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culi 45 minutes ago [-]
The dev is a person from Indonesia (Rizky Nova) who's device has 16GB of ram.
Being able to use the Unreal Engine for free to develop this is awesome. This couldn't have happened 10 years ago.
101008 1 minutes ago [-]
I think this is incredible, and I am so happy for him, he deserves all the praise he gets (and maybe more).
I will sin and make this about me, briefly, but just to say that when I was a kid/teenager with a really slow computer, a) I enjoyed coding much more, b) I think I was a way better programmer. Constraints make you better, you have to be smarter. I miss those times.
f3408fh 4 hours ago [-]
I always wonder how a solo developer can source high quality assets like these, plus develop a full game with them. In this case did the dev create the assets or did they purchase them from a freelancer? How much would purchasing this many assets cost?
topgrain2 3 hours ago [-]
Almost every time I see a halfway polished “solo developer” game, they did not do all the work themselves. Especially, they usually hire out the music, maybe other sounds, and much of the artwork. Sometimes they also have freelancers doing marketing and such. Sometimes even some paid help writing the software.
I highlight this not to bring those developers down, but because I think it’s important people understand how these things actually come to be, so they aren’t discouraged to try themselves by thinking they ought to actually be doing 100% of the work solo. That’s pretty rare.
AmVess 3 hours ago [-]
Solo developer just means they developed the game themselves, not made it all themselves. I'm not sure how you could write what you wrote without that occurring to you.
SirHackalot 2 hours ago [-]
Absolutely not obvious to me, especially since I have heard a lot of solo dev stories that insist it was purely a 1-person project. And it’s true in some cases.
computerdork 3 hours ago [-]
Hmm, it didn’t occur to me. Yeah, not sure it’s obvious to many people so was glad for the explanation
laserDinosaur 50 minutes ago [-]
In that case, please, define "developed the game" for us. Is doing all the programming "developing" the game? Is coming up with the game design and hiring programmers "developing" the game?
sits back with popcorn
24 minutes ago [-]
appplication 2 hours ago [-]
FWIW, that was not obvious to me either, and I appreciated the parent comment
Jhsto 4 hours ago [-]
Anecdote, but I recall my friend saying he worked on freelancing assets to some train game and showed me some pictures of the said game. Unless there are more of these in existence, I think it was this.
altairprime 3 hours ago [-]
Please tell him thank you from us all :)
abrookewood 3 hours ago [-]
100% they look incredible.
a_bonobo 3 hours ago [-]
It wouldn't surprise me if Japan has its own market for train assets. There's a big community of train simulators! Go to the Kyoto or Tokyo train museums, they have dozens where you step into a replica of a train cab and then drive a photorealistic simulation (sometimes also just film) - the ex-keyboarder for Casiopeia runs a train simulation game company that makes those since the 90s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoru_Mukaiya). There are some Nintendo Switch train simulators like Densha de GO that are only available in Japan.
I'm sure there's a treasure trove of already-built high-quality assets of Japanese trains.
dhosek 2 hours ago [-]
I was looking at the controller support and apparently there are game controllers designed to follow the layout of a train operations controller with the same two levers that you can see in game.
a_bonobo 2 hours ago [-]
I mentioned Densha de GO above, they have a designated controller like that for the Nintendo Switch too :)
jamesfinlayson 4 hours ago [-]
I thought it was kind of commoditised these days - there's an Unreal asset store I think? Probably one for Unity as well.
dash2 6 hours ago [-]
> including support for the Zuiki MASCON, a bespoke peripheral for train driving sims.
This just makes me feel so glad to be alive today!
theatrus2 5 hours ago [-]
Yeah, love that is just works.
I'm working on a bit of a hobby project to rebuild a beefier Mascon. Mainly inspired by how much I enjoyed Running Train
busfahrer 6 hours ago [-]
I'm on the fence because I have a TSC-X controller and it's unclear if it's supported. Somebody on the forums posted a tool that converts generic joystick axes to keypresses, but not sure how well that works.
lightedman 5 hours ago [-]
"Somebody on the forums posted a tool that converts generic joystick axes to keypresses, but not sure how well that works."
