Transport Tycoon

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| label2 = DeveloperTemplate:Pluralize from text | data2 = Template:If first display both

| label3 = PublisherTemplate:Pluralize from text | data3 = MicroProse

| label4 = DirectorTemplate:Pluralize from text | data4 = Template:If first display both

| label5 = ProducerTemplate:Pluralize from text | data5 = Steve Ramsden

| label6 = DesignerTemplate:Pluralize from text | data6 = Chris Sawyer

| label7 = ProgrammerTemplate:Pluralize from text | data7 = Chris Sawyer

| label8 = ArtistTemplate:Pluralize from text | data8 = Simon Foster

| label9 = WriterTemplate:Pluralize from text | data9 = Template:If first display both

| label10 = ComposerTemplate:Pluralize from text | data10 = John Broomhall

| label11 = Series | data11 = Template:If first display both

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| label13 = PlatformTemplate:Pluralize from text | data13 = MS-DOS, Mac OS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Android, iOS

| label14 = Release | data14 = Template:Collapsible list

| label15 = GenreTemplate:Pluralize from text | data15 = Business simulation

| label16 = ModeTemplate:Pluralize from text | data16 = Single-player, multi-player

| label17 = Arcade system | data17 = Template:If first display both

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Transport Tycoon is a business simulation game designed and programmed by Chris Sawyer, and published by MicroProse on 15 November 1994 for MS-DOS. It is a transport business simulation game, presented in an isometric view in 2D with graphics by Simon Foster, in which the player acts as a transport company owner, who competes against rival companies to make as much profit as possible by transporting passengers and various goods by road, rail, sea, and air.

Transport Tycoon Deluxe is an expanded and improved version of the original game, released in 1995. A version for Android and iOS was released on 3 October 2013 based on the sequel, Chris Sawyer's Locomotion. Two fan-made game engine recreations OpenTTD and Simutrans are also available. In November 2024, Atari SA acquired the intellectual property rights from Chris Sawyer.Template:Sfn

Gameplay

Transport Tycoon is a business simulation game where the player takes control over a transportation company and is tasked with building out a transportation network by constructing transport routes in order to move passengers, mail, goods and materials around an isometric map to earn money.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Players have a variety of vehicles to their disposal, including trains, trucks, buses, ships, airplanes and helicopters.Template:Sfn Every map in the vanilla game is randomly generated.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The main goal of the game is to make the most profit over the course of the game. Additionally, the game tracks high scores at higher difficulty levels, but they do not determine the win-state.Template:Sfn The game takes place in real-time and can played optionally against a maximum of seven computer opponents.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A game spans a century with the start in 1930, and finishing in 2030.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn There is the option to continue playing but the game won't keep a score.Template:Sfn Time ticks off in set increments, every in-game year takes about roughly 20 minutes.Template:Sfn The game allows the player to save at any time, and multiple saves of a particular game at any point are possible.Template:Sfn It also provides the opportunity to play against another human player via a serial link and a modem connection.Template:Sfn

There are a number of difficulty options available that can be modified, including difficulty and speed of the competitors, various terrain generation settings, quantity of towns and industries, subsidy multiplier, disaster occurrences and the choice between a steady or cyclical economy.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Based on personal preferences, there are a number of currencies the user can pick from and town names are either based on American, English or European names.Template:Sfn Upon starting a new game the player is asked to pick an avatar, name and primary colour for the company.Template:Sfn The player starts out by borrowing money to finance construction of transport facilities,Template:Sfn and is charged interest until the loan is repaid.Template:Sfn The game also features disasters, vehicle crashes and town councils.Template:Sfn Players can not construct their own cities,Template:Sfn but can rename existing ones.Template:Sfn

File:OpenTTD industry-commodity flow chart - Temperate.svg
Chart illustrating flow of commodities between industries and towns in Transport Tycoon, and Temperate scenarios in Transport Tycoon Deluxe.Template:Sfnm

Routes are created by building stations between two or more locations, with the available transportation options being rail, road, air and maritime.Template:Sfn Each type of transport comes with its own advantages and disadvantages,Template:Sfn and depending on the vehicle can only carry passengers or certain goods.Template:Sfn One transport route can utilize several different forms of transport, e.g. truck→ship→train.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The player's company and the individual stations each have ratings that depend largely on their efficiency at moving goods from one stations to the other.Template:Sfn A station with high ratings may attract more goods.Template:Sfn Players can terraform the environment per tile or build canals to improve their routes,Template:Sfn and buildings like train stations can only build on even ground.Template:Sfn Stations and airports only accept cargo of nearby industry and towns around their local vicinity.Template:Sfn Different stations and their area coverage can be combined into a single station if they are build adjacently.Template:Sfn As the user plays the game and earns revenue, they have the choice of expanding service along existing routes, or expanding their transportation network.Template:Sfn The game features a progression of technology: in any particular year of the game generally only contemporary types of technology are available.Template:Sfn For example, in the beginning there are only steam engines, but later diesel and electric engines are introduced.Template:Sfn In the game year 1999, monorails become available.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These require a separate track system from railroads.Template:Sfn

