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Train sim created by just one person is being called the best ever made

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Re: Train sim created by just one person is being called the best ever made

#331

Post by wvh »

ffsm8 wrote: post #139
101008 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is incredible, and I am so happy for him, he deserves all the praise he gets (and maybe more). I will sin and make this about me, briefly, but just to say that when I was a kid/teenager with a really slow computer, a) I enjoyed coding much more, b) I think I was a way better programmer. Constraints make you better, you have to be smarter. I miss those times.

Well, nothing is easier then adding constraints. Removing them is what's difficult - so why don't you add them back if it makes you a better programmer and you enjoy doing it more? Personally, I think the reason you enjoyed it more as a teenager is just down to the fact you were fully in control of what to do and had no external pressure to earn money etc, so if anything you had less constraints - at least from my po…

Because the software industry doesn't pay anymore for constraints or doing things "the hard way". Everything is high-level language and by tomorrow. The day after it doesn't exist anymore anyway.

I'd wish to get a project that's low-level, multi-year and high quality of engineering and longevity. Make the best you can – something to be proud of.

Re: Train sim created by just one person is being called the best ever made

#335

Post by KellyCriterion »

ianbooker wrote: post #202
culi wrote: post #119

The dev is a person from Indonesia (Rizky Nova) who's device has 16GB of ram. Being able to use the Unreal Engine for free to develop this is awesome. This couldn't have happened 10 years ago.

> This couldn't have happened 10 years ago. I agree. Something similar could have happened 30 years ago, and it did, see Transport Tycoon (or a lot of early games). But from 2000 to 2020?

a) Transport Tycoon does not have that detail grade, actually its a "comic sim"

b) Chris Sawyer had a team of graphic artists etc, IIRC

c) TT is not about a "train sim", but a business sim

Re: Train sim created by just one person is being called the best ever made

#336

Post by KellyCriterion »

HPsquared wrote: post #185
tomodachi94 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To those asking about the reference to Nebraska, I'm pretty sure it's a reference to XKCD 2347 "Dependency": https://xkcd.com/2347/

I just think of Steve Ballmer's ad for Windows 1.0 (1986) "Order today! PO box 286 DOS... Except in Nebraska!" https://youtu.be/sforhbLiwLA

Curious. Why wasnt it available in Nebraska? :-)

Re: Train sim created by just one person is being called the best ever made

#338

Post by inigyou »

culi wrote: post #119

The dev is a person from Indonesia (Rizky Nova) who's device has 16GB of ram. Being able to use the Unreal Engine for free to develop this is awesome. This couldn't have happened 10 years ago.

Wouldn't they have used Unity 10 years ago?

Re: Train sim created by just one person is being called the best ever made

#339

Post by inigyou »

p-e-w wrote: post #212
ianbooker wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This couldn't have happened 10 years ago. I agree. Something similar could have happened 30 years ago, and it did, see Transport Tycoon (or a lot of early games). But from 2000 to 2020?

The difference between today and 30 years ago is that if you are an individual developer, you are at the complete mercy of a single company (Valve), who can force you to do essentially anything they want for the privilege of publishing on their platform, with no meaningful alternative, and zero recourse if they say “no”.

It's 100% possible to publish a game outside of Steam. There used to be a publicity advantage to being on Steam but is that still there now that Steam is 99% slop?

There are successful indie games that only entered Steam late in their lives.

Re: Train sim created by just one person is being called the best ever made

#340

Post by mh- »

ShinyLeftPad wrote: post #288
streetfighter64 wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get a million dollars in revenue as a solo dev, it's pretty much just winning the lottery. You've already spent all the working hours to make the game, so it's pretty much all profit at that point. What costs do you even have? It's a free choice to use the engine, you can use another engine or make your own if 5% is too much for you.

> If you get a million dollars in revenue as a solo dev, it's pretty much just winning the lottery You know it's not 1 mil per year, it's 1 mil over your lifetime

The vast, vast majority of indie game devs will not see $1m in revenue in multiple lifetimes.
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