Atomic Systems

Hi Guys and Gals,

Just a speculative post to canvass people's opinions as to providing information through pop-up messages during a scenario. I am writing a few scenarios for PDL at the moment and if they turn out any good, I will upload them on UKTS and somewhere else too.

I myself have always been a bit ambivalent towards pop-up messages in game. They tend to get in the way of things and can often be a distraction from what's going on, the exact reverse of the purpose of them in the first place. Sometimes, pertinent info does need to be communicated to the player, but I try to find other ways to do it.

For example, in one scenario there are a couple of TSR's to look out for. I have three options here - 1) I could give no prior notification at all of these, after all the TSR's are properly signed with correctly measured stopping distances inserted, so if your not speeding you should be able to slow down in time. 2) I could script to insert pop-up messages at either the start or near to these TSR's to warn the player. 3) I could provide a written brief away from the scenario for the player to study beforehand.

I favour the latter option TBH. In real life, a Driver should have studied the weekly operating notice and the short term notices when signing on. They don't go out blind or get 'notes' handed to them whilst driving (other than for extra stops) detailing speed restrictions etc..

But I write these scenario as much for others than just for me, so I would like to understand what people's view are on this subject. I could have done a poll, but I would rather ask for an opinion from others rather than just see a result of votes.

Thank you for indulging me, and I look forward to some feedback .

Kindest Regards,

For a scenario with a TSR, I would go with providing the info in either the scenario description or briefing or even in a separate document, not pop ups during the scenario. If the player doesn't bother reading those then it's not your fault if the speed restriction comes as a surprise

Like malkymackay, I would give the notification of "known" TSRs in the initial briefing. As you say, the driver would get notification via the weekly/daily report sheets. If you put in an "emergency unnotified" TSR then the driver would/may not know about it until he/she sees the line side signs. If you have the ECML KX - P have a look at the Back to Bounds Green scenario. That's got both types of TSR. One you are told about in the briefing, one you are not.

As for other "popups" I would keep them to a minimum.

John.

I agree with both previous posters.

For a scenario I'm writing which involves a TSR due to flooding (keeping it topical....), I have used popups because it needs to come as a surprise (well, I guess it isn't any more as I've just told you about it). So I suppose my preference is to keep things as prototypical as possible - if it would appear in a daily/weekly operating notice then refer to it beforehand, but don't rule out the possibility of 'surprises' en route.

Why not make sure the train is held at a red signal, and after say 30 seconds the pop-up will appear. Nothing wrong with that.

I think there's a happy compromise with regards to po-ups. I don't mind having a lot of text as a scenario opens to set the scene. I don't generally like it when pop-ups appear while the train's under way and I hate it when they appear too often. Sometimes the dialogue shows up and, because there is too much text, by the time you've read it whatever you were being warned about has gone by.

I really don't like having timing info in the briefing. Yes, it appears on demand in the F1 window but the text is quite small and, because most briefings do not contain useful information, I don't always look in there. I've learned to do that with AP scenarios because that's their house style but I still don't like it.

Keith

Hi Richard,

After dabbling in scenario creation for sometime now, I normally put a 'pop up' a the start of the scenario giving brief instructions on what the task will entail. After stopping at a station, I put another 'pop up' when leaving mentioning the next station to stop at.

Hopefully, this not too obtrusive when playing the scenario - I do agree though that too many messages can be off-putting!