Joy2Key has been a staple for many a gamer for a while, and reliable. I've used it to control my mouse, even, from my gamepad.
whywhywhywhy 3 hours ago [-]
Game looks amazing from a solo dev but this article is terrible, like the journo didn't even play the game they just watched the game.
mikeaskew4 1 hours ago [-]
Yeah, it’s a classic bystander’s assessment.
dmix 3 hours ago [-]
All journalism is terrible these days. They just want a catchy headline for the ad view and nothing else matters, including whether the headline is true or not.
I have almost no appreciation for trains and I’m incredibly interested in trying this.
arjie 5 hours ago [-]
This is a 1 person job?! It looks practically photorealistic. That's absolutely wild.
smusamashah 5 hours ago [-]
Not to dismiss the effort by dev, but all Unreal engine games look photoreal these days. My point is that photorealism does not show effort these days.
rcoveson 4 hours ago [-]
Most of the review is about the art assets, and I doubt the big ones (e.g. the trains themselves) are off-the-rack Unreal assets. An engine like Unreal 5 will cast your assets in harsh relief. Which is to say, if your game's assets look custom and look good in Unreal 5, it does indeed demonstrate effort and skill.
Sharlin 5 hours ago [-]
No engine in the world can make bad assets look good.
uxhacker 3 hours ago [-]
Are we talking about train engines or games engines:)
Oh wow, I didn't know engines provided that much functionality. Thank you.
epx 2 hours ago [-]
Another notable, if old, train simulator from Japan is OpenBVE. It was easy to model railroads on it. Many short Brazilian routes were/are modeled in OpenBVE. It is particularly convincing since it simulates well the typical lateral wobbling that metric trains are known for.
culi 41 minutes ago [-]
Do you mean actual Brazilian railway track engineers used this game to plan/develop actual routes? Or just that you can play Brazilian routes in the game?
Insanity 6 hours ago [-]
I never got the appeal for these sim games. From the screenshots, it looks like a beautiful game and I guess I could enjoy the visuals for an hour or 2.
But I don't see how it'd entertain me for hours on end. If someone here is into these sim games, what's the reason you keep going back to them?
denkmoon 5 hours ago [-]
The simple pleasure of a job well done, even if the job is completely imaginary, because my real job is complex and stupid.
Driving the train is a little technical, but not overwhelmingly so. You need to pay attention to the gradient, speed, train weight and rail slipperiness to brake with perfect accuracy every time you come to a station. Signalling is not overly complex but you can benefit from tabbing over to a reference sheet every so often (Ah, double flashing yellow means we’re on a diverging route ahead with a reduced turnout speed so I must brake soon). Learning the german safety systems (PZB and LZB) was interesting. Guiding a 3000t freight train down a mountain isn’t something that can be rushed, it forces you to slow down and be patient.
So relaxation mostly. I can launch the game, drive something somewhere for an hour or two, get some endorphins because I did it all right, etc.
hananova 1 hours ago [-]
These Japanese style train sims are quite a bit less realistic, including fewer signals you need to know (Densha de GO!! essentially only has speed limits, g-forces, train load, and weather modeling.) and simplifying the controls to essentially a single handle that goes from full brake when pushed all the way forward to full traction when pulled toward you, with a switch you need to press to be able to pull it past neutral.
But in return they add very technically difficult tasks, such as stopping within a millimeter of the stopping point within a second of the time in the timetable without re-braking or making passengers uncomfortable, or stuff such as pointing at signals. They even add completely unrealistic stuff just for the sake of gameplay such as bonus zones where you need to stay at an exact speed, sounding the horn for overpasses and level crossings, or dimming the lights for oncoming trains.
