Athena Simulations: Ecml Diesel Railtours

Well if they are done, I fail to see why DTG can’t just give the project to the community Modders to work on it instead, yea it’s probably not that simple but still would be better than what’s currently happening

 

I can

They can't make any money

 

Definitely think the community would appreciate having this addon taken over but I doubt DTG will allow it, but maybe it’s worth asking at some point or hell have the community form a new third party to fix/ make the stuff they keep refusing to do themselves

 

The class 47 model itself belongs to DTG, but Just Trains modified it for Blackpool Branches.

Athena took the Just Trains modified DTG class 47 and completely broke it... so you would have to get permission from DTG, Athena and Just Trains before modding it.

It would be easier to make a completely new class 47 model from scratch, than waste time trying to fix this botched Frankenstein.

 

To be honest we never needed a another class 47, on the other hand the class 40 and class 45 are in desperate need of a upgrade and it makes it easier knowing DTG has the original rights to the locos

 

Their site says they're currently in pre-production of an Alien VS Predator game (why you'd announce a game this early when all you have is concept art and ideas is beyond me but whatever) so I wouldn't be surprised if they've given up on TSW. It might even be for the best given Mr Whittaker's history of promising the world and abandoning it.

 

I wondered why I was dreaming about Alien facehuggers last night!

In the immortal words of Private Hudson (played by the late and much lamented Bill Paxton) in Aliens, "Game over man, game over..."

Or another memorable one liner from that one of the greatest movies of all time, "They mostly come at night, mostly..."

As regards AvP, first movie was excellent, second was a load of old tosh.

 

Hudson: Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?
Vasquez: No, have you?

 

That''s gotta be a Brit humor thing.

 

For context, Arthur Daley is one of the main characters in a UK series called 'Minder' who is a charming conman and car dealer.

 

Yeah. There's quite a lot of that on the forum. Some of it I get, but a lot of it I don't.

Sometimes I look them up. That's how I deciphered " killed off in Corrie " . Who knew? But Google did.

 

There’s a new AvP game in development, since when? That’s music to my ears. The only Alien game that I heard about and currently waiting to buy is Alien Rogue Incursion.

I remember having fond memories playing this on the 360, they don’t make games like that anymore. Too fucused on flooding them micro transactions and P2W features.

 

https://www.luminariesentertainment.com/projects/project-xeno

 

Where does it say that? The website has an announcement for a game called Project Xeno, but there's not much detail about it and nowhere does it say it's a licensed Alien vs Predator game.

Athena Worlds - Project Xeno

 

Xeno as in Xenomorph? Best Alien game I played was Alien Trilogy on the PS1. Atmospheric soundtrack, genuinely creepy moments and some tough puzzles to figure out.

 

Thats because it is not licensed. Lets be honest with Jane in charge it is unlikely to ever be released.

The reason there is no info is becaise there is no info to give yet and this is from Athena's website. And I added the wrong link.

https://gamefragger.com/multiplatfo...ccessor-to-alien-vs-predator-announced-a27259

 

It's also on Jane's Linkedin page, I personally don't believe it will see the light of day

 

Man I wish the class 40 and 45 would get updated like promised

 

I would probably give up on that wish.

 

I Hope Athena is over again, every Jane Product is a fail, same with there Skyhook Era.
They made so many promises like Brand new trains and routes, and now they Ghosted us since months

 

Personally I would not hold your breath.

Hentis

 

I would hope that the Class 40 and 45 are marked safe from an Athena hatchet job. As Athena seem to have completely disappeared perhaps the old ‘no news is good news’ is at play here.

 

If the updates to the 47 are anything to go by, I would say all classic locos are best handled by JT at this point since they seem to be the only others even willing to touch them now. Maybe Skyhook too these days, we'll have to see how their version of the 20 in CL5 compares to the upcoming JT 20.

 

Don’t worry Jane is ready to come back under another company name, to sell a half finished product to vanish again.

 

This Person Should be Banned as Third Party Developer at all

 

I would take them saying DTG gave them full control of those locos with a grain of salt.

False promises and lies are right up Janes alley just like all the things she promised for MML that never was true.

 

It's much wider than TSW. False promises, lies and abandoned or cancelled projects are a part of Jane's history dating back over 30 years.

 

Oh I know. Someone could probably write a movie out of the whole saga. Or at least a west end musical.

 

I just don’t understand why all the lies, it’s so incredibly pointless.

Im not saying that releasing products & leaving them to rot, along with ghosting your customers is a good thing to do, but at least there’s some logic to in that Jane just wants to make fast cash - but it’s the lying about products existing that gets me.

It was the same drivel with MML when Jane was there, then Mike (if thats even a real person) is going on about many other projects that are ready to go & on the cusp of an announcement. It’s laughable.

What’s more disgusting though is that DTG continues to align themselves with this person. It’s one thing to not know decades of history (which DTG almost certainly do), but after the Skyhook fiasco it’s shocking they’d stand with JW once again.

 

What's the saying?

Oh, yeah... history always repeats itself.

 

I think the most dangerous part of the Jane situation, is the sincere belief he has in his own lies and promises. There seems to be no distinction in his head between intentionally lying and actually believing the drivel he is spewing... A very odd character in the simulation world who catalogue and track record of promising the world to players and then disappearing up their own a***.

A very peculiar character indeed.

 

And people never learn from their mistakes… Hope DTG won’t do three times the same mistake.

