Game Play The following options appear in the Game Play section of the Control Panel: Arrival BellThis setting controls the frequency and volume with which the train arrival bell is played. News FrequencyThis setting enables you to reduce the number of pop-up dialogs that appear (specifically, the annual report and the economic changes newspaper announcements). Train LogosThis setting places a company logo above All trains, Foreign trains, or no trains (None).
Keep game going in dialogsBy default, time stops when a dialog pops up. If youd rather it keep rolling, then check this box. Dialogs disappear if left aloneBy default, you have to get rid of dialogs that appear during the game. Check this, and theyll automatically go away after a few seconds. Game TipsThis enables or disables the game tips that appear upon starting a new game. TutorialThis enables or disables the mini-tutorial for the game. By toggling it on and off, you also reset the tutorial to its starting point. (This is useful if youre introducing the game to somebody new.) File Options From the File Options menu, you can Load, Save, go to the Main Menu, or Quit a game. When you click Load game without saving your current one, you will lose the current game. Save your game periodically to be sure you can come back to it later. If you just want to bail and start over, then go to the Main Menu. If you click Quit, youll be asked if youre sure. If so, click Yes to return to Windows.

The Center List Box

The Center List Box is one of the most useful features of the main interface. Using the four tabsStations, Trains, Players, and Companiesyou can access information quickly. Heres how it works. When you click one of the four tabs below the List Box, the item in question is shown in summary form in the List Box. Stations and Trains are only shown for your company, but Players and Companies will show all in the current game. Heres the summary information for each respective tab: StationsFor stations you own, the list of stations shows the current Supply of cargoes available at each station and the amount of revenue generated on hauls From and To that station in the current year. TrainsYou can manage your trains from the List Box quite easily. From left to right, you can set the trains class: ExpressThe train will pass any other non-Express train. NormalThe train yields to Express trains. SlowThe train yields to Normal priority trains. Useful for trains carrying heavy freight, such as coal, where long delays dont matter much. HaltedYou can stop a train completely, and it wont move until you un-halt it. Useful for resolving traffic jams. You can also view a current image of the trains consist. If a cargo car is dimmed out, it is carrying no load. Further right is a speedometer, showing the trains speed, in absolute terms. Along the bottom of the trains list entry, a colored line will mark its progress toward its destination. As the train approaches its destination, the line will extend to the left, touching the left side when it reaches its destination. The color of the line indicates the trains current speed relative to its maximum speed:

5. STATIONS >Table of Contents<
In this chapter: The Economy The Role of Stations Station Detail Screen Cargo Supply & Demand
Well-planned and well-placed stations are the backbone of any successful railroad. Theyre one of the three major expenditures for railroads (along with track and trains). Having the right stations in the right places will go a long way towards ensuring the success of your venture. The first step in building your railroad is determining where to place your stations, and what types of stations to place. Be conservative as you place stations or youll burn through your money in a hurry. Its best to start a line with only two or three
stations, then expand gradually. Where you place your stations is dependent on the economy of the scenario youre playing. A quick overview of the economic model of the game is in order.