Vehicles in the game must be constructed at corresponding depots, which must be connected to the road or rail networks.Template:Sfn Over the course of the game, new models of vehicles are introduced and eventually come to replace older models.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Manufacturers can offer prototype designs to the player.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These new vehicles generally have improved characteristics, but may suffer from reliability issues.Template:Sfn Every vehicle comes with its own attributes, that include reliability, maintenance costs, speed, capacity and lifespan.Template:Sfn Eventually, vehicles will need replacing as they breakdown more over time and maintenance costs increase.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Vehicle sound effects change volume depending on the magnification level of the map.Template:Sfn

Towns and cities have their own road networks, but extra roads may be needed to connect them to other towns, or to various resources.Template:Sfn The player earns revenue by picking up resources or passengers at a certain station, and delivering them to another station where there is a demand for them.Template:Sfn Demand is determined by the area which surrounds the station; for example stations close to towns will demand passengers. The revenues will depend on the delivery time, distance, and quantity delivered.Template:Sfn The influence of these factors on revenue varies according to the type of goods being delivered. A product like mail will rapidly fall in value, meaning that it can only be delivered profitably over short distances, or over long distances very fast.Template:Sfn In contrast with a resource like coal loses value very slowly, so it retains its value over long distances.

The game features also a system called Local Authority.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Each city has a rating for every transport company based on the impact of their transport network.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn When the rating falls too low, the player will no longer be able to demolish buildings or construct new stations.Template:Sfn The rating depends on, among others, the level of service and the deforestation caused by the company.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Additionally, there is an option to advertise in a town in order to take away business from rival companies.Template:Sfn In later stages the largest cities can offer exclusive contracts for a single year.Template:Sfn At times, subsidies are offered by city governments to the first company to move a particular resource to their cities.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the course of a game, cities develop and expand according to various economic factors, and new industries (demand) or other resource sites (supply) may appear.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Some natural resources will eventually be exhausted and industries without adequate transport service can shut down.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Transport Tycoon Deluxe

Transport Tycoon Deluxe is an expanded and improved version of the original game. Although the gameplay loop is largerly unaltered.Template:Sfn

The Deluxe edition has added various new game options, which includes three new environment options alongside the original Temperate climate. They are called Sub-Tropical, Arctic, and Toyland. Every terrain type introduces its own landscape, industries, buildings and vehicles. Supply and demands are also modified.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Each option comes with ten pre-made maps.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The World Editor, from the previous expansion is also included - Allowing the creation of custom maps and scenarios.Template:Sfn The Martian tileset is omitted from this release.Template:Sfn The start date was moved to 1950 with the new endpoint set to 2050.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn With an option to change the start date in the world editor.Template:Sfn It also added network play via an IPX connection,Template:Sfn and the music theme for the main menu was remixed.

The updated release comes with number of in-game tweaks and features.Template:Sfn Including the ability to buy land for future use, to refit existing ships and planes, funding construction of new industry and the capability to buy and sell shares of other companies, giving the player the opportunity to buyout the competition.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Maglev trains and track were added.Template:Sfn Helicopter can now be build separately at heliports.Template:Sfn Players now also can rename their vehicles, stations and towns in-game.Template:Sfn the Deluxe version loses many of the earlier vehicles from the original game, while adding several new types later on.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Moreover, the vehicle names in the original game were based on real-life models, but were replaced with fictional ones in Transport Tycoon Deluxe, due to trademark issues.

