Will Kuju now make their project more global

Samd22 · Post by **Samd22** » Sat May 20, 2006 12:23 pm

Sorry but personally only European routes interest me, I'm more concerned over whether a Eurostar/CTRL add on will ever be released.

USRailFan · Post by **USRailFan** » Sat May 20, 2006 1:01 pm

Samd22 wrote:Sorry but personally only European routes interest me, I'm more concerned over whether a Eurostar/CTRL add on will ever be released.

Isn't LucaZone going to make his CTRL route for KRS?

Crosstie · Post by **Crosstie** » Sat May 20, 2006 1:11 pm

johndibben wrote:
lateagain wrote:Some of the comments on TS.com seem just downright SULKY!
Have to say I don't blame them as probably feel they've been badly let down and left with nowhere to go.

Having said that it won't hurt them to realise they're not the centre of the universe.

Cheers

John

We're not, really! Omigosh. John, are you serious? Ever since we were little kids we've been taught that we were......Oh dear!

Seriously, my interest in railroads/railways knows no borders. I just like trains, period. I have routes from every part of the world.

If the new simulator has strictly European routes, that's just fine with me. What's important is the quality of the editors and the core game.

American routes, payware and freeware will soon follow. After all, we are the.................

.

Regards, Stu.

johndibben · Post by **johndibben** » Sat May 20, 2006 2:05 pm

Crosstie wrote:We're not, really! Omigosh. John, are you serious? Ever since we were little kids we've been taught that we were......Oh dear!

Not overly, Stu

Being cheeky and thought I'd indulge in a bit of flag-waving as it's all the rage over here at the moment with The World Cup looming

MSTS has made me a fan of US and Oz railways and has been an excellent media in broadening my railway interests.

Cheers

John

Samd22 · Post by **Samd22** » Sat May 20, 2006 2:12 pm

USRailFan wrote:
Samd22 wrote:Sorry but personally only European routes interest me, I'm more concerned over whether a Eurostar/CTRL add on will ever be released.
Isn't LucaZone going to make his CTRL route for KRS?

vCTRL not to be released....yet!

The decision has now been made, all suppliers of content have been notified, and its time to go public.

London - Lille HSL will NOT be appearing as an add-on for Microsoft Train Simulator.

I have decided not to struggle on trying to complete vCTRL for Microsoft Train Simulator. Having spent many year's collecting research as well as compiling a vast database of custom models, textures, stock, vegetation, sounds, landscape information and company copyrights, I will not let the project die (No vapourware here!) but instead put it on ice until further notice.

I want to thank everyone who has been involved on vCTRL to date. Any contributions carried forward will be highlighted and those responsible contacted.

LucaZone

USRailFan · Post by **USRailFan** » Sat May 20, 2006 2:23 pm

Samd22 wrote:vCTRL not to be released....yet!

The decision has now been made, all suppliers of content have been notified, and its time to go public.

London - Lille HSL will NOT be appearing as an add-on for Microsoft Train Simulator.

I have decided not to struggle on trying to complete vCTRL for Microsoft Train Simulator. Having spent many year's collecting research as well as compiling a vast database of custom models, textures, stock, vegetation, sounds, landscape information and company copyrights, I will not let the project die (No vapourware here!) but instead put it on ice until further notice.

I want to thank everyone who has been involved on vCTRL to date. Any contributions carried forward will be highlighted and those responsible contacted.

LucaZone

And exactly WHAT does postponement of the route for Microsoft Train Simulator has to do with the plans to release the route for Kuju Rail Simulator? Last time I checked those were two completely different products.

Samd22 · Post by **Samd22** » Sat May 20, 2006 2:25 pm

I don't know, I just copy and pasted that from his website, don't shoot the messenger

ForburyLion · Post by **ForburyLion** » Sat May 20, 2006 2:48 pm

lateagain wrote:
ForburyLion wrote:If the UK/German version is near completion then please release it!

The team can then focus on making US/Other routes and include them in a new version for the US or elsewhere - those who don't have the content can download them from the website (Similar to MSTS where the revised edition had the class 50 and other stock).
ABSOLUTELY NOT

No personal offence here Forbury old chap.

It's just that we got the "flawed diamond" that MSTS turned out to be because of commercial pressure to release (?) and what KUJU are now coming up with is a whole new sim. WHY put pressure on them to bodge the job. A good thing is worth waiting for.

I think fundamentally we're not too far apart on our arguments. Kuju must have a deadline of some sort, they are a commercial organisation after all and have publishers who are also a commercial organisation. They also have wages to pay etc etc.

