Wow! I'm glad I happened to see this thread! Something to keep my eyes on. Congratulations on the grant! That's great news.
new video available through their twitter, they seem to be making progress! They'll be showing off at Gamescom 2009 in August, so better be patient! shader based graphics on 3GS
iPhone3GS Hi, It has been a while. I have had some time to play with the iPhone3GS, and I just posted a link on our Twitter account that would present the "new" shader based look running on the iPhone3GS. Luckily, our game Railroad Revolution was already meant to be a multi-platform release from the very start, so all the assets have already been created with shader based presentation in mind ... which means they all have diffuse maps, specular maps, occlusion maps, normal maps ... and most also have reflection maps and height maps as well. This little preview however, only use the diffuse maps, specular maps, normal maps and simplify (fake) reflection using a pre-calculated cube maps and specular maps. But the iPhone3GS definitely can do more than this. And this is just as important as just being faster than the current generation (like we saw in the awesome Firemint video with 40 cars on screen). This preview goes the other way. It has the same amount of content and models on screen as the regular iPhone3G version - however, it use higher definition geometry and shaders, textures and a more advanced lighting model to create a much more interesting look. In a way this is more balanced when targeting mulitipe generations ... because the gameplay experience stays the same, yet we use the extra horsepower to make it look so much better! Regards, Sven Oh... almost forgot The URL: http://miniurl.com/9808
Missed this the first time around...but man, does it look great The graphics are simply superb. Can't wait for its release
okay... NOW THAT... Is amazing, the first 3D rts game... Full functioning 3D that is, but how do you destroy a enemies base..? Do you have troops or bombs? I really don't understand that consept besides building an empire.
My guess is that gameplay will be along the lines of Sid Meier's Railroad Tycooon, or perhaps Ticket To Ride in that you're building a business empire, not a military one. I very much doubt that there will be troops, bombs and enemy bases, just rival railroad companies. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_Tycoon http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1530/Ticket-to-Ride/p1/ Another reference point would be Westward! on the iPhone, in that it borrows RTS concepts for a mostly non-militaristic experience.
Hm... Railroad Revolution is a strategy game, and everything happens in real-time - hence the notion "real time strategy", as opposed to turn-based strategy games. However, the "strategy" part is more about exploration, research, construction and balancing your resources, than bombing and attacking bases. This is nothing like "Command & Conquer". Think more "Age of Empire", "Civilization" and "Sid Meier's Railroads!" However - please note that there is a game element called "sabotage" ... which might be of your liking. This is about loading one of your precious locomotives, add a few tank cars filled with gasoline or add a flatbed car loaded with nitroglycerin (when you have researched "black powder" > "dynamite" > "nitroglycerin") and ram into your opponent's busy station area to create as much havoc as possible. For this mode, you should really think along the lines of the crash mode in "Burnout". Sometimes you head for the station, at other times you might want to set off the explosives when you are atop of a high bridge in order to ram your opponents train deep down in the valley below. I don't think there has ever been a railroad game like this before. Many railroad empire games turn you (the player) into an accountant. Railroad Revolution is more about action. Exploration. Construction. Research. Always under time pressure and forced to make hard decisions. And then we have the occasional sabotage mission to break up the pacing.
Looks fantastic. Loved the Railroad Tycoon games and this looks similar. I'll definitely be picking this one up. Can't wait to see how it looks on the 3GS.
Anybody still remembers Railroad Revolution??? Contrarily to what I posted on the Wild West Train thread, the dev/Sven/ChezDoodles has not gone AWOL I just had a conversation with Sven/ChezDoodles and saw a bit more footage of the game taken probably at the same time as the short iphone 3GS linked to above. It doesn't reveal much in terms of gameplay (sorry, can't say anything about this aspect, but wow...), but visually it certainly is serious app-porn. The landscape rises over several levels, trains, buildings and other artefacts are all lavishly textured and are all different in size and shape and colours, as opposed to cloned elements, with many camera angles. best of all, what I have seen is already out of date and now geared towards even more realism! Steam and smoke, and especially lighting and shadows bring everything to life, not to mention that a train may well be used to carry explosives that can be driven straight into somebody else's rail stock. Strategy, action, an amazing 3D environment, the game certainly promises a lot. It will take a little while longer, because the whole project has grown in scope, and size! The dev team has grown to a dozen people working to port it not only to the iphone, but other platforms as well. More info should be coming shortly, so keep your eyes peeled!
Will the 3GS features be supported on the new iPod touch? (I already hate it when devs make 3GS specific features and neglect the new touch which has a better processor) /end rant
That's a bit early to tell, but I can't see why not, in my opinion this isn't a real issue (not a hardware issue anyway, more a matter of devs learning to cater properly for the different generations of devices). Most of the info I have is confidential, but I'm sure it will all be made public in due time in the same way other devs have shared with us the details of their app's creations. It certainly bodes well for the future of the platform and otehr games to come...
Cheers! I really hope they make progress fast because there is a LOT to look forward to. I was very impressed with the video and still they posted here, but the rest (gameplay, controls) sounds just as impressive, this game is really going to be a milestone in idevice gaming. There is a good reason they put Revolution in the name, and it doesn't necessarily relate to railroads. Somehow I think it's good they are keeping a low profile, or else people are going to blow up an overhype storm of some kind.
*Shakes head* It all a lie. I don't believe even the 3GS is powerful enough to pump out those grafix in 3D. Or is it?
