TrainDriveATS for iPhone and iPad

[Guest ___]

There is a free trial version that lets you play in Demonstrator mode, then drive mode where you can drive one route.

 

According to the info page, Takahiro Ito-san spent more than two years to create this game which enables players to drive a train following signals and based on precise physics calculation while other trains run simultaneously according to timetables.

 

There are 37 sets of Tobu trains and 7 of others running on lines of some 40 kilometers on the paid version.

 

You are to drive precisely and safe.

 

The ATS game--

replicates actual operations of switch rails, signals and crossing gates.

reproduces passing loop on a single line, train overtaking, and stop signals before arriving at terminals.

uses transition curves on railroads to offer very gradual curve.

gives you general idea of how signals and safety equipment work.

lets players know why it takes extra time during rush hour.

 

Ito-san has a Facebook page for the game and seems to be pretty active and responds rather quickly to questions posted to it. We've talked a little bit online and in PM, and he is quite sincere about the products, and you can tell the game is more of a labor of love than anything else.

 

Feel free to try it out if you are on iOS.

[IST]

I have just finished the demo version. The graphic is not the best one (he can use higher resolution textures), but all in all the game is pretty good. I quite like the passenger information system. So I will buy the full version, although it is a little bit pricey compared to other softwares.

[cteno4]

The demo version name is train drive ats light

 

Jeff

[Guest ___]

I have just finished the demo version. The graphic is not the best one (he can use higher resolution textures), but all in all the game is pretty good. I quite like the passenger information system. So I will buy the full version, although it is a little bit pricey compared to other softwares.

 

 

Work began he was programming to an iPhone 3Gs, I believe, prior to the Retina display. I have to assume by the time the iPhone 4 came out, he was too far along to redo the textures, or he was keeping in mind that many of the iPhones of the time were capping out at the 32GB mark.

 

I actually had a conversation with Ito-san about the pricing. From what he stated, if he changed the price for the US store to better reflect the NA market, it would impact his numbers for the other markets. I am guessing by selling in the US market, what he sets the price to in the US defaults the price accordingly with all the other international iTunes stores. I have not sold any apps myself so I am unsure how setting prices works aside from what Ito-san stated that it imparts all stores.

 

In Japan ¥1000 is within the Jp  pricing structure norm. He did note, US sales are light compared with the other markets he is selling at that price point in. I believe Ito-san wants to sit on the current price structure for the moment and wishes to just watch to see where the numbers fall before having to drop his price across the board.

[IST]

Work began he was programming to an iPhone 3Gs, I believe, prior to the Retina display. I have to assume by the time the iPhone 4 came out, he was too far along to redo the textures, or he was keeping in mind that many of the iPhones of the time were capping out at the 32GB mark.

 

The graphic is OK on iPhone, but on my iPad Mini it looks so old-school. I have no problem with that as I am a fan of virtual railways, but as I read in the Hungarian App Store, user's major problem is this. However, I can not imagine that lot of people would buy this simulator in Hungary, so this is not a real issue.

 

I actually had a conversation with Ito-san about the pricing. From what he stated, if he changed the price for the US store to better reflect the NA market, it would impact his numbers for the other markets. I am guessing by selling in the US market, what he sets the price to in the US defaults the price accordingly with all the other international iTunes stores. I have not sold any apps myself so I am unsure how setting prices works aside from what Ito-san stated that it imparts all stores.

 

I understand his oppinion and I accept it. I just noted that the 7,99 EUR price is higher than the expected and higher than almost any other games. (And 10% higher than in the US store.)

[Guest ___]

I agree, the price is a tad high for non-Jpn markets.

 

FWIW: While the graphics are old school, the the game is over 30MB, and ITo-san is currently expanding the game so the game is only going to get bigger. While, it may look as modern as many games go, I think going more detailed in to the skins will only impact performance on the smaller iDevices.

 

Ito-san recently applied for an update that adds more scenarios to the game.

[IST]

I'm on a train station, or at least it seems to me at first glance. The world has changed around me, but not to its advantage. Kilometers of tracks before and below me while the sound of the passenger information system fill out the air. I have limited time to look around when the doors are closing, a signal shows clear before me and I feel the growing impatience of the passengers behind me because they want to travel. Well, I leave. I put my finger into the P1 sign on the touch screen that is on my left side and the train departs.

 

We are rumbling through the switches, then a subtitle shows me that from now 60 kph is the speed limit. Anyway I try to glance at the dashboard, but some mysterious force stops my head to rotate properly. The same happens when I try to look around as well. I give up after a few unsuccessful attempts and put out with I can't change, so I won't be able to look out the rear window and watch my whole train. I feel myself in some kind of sci-fi movie as different subtitles appears in front of me. On the left edge there are information about the driving gear and the reverser, while on the botton I see my current speed. On the right side there are information about the station and time and some kind of point system. It takes a while while I get used to it, I would feel myself more confortable with a traditional cab view.

 

I move my fingers and the train started to move faster, we can travel by 100 kph on the line, but I try to be careful: I do not know this train, and do not know how it does react to my movements. The automatic train control system warns me to a new speed ​​limit, it is time to reduce my speed to 75 kph. I do this, though it is strange that I can immediately switch to B5 so do not have to use B1, B2, B3, B4 until that. When I reach the desired speed I set the regulator to N and the braking effect disappears almost immediately, the train is just rolling without serious decrease in speed. It's a little strange to me, but then it comes a slope so I have to speed up otherwise the train would stop on the top.