It also has improved railway signals,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn as the player is now allowed to build on diagonal track sections.Template:Sfn The original Transport Tycoon only included bi-directional signals, permitting trains to pass in either direction, while the Deluxe edition introduced uni-directional signals, to restrict trains to a single direction of travel.Template:Sfn This has significant effects on gameplay, as the original bi-directional signals could result in trains trying to travel towards each other on the same section of track. While this would not result in crashes on a properly signalled route, it did require either building extra track, to allow the trains to pass each other, or building a great many tracks in parallel, to avoid the problem. The new uni-directional signals enabled building one-way track systems, giving the player greater control over the operation of their rail network, enabling far more efficient routes, and preventing trains from trying to travel the "wrong way" on a section of track. By utilising both uni- and bi-directional signals, the player could now build effective switching yards, junctions, and other useful designs.Template:Sfn

Development

Having been playing Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon, Populous and SimCity,Template:Sfnm Scottish game designer and programmer Chris Sawyer began exploring ideas and prototypes for a transport simulation game as early as October 1992,Template:Sfnm using his own isometric game engine he had developed in his spare time.Template:Sfn For Sawyer, the game, known originally as Chris Sawyer's Transport Game or Interactive Transport Simulation, started off as a way to contend with the monotony of his game conversion work,Template:Sfn which he began in 1988 and during this period he worked on various high-profile games like Frontier: Elite II, Goal!, Campaign and Elite Plus.Template:Sfn These game conversions allowed him to self-finance development of the game until he would sign a publishing deal.Template:Sfn Transport Tycoon would be his first major original computer game.Template:Sfn His goal for the project was to try and create a game that would improve and expand upon the original Railroad Tycoon,Template:Sfnm which he spent six months playing,Template:Sfn by including other types of transportation and trying to "simulate a world".Template:Sfn During development, Sawyer regarded Railroad Tycoon and A-Train as his main game design influences on the game, with SimCity 2000 and Theme Park providing some inspiration in the latter parts of production.Template:Sfn

The game also would allow him to combine his love for open ended simulation games and trains, he began with adding them into the game world alongside other vehicles.Template:Sfn Sawyer wanted "little vehicles all going about their business", where both playing and observing the action is enjoyable.Template:Sfn Sawyer researched as much as he could about the four types of transportion vehicles in the game as much as time constraints would allow in order to present the vehicles as accurately as possible. Although he admitted in an interview, he did not have enough time to research non-British train and road vehicles extensively.Template:Sfn The game was entirely written in x86 assembly language, Sawyer has stated that he prefers to write in a low-level programming language as opposed to a high-level programming language like C as he wants to know what every function does in complete detail and to optimise for efficiency.Template:Sfn He claimed that working in assembly code allowed him to add more complexity to game, as it allowed him to optimize the workload on the processor better,Template:Sfn without going over memory limits.Template:Sfn

Over the course of development, Sawyer in addition to adding different modes of transport, he implemented various different worlds and a basic economic mechanic to earn money, one that was even more simple than the one in Railroad Tycoon.Template:Sfn For simplicity sake he excluded things like stocks and shares as it added too much "unnecessary complexity".Template:Sfn The time period was set from 1930 to 2030, as this would according to Sawyer lead to "greatest variety of train and vehicle type" and that 100 years per playthrough felt right. It would give players 30 years of steam trains followed-up by diesel and electric trains, and ending with high-tech monorails.Template:Sfn He did consider adding more futuristic instant transportations like a 'Matter Transporter', but came to the conclusion it would probably provide an anti-climatic end to game, by making the old transportation network redundant.Template:Sfn Any other time periods that weren't included were saved for future updates or add-ons of the game.Template:Sfn Creating a challenging artificial intelligence was of paramount importance for Sawyer. He considered it the most challenging element to program, he would spend hours playing the game on his own figuring out the best strategies a human player would use and then building algorithms that simulate those aforementioned strategies for the opponent companies.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He wanted the computer opponents to play by the same rules as the human ones did.Template:Sfn Due to complexities and detail of the simulation, adding a fast forward option proved unfeasible at the time.Template:Sfn

By the time Sawyer had finished up his last game conversion contracts,Template:Sfnm Goal and Frontier Elite 2,Template:Sfn he had created a full-fledged version of the game in low resolution with his own crudely hand-drawn graphics. He decided to spend all of his time for a couple of months on the project and see how much progress he would make.Template:Sfnm On recommendation of a friend, Sawyer got in touch with graphics artist Simon Foster and brought him over to Scotland to look at the game. They immediately signed a deal, on the condition that Foster would be paid when a publication deal was signed.Template:Sfn The low quality bitmaps Sawyer drew were replaced by Foster. He recreated the art of the trains, trucks, buildings and scenery with high-resolution bitmaps. This was made possible by improvements in processing speeds and graphics handling, and the increasing adoption of graphic cards with the ability to output in higher resolutions, which allowed them to render the redone art and sound.Template:Sfnm A number of buildings in the game were based on real-life structures, primarly from Glasgow including the Livingstone Tower.Template:Sfn

