Das Team von transport-games.ru hat vor einigen Tagen ein Interview mit Tom.io zu Transport Fever, Urban Games und zukünftigen Spielen geführt. Im Folgenden könnt ihr die englische Originalfassung sowie eine deutsche Übersetzung des Interviews nachlesen:
English
Surprisingly, but the game is almost two years old, however there are no DLCs neither free nor paid. Are there any plans on releasing DLCs to Transport Fever eventually? If "yes", then what would it could be?
There are currently no plans to release free or paid DLCs for the game. We wanted to focus our effort on the core game. Therefore, we released numerous patches after the release to iron out issues and improve the overall gameplay, usability and modability.
Transport Fever is quite popular game, even among modders. Would you like to conduct some modding contest with prize fund again?
We are thinking about it, but there are no immediate plans. However, we of course welcome suggestions from the community about a possible theme.
Why there are no cargo airplanes (-ships) in the game? Do we have any chance to see them?
The game is balanced in such a way, that cargo will prefer slower and cheaper routes. Planes are meant for passengers which want to travel fast, while ships are used for cargo and passengers which want to travel cheap.
Transport Fever is a game about cargoes and passengers. Would you like to add new means of public transportation, for example, trolleybuses or subways? Or maybe something brand new like fluid transportation by pipelines. Also electricity could provide new and interesting gameplay.
It sounds intriguing and we are fascinated to see, that modders are going to great lengths to replicate new means of transport like cable cars and subways with existing tools. We will probably not add new modes of transportation, but we are trying to make modding more accessible, for example we recently expanding the content of the Wiki to further support this.
Also are you willing to add new goods and production chains?
The same answer applies here: Not at the moment, but we hope we can help modders to develop their ideas.
Do you have any plans, which you can reveal, for the future? For how long are you going to support Transport Fever? Do you have any ideas about your new games?
We plan to continue support as long as it is finically sustainable, and we will try our best to make sure, Transport Fever will continue to function on future operating systems and hardware. We will of course also keep the support email address open for any question regarding the game beyond the last patch.
Some players states that a few music compositions have been removed from the game. If that is true, then why it has happened?
The game´s soundtrack was not changed since the release and still consist of 32 tracks. But only a portion of the composition is played depending on the in-game year. If a player starts in 1850, over time the selection of music changes and old pieces will no longer be played. This might give the impression, that something was removed. Note that this era-dependent music feature can be disabled in the main menu.
One more music related question. I think that Transport Fever has a great soundtrack comparing to many other strategy/business simulation games. Why don't you release soundtrack separately from the game for those who wants to listen to it?
Thanks for the praise. The soundtrack is not encrypted, so everybody who bought the game, can access it easily and listen to it on any music player app. Following on from the last question, this would also be a simple way to listen to one’s favourite pieces independent from the in-game year.
Would you like to add to Transport Fever or your next game (if it is also going to be a tycoon game) AI competitors?
Integrating AI competition as well as multiplayer is challenging. While it is doable to some extend from a technical standpoint, it does take a lot of effort due to the game being non-grid-based. On top of that is difficult to make it fun and challenging at the same time. Competition should not just get in the way, but present new possibilities to play the game and ways to think about strategy and a game must be designed for that. For Transport Fever we decided the time is better spent on making a great single player experience, where the player can choose his own goals in the sandbox and face challenges in the campaign. That said, we still would like to make a game which includes multiplayer or AI at some point in the future.
Do you have any plans for releasing global free updates for Transport Fever in the not far distant future?
There is still a lot on the wish list. Although we of course cannot implement all player suggestions, we are considering the most popular requests.
Why did you abandon the first-person view for passengers in vehicles? Would you like to return it to the game?
It felt incomplete and didn´t look great in some cases. Train station for example have underpasses, which are not modeled, vehicle interiors would need more work, and some vehicles like planes don´t have interiors at all. So, a lot additionalwork would have been necessary to make it a feature with an acceptable quality.
Official Transport Fever website tell us, that Urban Games counts only 12 people. Are you going to strengthen your team with new people before creating the next game?
