Yes. It is developed by a single dude. I have been following and supporting him for two years now, and ha has bren working on it even before that. But it's also worth noting that a big portion of this time was asset creation and building the software. Now the basics are done, so things like extending the route or adding new features can be done faster than what the current pace felt like. But I am happy to wait anyways. This was worth thr teo years wait and anything else coming will be worth the wait as well. Now DTG, with the team size they have, could produce similar results faster as well, if they had the same dedication, skill and care.
And total freedom to do whatever they want without regard for budgeting, deadlines, multiple projects to prioritize, etc....
Bro, weak excuse at trying to defend them. Several people from the community working with them have already told us that they just simply don't care and it's a pain in the ass working with them.
And the difference between a game made largely as a labour of love and the other a corporate exercise to make maximum profit to meet the bottom line.
So is this 40km of fictional route and 2 fictional trains with no branding? Just asking as that's what it reads like on steam. Looks great but if so definitely not for me. Not long enough and no freight or high speed, or realism. Though I'm tempted to try it just to see how it performs as my experience with anything UE5 has not been that good and my PCis no potato.. Also to support a new developer of train games which is always good.
The route is fictional, but the trains themselves are real japanese train models. Also there are 3 types. 4 to be exact, but 2 of them look the same basically, just a 2-car variant and a 3-car variant.
Managed to watch most of the 45 minute clip and the feast is looking good. Just a few issues of minor concern… I hope the options allow you to turn down the volume of the ATS bell when it sounds continually approaching a stop signal. Otherwise I can hear my wife shouting from downstairs, “Turn that fudging train racket down.” Replace fudging with a suitable word from the profane dictionary… I see from the menu some of the runs, presumably all stations on the main line, are 44 minutes. Should be doable in a single session but interruptions do occur and it really should have a save game facility. The warning of upcoming speed limits is fairly close, could do to be a bit further out particularly going from 120 km/h down to 70 or less. Hopefully these can be looked at in the early access period.
Reasons aren't excuses, as inconvenient as that is. The above are reality. Large companies with large teams have certain pros and cons, and small teams & single developers have other pros and cons. If you're wanting to run a viable business, you need budgeting, deadlines, and priorities. If you're essentially a hobby developer working on your own time for fun, you have much more freedom, but also fewer resources and a longer development cycle.
I'll repeat once again, we've been told several times by third party developers (or other community members) working with DTG that some DTG employees seem to just not give a LOVE and don't do a good job.