They "feel" very different to games like Train Sim World, but I like them both regardless.
a34729t 2 hours ago [-]
Imagine if we can replace all the locomotive drivers with pensions with retired software engineers who literally will pay to do the job remotely? Even better if there is a prediction market and twitch stream on top with bets for the most mundane things.
edit: This actually sounds awesome
youngNed 6 hours ago [-]
for me its the abilty to 'switch off'
I play Euro Truck Simulator 2 (ets) and its my happy place, its just zen, Sometimes i will have a plugin that will get me local radio stations and i will cruise through italy and greece listening to talk shows in languages i don't understand, sometimes i will do it listening to the rumble of the truck, and i switch off, and allow my thoughts to run free.
I've recently started getting into flight sims, and i'm looking for the same sort of thing with that (the only problem with ets is the graphics still looks like a 2013 game) and i think i will get there, its just i'm at the 'learning to fly' stage, and thats kinda difficult. Well, actually flying is surprisingly easy, landing is the tricky bit ;-)
nesarkvechnep 6 hours ago [-]
After school I played countless hours of Euro Truck Simulator. It was an awesome escapism. Being a truck driver, driving through sun and snow, in different parts of Europe. Crazy drivers at night, needed to think quick in difficult situations.
_carbyau_ 2 hours ago [-]
Similar to you, I don't see the attraction of these sims.
I have a theory it is a mindfulness thing like many hobbies.
Think knitting or crochet or even building and running a model train set in the garage. These things aren't terribly hard once you learn the basics but you have to pay attention to various details over time and it allows you to tune out from the rest of the world when you want to.
But I really don't know.
altairprime 3 hours ago [-]
For the same reason that the Vegas attraction “dig a bunch of holes with industrial diggers” was so popular: people want to do jobs they think are cool without years of training cost up front, and this is a way for them to do so.
Farming simulator and Car mechanic simulator are both in my todo list, because those are hobbies I’m truly interested in pursuing and I’d like to know what it’s like to do them as a sim first. Most other live sims like this are deeply uninteresting to me, even if they have lovely visuals. Meanwhile I’ve seriously considered buying a Renesas SH-2A simulator for nearly $3k so that I can develop better car software!
Is there some job you’ve always wanted to do that requires extensive training that you can’t / won’t complete at this time? That would be a use case for sims that’s less game and more hobby for you (but that’s always a blurry line for all of us so don’t take that as criticism).
hananova 2 hours ago [-]
A lot of these train simulator games are a mix between job simulation and arcadey fun. To give a big example of the latter, in the Densha de GO!! games, the goal is to follow all the speed limits, brake gently without allowing the G-forces to exceed a certain amount, and to arrive at the station exactly on time while stopping at the exact right spot to the millimeter.
For some people, just the fact that it's a simulation is enough to make it fun. But to many others, the challenge (and I can promise you it is quite difficult) is what makes it a fun game.
I've been playing these games for half a decade now, and I've only managed a zero zero once (meaning that you come to a stop exactly on time to the second and stop within 0.0cm of the marker.)
modriano 6 hours ago [-]
Have you ever wanted to try flying a plane or running a city or being a tycoon of roller coasters without having to invest much time, money, and energy to take flight lessons, run for political office, or work your way up through an amusement park company? Sim games let you play with these complex systems easily and walk away when you get bored.
esikich 6 hours ago [-]
I get the impression he's not saying all sim games, but "drive the vehicle" sims in general. I have to agree. There's just nothing engaging about it imo.
wccrawford 4 hours ago [-]
I started playing Farm Simulator 2025 recently because a friend wanted me to. Even now, I really long for a proper game with progression, etc. But it's really just a way to drive machines.
And I find myself wanting to do that, even without the progression I crave from a game. But then I also feel like I'm massively wasting my time, and I could be playing other games, getting stuff done around the house, or just reading a book. Instead of driving a tractor for no freaking reason. But I still want to do it.
matthewfcarlson 4 hours ago [-]
What would progression look like in a farming simulator? I tried it a few times but have had a similar feeling.
fragmede 3 hours ago [-]
Going from a little tractor on a small family farm, to a huge corporate megafarm with all the toys.