Currently the team is complete, but we are upholding the possibility to employ additional staff or outsource certain tasks, should the necessity arise.
What kind of games would you like to create in future? Is there any chance that next game will be drastically different from Train and Transport Fevers?
We have a lot of creative people in the team with deep knowledge of games in various genres. That said, our current strength is in the genre Train and Transport Fever originates in. And there is still a lot which can be improved and added to the concept. Therefore, a drastic difference in the next game is rather unlikely.
Vehicles of what countries could possibly appear in the game? If new countries were added to the game, would they have their own campaigns?
Transport Fever has an international player base, so nearly everything would be possible. However, due to the active modding community and very high quality of their work, there are currently no plans to add new vehicles to the game.
Why there are no random tasks/quests in the game? Would you like to add them?
Although this was never planned for the sandbox game, random tasks and quest could be realized with modded mission script to some extent. Admittedly it is not an easy task to mod a campaign. Therefore, we meanwhile provided some information on the Wiki, including an example.
Before the game release, you said that day/night cycle and/or weather effects could appear. Should we expect these features in the not far distant future?
While we would love to see the game visually improved, it is not an immediate plan. Currently we have other priorities.
A question similar to the previous. What about season cycle: spring, summer, autumn, winter? I remember autumn trees mod for Train Fever. That was very beautiful. Also winter in the winter mod for Transport Fever looks very lovely
A season cycle – while visually appealing - would not add any gameplay, without changing some fundamental rules and the pacing. Thus, the benefit compared to the effort would be unfavourable. And as you said, there are some great mods, which allows the player to change the game to the desired season.
Are you going to show something new on any expo? If yes, then what expos will it be?
Not in the near future, but if at some point a new project is ready to be shown publicly, expos and conventions like Gamescom, E3 or PAX are a popular occasion.
Vielen Dank an die Beteiligten für die Erlaubnis zur Veröffentlichung.
Surprisingly, but the game is almost two years old, however there are no DLCs neither free nor paid. Are there any plans on releasing DLCs to Transport Fever eventually? If "yes", then what would it could be?
There are currently no plans to release free or paid DLCs for the game. We wanted to focus our effort on the core game. Therefore, we released numerous patches after the release to iron out issues and improve the overall gameplay, usability and modability.
Transport Fever is quite popular game, even among modders. Would you like to conduct some modding contest with prize fund again?
We are thinking about it, but there are no immediate plans. However, we of course welcome suggestions from the community about a possible theme.
Why there are no cargo airplanes (-ships) in the game? Do we have any chance to see them?
The game is balanced in such a way, that cargo will prefer slower and cheaper routes. Planes are meant for passengers which want to travel fast, while ships are used for cargo and passengers which want to travel cheap.
Transport Fever is a game about cargoes and passengers. Would you like to add new means of public transportation, for example, trolleybuses or subways? Or maybe something brand new like fluid transportation by pipelines. Also electricity could provide new and interesting gameplay.
It sounds intriguing and we are fascinated to see, that modders are going to great lengths to replicate new means of transport like cable cars and subways with existing tools. We will probably not add new modes of transportation, but we are trying to make modding more accessible, for example we recently expanding the content of the Wiki to further support this.
Also are you willing to add new goods and production chains?
The same answer applies here: Not at the moment, but we hope we can help modders to develop their ideas.
Do you have any plans, which you can reveal, for the future? For how long are you going to support Transport Fever? Do you have any ideas about your new games?
We plan to continue support as long as it is finically sustainable, and we will try our best to make sure, Transport Fever will continue to function on future operating systems and hardware. We will of course also keep the support email address open for any question regarding the game beyond the last patch.
Some players states that a few music compositions have been removed from the game. If that is true, then why it has happened?
The game´s soundtrack was not changed since the release and still consist of 32 tracks. But only a portion of the composition is played depending on the in-game year. If a player starts in 1850, over time the selection of music changes and old pieces will no longer be played. This might give the impression, that something was removed. Note that this era-dependent music feature can be disabled in the main menu.
One more music related question. I think that Transport Fever has a great soundtrack comparing to many other strategy/business simulation games. Why don't you release soundtrack separately from the game for those who wants to listen to it?
