Thinking about my comments in the "Enough Is Enough" thread about my recent/forthcoming TSW purchases or more likely the lack of them, thought I would reverse DTG's infamous "LAMP" process when evaluating new projects to fit the discerning customer's requirements. So for what it's worth here are mine: L Long term gameplay A A fair price. M Made to a high standard. P Personally interesting If we apply DTG's traffic light system to the above ratings then it's fair to say not much lately gets a green.
What do you mean by "Personally Interesting"? How would you know when something is made to a "High Standard"? What to you constitutes a "fair price"? How long is "Long term gameplay"? I haven't read the "Enough is Enough" thread so I'm sorry if these have been answered already, but I was interested in the details behind this version of LAMP. This post is made entirely out of curiosity and interest, and is not intended to challenge or offend anyone who may read this.
Personally interesting - a route I have enjoyed travelling over for real, maybe an iconic form of motive power. A section of history like PFR. Or something I’ve seen on a media source that caught my eye or played in an earlier sim. Fair price is always going to be subjective but IMHO DTG’s new standard price of £30 for a route DLC is on the high side and certainly, again in my view, cannot be justified for items like the Bernina Line or in the case of Rapid Transit still being sold at a full price of £25. High standard would be a case of looking at reviews, feedbacks and streams from independent (not Ambassador) sources, or it could be confidence in a developer that their past achievements mean you can trust them to deliver. Long term gameplay should be self explanatory. A route with plenty to do, variety of services, layers in from other routes or itself layer elsewhere.
Now I understand. I was under the impression that this new LAMP proposition was meant as a tool for DTG to decide upon new routes. It seems you meant it as a means for customers to decide what routes they should buy. Under this context, I think your LAMP is a very good representation of what most consumers would think about before purchasing a route. EDIT: It seems rennekton made the same mistake as I did!
High standard and price are definitely fair ones. Berina for example does not have enough content to justify £30. It should be £25 max, but probably £20 is more reasonable. High Standard referring to Quality. Maintalbahn for example is "Low" quality. It has numerous bugs and extremely obvious and easy to fix scenery issues. Same can be said for Antelope Valley being "Low/Medium" quality. It has floating buildings and cars right next to the track, that literally take seconds to fix individually. They just need to be dragged downwards slightly in the editor.
Vern is making a name for himself. Already proud namesake of the Vern-o-Meter on the acclaimed Run8 railroad simulation
I can’t state the price for routes are “unfair” in today’s climate. With milk going for $3.20 for a half gallon these days, and while our energy cost are relatively low comparatively, Propane is going for over $4.00 a gallon-up almost $2.00 from just a year ago. I am sure the overhead of running a company and maintaining a physical infrastructure has not remained stagnant over the past 3 years. Inflation is rampant, though slowing in the U.S., the cost of living is still rising. The rub is like the saying a rising tide raises all ships, inflation increases the cost for everyone. The real impact is on those folks on a fixed income, so the decision to spend for an entertainment product or necessity becomes agonizing.
But then again, there are routes that some would disagree with that others would set higher. Personally, I love EDN. It's my most played route, so I'd say it ticks the long term playability box, It's a fair price i'd say, but then I've got the most playtime out of it. And I don't particularly have an issue with the 385's audio. Made to a high standard is one I would struggle to just on this route per say, but the 385 model is nice and the stations are equally nice, I don't have an issue. I do find the route interesting, but that's because the scottish central belt is picturesque.
As I said it is a very subjective study, but in some ways no more than when DTG use their official LAMP process. I’m sure several projects get through on the whim of an executive or developer while others which have had an excellent case made in the Suggestion forum, never get a look in. As regards price specifically, entertainment software whether a game, movie or TV show on disc or streaming or even a good old fashioned book is optional. If money is tight you don’t want to be blowing £30 on a TSW route.
Yes there is inflation, but I would argue it's more about value that someone sees in a product. Of course that is subjective but for example, I can pick up a completely new game for $40 such as TML Studio's The Bus which comes with several buses that have been released for free with more on the way, 6 lines (Lines 100, 123, 200, 245, 300 and TXL)with one more that will release for free in the works (Line 142), a massive one to one recreation of Berlin and more community made routes that can be downloaded on the Steam Workshop and that’s a game in Early Access. That’s more value than a 25 mile route that costs $40 which comes with one train, not many services (even if the number of services it's realistic) and a illogical end point.
You are right it is subjective since I have no interest in Buses, therefore whatever the price would be too much regardless of what is offered
I would also argue even though it is subjective, that if DLC's are going to be $40 which is the price of most Double A games which have plenty of things do, there needs to be plenty of things to do in that particular route that costs $40 whether it's variety and service variation. It also has to be of a very good quality. It can't just be a short one train route, with no service variation and of a low quality when I can buy other routes that offer more but cost less
The bus isn't that great of a game either. Still got lots of performance issues. Updates don't really fix anything major. Physics are bad. A dlc is already being worked on even though the game is in early access. It just looks good but it's not a simulation
We can keep it about trains, and even within TSW. Blackpool Branches is £30, and Berina is £30. One of those is clearly significantly better value compared to the other one.
I did say it is in early access and more content will be added along with improvements. The point overall is that a game like that has more things to do than Rivet's new Swiss route for example despite it being in early access. There is also blackpool branches. That costs $40 and has service variation, is not a one train route and has variety. Southeastern High Speed is another along with London Commuter and Riesa Dresden just to name a few. London Commuter is $30. The overall point is that it's easy to blame inflation to justify an increase in prices, but if you are gonna increase prices of video game DLC's then quality has to be of a higher standard and the DLC needs to have more content to reflect that price
As I have stated in several other thread comments - value is in the eye of the beholder. Your opinions are valid for you and that is great. As my opinions are valid for me. So with that have a great day
This is the criteria anyone who thinks about suggestions uses. (Rather than just copying LAMP criteria from Dovetail, even though that is very much a business/decision-making one). Long-Term Gameplay is the key. I've got a fair collection of UK (and German) stuff and I've hardly scratched the surface of the timetable services and scenarios. I have years worth (at my rate) and I keep (for some reason) adding to it. But some routes I struggle to go back to, mainly Cathcart, Bakerloo, and such. GCC because it's quite dull, and BKL because it's tunnels for a good while no matter what service you pick. My opinions, of course, but there's nothing drawing me back. Blackpool, or Birmingham, or Bremen-Oldenburg, are a bit more interesting.
The old saying that many know the cost of everything and the value of nothing applies often on these forums. Personally I will not be rushing out to by the Berninalinie route as I feel it could have been longer and for me it is more of a niche route. However it looks lovely and to say it is only worth £20-£25 does a disservice to the builders. It does come with a new train and has some interesting looking services, the mountains are a great improvement on Arosa. I will probably get it a some point, maybe in a sale.
It was in the April roadmap License: self explanatory Anticipation: how players perceive route, how well they will receive it. Is it what players will want and find fun? They look at reviews, concerns and comments on what players like. If there's strong support, there's a whole hierarchy. Mix: type and amount of gameplay. Is there unique gameplay? Do players like the type of gameplay? Prominence: global commercial appeal. Are there strong landmarks? Do players enjoy the rolling stock and the route? They look at previous releases to determine what's successful and not successful, what's popular and not and use a red yellow green system to see if it's an appropriate project to work on.