The Economy

The economy in Railroad Tycoon II is a microcosm of the real world economy. Only the elements that directly affect the railroad business are shown on the map. Other methods of transportation (such as shipping, trucking, and so on) and other industries that dont rely on the rail system are assumed to exist, but only factor in as background elements, mitigating major fluctuations in rail service. The industries in the game are some of the most important to the rail industry, but also serve as proxies for smaller industries (for example, iron, coal, and bauxite serve as proxies for all other mined minerals, such as tin, lead, copper, and so on). While you can often make a modest profit simply hauling passengers and mail between the major cities, the biggest profits are to be had by supporting the industries on the map, supplying them with the cargoes they need, and delivering the cargoes they produce to other areas that need them. The Reference Card shows all the industry flows. For example, sheep farms produce wool, which must be delivered to a textile mill, which will turn the wool into goods, which must be delivered to a town (a cluster of four or more houses all within one stations radius). You can also right-click any industry to see what it supplies and demands. While you can always deliver cargoes to locations that dont demand them, youll receive much less money for doing so. The amount by which the price is reduced depends on the Industry Model. On the Easy industry model youll receive a decent price, not quite as much as if the station demanded it, but a solid price nonetheless. On the Advanced industry model, youll receive much less. On the Expert industry model, youll barely receive anything. The Easy industry model also simplifies one other piece of the industry puzzle. With that model, all industries produce cargoes all the time. A steel mill will always produce steel. On Advanced and Expert industry model, a steel mill will not produce steel unless it is supplied with both iron and coal. TIP: Try to spread your cargo deliveries around to a number of stations. If youve got several sheep farms producing wool, try to spread the wool deliveries to several textile mills, so that the Price Level stays high at each one. The Expert industry model introduces two additional features Industry Buying and Price Levels: Industry BuyingOn the Expert industry model, you also have the opportunity to diversify your business interests by purchasing industries. Click any industry building on the map to see its price. Bigger buildings cost more, but can also earn a bigger profit. Profits are determined by how well that building is being serviced by your railroad and/or other railroads. If it is being properly supplied with all it needs, and all its cargoes are being taken to stations that demand them, then the building will be profitable. Price LevelsOn the two lower industry models, demand for goods is constant. A station either has demand for a particular cargo, or it doesnt. On the Expert model, the level of demand, called the Price Level, can vary from 0 to 9. If you deliver a large quantity of a cargo to a station in a short time period, the Price Level will fall. Over time it will rise again. If a station has not received any of a particular type of cargo for a while, the price level will rise, and a nice premium will be paid for the cargo. Houses are a special type of industry. By themselves, they produce a small amount of passengers and mail. Where they really become important is when they are clustered together. If a station has within its radius of effect at least four houses, then those houses constitute a town, which has a demand for goods, lumber, food, and milk. Eight houses clustered together is a city, which

demands everything that a town does, plus autos, cement, paper, oil, and coal. Note that houses are the only type of industry you can not buy.

The Role of Stations

Stations serve as your anchors within the economy. They enable you to pick up and deliver cargo from buildings located near them, and they service and maintain your trains, keeping your entire operation running efficiently.
Cargo Pickup and Delivery Both the stations and the buildings they service are somewhat representative. In the case of buildings, one factory on the game map might represent the entire Detroit area auto industry. One large station represents not only a station and accompanying facilities, but also a small network of feeder lines and sidings snaking out through the city to pick up cargoes from the major industries. Its entirely possible to build multiple stations with overlapping service zones. If a building sits within the zones of two different stations, it will ship out through whichever station has a train ready to accept it. Thus if an opponent puts down a big station in New York or London, you can outfox him by putting your own station nearby and doing a better (and faster) job of picking up cargoes. If a railroad does a particularly good job of servicing the industries around a particular station, the surrounding area will grow, adding new buildings and increasing in size.
Servicing Trains Like any other complex mechanical device, trains need a lot of care to perform optimally. In Railroad Tycoon II, train servicing consists of three elements: water, sand, and oil (a proxy for general maintenance), provided, respectively, by water towers, sanding towers, and roundhouses. For more information on the uses and effects of these items, see Chapter 6: Trains. All of these structures can only be built at stations. You will generally want to have at least one of each type of service building somewhere on your lines, unless youre running all diesel and electric trains, in which case water towers are unnecessary. However the buildings are expensive, and youll want to use them efficiently. Roundhouses, in particular, are the most expensive, but a train only needs to visit one occasionally (usually once every two to three years), so you can probably get away with one of them on a small line. There is one important difference between how trains use stations for pickup/delivery, and how they use them for servicing. A train must actually stop at a station to pick up or deliver cargo. However, a train only needs to pass through a station to be serviced by ita full stop is not necessary. The Station Detail Screen is the primary screen used for planning and monitoring pickups and deliveries, and for building service buildings and other support structures. When you purchase improvements, you can purchase one improvement at a time, or multiple improvements. Clicking an improvement and selecting Purchase will only purchase the improvement you clicked. To purchase more than one improvement, click the checkboxes to the left of several improvements, then click Purchase to purchase more than one.

