Transport Tycoon a.k.a. the great optimiser, Chris Sawyer
lifeandtimes.games
Transport Tycoon a.k.a. the great optimiser, Chris Sawyer
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Re: Transport Tycoon a.k.a. the great optimiser, Chris Sawyer
#2It still boggles my mind that Chris Sawyer wrote Roller Coaster Tycoon was written in pure assembly, only failing back to C to handle windows sound apis. The game is a masterpiece, it defined an entire game genre for decades. And RCT ran smooth on my pentium 2 400mhz processor, even with hundreds of guests and dozens of rides. I believe there are many magnitudes of performance hiding in poor software abstractions in modern software.
Re: Transport Tycoon a.k.a. the great optimiser, Chris Sawyer
#3It still boggles my mind that Chris Sawyer wrote Roller Coaster Tycoon was written in pure assembly, only failing back to C to handle windows sound apis. The game is a masterpiece, it defined an entire game genre for decades. And RCT ran smooth on my pentium 2 400mhz processor, even with hundreds of guests and dozens of rides. I believe there are many magnitudes of performance hiding in poor software abstractions in…
That also blows my mind but then again there also craftsmen who can make beautiful timepieces all by themselves so I guess making fun games in assembly is not that different than making a beautiful timepiece if you have the love and passion for it with the paciente to boot.
Re: Transport Tycoon a.k.a. the great optimiser, Chris Sawyer
#4I really like the soundtrack of this game, composed by John Broomhall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTi6LG8aeK8
Re: Transport Tycoon a.k.a. the great optimiser, Chris Sawyer
#5I really like the soundtrack of this game, composed by John Broomhall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTi6LG8aeK8
I was looking for the soundtrack and there is remastered version coming from mobile version. It's so awesome.
It makes me want play OpenTTD :)
Re: Transport Tycoon a.k.a. the great optimiser, Chris Sawyer
#6It still boggles my mind that Chris Sawyer wrote Roller Coaster Tycoon was written in pure assembly, only failing back to C to handle windows sound apis. The game is a masterpiece, it defined an entire game genre for decades. And RCT ran smooth on my pentium 2 400mhz processor, even with hundreds of guests and dozens of rides. I believe there are many magnitudes of performance hiding in poor software abstractions in…
I have never played Roller Coaster Tycoon, but Bullfrog's Theme Park (1994) was a massive hit with us kids on the Amiga. That one really defined the genre five years earlier, to be fair.
Re: Transport Tycoon a.k.a. the great optimiser, Chris Sawyer
#7It still boggles my mind that Chris Sawyer wrote Roller Coaster Tycoon was written in pure assembly, only failing back to C to handle windows sound apis. The game is a masterpiece, it defined an entire game genre for decades. And RCT ran smooth on my pentium 2 400mhz processor, even with hundreds of guests and dozens of rides. I believe there are many magnitudes of performance hiding in poor software abstractions in…
I have never played Roller Coaster Tycoon, but Bullfrog's Theme Park (1994) was a massive hit with us kids on the Amiga. That one really defined the genre five years earlier, to be fair.
Transport Tycoon is the predecessor of RCT, using the same engine and it was released in 1994 too.
Having played both on my 386 back then, I'd say that TT run much more smoothly and with a bigger world
Re: Transport Tycoon a.k.a. the great optimiser, Chris Sawyer
#8It still boggles my mind that Chris Sawyer wrote Roller Coaster Tycoon was written in pure assembly, only failing back to C to handle windows sound apis. The game is a masterpiece, it defined an entire game genre for decades. And RCT ran smooth on my pentium 2 400mhz processor, even with hundreds of guests and dozens of rides. I believe there are many magnitudes of performance hiding in poor software abstractions in…
I have never played Roller Coaster Tycoon, but Bullfrog's Theme Park (1994) was a massive hit with us kids on the Amiga. That one really defined the genre five years earlier, to be fair.
What Roller Coaster Tycoon brought to the table, and makes it shine even years later, is not the theme park simulation but rather what the title promises: the roller coasters.
The game comes with quite complete roller coaster (and some other rides) designer tools, which not only let you build the entire track from scratch, but also includes a simulation of vertical and lateral acceleration and g-forces along the track. It also has a appeal system for the rides, which is directly linked to the ride simulated operation parameters (plus some theming bonuses).
Designing rides is what (for me) takes most of the playing time and I judge every later entry in the amusement park entry by its roller coaster design tools.
Re: Transport Tycoon a.k.a. the great optimiser, Chris Sawyer
#9This guy is a genius. I spent a great chunk of my childhood playing this game. I have no hesitation to pick it up even today, given the time.
Re: Transport Tycoon a.k.a. the great optimiser, Chris Sawyer
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have never played Roller Coaster Tycoon, but Bullfrog's Theme Park (1994) was a massive hit with us kids on the Amiga. That one really defined the genre five years earlier, to be fair.
What Roller Coaster Tycoon brought to the table, and makes it shine even years later, is not the theme park simulation but rather what the title promises: the roller coasters. The game comes with quite complete roller coaster (and some other rides) designer tools, which not only let you build the entire track from scratch, but also includes a simulation of vertical and lateral acceleration and g-forces along the trac…
Yes, laying out roller coaster tracks was the major thing that made Theme Park so exciting to us in 1994. I am sure Roller Coaster Tycoon did a much better job at everything, but the genre was already defined. :-)
Edit: I kind of enjoyed reading this flame war from 1999 between fan boys and girls from both camps https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic/...