I like the style they’ve chosen here - similar to how I remember some of the books. It also looks to be the pause menu map, which is a great choice too. Immersion is key!
I too love this map! Not sure if it's a pause menu but instead a main menu. It looks like you can select two scenarios at Tidmouth.
So... wondering how condensed the map will be? From what I've seen and read, Sodor is something like 60 miles east to west and 50 miles north to south. That would give actually quite a fair size route to drive, particularly if the various minor lines are eventually added. A tricky equation for sure as it needs to be contained enough so the little kiddies don't get bored. but long enough for any adults delving in not to be over in five minutes.
So by the looks of it, if we get the branch to Arlesburgh, that will be as DLC, probably with Duck (Maybe reach out to a certain modder on this forum, DTG?) but at the very least we're getting the main line and Thomas' branch. Interested to see what else is included on the other side of the island we don't see in the preview images.
My memory is admittedly a little hazy, but weren’t there narrow gauge railways, maybe a mineral railway and a mountain railway too? Duck’s branch line was my favourite though.
I reckon they’ve thought about that, and for the kids it will be the ‘story’ mode.. and ‘explore’ and for the elders like us it will be ‘timetable’ - in theory of course. If we’re getting Gordon we’d want to be able to get up to speed, and for that we need distance..
Lots of potential for this project to grow into something huge, they’re certainly not short on characters and scenario material. I wonder if DTG will add characters that never appeared in the CGI series? Boco is a firm favourite, but was weirdly omitted from the show’s CGI era. Would love to see him show up here if they add the Wellsworth branch! Definitely hope to see a Skarloey Railway update at some point, the narrow gauge engines were my absolute favourites growing up
I wonder if these will come later on as DLC. We know additional DLC is supported as James is a separate purchase!
I am assuming they'll do the main standard gauge branches before the Skarloey, Culdee Fell, or Arlesdale railways. More interoperability.
I saw a post from Tallyn railway, and DTG got 3d scans of the original rev awdry map of Sodor from the 1950’s… that’s pretty cool to have had this to build sodor from
I think they must be saving bits for DLC surely. We are definitely missing big characters like Henry, Edward, Toby etc and DTG will know that. It would be a nice way to flesh out the whole island unlocking new bits with new characters and stories. As others have said I'd love to see the narrow gauge line appear. My favourite stories were when Oliver and Stepney are saved from scrap! Would love to creep through the scrap yards in that dark and misty railway with only the signals for light! I do hope we get some of that Dark foggy atmosphere in these stories! Like Henry with the flying kipper!
There will be multiple DLCs of course, ala TSW. Jumping into speculation mode here, I'm wondering if they'll be "jumps" like TSW or a seamless integration like say European Truck Simulator. That would be a nice tech to develop given you don't have the usual problem of multiple developers doing different maps/eras to connect. If it's all done by the same crew they can make it seamless. The only issue might be performance, but again there'd be a lot less traffic on this rural fictional map so unlike TSW it might be a lot better for a larger map when complete. It's the huge amounts of AI traffic that tends to sink CPUs in TSW. Not a huge amount of that in Sodor if they stick to the stories. It's often just whatever character you have, the ones you're "supposed" to run into on scenario mode, and in timetable it'd just be a fairly limited schedule. Remember it's Sodor, not London. If you have a train an hour that'd be a lot. Then again, you don't need a lot of traffic...because that's the setting. So I can see it being a lot more immersive and "deep" than the typical linear DLC, where you have a lot more places to go, but it's a lot "emptier." Then again, a lot of the TTTE feel is from off-track animations that won't be interactive in Timetable mode (like animated crane moving cargo, or cows or automobile traffic we have in TSW) that won't be "tracked" long term like AI rolling stock so it'll load your GPU, not your CPU. They disappear when out of view. That's my thought anyway. It opens up a lot more possibilities for less "route hopping" and a more seamless one-map experience. You'll have to unlock probably 10 DLC maps to get there, each with new areas and characters, but it could work a lot better than TSW for that given it's unique setting and design. For me, that's an ideal scenario because I'm from a rural area. That's how is "normal" to me, not regular MUs every 15 minutes and LOTS of traffic, so this seems "normal" and the setting is "quaint" in the cartoons of a rural island of "small-town" characters. If that allows a seamless experience over time to build all of Sodor and go wherever you want, that's a huge opportunity. I may just be wishing, but I think it makes some sense.