DistanceLonger hauls pay a higher fee. Some cargoes (such as mail and passengers) are particularly distance sensitive. SpeedA faster delivery will pay more. Again, some cargoes are more sensitive to this (such as mail, produce, and milk) Cargo TypeMore valuable types of cargo generally pay somewhat more than less valuable types. Processed steel pays more than raw iron ore. Some small railroads make 90 percent (or more) of their revenue hauling a single commodity, such as coal. To find out more about the pricing and timeliness of a cargo, right-click on any car carrying that cargo. There are two special car types that arent used to haul cargo. The dining car increases passenger revenues by 20 percent. Use this on a train with three or four passenger cars to really make some money. The caboose increases train safety (which reduces breakdown and crashes), and train security (which reduces robberies).

Get Your Trains Rolling

The basics of train usage are as follows: Scout out a new route that needs a train. Purchase an engine reasonably well suited for the route. Use the Train Detail Screen to set up the trains route and consist. Keep an eye on the train to make sure it receives adequate service and that its route is still useful. The first step is to scout out a promising route. If youve just laid your track and stations, you probably had a route in mind. If your railroad is an ongoing venture, keep an eye on your stations, and whenever you see cargo pile up for a while at a station, youve found a likely spot to add a new train. Be careful not to add too many trains, or your lines will be choked with traffic congestion.

Train Purchase Window

Next, youll need to purchase an engine. Click on the Purchase Engine button on the main interface (left side, fifth from the top). Youll be presented with Train Purchase window. In this window, youll see a list of available locomotivesyoull be notified periodically when new ones are available. On the right side are the stats of the locomotive currently selected. There are five statistics tracked, as well as a top speed matrix:
CostThe price to purchase the locomotive. MaintenanceEstimated annual maintenance costs. FuelEstimated annual cost of keeping the locomotive rolling. Note: this can vary considerably depending on how far the train actually travels. AccelerationA measure of how fast a particular locomotive can get to full speed. ReliabilityA measure of the reliability of an engine. Top Speed MatrixA matrix that shows the locomotives performance on various grades with various numbers of cars. Since car weight varies, you can change the assumed weight per car, to see how the engine does pulling something heavy (such as coal), as against something light (such as passengers).
In general, you wont find any train thats ideal in all categories. Cheap trains are often unreliable. The fastest trains also tend to have less hauling capacity, and so on. Youll notice that there is often a considerable difference between a trains top speed and its performance hauling a significant load. Think of a Ferrari versus a pickup truck. The Ferrari can go a lot faster, but you wouldnt want to hook a trailer up to it. The pickup truck may not accelerate very well or go very fast, but it can haul a big load, and probably has a lower maintenance bill than the Ferrari as well. Once youve purchased a train, the next screen youll see is the Train Detail Screen. This is where youll select destination and cargo for your train.

7. PLAYERS AND COMPANIES >Table of Contents<
In this chapter: Player Detail Company Detail
The great railroads were built by great companies led by a handful of great men (sorry to be politically incorrect, but there were no significant women railroad tycoonstrust us, we looked hard.) In Railroad Tycoon II, both the players of the age and the companies they built are the mechanisms for railroad development. You play a railroad tycoon who is interested not just in building a great railroad, but in personal enrichment as wellsometimes at his railroads expense. Sometimes in a game you might control several companies in succession, either because you see new investment opportunities that beckon you to leave behind your original companies, or because the board of directors of your original company, ahem, "invites" you to seek employment elsewhere. You dont always have to start a company from scratchsometimes youll start as head of an established company, and sometimes youll have the opportunity to grab control of a company from some poor sap.err.I mean, from the under performing current chairman.

