Howdy,
My name is Tyler go by Himser on all my gaming stuff. but it doesnt really matter (that username is never taken...knock on wood.)
Im from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
found Simutrans 3-4 days ago. when i was searching for a new land use planner (ideally) or transportation simulation. been learning the ropes for a few days until i felt confident that this simulation is awesome and worth putting my time into. I think im going to stick to using the experimental version with the british pakset for the time being.
Bit about me professionally. Im from a Land development Background and in the near future i would like to get into Land Use Planning(Urban planning to some). i honestly believe in the future a GIS Land Use Planning/ Transportation simulation is needed in the professional world and im ok with that. I love this type of work and these types oif simulations just add to that.
I would like to contribute back to this community in some way. unfortunately being a Buisness person.. i have zero artistic skills or coding skills. i would like to learn how to build mapsets and create a large Canada map for anyone who may be interested. (learning how is a first step tho). if there is anything else people may need.. that i can do i will try to do it. especially as i will be enjoying everyone's hard work over the years.
Welcome! Always good to see new players.
One area in which you might be able to be of some assistance in the future is giving some input into the design of the new city growth algorithm in Experimental. I have not started work on that yet (and have not been working much on Simutrans lately as I am in the process of moving house), but hopefully work will be able to start on this in a few months' time (subject to delays whilst large bugs are fixed potentially).
There is a discussion about it
here, and I should be interested in your views on the topic. Keep in mind that the algorithm has to be simple enough to work in the game environment, to code within a reasonable time by one person in his spare time and to maintain reasonably easily, work well with all the existing ways in which the game works, not take too much computational power and be as accurate an economic simulation as the forgoing allows. Do also bear in mind that the main focus of the game is transport, so any significant element that does not relate to transport one way or another is unlikely to be incorporated.
One thing in particular that is of interest in enhancing the ideas for city growth algorithms so far is a reasonably simple yet robust and reasonably realistic way of the game calculating an approximate land value for each tile, which would affect both the nature of the development there and the cost to the player of buying the land. One thing, however, which I think would take too much work at this stage because of the many different places in which very large changes to the code would be necessary to accommodate it is a class/wealth division between different buildings (and the passengers that they generate), although that might be worthwhile in the very, very distant future (or if an expert coder with lots of free time wants to add the feature earlier, then maintain it indefinitely afterwards).
In any event, welcome again - I hope that you have great fun with Simutrans.