 

Whatever their next product is, I'll definitely wait for everyone else to buy it and test it out lol

It's a bit of a shame as well, as they have route builders from Skyhook and supposedly the chaps who modelled the 87 for Armstrong Powerhouse so it's clear they have a solid team.

 

If there is a next product..

 

Just to say be a bit wary of what is posted about “Jane”. The person obviously has connections deep inside DTG and last time there were a few personal views and thoughts on him (?) it led to good people like Spikee getting perma banned from the forum.

 

Had a feeling I hadn't seen someone for awhile and now you mention it, yes Spikee! What was it he got exactly Perm banned for? My friend got Perm banned and IP banned for the most stupendous of reasons.
But do agree with why on earth Dovetail let JW back in.

 

I wasn't aware of the whole Jane situation until very recently... Once I was made aware and done some detective work (which isn't that hard in his situation), the overall evidence supports what the critics of Jane are saying.

Having read all the evidence against Jane, and the fact it is a well known thing amongst the industry and players alike (despite what he, or others might say) I think it's perfectly valid for people of the forum to air their grievances of this individual in regards to TSW. I don't think it comes from a malicious place at all, and the evidence does support most of the negative posts about Jane.

I think DTG would be very stupid to try and silence any non personal criticism of Jane.

I don't know if Jane is the one pulling the puppet strings in terms of running Athena Simulations, so I'd go as far as saying I'm not making blanket statements about the rest of the team who I'm sure are lovely guys and girls with some talent! But in terms of that individual alone, as I've said already, the evidence supports the criticism they have received on this very forum.

 

I thought spikee got banned/requested a ban for what happened in here?

https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/turn-to-tsw-for-the-comedy-channel.87776/page-4

 

What projects has Jane worked on other than the Skyhook and Athena stuff in TSW? Hadn't heard of them until MML so I'm a bit clueless.
I'm curious if anything in my TSC catelogue suffers similarly to those TSW projects.

 

Spikee left during the Thomas debacle to take a mental break because of bullying. That had nothing to do with Jane.

Spikee was posting in late December. The Jane incident was years ago back in the TSW3 days.

People did get banned but the ones that did were the ones who were making personal attacks about Jane being transgender.

Instead of the real issue of false promises.

 

That was a wild ride

 

Mainly Alien vs Predator on Atari Jaguar. Which is the game Jane reminds people of most. According to people working on that game, Jane wasn't as heavily involved as they claim and allegedly botched the code (AI). After that, claims heavy involvement in Darkseed, but again others involved apparently deny Jane's involvement in the project, or at least deny that Jane was as involved as they claim.

And it's a case of etc., etc. Jane claiming involvement in projects that others deny. Also claims that Jane promises people the world and delivers a sunburned patch of grass. I'm guessing this thread could suggest evidence of that.

I don't have a strong opinion either way. We can only base on what we read coupled with first-hand experience as players of this game.

 

Spikee was banned (or voluntarily left) after calling another user mentally ill. While it was over the line, he was an important part of the community and I wish he was still here.

 

This thread and the earlier parts of the MML thread, that was also much the same. I'm assuming that Athena Simulations is entirely Jane's thing considering it shares its name with the earlier Athena dev brand which Jane also managed, but I would be curious to find out what other members of Skyhook were thinking and feeling back when Jane was giving all these false promises about MML, likely without even consulting any of them beforehand.

Jane has been the only person to be so explicit about apparent future 'plans' in regards to TSW content. JT, TSG, Rivet, ATS, any of the other devs, none of them have ever been anywhere near so vocal about hypotheticals. And big surprise, none of them cause half as much disappointment in regards to not delivering on something they've promised. Rivet are disappointing for a whole other reason, not failing to deliver on a promise so much as never promising anything in the first place, and delivering something which is half baked and flawed is very different to promising everything and delivering nothing. The latter is the last 20 years of Jane's career summed up in one sentance.

 

That's what I was referring to. They obviously aren't the same company, but it's pretty clear considering Jane is/was the director of both of them, and seemingly Simulations came into being mere months after Worlds dissolved.

 

For anyone wondering about Spikee: he is alive and well and active on the German TSC forums. We are happy to have him there with his technical insight.

 

They are the same company and according to Janes Linkedin he is the lead for them and started the company.

Also Athena Worlds website has the ECML on their products page.

https://www.luminariesentertainment.com/



And here is the Athena Worlds Linkedin description written by Jane.

Who are Athena Worlds? A coming together of some of the most experienced AAA developers in the world! Industry veterans and talented new blood alike.

We have been in stealth for a few years, with releases now imminent, so you may not have heard of us. I would like that to change.

Our team have worked on projects such as Alien Vs Predator (Atari) The Sims, Forza Horizon, Squadron 42, Star Citizen, World Of Warcraft, Train Sim World, Microsoft Flight Simulator and so many more.

Led by myself (44 years as an AAA developer and industry VP), Mike Meaden (famed producer on Forza and Star Citizen) with an incredible board of directors including Chris White (industry renowned finance specialist) and Winnie Palmer (one of the world leading names in marketing, former head of digital for Nokia, Microsoft)

Our collective history includes companies such as CIG, Microsoft, Atari, EA, MGM, Blizzard, Nokia et al.

We are backed up by a team with an incredible pedigree across both AAA games, open world and simulation. Supported by a world class board.

We are Athena Worlds!

 

So we've got a 30-year old game, questionable business practises (The Sims/EA), a world where all cars sound the same (Forza Horizon), decade-long early access (×2, Star Citizen), a 20-year old game and MSFS.

That's really not the amazing line-up they make it sound to be...