Player Detail

The player you play is usually predetermined for the scenario youve chosen. Forty great tycoons are available. North American tycoons tended to be ambitious private businessmen, sometimes more eager to enrich themselves than build a lasting successful company. European tycoons and tycoons from elsewhere throughout the world are sometimes private businessmen, and sometimes political figures, leading national railroad-building efforts. Political figures tended to be more concerned with building a large railroad, even at the expense of profitability or personal gain. You can choose to play however you want, although the goals of a particular scenario may encourage certain types of play. However, your computercontrolled opponents will tend to act in the manner they acted historicallyJay Gould will speculate relentlessly in the stock market, while Cecil Rhodes will focus on company expansion, even to the point of bankrupting his railroad. To get a closer view of yourself and your opponents, and to check out everyones financial situation, double-click on a player on the main interface Center List Box. Youll see a close-up of the handsome and not so handsome faces of the different players, a description of their historical activities (which gives an indication of their likely activities within the game), and a breakdown of their finances.

Company Detail

Most players will soon start a company, for it is through companies that all building activities occur. For more information on starting a company, see Chapter 4, The Main Interface. Once your company is underway, the principle means for controlling and monitoring your company is the Company Detail Screen. This screen shows your company ledger, and it has five tabs you can use to manage your operation: OverviewThis tab has information related to you and your current manager, and gives you a quick look at your operation. You can choose to Resign as Chairman if you plan to pursue other interests, View/Hire other Managers, or Change Company Name/Logo from this tab:

Map Editing Tools In the tools surrounding the editor screen, there are six map editing toolsa
Map Options tool, and seven game play buttons (you cant use these, even in the editor, until you control a company). For our purposes, well skip all the game play iconsLay Track, Bulldoze Objects, Build a New Station, Purchase a New Train, Stock Market, Control Panel, and File Optionssince they are all covered in Chapter 2, Tutorial and in Chapter 3, The Main Window. The six map editing tools are:
Raise/Lower Ground This tool enables you to raise or lower the terrain under the cursor. There are three options in the List Box when you select this tool, as well as a brush size selection panel on the right side of the List Box. The three options are: Raise or Lower GroundClick and hold as you move your mouse up or down to alternately raise or lower the terrain. Smooth Out an AreaThis takes sharp cliff edges and rough terrain features and smoothes them into more gentle curves without sacrificing height. Lower an Area to Sea LevelThis world-changing option will bring mountains to their knees. Use it to radically modify your map. Use the brush size selector to choose the area for any of these three effects.

Paint Terrain

This is the tool you use to paint various types of terrain on your map. Everything from dry, desolate deserts to lush, green grasslands are available to customize your maps. When you click this button, the List Box becomes a palette, allowing you to choose your terrain. In addition to the palette, theres a brush size selection tool on the far right side of the List Box, and two more tools as well: SolidThis paints the terrain solid with the texture you choose from the List Box. MixClicking this tool changes the palette in the List Box to mixtures of terrain, rather than solid types. Consider using this tool when you want to cover large areas without making it look too uniform.
Fill Terrain The Fill Terrain tool works much like the Paint Terrain tool, with one important differenceit completely fills the selected area, based upon the choices you make from the right side of the List Box when this tool is selected. There are five options to choose
from. You must first toggle the All or Adj. buttons on, before selecting Match, Above, or Below. In the List Box, select one of these two: AllWhen toggled on, this button fills terrain across the entire map. Useful for covering an all-land map with one texture. Adj.This toggle sets the Fill Terrain tool to fill terrain adjacent to the selected square. Then select from these three options: MatchUse this tool to fill terrain that matches the type (such as desert) of the selected square. This is useful for quick replacement of a terrain you want to change across the entire map. AboveUse this tool to fill terrain at or above the selected square. This is an elevation-based fill tool that works best for filling small areas that vary in height. BelowUse this tool to fill terrain at or below the selected square. This is the opposite of the Above tool. Use this tool to fill in your oceans quickly.

