Tsw2 Strategic Thoughts

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by Daytona, Jun 14, 2020.

  1. Daytona

    Daytona Active Member

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    Speaking generally... I'm a retired software developer and can understand the need for revolution when evolution has reached the end of the road or has veered off course. Moving to UE and developing Simugraph will have been a huge learning curve and many mistakes will have been made because that's the best way to learn. This is the end of the beginning. Wrapping up TSW1 is a natural and healthy development.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2020
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  2. Dinosbacsi

    Dinosbacsi Well-Known Member

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    As long as TSW2 actually delivers, yes. But currently it pretty much just looks like a lame money grab. Maybe in the future it will get better, and if so then I am looking forward to it. But in it's current state, from what we know so far, it's a letdown for many people.
     
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  3. Trooper117

    Trooper117 Active Member

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    Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
     
  4. rwaday

    rwaday Well-Known Member

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    I purchased TSW Heavy Haul at the initial release. I do agree that they are on a learning curve, mistakes and unfulfilled promises were made and the game was purchased on those promises/expectations. They (DTG) attempted to backpedal on these comments but there are people who have posted the original promo videos. At this point for Dovetail Games to say you are not getting those items in the foreseeable future or possibly never is a bit unacceptable. At the least, any owners of TSW should get a deep discount on TSW2 if they want to keep the existing player base. Player enthusiasm is waining. The comments have become mostly negative and cynicism runs rampant in all forums. This new transparency is in my opinion, a last-ditch effort to keep what is left of the fan base intact and encourage them to purchase TSW2. I have seen the video and Matt does not seem happy in doing the interview.
     
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  5. Dinosbacsi

    Dinosbacsi Well-Known Member

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    Well obviously, they also know these are all disappointing news. After all even they themselves called the situation "disappointing" several times in the Q&A stream and here in the forum as well. I wouldn't be surprised if they're disappointed as well, lol.

    To be honest I have the feeling that this whole TSW2 thing and abandoning the old DLCs was a recent and quick idea, and not the original plan. After all they said they've been working on this engine update for more than half a year, I doubt they planned to make it a separate release from the beginning. I suppose money was/is low so they choose this as a quick solution. I might be wrong but this is the feelin I am getting here.
     
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  6. IronBladder

    IronBladder Well-Known Member

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    I think it's dangerous to speculate about a company's financial position. Unfound rumours tend to become fact and then people make real decisions on the basis of something untrue.

    My view is that when you've spent years developing something and it's still got big gaps you have to ask yourself whether you should fill or kill. You can't keep on putting resources into something unless you know it will work. I think DTG simply reached that point.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2020
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  7. Rob39

    Rob39 Well-Known Member

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    Not sure whats going on now. I’ll wait before committing. From watching recent streams there appears to be a serious pushing of console versions. Which I suppose could be a good thing. The issue Im seeing is that TSW is being described increasingly as a fun experience and not necessarily a simulation of the real thing. The 2nd/3rd party class 20 dlc is really promising. As for general content from Dovetail Im not so sure. Hope to be pleasantly surprised in the future.
     
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  8. DTG Protagonist

    DTG Protagonist Has left the building Staff Member

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    Matt doesn't look cheerful on the stream because he's not - nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news, especially Matt who is a natural optimist. He's not alone. As a company DTG are incredibly optimistic about what can be done with rail simulation which is why there has been a tendency to get excited about a feature before it's become a reality.
     
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  9. dunkrez

    dunkrez Well-Known Member

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    Pretty much every feature promised for TSW already exists within TS1 with an ungodly amount of content already created.

    That's the engine that deserved the bells and whistles. Unreal is on trend, and fits the needs of a software house looking for fresh devs, however, the original Kuju engine IS the be all and end all train simulator engine - it does practically everything already.

    Why wait for TSW2 when TS already does everything that's being promised?

    I'm not a betting man, but I believe DTG will be focussing on the Kuju engine again in the near future. Either that, or investors will pump money into a competitor and Railworks will lose its crown.

    I'd like to be wrong about this, but I don't think I am.
     
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  10. Trooper117

    Trooper117 Active Member

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    Should anything untoward happen to the TSW line of things in the future, I'm sure many will return to it.
    As a relative newcomer to the train simulator scene I actually stopped playing TS when I found out about TSW. (Can't afford to invest in both)...
    Having said that I won't be shy to return to it should things go Pete Tong elsewhere...
     
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  11. dunkrez

    dunkrez Well-Known Member

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    TSW on ps4 was my gateway - which led me to TS2019.

    If DTG look at TSW as the teaser/gateway/sim-lite via consoles and promote it as that, and just that, and get back to serious simulation and upgrades on TS2020 (setting up a team to sort _every_ bug and issue ever noted across TS & TSW in a timely fashion), I believe the community will be largely pacified. Perhaps even happy.

    Even more of a win if they manage to get TS2020 running on PS5 Xbox Series X architecture - it'll be raining money at DTG HQ.

    Blue skies thinking - a TS2 editor on PC that is backwardly compatible with TS1 routes and assets, which can create routes which can be run in TS2 and TSW2 on console. That's the platinum.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2020
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  12. railway12

    railway12 Well-Known Member

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    Oh yes definitely Matt is a optimist. I can tell. He is totally cheerful and always in a good mood. I like how he's doing the streams. But I also like Sam's, always eager to speak and seeing the game from a different view. Both are entertaining though, always nice seeing them.
     
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  13. longo239

    longo239 Well-Known Member

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    Mostly definitely, but I'm not sure if this post should be deleted! ;)

    If DTG hadn't already thought of it and start considering it, their policy of all platforms being equal will mean the start of features being removed from TS1! ;):D
     
  14. SamYeager270

    SamYeager270 Well-Known Member

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    Sadly I have to bring you back from fantasy land and into the real world. What you envisage would require DTG to create a completely new engine.When thinking about TSW I'm sure they considered doing just that but then the hard facts of the complexity and expense involved ruled that out. I'm sure DTG compared existing engines and in the end they chose to go with Unreal Engine. The fact that it made it comparitively easy to target PC, PS4 and Xbox was no doubt a key factor.

    In retrospect I suspect that DTG might have been able to achieve more success with TSW if it had built on one of the UE4.2x.x versions but at the time they probably thought it made sense to start development on an earlier version.
     
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  15. dunkrez

    dunkrez Well-Known Member

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    I'm aware it would require a new engine. It's not the first time this has been achieved in-house. Sadly, imagination is required when being creative and bringing ideas into the real world.

    I believe the hard facts of a commercially closed platform, complete creative control and a plethora of unresolved bugs and issues in older platforms may have been a key factor in dictating what came next.

    Like if Hornby had exclusive rights to 00 track. They would've made much more money over the years.
     
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