By November 1993, Sawyer had a playable version of the game.Template:Sfn Jacqui Lyons, Sawyer's business agent,Template:Sfn approached a number of video game publishers with an unfinished version of the game in March 1994.Template:Sfnm Sawyer would leverage his preexisting relationship as a work-for-hire programmer with MicroProse, to convince them to take a chance on a game.Template:Sfn Following a productive meeting with MicroProse, Sawyer agreed to sign with them to publish the game, as he found the team at MicroProse more supportive. Ultimately, they would publish the game, which included changing the name to Transport Tycoon, where it would sit alongside their Railroad Tycoon franchise. When he signed the contract with MicroProse, the railroad parts were already nearly finished. Originally, a producer at MicroProse set the timetable of two years for the rest of development, but Sawyer managed to get the game in shippable state in 4–5 months, although he had to cut some content and ideas. Some of these were later included in the deluxe edition.Template:Sfn MicroProse had little input on the project itself,Template:Sfn except for a few things like what would happen when the player wins the game,Template:Sfn most of their feedback was either unfeasible or ignored.Template:Sfn Sawyer described his collaboration with the team at MicroProse as a positive experience and viewed them as a vital partner when it came to testing and finishing up the game.Template:Sfn On a suggestion of MicroProse, the game contains a few easter eggs referencing other MicroProse games.Template:Sfn In their October 1994 issue, the PC Review preview described the build as being in early beta.Template:Sfn

Add-ons and ports

After the release of Transport Tycoon, Sawyer stated in a July 1995 interview that he would create add-ons for the main game, he also began working on an expanded "Deluxe/CD" version and console ports for the ones that had enough processing power. The first add-on was a world editor which allows players to create their own scenarios. The add-on also included a Martian graphics set.Template:Sfn

Sawyer would return to game development in the 2010s with the mobile port of the game. At first, Sawyer had set up his own company named 31X Ltd as an holding company for the Transport Tycoon IP in 2010, but over time, it evolved to a company that could develop and publish a new port of the game.Template:Sfn Lyons came up first with the concept of bringing the game to mobile devices and managed to secure the rights after a prolonged negotiation.Template:Sfn Sawyer was originally focusing on funding for the game, but ended up overseeing the design and helped with the debugging.Template:Sfn Under his supervision, he brought in a London based company named Origin8 to remake the game for iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. Sawyer viewed these mobile platforms versions as an interesting technical challenge as these devices had become powerful enough to run the game and he stated that the "tactile nature" of interactive isometric simulation/strategy games, "really suits the touch screen interface."Template:Sfn The biggest challenge for the team was keeping scale and depth intact of the original intact without sacrificing playability, they didn't want to "simpfly" or "dumb down" the game.Template:Sfn This required developing a new tutorial tailored towards touch-screens.Template:Sfn

Music

The music in Transport Tycoon are original compositions by John Broomhall.Template:Sfn He was the in-house musician at MicroProse at the time and was tasked with providing the music.Template:Sfn Broomhall came up with the idea of using jazz by himself after playing the game and would create over 20 original pieces.Template:Sfn It features old-style blues, funk and jazz tunes,Template:Sfnm including parts of Herbie Hancock's Cantaloupe Island.Template:Sfn Sawyer had no involvement with the creation of the music.Template:Sfn Transport Tycoon was part of Broomhall's early scores as a composer that he created in MIDI, the soundtrack was limited to a nine-note polyphony and was built on a FM soundcard.Template:Sfnm

Broomhall alongside some of his industry colleagues would in 2014 record a remaster of the original soundtrack in a live environment and employing the latest sound technology. He envisioned them as the definitive version of the originals as he initially had imagined.Template:Sfn The new remastered music was included in the Easter update of the mobile port of the game.Template:Sfn

Release

A demo of the game was included in various demo discs of video game magazines, including an exclusive 3.5" disk for the October 1994 issue of PC Review,Template:Sfn and as part of a PC Gamer's CD-ROM and 3.5" disk demo disc in their January 1995 issue.Template:Sfn MicroProse published the full game for DOS on 15 November 1994.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Together with Railroad Tycoon and Pizza Tycoon, it was marketed as part of MicroProse's Tycoon franchise.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The game received its first add-on titled with Transport Tycoon Scenario also referred to as World Editor. It contained a Martian tile set, a world editor, that allows the player to create their own maps and scenarios, and full modem play.Template:Sfn It was released somewhere in Spring 1995 and required the base game.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The expansion that would ultimately become Transport Tycoon Deluxe, was at first reported to be a sequel named Transport Tycoon 2.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn MicroProse released the updated version Transport Tycoon Deluxe the following year in November 1995.Template:Sfn This edition was compatible with Windows 95.Template:Sfn