Located just below the Undo tool, the Map Options tool is extremely important. Here is where youll set the properties of your map, by clicking on each of these items: GeneralOnce you have Map Options open, General is the first section you need to fill in. The maps Description, which is the text that appears when a player selects this map for play, can be filled in here. In addition, you can set the Start Year, or a range of years starting with a Minimum Start Year, and ending with a Maximum Start Year. EventsTo add an Event to your map, you first click Add on the Events screen. The list of settings on the leftTrigger, Message Text, Frequency, Effect, and Commentsall inter-relate. A change you make to one of them directly effects another, so take your time here in order to get things right. Heres a summary listing of the events: TriggerThis set of options enables you to choose what sort of event you are setting up, as well as setting up the trigger formula itself. Since trigger creation is a fairly complex task that most users wont want to delve into, a full documentation of trigger usage is included in a separate fileeditor.txton the Railroad Tycoon II CD. Message TextThis set of options enables you input the text that will be displayed when the event happens. It can be displayed as a Dialog, Newspaper headline, or as a Choice. If you select Choice, you will then have to code two effects, one for each choice. FrequencyHow often do you want your trigger tested to see if the event occurs? Set it up from here. EffectWhen the event is triggered, the settings you make here will dictate what happens in the game. You can make these effects Permanent or Temporary. Scroll though the list of Effects, click the ones you want, then move their sliders to left or right to engage them. Each slider has different settings, so experiment to find the exact settings you want. CommentsHere you can include comments about this event. These are for your reference onlyyour comments will not be seen in the game. PlayersThe Players tab is where you set the number and identities of all players in the map. In the grid at the top of this screen, Add the number of player slots you want. They will all show as Unassigned for now. Highlight one of the Unassigned slots, then, in the area below the grid, click the up or down arrows to select players for each slot. You can set players to be Mandatory or Optional, Human, Computer, or Either. The Cash box is where you enter the amount of cash each player will start the game with. Player PoolThe Player Pool screen is where you dictate the players that can be chosen for the map. Player positions that are Unassigned are drawn from this pool, which can be set to a North American, European, or World player set. ManagersSelect the Managers you want allowed in the game from this screen. If they are not checked here, they wont be in the game except in special circumstances such as for an Event, or if the game runs out of allowed managers to use. EconomyIn the Economy screen, you can set the Starting Economic Level, as well as the Annual Growth Rate for the economy. Follow the recommended settings, unless you want some very interestingand unrealisticresults.