Thanks for the praise. The soundtrack is not encrypted, so everybody who bought the game, can access it easily and listen to it on any music player app. Following on from the last question, this would also be a simple way to listen to one’s favourite pieces independent from the in-game year.
Would you like to add to Transport Fever or your next game (if it is also going to be a tycoon game) AI competitors?
Integrating AI competition as well as multiplayer is challenging. While it is doable to some extend from a technical standpoint, it does take a lot of effort due to the game being non-grid-based. On top of that is difficult to make it fun and challenging at the same time. Competition should not just get in the way, but present new possibilities to play the game and ways to think about strategy and a game must be designed for that. For Transport Fever we decided the time is better spent on making a great single player experience, where the player can choose his own goals in the sandbox and face challenges in the campaign. That said, we still would like to make a game which includes multiplayer or AI at some point in the future.
Do you have any plans for releasing global free updates for Transport Fever in the not far distant future?
There is still a lot on the wish list. Although we of course cannot implement all player suggestions, we are considering the most popular requests.
Why did you abandon the first-person view for passengers in vehicles? Would you like to return it to the game?
It felt incomplete and didn´t look great in some cases. Train station for example have underpasses, which are not modeled, vehicle interiors would need more work, and some vehicles like planes don´t have interiors at all. So, a lot additionalwork would have been necessary to make it a feature with an acceptable quality.
Official Transport Fever website tell us, that Urban Games counts only 12 people. Are you going to strengthen your team with new people before creating the next game?
Currently the team is complete, but we are upholding the possibility to employ additional staff or outsource certain tasks, should the necessity arise.
What kind of games would you like to create in future? Is there any chance that next game will be drastically different from Train and Transport Fevers?
We have a lot of creative people in the team with deep knowledge of games in various genres. That said, our current strength is in the genre Train and Transport Fever originates in. And there is still a lot which can be improved and added to the concept. Therefore, a drastic difference in the next game is rather unlikely.
Vehicles of what countries could possibly appear in the game? If new countries were added to the game, would they have their own campaigns?
Transport Fever has an international player base, so nearly everything would be possible. However, due to the active modding community and very high quality of their work, there are currently no plans to add new vehicles to the game.
Why there are no random tasks/quests in the game? Would you like to add them?
Although this was never planned for the sandbox game, random tasks and quest could be realized with modded mission script to some extent. Admittedly it is not an easy task to mod a campaign. Therefore, we meanwhile provided some information on the Wiki, including an example.
Before the game release, you said that day/night cycle and/or weather effects could appear. Should we expect these features in the not far distant future?
While we would love to see the game visually improved, it is not an immediate plan. Currently we have other priorities.
A question similar to the previous. What about season cycle: spring, summer, autumn, winter? I remember autumn trees mod for Train Fever. That was very beautiful. Also winter in the winter mod for Transport Fever looks very lovely
A season cycle – while visually appealing - would not add any gameplay, without changing some fundamental rules and the pacing. Thus, the benefit compared to the effort would be unfavourable. And as you said, there are some great mods, which allows the player to change the game to the desired season.
Are you going to show something new on any expo? If yes, then what expos will it be?
Not in the near future, but if at some point a new project is ready to be shown publicly, expos and conventions like Gamescom, E3 or PAX are a popular occasion.
Vielen Dank an die Beteiligten für die Erlaubnis zur Veröffentlichung.
Trotz aller Transparenz soll es ja auch noch Überraschungen geben dürfen. Weihnachten ist nah...
elFranzo -
Immerhin mal ein Lebenszeichen. Bin dann schon gespannt was im nächsten Jahr angekündigt wird. Das man sich weiter auf Transport fokusieren will, lässt hoffen.
Bin nicht böse was DLCs betrifft. Da hat man sich durch die hohe Modbarkeit selber auch bissel das Wasser abgegraben. Wirklich klasse was da alles von der Community kommt! Mir fällt in dem Zusammenhang nur Cities: Skylines ein, was ähnlich offen für die Community ist. Aber da sieht man auch, wie sich DLCs und Mods vertragen.