 

I reach the timetable with a couple of clicks but it fills out the full field of view, so I have to choose: I can watch it or the tracks before the train. As a Hungarian railwaymen rule says: keep your eyes on the track, so I choose the second option and drive without the timetable as fast as I can. If I am before the schedule, I have to wait more on the stations, but it does not bother me. Unfortunately, the environment is quite poor, there are all over cubic buildings, in addition it seems a curious engineer planned this small town, as there are same type buildings everywhere. I can not read the subtitles of each boards, despite of I am not drunk. When driving, I realize what was so weird: I do not see shadows, there are some darkness only at the right of the rails and there is daylight in tunnel also. I pass a paper thin barrier, its audible warning system grabs my attention. But there is no car before it. I can not recognize that this is a real city or not, names of the stations do not ring a bell also, but I'm sure I have to be in Japan.

 

Another train comes on the other track but its appearance is below my expectation. It would be great to know how many passenger does it carry, but the windows are not transparent. There should be a reason, but I have no possibility to ask it from the Creator, so I can live with it. The signal has just changed from yellow to green, it seems there is another train ahead of me. In the distance an empty station reveals with a platform where I have to stop my train and the passenger information system starts to inform us in Japanese and in English. Fortunately, the visibility is pretty big, so I have some time to prepare to break, it allows me to stop smoothly. I look up the red square of the stop sign, but I can see three triangles hanging in the air just opposite with it. I target the the middle one, trying to stop as close as I can. Almost perfect, but I miscalculate by few centimeters. Doors are automatically opening and passengers leave the train of mine. Or I hope so. Unfortunately, I can not see this process. While waiting for departing, two more subtitle appears in the view: I can speed up the process of the station waiting, while the other one presents my performance which is acceptable, except my small mistake regarding stopping. Not knowing the dynamic of the train caused late arriving which results slightly worst judgment from my boss. However the result will be publicly available as all of my colleagues', this motivates us to become better.

 

Noone expects me on the terminal, but several new tasks, including not only a passenger train that stops everywhere, but I can drive an express trains also if I want. Of course I want and I do this as soon as I can...

[KVH1]

Great game. Having apple tv and playing it on a plasma screen tv is a joy. But yeah, its a little pixelated.

Another favourite iphone game is Subway Surfer.  :glasses2:

[LucaZone]

The ability to choose the train to run would be cool, but then you never see you own train so not sure how useful it would be :)

[Guest ___]

I'm still waiting to see when the update Sato-san stated was submitted to Apple goes through. He submitted it in early Janaury. Still has yet to go live. There were suppose to be some bug fixes and frankly, I'm handling most of the custumer service aspects on the FB page at the moment for him, with not too many answers regarding the update.

[Guest ___]

More updates, train lines, andso forth recently went live.

[IST]

Thanks for the info, I am still playing with this simulator.

[IST]

I have just seen an update in the App Store which includes the following:

- proceeded elevating of inbound lane around the Hon-Narushima station

- probability of save/load errors reduced.

[Guest keio6000]

Bve5 for ipad would be... Awesome... Sigh.

[IST]

Agreed. :)

[Guest ___]

He put out five or six revisions this year for ATS, and it's interesting if you play each revision, because he adds in-fill stations as each revission comes out wih those stations in varrious phases of being built. .

[Guest keio6000]

I want to comment on train drive ATS.  So far I have completed 4 and a half runs (two locals, two commuter express, and half of the first semi-express or whatever it is).  i did this while on various bus and plane journeys last week.

 

At first when you start this game you will likely be, as I was, underwhelmed by some of the low quality graphics.  Indeed, these can be and should be improved as it's some of the easiest things to fix.   The bridge, platform sign, train, and other textures should be better.  There are also silly graphics bug, like the sky benig 'dark blue' at the top of you pan your view around.

 

You may also initially be underwhelmed by the fact that it's basically a single line (with a small branch) that is modeled.

 

however, if you play the game a bit, you will soon appreciate that it is actually rather sophisticated and an excellent representation of a fictional but realistic private line.  specifically, unlike bve or densha de go, trainz, train simulator, etc, he has actually modelled an entire operating schedule, not just "your train and some statically triggered scenery trains."   The train you drive is actually part of a system, and you can see the whole system on the "scizzor diagram" (or whatever its called) that's in the resources section of the app.  almost comically, the scizzors diagram is hand-drawn and scanned, but it's still there and for what it is it is incredibly realistic.

 

also, while there is basically a single line, there is a lot of variety in the single line.  there is a 'one track' section up north, and there is a wide variety of rolling stock, stations, gradients, and the like.

 

finally, while i am not a particular fan of tobu railways (though i am definitely a fan of tokyo private lines in general), i'll concede that this was a good choice for what he set out to do.

 

the game is an ambitious amateur effort.  in places it shows its rough edges.  however, it's very good for what it is and is well worth the money.   i want to re-emphasize this point--i'm not going to scroll up to look, but i remember earlier in this thread somebody commenting on how much this game costs.   iTunes has conditioned too many people to $1 apps.  That's crazy.  This app costs under $10 and is a very good labor of love.  It takes technical, railroad, and other skills, plus tools and subscriptions that cost money to make.  This gentleman will probably sell a few thousand copies at absolute most, and even that might be pushing it.   The price is more than fair for what you get and for his months hard work.

 

improvements needed to the game:

 

short term:

- improve the graphics textures.  heck, even i could provide better graphics for him if i had the time.

- some small UI improvements, though he will probably be clueless about these unless somebody points them out

 

longer term:

- improve the scenery in general.  while scenery is not the main focus of this game, this can help.

- create additional railroads, once the basic 'engine' works as it almost does now.   model real railways if you can.

 

game highly recommended.   i use this on an iPad 4 and it works flawlessly from a technical perspective.