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Subway Builder: A realistic subway simulation game

subwaybuilder.com

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Re: Subway Builder: A realistic subway simulation game

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like it but it always felt like there was an escalating kill screen that happens way too quickly. Either that or I'm bad at it.

I am also bad at mini Metro but the thing that makes me crazy is that when the game ends it says something like “your city shut down.” That makes absolutely no sense and the endgame message should’ve been “you were fired!” Such a missed opportunity!

Serves this city right for putting all its eggs into one basket.

Where are the alternate forms transport: the bike paths and bike shares, LRTs/buses, and yes, roads? What about other upstream policy levers such as WFH mandates, and a decentralized urban core?

/s

Re: Subway Builder: A realistic subway simulation game

#82
post #78
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Mini Metro, so chill, but challenging. One catch is that riders only need to get a particular "shape" of station (roughly analogous to residential, commercial, industrial, stadium, etc). That is to say, they normally don't insist on going to a particular station. Also and it's free in time, money, and political captial to change routes. The model is, I feel, slightly too simple to feel like real transport infr…

I figure all the triangle stations must have well-connected bus routes going to the same area, and so on down the shapes. I mean surely you're not responsible for building an entire transit system!

It’s obvious in hindsight, but before I lived in the Boston area I never appreciated just how critical it is to have buses to supplement a subway, subway & buses to supplement light rail.

Whenever the idea of light rail came up in my hometown, I would point out to my enthusiastic friends that without a better bus system, there’s not much point to rail.

Re: Subway Builder: A realistic subway simulation game

#83
post #7

In this genre, Mini Metro is really fun, highly recommend. https://dinopoloclub.com/games/mini-metro/

The moment I have been waiting for: Top 1% player in all scenarios, both Mini Metro and Motorways. AMA. No, they are both really fun (and highly addictive in my case). I like that you can do a scenario in 30-ish minutes (and even pause if you need to). I personally prefer Motorways over Metro, but alas, both highly recommended. Fantastic game design.

Thanks! I've played the daily Mini Metro challenge for years and very rarely made it into the top 10%. I've gone through phases with widening loops, grids, etc. I always feel like there must be some mysterious "trick" I don't know. Questions:

1. How important is it to make sure you alternate symbols? (Beyond the obvious of not having 3 in a row). Do you go out of your way to avoid two in a row?

2. Is it better to put major junctions at the most common circle/triangle symbols, or on squares, or the rarer ones?

3. How much imortance do you place on the slowdown from lines crossing not at stations? I always go out of my way to avoid doing it but I wonder if I overrate the importance of it in my mind.

4. When you notice that some random station along a single line is getting a lot more traffic than other ones, do you shift other lines to cross it or just add more carriages?

One of the most frustrating (but addicting) things with the game is that a couple of my highest scores happened when I first started playing it, before I thought I knew any tricks at all! Wish I could see what the best players' maps end up looking like.

Oh yeah, one more question... do you play the secret level? What actually happens there, or is it just a gag?

Re: Subway Builder: A realistic subway simulation game

#85
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At $30, I've got a lot of expectations. At $40, I've got a lot more. Neither of those price points are the impulse buy for "it might be a nice game that I could waste a few hours on." It's competing with things like Satisfactory and Factorio for promise of enduring in my library gaming. This feels something closer to Puffin Planes ($12), Rail Route ($25), Station Flow ($18). The difference between $25 and $30 isn't t…

This seems like a game with a niche audience, and I'm sure it'll be worth $30 to the right people

Maybe it's worth it, but currently it's very hard for those people to distinguish it from a game that's not worth it to them.

Re: Subway Builder: A realistic subway simulation game

#86

Realistic? Does it contain corruption, bribery, backstabbing and other political stuffs? OK nvm my congratulations to the game designer!

Well, I recognize this is a joke. I would enjoy having a simulation where you inherit and hold poorly maintained subway system like the Boston MBTA and have to bring it back to health with all the challenges these systems face

This makes me realize simulations like this will be possible with AI at some point, and could be an interesting way for a city to hire employees

Re: Subway Builder: A realistic subway simulation game

#87

I like the idea. But this is a very weird way to sell a game. 1st, we have Steam. That's where I and most people buy games. 30$ for a random exe is going to be really inconvenient. Launch it on Steam at the same time, or at a minimum promise a key. It's also not clear why it's just a bunch of American cities, if you're pulling the data from Google anyway, any city ( within reason) should work. If you need additional…

It will be on steam, says on at the bottom.

Re: Subway Builder: A realistic subway simulation game

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love this game. And I have been waiting for the Mini Motorways for years...but for now it has not Linux version.

Mini Motorways is Platinum rated on Protondb, you should be able to play the Windows version on Linux just fine: https://www.protondb.com/app/1127500

Well, it is a option, but Mini Metro was linux native....I hope that Mini Motorways the same quality.

Re: Subway Builder: A realistic subway simulation game

#90
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I figure all the triangle stations must have well-connected bus routes going to the same area, and so on down the shapes. I mean surely you're not responsible for building an entire transit system!

It’s obvious in hindsight, but before I lived in the Boston area I never appreciated just how critical it is to have buses to supplement a subway, subway & buses to supplement light rail. Whenever the idea of light rail came up in my hometown, I would point out to my enthusiastic friends that without a better bus system, there’s not much point to rail.

My suburb has solid light rail to the city but a poor bus system to complement it. My closest bus doesn't run at all on weekends. There is a huge park and ride lot but, since I'm already in my car driving towards my destination, it always ends up being a question of whether I want to deal with a rail ride that might be equivalent to driving inbound but will be at least 30 minutes longer on the return. The deciding factor tends to come down to parking costs in the city or whether I plan to drink and need the long return ride to sober up.
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