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| Idea Info |
Name:
Rail Yard
Index:
Primary
Category:
Simulation
Submitted:
4/4/2003 3:41:01 AM
Written By:
Narfulations |
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Rail Yard
4/4/2003 3:41:01 AM
By: Narfulations
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Category: Simulation Games
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Project X (tentatively titled: RailYard)
(This document assumes that the reader has a basic knowledge of railroad terms)
The idea I have come up with is a game for people who liked Railroad Tycoon II or Transport Tycoon, but want to get down to the micromanaging level and manage rail yards or “hump yards” as they are sometimes called. This game would fall into the “Simulation” category, as it is recreating a very real facet of American railroading. Both RRT2 and TT are very broad games, dealing with the major aspects of cargo and passenger movement by rail (In the TT example you could also move cargo and passengers via road, air, or water also). RRT2 and TT are fantastic games, but they lack the micromanagement aspect that would be the heart of my game.
Upon starting the game, players would be shown a menu that offers several options: ‘Yard’ mode, ‘Sandbox’ mode, Load game, Engine/Car Design, Options, and Quit. Yard mode would be the main challenging aspect of this game. If chosen, the player would get another menu, which would have various ‘start dates’ that the player could choose from (i.e. 1900, 1930, and 1960). Their choice would determine what switching engines would be available to begin with, and then as the years progressed, technology would improve, and they could select better (i.e. more powerful, more reliable, faster) locomotives. The game would end about the year 2010, and the player would receive an overall ranking according to several individual numbers: Profit,
# of locomotives, avg. freight volume, avg. passenger volume, miles of track, number of sheds, number of workshops, number of freight cars, etc., etc. The player would also receive similar numbers at the end of the year, and these numbers could be accessed anytime through an icon on the control panel at the bottom of the screen.
After choosing the start date, the player would be presented with a map of the US showing major US cities, one for each state. The city display would also show the population for each city (bigger population = more rail traffic and more cargo volume), and the general terrain type (flat, rocky, swampy, sandy, etc.) A city in the Great Plains area would have a description of ‘Flat’, whereas a city in the Rocky Mountains would likely have a description of ‘Rocky’. Once the city is chosen (click on it), a loading screen would appear, with a graphic to depict the progress, like a hopper car being loaded with coal. Once the loading is complete, the player would be shown an empty landscape, with the chosen city covering about a quarter of the map. This land is off-limits, except for building a station and connecting the rails to the edge of the map. Connecting the rails to the edge of the map should be done last, as this signifies that your rail yard is ready to receive instructions and orders. You will construct your rail yard using three buttons in the Control Panel: Lay Track (Steel Track is expensive, but strong, whereas Cast Iron and Wrought Iron tracks are brittle and more likely to cause a wreck), Construct Buildings (i.e. sheds, car shops, repair facilities), and Construct Support Facilities (coal loaders, water towers, grain elevators). Once your rail yard IS done, (for the time being you will need to expand the yard as traffic becomes denser) you will start to receive orders for trains to be set up in a particular order. On the Easy difficulty setting, the orders would tell you to make up a train with 3 box cars and 2 tank cars, or a train with 2 passenger cars and 1 baggage car. On the Hard setting, you could receive an order to make a train that can carry 2000 pounds of bananas and 3000 gallons of oil. You would build a train to carry these things based on car capacities, explained later. These trains would be made using cars located in your yard, and if you don’t have them, you will need to make them, using fabrication shops and painting shops in conjunction. You will have a time limit to make the train and get it to the station, and if this time limit is exceeded, your Yard Rating drops. If it drops too low, your yard will be closed and the game ends. This is why faster engines and bigger cars are an advantage. It is also advantageous to have a well-planned yard so that traffic can move easily to and fro. Periodically, a train will come into the yard, and it must be unloaded and repaired (if needed). The cars in the train can then be constituted into your yard and used when you need to make another train.
An interesting facet of the game is the Car/Engine Design mode. The players will be able to design their own freight/passenger cars and locomotives for use in the game. By plugging together various parts like Lego pieces, the player can invent new cars and locomotives. Some pieces might be Bathroom (for passenger cars), 4-wheel truck, 6-wheel truck, loading door, truss underframe, roof vents, 2- person compartment, 4-person compartment, 6 person compartment, 4-person aisle seats, wood decking, wood sides, 40-foot arched roof, 60-foot arched roof, 40- foot flat roof, 10 inch window, 20 inch window, steel frame, wood frame, 10 foot wood body section, 2 foot wood end section, Door, etc. etc. Each piece will have a certain price, and when the individual prices are added up, a final cost would be reached. The capacity would also be determined by the pieces you put in, so a 60-foot, flat room coach with 12 6-person compartments could hold 72 people. Or, a 40-ft steel-framed wood flatcar could hold 64000 pounds (32 tons) of cargo. The cars would be saved as *.CAR files, which could be shared on the Internet. The engines, which would have a creation process similar to that of the rolling stock, would be saved as *.EN1
(*.ENG would cause confusion with Microsoft Train Simulator) and would also be shareable.
Money would be handled in one of two ways if this game were ever published. The first way is to receive a weekly (monthly, yearly) budget from the railroad that owns the yard. This way is more realistic, but it could throw some gamers off because it is so different. The second option is the classic option, which would be to have the income and losses based on traffic movements throughout the yard. Money would be lost when buildings, rolling stock, track, etc. are purchased, and money would be gained when a train loads up its cargo and leaves, or when a train pulls in and unloads its cargo (the railroad has to be paid for transporting goods). There would be regional differences as to cargo types (agricultural products would be more plentiful in Iowa as opposed to New York, whereas New York would have more passengers), and unusual cargo from an area would be more profitable than normal exports (Computers from Iowa would be more profitable to transport because they are produced less).
This game is designed to fill a gap in the simulation category that has existed for a long time, namely micromanagement. I have a feeling that it is so new that it will draw many detractors simply because there is nothing to compare it to. However, this game can work, and it will work if it is handled seriously and not turned into a kiddy sim game. It is more a management sim than anything, and that alone will make it stand apart.
-Alex Ponting
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