LollipopYakuza 6 hours ago [-]
I have never played any train sim, but I read video game press that this one hits different.
A lot of train sim are about building the rail network, where Running Train focuses on driving. The scenery (dozens of kilometers of japanese railway) is beautiful and it reproduces the japanese railway system realistically.
Like for some other simulation games, I am impressed how can some go to such lengths to get as close as possible to the real thing but would not actually do it as a job.
Not making fun of it, I just found it fascninating.
ncallaway 1 hours ago [-]
I can get it. I can totally see something being fun if it's 2-10 hours a week, but not fun if it's 40-50 hours a week.
Also very different when you are in control of exactly when you're doing it, you can pause anytime you need to go grab laundry, etc.
Driving/train sims have pretty much zero appeal to me, but I enjoy flight sims a fair amount. I'd never want to make the sacrifices to my life that would be required to be a commercial pilot. Being a personal/hobby pilot is very expensive and quite a bit more dangerous.
mikeaskew4 1 hours ago [-]
To crash the [train, plane, automobile] of course.
modeless 3 hours ago [-]
An hour or two of entertainment for $19.99 isn't outrageous these days. A trip to the movie theater can easily cost more.
Insanity 2 hours ago [-]
I like this comparison. That’s a good way to think about it.
dudul 3 hours ago [-]
"I could enjoy", "How it'd entertain me" - have you even tried a few?
Insanity 2 hours ago [-]
I tried a “cleaning sim”. I already forgot the name but it was just like doing chores with a pressure cleaner.
Have not tried the train / driving sim though.
fragmede 6 hours ago [-]
Escapism fun. Being able to do the fun parts of something without the bullshit of doing it for real.
wizzwizz4 6 hours ago [-]
If you fall asleep while playing Truck Simulator, nobody dies.
lelandfe 5 hours ago [-]
That depends upon where one is playing Truck Simulator
stouset 5 hours ago [-]
Ender’s Truck Simulator
antonvs 5 hours ago [-]
Now I'm imagining a Boeing 777 pilot playing Truck Simulator because he's bored while the plane is landing.
shermantanktop 5 hours ago [-]
ATC will have to use a CB radio to get his attention.
freetime2 2 hours ago [-]
Looks beautiful and I am filled with an instant sense of nostalgia looking at the screenshots.
Personally if I were going to adopt a nerdy train hobby, I would tend more toward train photography. Recently train photographers have been in the news for mostly bad reasons [1], but I have also seen train photographers setting up in rural locations and the scenery looks stunning and also totally chill. The problems arise when people gather en masse to get the "iconic" shots that have been probably been photographed a million times before.
Or just go out and actually ride a bunch of different routes. It's been a long time since I've done it, but just riding a local or express train through a scenic area is delightful.
Of course there's no reason that true train afficianados can't do all of the above, as well as building model trains!
The one thing that is keeping me from riding the routes that I believe would be the must fun/scenic is the OBSCENE cost of those tickets. Granted, these aren't commuter tickets.
I would love a trip across the high plains and through the mountains by train. Just like I would love to take a cruise from the bottom of the Mississippi to the top.
But them tickets is too high.
freetime2 1 hours ago [-]
In Japan it's quite reasonable to ride local trains. I've been meaning to do a trip along the recently re-opened Tadami Line [1], for example. The one way cost for the full 4-hour, 135km trip is only ¥2,750 ($17).
Though when you add in the costs of getting to the start/end of the line, overnight accomodations, and potentially the cost of getting to Japan first - it gets quite a bit more expensive. But staying at a little guesthouse along the way is also part of the charm.
I wonder if it's got VR. There's not many train Sims that do even though the sim community in general has really embraced VR.
daviding 5 hours ago [-]
It works great with UEVR, there's a discussion post in the steam forum on how to set that up. It plays really nicely in VR.
