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Dovetail may be expanding into the worlds of fishing and planes, but don’t for a second think the publisher is turning its back on its beloved train series.
Train Simulator 2015 hits shelves on September 18th, and the title’s developers are trying to make the game’s various functions easier to understand.
This year the focus is on getting all of our players, both new and existing, to a level where they can drive all types of trains using the in-cab controls,” says Rob O’Farrell, executive producer at Dovetail Games. We’ve created a training complex called Train Simulator Academy designed with this in mind; it features 45 training scenarios under five minutes, covering all aspects of train driving.
We found that a lot of our existing players were still using the heads up display to drive with and although it makes it easier, it takes away from the immersion the game delivers when you use the cab controls.”
MAKING TRACKS
Although Train Simulator has a dedicated niche audience, Dovetail insists there is still plenty of growth in the franchise.
The series continues to grow steadily every year as we reach out to new players through our continued development of new routes and locomotives and increasingly accessible and rewarding ways of playing the game,” says O’Farrell. The #WeAreRailFans campaign that we ran last year helped us to reach out to the wider world of real life train fans and beyond.
With the addition of Train Simulator Academy and more #WeAreRailFans this year, then the promise of an Unreal Engine 4 powered version next year, we expect this growth to continue.”
