz was due to their input.
That I think is the thing that I am most proud of.
Best regards
Greg
Hey Greg!
Good to see you on here again (what's with the new username?)
I remember the days when you first added Trainzscript to Trainz (1.3) and we were all trying to wean as much info out of you as possible.
You even flew Greg Furlong out to your offices to see the new scripting ability, but I think that was just so we would pester him instead.
If only we had the same luxury these days.suffice to say I still chat to the people at Auran
Hope you're keeping well.
Smiley.
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trainboy99
New member
From the newsletter:
We have taken that fantastic product and created a brand new game called "Tiny Trainz" for the younger Trainz fans in your family...
We have taken that fantastic product and created a brand new game called "Tiny Trainz" for the younger Trainz fans in your family...
G'day Greg!
Great to hear from you. I love the home design program, but only discovered it after I'd already written a review about another one in the Trainz Resources Directory Newsletter. I'll give yours a hearing in a later edition.
I hope you'll be around for a while, because this place needs a bit of TLC right now. I'll be in Brisbane in late March/mid April and I'll try to catch up with you then.
Best wishes,
John
Great to hear from you. I love the home design program, but only discovered it after I'd already written a review about another one in the Trainz Resources Directory Newsletter. I'll give yours a hearing in a later edition.
I hope you'll be around for a while, because this place needs a bit of TLC right now. I'll be in Brisbane in late March/mid April and I'll try to catch up with you then.
Best wishes,
John
I cannot figure out how well this would sell. Pros and cons both exist.
But it would help if they were able to make it for platforms as well as the computer. Playstation, XBOX, Wii, that's where some of the kids are and Tiny Trainz looks like it could work on them if designed right.
And whoever said more effot should be put into fixing Trainz while getting kids to use it:
1 - Not all kids have the patience for how complicated the Trainz (or other) rail simulator is.
2 - If Trainz needs as much fixing as you believe then how frustrated will a kid get from trying to use it?
But it would help if they were able to make it for platforms as well as the computer. Playstation, XBOX, Wii, that's where some of the kids are and Tiny Trainz looks like it could work on them if designed right.
And whoever said more effot should be put into fixing Trainz while getting kids to use it:
1 - Not all kids have the patience for how complicated the Trainz (or other) rail simulator is.
2 - If Trainz needs as much fixing as you believe then how frustrated will a kid get from trying to use it?
Do we actually know what's involved here? I received a newsletter from Auran containing 3 screenshots; a kid's bedroom, a lounge room and a garage filled with the kind of stuff these places are usually filled with. I couldn't see a train or a railway line anywhere, just rooms full of stuff. Maybe there's a whole lot more to come that we haven't anticipated?
If I'm missing something please let me know, but I wouldn't write this one off just yet.
If I'm missing something please let me know, but I wouldn't write this one off just yet.
You forgot to mention North Bay County - This was supposedly located in the good ol' Pacific Northwest. Sure, they forgot to include NG24 Flatcars (the ore mine on the NG24 line DOES need lumber to run), and an interchange track was desperately needed, but after getting hundreds of hours of enjoyment from running the "out-of-box" version, I am now tweaking the route for my own personal enjoyment.
Since edits to others' work (even/especially builtins) requires all kinds of permission, my edits will never be seen by anyone but myself and the Missus. I don't really mind, though.
stagecoachdriverdave
Matt
I don't know, any way to keep the hobby going is worth a shot. Although personally I would agree with your last statement, I got into trains thanks to "Western Maryland - End of an era" on video, which my uncle gave me when I was 2! I still have it today.
narrowgauge
92 year oldTrainz veteran
Johnk
Have a look again, the track is all over the place, look at the car.
Peter
Have a look again, the track is all over the place, look at the car.
Peter
Hi Peter,
I must be blind. This is the car pic from the newsletter, but I can't see any track!
http://images.auran.com/newsletters/tinytrainz/newsletter_screenshot_4.jpg
I must be blind. This is the car pic from the newsletter, but I can't see any track!
http://images.auran.com/newsletters/tinytrainz/newsletter_screenshot_4.jpg