What I meant was that resources should be used to make the sim right from day one and not spent on making content. Once they see a financial return they will be able to persuade the commercial bosses to reinvest in content to appease other markets.

Quality not Quantity - Let Kuju spend their time getting the sim working as it should and not developing routes for other countries. Release it for UK and Germany to get some money in to actually prove to the management board that they have a winning product on their hands. If the thing sells well in the UK and Germany then it will no doubt result in a green light for spending cash on US research trips, acquiring licences from US companies and the wages of route developers - The US is a massive market and should not be ignored, At the same time releasing a turkey on day one may be unrecoverable.

In most industries you only go global once you have a hit in your home markets. Get it right first on a small scale first (UK and Germany) and then take it from there.

If the actual sim is working properly with no bugs detected then why not release it now with the UK and Germany routes? - People will buy it now. If they want to wait for US, Japanese, Australian, Chinese (Potentially the biggest market), French routes then they may add another 12 months onto the schedule. Kuju may not have the resources to accomplish this.

A US customer may not buy a sim with no UK content only but the majority of UK customers will. They may not even care about no UK content.

A comparison may be the SI Games football management sims, Every time they release an update it adds a league for a new country or new lower leagues for existing countries thereby opening the sim up to new markets â€“ Had they held back on this at the start then they may have spent a year getting a product everyone will be happy with only to release it and realise nobody wanted to buy it. Something they could have realised a year earlier had they released it to a smaller market.

lateagain · Post by **lateagain** » Sat May 20, 2006 3:11 pm

I agree that no commercial venture can work without deadlines AND that you can spend too long in development but my real concern is that the foundation is properly laid.

I wasnâ€™t entirely sure where you were coming from in your original post

but responded to the bit that I thought would bring a pack of howling impatient punters to the fore with demands for instant gratification, IMHO todayâ€™s greatest malaise.

To be quite clear I totally agree that further route development should be undertaken after the initial release. It makes commercial sense for the developer and has the advantage of ironing out any user found bugs in the original before releasing any add-on. It'll be the first software ever if it doesn't have any

.

Face it â€œSimmersâ€

ForburyLion · Post by **ForburyLion** » Sat May 20, 2006 3:20 pm

I've just edited my post above after realising it was a load of statements in a random order, some of them raising the same point already made in one of the other statements.... It's a bit better now, although still a bit random.

lateagain · Post by **lateagain** » Sat May 20, 2006 3:37 pm

ForburyLion wrote:I've just edited my post above after realising it was a load of statements in a random order, some of them raising the same point already made in one of the other statements.... It's a bit better now, although still a bit random.

I think we're in agreement overall?

As for releasing it now though.....er they do need to finish it first?

Geoff

BTW for American readers..... I had only a vague interest in railroads before MSTS and it was the sim that promted me to take more interest. I have to content myself with books and videos and although I have seen railroads in New England and Texas that's a fraction of what's available to see here. At least you have the advantage if you come over here of finding dozens of Railway Preservation lines and stock all within an area not much bigger than a couple of your States...or one Canadian province? You can actually get to see most of what's in the UK content of the sims for real.

Redbaron · Post by **Redbaron** » Sat May 20, 2006 3:54 pm

Well I couldn't care less if there isn't a single US or Australian route in KRS - US railways just send me off to sleep so I would never bother with any US route in KRS. If they want to include one however, then that's fine (as long as they don't sacrifice any British content for it), but it just wouldn't bother me if they didn't.

danielw2599 · Post by **danielw2599** » Sat May 20, 2006 3:59 pm

Ive always been interested in railways having been brought up on them and now working on them, However anything other than UK railways for some reason loses my interest very quicky. Not quite sure why that is!

In anycase, doesnt matter what routes come with the Sim, aslong as it has a decent signalling system, better physics and a few other features ill be happy.

Daniel

LCMXD11 · Post by **LCMXD11** » Sat May 20, 2006 4:20 pm

Bit disappointed by TMTS news, while there were two sims in development we had the comfort zone in case one was cancelled. Now that has heppened all of our eggs are in pretty much in the one basket, luckily they both promised to be excellent.

As for the US content I'm not especially fussed, but the US market helped extend the longevity of MSTS with numerous innovations that benefited the UK scene, and would hope that that expertise will join us in KRS. The inclusion of some US content, however small, would help set the ball rolling to the benefit of us all. The more the merrier and all that.

Samd22 · Post by **Samd22** » Sat May 20, 2006 4:27 pm

Have to say I quite enjoyed the Acela route on MSTS as that was the first one I played. Anymore for the North East corridor would suit me fine aslong as it has an Acela and goes to New York and Boston.

Wouldn't mind the Long Island railroad as well.