LollipopYakuza 6 hours ago [-]
Not yet. It's been asked but since the original dev is doing all the work, he has to prioritize the backlog.
wolvoleo 6 hours ago [-]
Oh ok I'll still try it out though. But hopefully it'll come one day
leetrout 5 hours ago [-]
derail valley is pretty good in VR if you've not tried it.
kotberg 6 hours ago [-]
"Played properly, Running Train asks you to carefully control your speed, braking, and prompt, safe arrival at train stations, and rewards or penalizes you accordingly"
So it's basically a clone of 'Densha de go!' series.
A full-scale arcade version in this genre, evolving since 1996. Realistic controls, some seem even to include train crew uniforms you can wear while driving…
Something of a self-reinforcing statistic. Steam is rarely installed on Mac because there’s hardly any point doing so.
bena 1 hours ago [-]
Proud 2.2%er
But I also have had it installed via Crossover at some points to check out a Windows-only game.
Which I just realize also skews the statistic because Crossover basically creates a Windows VM.
f3408fh 5 hours ago [-]
Nowadays most games will run on Linux thanks to Valve's Proton compatibility layer.
999900000999 4 hours ago [-]
"most" is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
Multiplayer games generally don't.
Haven't tried this one yet, but in my experience it's like 90% of single player games work and the remaining 10% will never work.
paddim8 3 hours ago [-]
Games with anticheat generally don't. Multiplayer games without anticheat generally so work.
Gigachad 2 hours ago [-]
At least in my experience, every single game I've launched has worked on Linux. I don't play online shooter games which seems to be the only category that doesn't work.
seba_dos1 3 hours ago [-]
> Multiplayer games generally don't.
"generally" is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
999900000999 3 hours ago [-]
Recent big multiplayer games:
Marathon, no Linux support.
Call of Duty, no Linux support.
Battlefield 6, no Linux support.
Valorant, no Linux support.
The Finals works and is great, but I'd be mindful of what games I'm giving up if considering a full switch
abrookewood 3 hours ago [-]
I game on Linux (have so for years) and the only thing I can't play is a few AAA FPS titles. Honestly not much of an issue depending on what games you play.
f3408fh 4 hours ago [-]
"Most is doing a lot of work".
So, 90% isn't most in your book?
rjh29 4 hours ago [-]
Windows versions running on Linux over Proton tend to be more stable than any native Linux version would be.
4 hours ago [-]
5 hours ago [-]
WangComputers 2 hours ago [-]
I read the title and assumed this was going to be about Transport Tycoon.
dyauspitr 7 hours ago [-]
It’s beautiful. I wonder how much an LLM was involved if at all.
therobots927 6 hours ago [-]
I’m wondering the same thing. I’ve been thinking about getting into solo LLM game dev. I don’t know the first thing about it
blipvert 6 hours ago [-]
You’re all set!
therobots927 6 hours ago [-]
A pattern I’ve found useful in other settings is starting with code for an existing “game” that sort of resembles what you want to make and then modifying components until you have a whole new game but it shares similar infrastructure to the original. So you benefit from the existing system and avoid a lot of problems.
LollipopYakuza 6 hours ago [-]
What would be your added value?
therobots927 6 hours ago [-]
The ideas and aesthetics
shermantanktop 5 hours ago [-]
That's the part that is visible to everyone else, so that's the part that an LLM can see. That means someone else can clone your ideas and aesthetics. The ol' double-edged sword.
therobots927 5 hours ago [-]
It only works when starting with open source to show to LLM. To monetize my modification, I would not make mine open source.
If the licensing allows for it I’m fine.
Schiendelman 3 hours ago [-]
I'd be happy to help you! I'm working on a game myself.
My first piece of advice is: Pick one mechanic or idea, and ship it all the way to a player (a friend) to see if it's legible or fun.
markdown 6 hours ago [-]
Step 1: acquire land for datacenter.
bitwize 6 hours ago [-]
If the Touhou games or Cave Story were released today, all of Hackernews would be like "dude, I wonder what their LLM workflow is like!" Japanese solo hikikomori devs have been putting out insane stuff since long before LLMs emerged.
dang 2 hours ago [-]
"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."
