Possibly a ship simulator? DTG have already tried doing a flight simulator and it failed. And with MSFS, attempting another one would likely fail again. A ship simulator would have little to no competition. There are really no high quality ship sims out there. We already have (on PC) high quality train, bus/driving, and flight sims, but no high quality ship sims. So a ship sim could have potential to be successful.
I've always thought FSX/FSW could be modified into a good ATC game too; take the airports and ATC system already used and just swap roles from pilot to controller. The graphics and functionality of that would easily out do every other ATC game. Multiplayer in FSX has a tower controller position already and you've practically got every airport in the world modelled to a reasonable quality. Extra DLC could then include more detailed airports and new schedules, which add different traffic types and aircraft, even possibly historic schedules. Imagine controlling NY JFK during the year 2000 with 747 classics and Concorde flying in! (although being able to show real-world airlines might be a licensing nightmare). A TSW based offshoot such as 'Metro Sim World' might be another good option, which focuses more on light rail systems. NYC Subway, Berlin U-Bahn and Paris Metro anyone?
With all these route suggestions coming in, DTG have to make a ship simulator now. It would open up a whole new level of ‘I have no idea how I’m supposed to drive this thing.’ I do like the idea of being a river pilot. Manchester Ship Canal here I come.
The 4 I've thought of are, route/map wise. UK: Firth of Clyde (Scotland) Offers Ferries between numerous ports, and plenty of tugging and other things UK/France: English Channel: Dover - Calais Must I explain? Focusing on the Dover - Calais area. Germany: Kiel Canal Again, fairly self-explanatory. Panama: Panama Canal [See Kiel Canal] Of course the Scottish one is somewhat me being biased, but when thinking about it, it would be a brilliant ferry map.
I'd like to see the Kennet & Avon canal in a Boat and Shipping sim! Heck the 16 locks at Caen Hill could be the route themselves. Imagine getting on and off the boat to manually open and close the lock gates! And Dovetail has made models of narrow boats and several canal locks in TSW already, in NTP. So the foundations are there.
Would it hoover up all the bugs in the game? On a serious note I’d quite like DTG to do a bus simulator but alas like TSW2 it would probably try to be all things to all men by covering buses from around the whole world with the compromise on detail, accuracy and quality that such a decision entails. I’d love a specific UK bus simulator with buses from different eras. Probably be viewed as a selfish decision on my part but it’s what would interest me and entice me to spend more money on whatever dlc came out. I do feel simulator games are very area specific in order to fully perform their niche brief to their maximum and therefore attract a real core of dedicated enthusiasts but you will all probably disagree.
I'd be happy with a Cardiff Bus simulator from the mid to late eighties... Maybe not that last one... to many "pacer haters" on this forum for a Leyland National
Picture of three varieties of Bristol RE single decker I love the Leland National a real classic and very modern in it’s day. Better as a bus than a train! I’m also quite partial to the Bristol RE Single decker with all its different front end stylings to such an extent I nearly bought an ex Ribble Motors one as part share of a group to restore but life got in the way and it never came off.
I lost the first ever bouncy ball I ever bought for myself in the front grille of a Bristol... 1981. #oldgit
For people who think Clinchfield or Cane Creek is boring, just imagine the response to "Set RPM for 16 knots, steer course 258 for the next 32 hours"
That has the same energy as "set altitude to cruising, speed select to .85 Mach, and turn on LNAV for the next 8 hours". People do it in flights sims so I guess some would be into it?
From experience playing ship simulator 2008 & extremes, it can be quite engaging depending on what you want to do. Sailing across open ocean to an oil rig in a straight line isn't very interesting, but navigating a massive container ship through a narrow estuary, avoiding running aground and docking gently at the port with assistance from tugboats is quite hands on, especially with wind drift and other shipping to contend with.
Exactly. That's why I suggested routes like the Panama canal; because players would be engaged and would actually need to be in control of the vessel as they slowly navigate through tight channels and locks.
I don't think so. Ships are one of the few genres that are more of a niche than trains, mostly because not much happens in a crossing and ships take a long time to go anywhere, and therefore it wouldn't sell very well. DTG may end up wasting their time if they make a TSW-level ship simulator, and I'd rather they spend their time in something else instead. Really DTG could only make a success out of a ship simulator if it was a trawler simulator or if DTG did short crossings - nothing longer than Dover to Dunkirk.
What if it isn't a vehicular/sim game? It would be out of their wheelhouse, but what if DTG are going in a whole other direction? I'm imagining a detective game, maybe point-and-click.
Ship simulators tend to model just the port and their approaches, with portals between them, therefore cutting out long travel times.
Maybe they'll acquire Skyhook and release Euro Mowing, then Lawn Sim World a few weeks later, then The Lawn: Grass and Blades 5 weeks later again, and finally GIE Lawn Mowing 2022 another 5 weeks later. That's reassuring. A one-week trip probably wouldn't be very popular.
Sticking with vehicles, how about ‘Airship Simulator’? First DLC can be the Hindenburg, which hopefully wouldn’t be symbolic of the game itself.
It takes around 8 hours for a ship to transit the Panama canal, if all goes well.. A good portion of that time is spent going through the three locks at each end of the canal. With a proper save game function you could break that down to two or three hour sessions, and finish the transit over the course of a few days.
Maybe instead of a ship simulator, a canal boat simulator. London and the UK as a whole has a lot of canals, and driving a canal boat would be much more engaging than a transoceanic container ship. Of course, I’m speculating on all this.
An interesting concept. Real octopuses are gross but cute cartoon octopuses are great. I know which I would prefer to be. A cartoon octopus on a moped, happy days, a real octopus in the sea, no thanks.
I love it, but how would it work? Do you just swim around a coral reef or is there more to it than that? An interesting concept indeed
Actually, octopuses are one of the most intelligent creatures around. They are capable of fairly complex tasks which could be simulated. I mean they have more than one pair of hands. All you need for scenery is a colorful coral reef and lots of AI fish and other ocean creatures. Think of the potential dlc: whales, sharks, divers etc. I'm beginning to see this in a future Roadmap. Just need a couple more beers......
Ship Sim World and that includes Railway ferries like the Rostock Gedeser or Rugen to Sweden. Upon the ferry service then walk down to the locomotive you instantly bootup train sim world 2. Rugen Railway Ferry boots up Inselbahn
We have TSW for a reason. A Ship Sim should be (in my eyes) totally seperate. Don't bend it to fit around TSW. At all. Edit: why did you like this, exactly?
What I was thinking it's an integrated Transport Sim World meaning all the transport simulator world interact with one another
that would divide a game that is already with relative success by another that does not know the event that it will have. also dovetail is going to launch another route of the london underground. I am not convinced by a subway simulator, there is also one but it does not sell, even if it is graphically good. the subway is a train, and there is also a surface metropolitan train. confusion and discussion that would divide the fans
Wondering how they would manage the effect of tide and wind on a high sided ship, could be interesting!
I'm not totally sure what you are trying to say? As far as I know its been said DTG would like to make another LU route but that doesn't guarantee we'll actually see another one. My thinking was that a light rail based simulator offshoot using tech from TSW2 could be used to create a new standalone sim with its own brand, which could potentially attract a new audience. Backwards compatibility with TSW2 could then draw new players into TSW2 whilst allowing existing players to pick up a bundle of new light rail routes for a good price. People are more likely to find something titled 'Metro Simulator' than finding a similar type of route buried amongst TSW2 DLC. (DTG have done something similar before with Great British Railway Journeys for Train Simulator, which is literally just some British TS routes bundled into a separate game with backwards compatibility into TS, presumably to attract new players into TS by using a different brand).