Ports

A port for the PlayStation was announced by MicroProse that was slated for a June 1996 release, and was ported by Digital Amusement. This version of the game included an extra rotational 3-D view feature that allowed players to visit the gameworld upclose.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It was also compatible with the PlayStation Mouse.Template:Sfn The release was delayed multiple times, with the second release date set in March 1997.Template:Sfn The game was ultimately published by Ocean Software and MicroProse in September 1997.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A version for the Japanese market called Transport Tycoon 3D was published by Unbalance Corporation on August 6, 1998.Template:Sfn Japanese publisher Imagineer developed and published a port for the Sega Saturn exclusively for the Japanese market in 1997.Template:Sfn

On 15 July 2013, Sawyer's 31X Ltd and Origin8 Technologies announced that they were working on a mobile version of Transport Tycoon.Template:Sfn The game was released for iOS and Android on 3 October 2013.Template:Sfn The game is single player and is primarily based on Chris Sawyer's Locomotion.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Unlike what is a common practice in mobile gaming, the release was not free-to-play. Sawyer has stated that he found the revenue model unsuitable for the game.Template:Sfn

Reception

Template:Video game reviews Upon release Transport Tycoon received significant critical acclaim from contemporary PC reviewers,Template:Sfnm they viewed it as an evolution and major improvement over Railroad Tycoon.Template:Sfnm SimCity 2000 was a frequent comparison point and Transport Tycoon was regarded as MicroProse's answer to the Maxis game.Template:Sfnm Critics praised in particular its addictive gameplay,Template:Sfnm mechanical depth,Template:Sfnm graphical fidelity and detail,Template:Sfnm sound effects and music.Template:Sfnm In contrast, they were more divided on the user interface,Template:Sfnm and A.I. opponents.Template:Sfnm The most uniform criticism was reserved for the game manual, for the inadequate information it provided to new players.Template:Sfnm

A reviewer for Next Generation gave the DOS version four out of five stars, commenting, "The best economic sim since Civilization, Microprose's new Transport Tycoon has all the features of Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon mixed with the look and ease of Maxis' SimCity 2000 and a host of new features ... that give the game a feel that is all its own." He further lauded the game for its graphics, "pleasant" music, sound effects, addictive play, and realistic simulation of the growth of cities and towns.Template:Sfn

Next Generation reviewed the Transport Tycoon Scenario, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "A solid upgrade for a great game."Template:Sfn

Legacy and successors

Transport Tycoon Deluxe was named as the 50th greatest strategy game by Adam Smith for Rock Paper Shotgun in 2015, he described the game as "Chris Sawyer's masterpiece".Template:Sfn

Chris Sawyer's Locomotion

Template:Main After the success of Transport Tycoon Deluxe, Chris Sawyer turned his attention towards a sequel, but during development he changed his mind and produced RollerCoaster Tycoon, which turned out to be a runaway hit. After RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 was done, work on the third version was left to another development team, and Sawyer returned to work on a Transport Tycoon sequel, Chris Sawyer's Locomotion. It was released in September 2004 and was described by Sawyer as the "spiritual successor to Transport Tycoon".Template:Sfn

It received poor reviews from critics and a tepid response from audiences,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn it was deemed a commercial failure on release, but sales through the digital releases are unknown. Regardless, there is an active Locomotion community that continues to produce modifications.Template:Cn

Third-party creations

Template:Main

File:Openttd transport tycoon-terabass.jpg
OpenTTD network game across 4 monitors

Following the release of the Deluxe edition, several third-party development teams have continued developing their own free open-source version of Transport Tycoon, with the goal of improving and expanding upon the original.Template:Sfnm Simutrans is a stand-alone freeware transportation simulator game that began development in 1997 by Hansjörg Malthaner. He handed over development of the game to a group of developers in 2004.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

OpenTTD is an open source complete recreation of Transport Tycoon Deluxe, achieved by reverse engineering the original game with its first release in 2004.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It delivers many bug fixes and general enhancements to the game, like making it possible to run TTD on multiple platforms, including Mac, Linux, PSP, and Android. The game allows for new graphic sets for vehicles and terrain to be used. While OpenTTD can still use the original TTD graphics and sounds, it does not need any of the TTD files to run as it has free graphics and sounds.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

See also

References

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Sources

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