"Don't be snarky."
"Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community." It's reliably a marker of bad comments and worse threads.
Not really, those games are very simple code wise. A high schooler could do it (source me).
You could make a bullet hell game engine as a project in an intro CS course.
The hard part is the content in the game, and ZUN was already a composer. That just leaves the code which is easy, and the bullet patterns, which ZUN clearly improved at through his earlier games. (and the art, which is famously bad though endearing)
mcmoor 56 minutes ago [-]
The other comment said that obviously no solo dev do everything by himself. They must have asset maker or song maker who do all things mostly uncredited. But, here we are, of course there are true solo devs!
sarchertech 6 hours ago [-]
> Not really, those games are very simple code wise. A high schooler could do it (source me).
That very much depends on how much they did themselves. If they used unity, and went very light on the simulation, sure.
> You could make a bullet hell game engine as a project in an intro CS course.
No you couldn’t. Well you could but it wouldn’t be appropriate for actual beginners unless you stripped it down so much that calling it an engine was meaningless.
nomel 2 hours ago [-]
> No you couldn’t. Well you could but it wouldn’t be appropriate for actual beginners unless you stripped it down so much that calling it an engine was meaningless.
You definitely can. One of the assignments in the CS intro course I took was a bullet hell game. "calling it an engine was meaningless" is an opinion that requires ignoring the fundamentals of what a game engine is.
sarchertech 31 minutes ago [-]
A game engine is a framework that allows you to create games. Assuming you don’t have tons of content (and I’m sure you didn’t in an intro CS class), building a game is an easier task than building a game engine.
Let me ask you this. What were the parameters of your assignment? What libraries were you allowed to use.
kmeisthax 4 hours ago [-]
By modern standards, yes, writing a bullet hell shooter game is not hard.
But ZUN started on the PC-98.
To put that platform in a western context, imagine if IBM had gone with planar graphics for VGA. Or an Amiga with no coprocessors, sprites, or scrolling[0]. You have a lot of pixels to fill and no help to do it with. It can't even run DooM[1]. Most other developers threw their hands up and shipped RPGs, erotic visual novels, or porn. Getting a fast action game running on PC-98 is a genuine accomplishment.
[0] I am aware that I just described a compact Macintosh.
the (physical) zuiki mascon seems like a labor of love too.
PpEY4fu85hkQpn 5 hours ago [-]
This place has become an AI-focused hellscape. It really is sad.
nomel 5 hours ago [-]
It actually seems to be a relatively small vocal group. I've marked most of them red (as I previously did the one above) with https://hackersmacker.org
Schiendelman 3 hours ago [-]
The people touting LLMs or the people complaining about LLMs? :)
monk_grilla 2 hours ago [-]
Thanks for the recc, very cool extension!
4 hours ago [-]
marginalia_nu 6 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
LollipopYakuza 6 hours ago [-]
I wish this was true. That AI slop couldn't reach prod and polute our virtual stores and assets marketplaces.
dyauspitr 6 hours ago [-]
Pretty much nothing has shipped without LLM involvement over the last 6-12 months
hyperific 5 hours ago [-]
>And oh my goodness, it’s so pretty.
Am I the only one that thinks the word "pretty" is overused to describe the visual quality and artistry of games? I see this word thrown around often and it feels so low-effort.
anyfoo 5 hours ago [-]
It's a simple word that does the job. No need to overthink it.
Being able to use the Unreal Engine for free to develop this is awesome. This couldn't have happened 10 years ago.
I will sin and make this about me, briefly, but just to say that when I was a kid/teenager with a really slow computer, a) I enjoyed coding much more, b) I think I was a way better programmer. Constraints make you better, you have to be smarter. I miss those times.
