Dovetail Games Train Sim World - Winter Survey 2024

I suppose, at least hypothetically, there might be a potential 3rd party partner in the US

 

Realistically Smokebox is the best 3rd party dev for US steam on TSC, but I don't think he has any interest in TSW, he also has slowed down progress on his UP switcher for TSC.

Also he isn't US based.

Behind him would be Machine Rail (Also not US based) or Milepost (Again not US based.)

There is also a freeware Steam developer for TSC as well, but again, probably no interest in TSW.

 

Yes there was that oblique reference but not much else.

The very US centric (though also notably no reference to Canada) questions also got me thinking someone at DTG has been playing a lot of Run 8 and Railroader recently. Some of the questions definitely pointed towards focusing US routes on that style of gameplay rather than the rather rigid fixed timetable and scenarios. On the fence about adding some sort of Tycoon or company management element - think that would have to be optional or even form part of a new game, though I don’t outright dislike the idea.

And of course Run 8 does what it does well because of the genius of John Greenstone (and others) behind the programme, particularly the despatching side where “Otto” does a pretty damn good job of sorting out complex situations. However, the player always has the option of intervening when the AI does start to struggle (like a few weeks ago when I overloaded Tehachapi!).

 

I also partook in the survey now, and left my honest opinion there

Of the suggested new features and functions, one option I voted for and really want to highlight is the probability of random events (like AI train delay or ongoing construction/maintenance) during timetable services. This has been discussed in the forum multiple times already.
Or the option to start with safety systems already enabled, that's been on my wishlist literally since day one.

Let's see what the future will hold in store...

 

I was traveling on the Donau-Isar-Express train in lower Bavaria yesterday and actually encountered two instances of doors not closing (a technical issue on one of the new trains, and the second one was passengers refusing to move properly into the train lol). So I’d love to see little events like that regularly. It even features in one of East Coastway’s scenarios, I believe.

 

I asked for the N&W J class, plus a Challenger or BigBoy. So nothing too ambitious

Good job there wasn't a British option....

Also the Cumbres and Toltec railway.

 

Done it but Im dure you're not going to like some of my responses….but you did ask!

 

It won't let me open the survey. It says it is currently closed. :/

DTG Alex please help

 

Same here. Survey is already closed.

 

Guys you could’ve left the survey open for a bit longer. Like myself and many others we can’t open it as it is now closed.

 

Says it wasn't due to close for another week or so

 

Same here. Bit ridiculous to close it off before the scheduled closing date but something must have gone wrong on their end.

 

Not very professional. The announced closing date was 15 december. This leaves ten days till Christmas. So I don’t see any reason to close the survey now. Not good for the trustworthiness of DTG, which was already not very high.

 

It seems strange that the number of responses affects how long it takes to pick winners.
Maybe they're printing them out, folding them up, then putting them all in the proverbial hat

 

That is an odd choice....were DTG not getting the responses they'd hoped for so closed it early?

 

That's really rubbish, you can't say it will end on a particular day and then end it a week early.

 

I'm afraid that competition law is about fair competition between companies, not about running competitions!

That aside, it is indeed poor to set a closing date then close it early without warning. It's unprofessional and unethical.

 

That's true.

 

Now that it says it's closed... can we see a compilation of the results?

 

probably they will say it on the next roadmap in the new year

 

I don't believe DTG normally give a detailed breakdown of survey results, At best we may get an idea of general trends.

 

They don't reveal the results of the survey. Rather, they use them to decide on their priorities for TSW in the new year.

 

Someone could recreate it on their own with surveymonkey or something and then we'd have something similar....
Although it must be said the questions were a bit leading so we have some insight from that too.

 

I had three wishes.
In the survey I wrote that I really wanted a route without new rolling stock (which will happen with the Kaiserslautern route), that I wanted the Thomas and Friends train and absolutely not to optimize the TSW 5 routes, because I love low fps.
Satisfied with everything.
Better than a letter to Santa Claus...

 

Ahem. This is called sarcasm btw dtg

 

I filled out the survey. My biggest suggestion as far as PlayStation goes, was to lower the prices of the DLC. Back when I was doing TSW1 they were lower, about $29 USD if I remember right. Now they start at $39 and I think one is over $40. I won't buy any DLC at that price. I'll wait for a sale, but it'd be nice if they were lower to begin with. Other than that, I'm very pleased with the game.

 

Have you got any idea how much inflation there has been in the last couple of years, let alone since the first TSW? Comparable DLC is never, ever, going to get cheaper on release. That's just financial reality, sorry.

 

Of course I do. They asked for suggestions. I gave one. As far as whether they will get cheaper some DLCs have. After all, we didn’t think there would be a Thomas DLC, did we?

 

I'm really curious to know something about the results, what DTG can reveal to us? Hope to have some words on the road map (when the next one BTW?)

 

Everything else has gone up about 50% since 2017.
There is still some DLC at $30, and the $45 is for Just Trains...which sets their own prices.
However, with sales you can actually get stuff for less than it was when released so.... you are already getting what you asked for.
Congrats.
You just have to wait for it if you wanna be a penny pincher ;-)