I highlight this not to bring those developers down, but because I think it’s important people understand how these things actually come to be, so they aren’t discouraged to try themselves by thinking they ought to actually be doing 100% of the work solo. That’s pretty rare.
sits back with popcorn
I'm sure there's a treasure trove of already-built high-quality assets of Japanese trains.
This just makes me feel so glad to be alive today!
I'm working on a bit of a hobby project to rebuild a beefier Mascon. Mainly inspired by how much I enjoyed Running Train
Joy2Key has been a staple for many a gamer for a while, and reliable. I've used it to control my mouse, even, from my gamepad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-A8xvFKaRA
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f90R2taD1WQ
But I don't see how it'd entertain me for hours on end. If someone here is into these sim games, what's the reason you keep going back to them?
Driving the train is a little technical, but not overwhelmingly so. You need to pay attention to the gradient, speed, train weight and rail slipperiness to brake with perfect accuracy every time you come to a station. Signalling is not overly complex but you can benefit from tabbing over to a reference sheet every so often (Ah, double flashing yellow means we’re on a diverging route ahead with a reduced turnout speed so I must brake soon). Learning the german safety systems (PZB and LZB) was interesting. Guiding a 3000t freight train down a mountain isn’t something that can be rushed, it forces you to slow down and be patient.
So relaxation mostly. I can launch the game, drive something somewhere for an hour or two, get some endorphins because I did it all right, etc.
But in return they add very technically difficult tasks, such as stopping within a millimeter of the stopping point within a second of the time in the timetable without re-braking or making passengers uncomfortable, or stuff such as pointing at signals. They even add completely unrealistic stuff just for the sake of gameplay such as bonus zones where you need to stay at an exact speed, sounding the horn for overpasses and level crossings, or dimming the lights for oncoming trains.
They "feel" very different to games like Train Sim World, but I like them both regardless.
edit: This actually sounds awesome
I play Euro Truck Simulator 2 (ets) and its my happy place, its just zen, Sometimes i will have a plugin that will get me local radio stations and i will cruise through italy and greece listening to talk shows in languages i don't understand, sometimes i will do it listening to the rumble of the truck, and i switch off, and allow my thoughts to run free.
I've recently started getting into flight sims, and i'm looking for the same sort of thing with that (the only problem with ets is the graphics still looks like a 2013 game) and i think i will get there, its just i'm at the 'learning to fly' stage, and thats kinda difficult. Well, actually flying is surprisingly easy, landing is the tricky bit ;-)
I have a theory it is a mindfulness thing like many hobbies.
Think knitting or crochet or even building and running a model train set in the garage. These things aren't terribly hard once you learn the basics but you have to pay attention to various details over time and it allows you to tune out from the rest of the world when you want to.
But I really don't know.
Farming simulator and Car mechanic simulator are both in my todo list, because those are hobbies I’m truly interested in pursuing and I’d like to know what it’s like to do them as a sim first. Most other live sims like this are deeply uninteresting to me, even if they have lovely visuals. Meanwhile I’ve seriously considered buying a Renesas SH-2A simulator for nearly $3k so that I can develop better car software!
Is there some job you’ve always wanted to do that requires extensive training that you can’t / won’t complete at this time? That would be a use case for sims that’s less game and more hobby for you (but that’s always a blurry line for all of us so don’t take that as criticism).
For some people, just the fact that it's a simulation is enough to make it fun. But to many others, the challenge (and I can promise you it is quite difficult) is what makes it a fun game.
I've been playing these games for half a decade now, and I've only managed a zero zero once (meaning that you come to a stop exactly on time to the second and stop within 0.0cm of the marker.)
And I find myself wanting to do that, even without the progression I crave from a game. But then I also feel like I'm massively wasting my time, and I could be playing other games, getting stuff done around the house, or just reading a book. Instead of driving a tractor for no freaking reason. But I still want to do it.
A lot of train sim are about building the rail network, where Running Train focuses on driving. The scenery (dozens of kilometers of japanese railway) is beautiful and it reproduces the japanese railway system realistically.
Not making fun of it, I just found it fascninating.
Also very different when you are in control of exactly when you're doing it, you can pause anytime you need to go grab laundry, etc.
Driving/train sims have pretty much zero appeal to me, but I enjoy flight sims a fair amount. I'd never want to make the sacrifices to my life that would be required to be a commercial pilot. Being a personal/hobby pilot is very expensive and quite a bit more dangerous.
Have not tried the train / driving sim though.
Personally if I were going to adopt a nerdy train hobby, I would tend more toward train photography. Recently train photographers have been in the news for mostly bad reasons [1], but I have also seen train photographers setting up in rural locations and the scenery looks stunning and also totally chill. The problems arise when people gather en masse to get the "iconic" shots that have been probably been photographed a million times before.
Or just go out and actually ride a bunch of different routes. It's been a long time since I've done it, but just riding a local or express train through a scenic area is delightful.
Of course there's no reason that true train afficianados can't do all of the above, as well as building model trains!
[1] https://petapixel.com/2025/12/15/japanese-railway-pleads-wit...
I would love a trip across the high plains and through the mountains by train. Just like I would love to take a cruise from the bottom of the Mississippi to the top.
But them tickets is too high.
Though when you add in the costs of getting to the start/end of the line, overnight accomodations, and potentially the cost of getting to Japan first - it gets quite a bit more expensive. But staying at a little guesthouse along the way is also part of the charm.
[1] https://fukushima.travel/blogs/tadami-line-5-sights-you-shou...
So it's basically a clone of 'Densha de go!' series.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/gaming/a28954/new-j...
A full-scale arcade version in this genre, evolving since 1996. Realistic controls, some seem even to include train crew uniforms you can wear while driving…
But I also have had it installed via Crossover at some points to check out a Windows-only game.
Which I just realize also skews the statistic because Crossover basically creates a Windows VM.
Multiplayer games generally don't.
Haven't tried this one yet, but in my experience it's like 90% of single player games work and the remaining 10% will never work.
"generally" is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
Marathon, no Linux support.
Call of Duty, no Linux support.
Battlefield 6, no Linux support.
Valorant, no Linux support.
The Finals works and is great, but I'd be mindful of what games I'm giving up if considering a full switch
So, 90% isn't most in your book?
If the licensing allows for it I’m fine.
My first piece of advice is: Pick one mechanic or idea, and ship it all the way to a player (a friend) to see if it's legible or fun.
"Don't be snarky."
"Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community." It's reliably a marker of bad comments and worse threads.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
You could make a bullet hell game engine as a project in an intro CS course.
The hard part is the content in the game, and ZUN was already a composer. That just leaves the code which is easy, and the bullet patterns, which ZUN clearly improved at through his earlier games. (and the art, which is famously bad though endearing)
That very much depends on how much they did themselves. If they used unity, and went very light on the simulation, sure.
> You could make a bullet hell game engine as a project in an intro CS course.
No you couldn’t. Well you could but it wouldn’t be appropriate for actual beginners unless you stripped it down so much that calling it an engine was meaningless.
You definitely can. One of the assignments in the CS intro course I took was a bullet hell game. "calling it an engine was meaningless" is an opinion that requires ignoring the fundamentals of what a game engine is.
Let me ask you this. What were the parameters of your assignment? What libraries were you allowed to use.
But ZUN started on the PC-98.
To put that platform in a western context, imagine if IBM had gone with planar graphics for VGA. Or an Amiga with no coprocessors, sprites, or scrolling[0]. You have a lot of pixels to fill and no help to do it with. It can't even run DooM[1]. Most other developers threw their hands up and shipped RPGs, erotic visual novels, or porn. Getting a fast action game running on PC-98 is a genuine accomplishment.
[0] I am aware that I just described a compact Macintosh.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj0-KvV0SC0
Am I the only one that thinks the word "pretty" is overused to describe the visual quality and artistry of games? I see this word thrown around often and it feels so low-effort.