home. In addition, commuters need to go from commercial and residential areas to the airport and back. Automatic Cargo Types The 4 types of commuters only indicate where they want to go. All 4 types can, of course ride in the same type of commuter car. Therefore, when you set up your train on the train detail screen, only one type of car, a commuter car with a gray stripe, is available to you. When the train reaches a station, whatever commuters are waiting will board automatically, if and only if the train is bound for a station with the appropriate type of demand (i.e. Passengers wanting to go to the airport will not get on a train bound for downtown with no airport stop.) Also, the demand level at the destination station must be above 0. So you can't expect to haul commuters from all around the suburbs to a single factory the demand at that factory will quickly drop to 0, and commuters will no longer board your trains. Limited Station Buildings A much more limited selection of station buildings is available. You'll still need roundhouses for engine maintenance and a few of the other buildings, but warehouses, post offices, and such are disabled. Faster Cargo Deterioration Commuters want speedy service. They won't wait at your stations for long. You'll need a steady supply of trains or they'll find other means of transportation.
Interface ChangesA number of small changes have been made to the game's interface. Some of these changes have already been available in updated versions of the original game available on the internet (versions 1.02 to 1.05) and some are brand new with RT2-TSC. Track Laying Several new methods of laying track are now available to choose from: Free Form This is the same method as in the original RT2, allowing you to drag and drop long sections of track, with the computer figuring out the best route. Straight Line This also allows you to drag and drop sections of any length, however, the track will only stretch in a straight line. If an obstacle is in the way, the track will not be laid. Use this method to override the computer's normal tendency to bend track around hills and valleys.Piece at a Time For complete control, lay down a piece at a time. You do the pathfinding instead of the computer. The downside is that this method is slow, but for short sections of track, it can be ideal.Cargo Depoting In the original RT2, if a train delivers a cargo to a station that does not demand that cargo, the cargo is sold for a pittance. There is also no way to transfer a load from one engine to another. RT2-TSC adds more control of how cargoes are delivered to stations, allowing you to store the cargo at an intermediate station and pick it up with a different engine. This can be especially useful in mountainous situations, allowing you to use a slow, mountain geared engine such as a Shay to go into the hills and fetch cargoes, then deposit them at a nearby depot in the plains to be picked up for a long flat haul by a more conventional, faster engine. On the train detail screen, at each stop in a train's route, a flags indicate what should be done with at that station with any cargo that is not demanded (any cargo the station DOES demand is automatically sold off). There are 4 options: Default This is the same method as was used in RT2. If a cargo is not demanded at the current station but is demanded at a later station, it stays on the train, otherwise it is delivered at the current station. Store Undemanded cargoes are stored at the current station, and can be picked up by any train. Note, even the train that dropped them off can pick them up, so be sure to change your train's consist at this station or else you'll immediately pick up what you've just dropped off.Deliver Undemanded cargoes are delivered at the current station. You won't receive much money, though.Leave on train Undemanded cargoes stay on the train, presumably for delivery or storage at a later station. Note, if you have this option set at all your stops, an undemanded cargo will stay on your train indefinitely.

The Chairmen

Otto von Bismarck The Iron Chancellor of Germany, Bismarck had invested heavily in railroads before he instituted state ownership. He also had the government buy up all private railways for a tidy sum. Gerson von Bleichroder
Financial adviser to Bismarck and one of the richest men in Europe in the 1880s, he organized the financing for many Imperial German railroads both at home and abroad. Isambard Kingdom Brunel An inventive and excellent engineer in his time with an eye for the grandiose, Brunel founded the Great Western, South Wales, and Great Eastern Railways in England. Jay Cooke A well-trusted banker and financier, Cooke handled the federal loans that financed the North during the American Civil War. Charles Crocker Crocker was the bullwhip of the "Big Four" for the Central Pacific Railroad. He did the dirty work of overseeing the installation of CPRs part of the American Transcontinental Railroad. Hes considered a bully by most. Count Henckel von Donnersmarck A skillful German aristocrat in the 1880s, Donnersmarck invested heavily in early German industry. Daniel Drew Along with Fisk and Gould, Drew issued "watered" stocks in a successful bid to stop C. Vanderbilt from taking control of the Erie Railroad. Later his two "partners" undermined him financially and left him bankrupt. Henry Farnam Farnam and T. Durant co-owned the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, which built the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River from Rock Island, Ill., to Davenport, Iowa. James Fisk "Big Jim" lived his life without regard to his reputation. Along with J. Gould, Fisk attempted to corner the gold market. The ensuing panic cause the "Black Friday" market crash of 1869 in the United States. Sir Sanford Fleming Sanford Fleming He surveyed the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Sir Fleming was considered a good engineer and tireless worker. John C. Fremont Fremont made his fortune when gold was discovered on his land in California. The 52" Fremont was an explorer and the champion of a central path to the Pacific along the Santa Fe Trail. Jay Gould Gould started speculating on railroads at the age of 21. Along with Fisk, he tried to corner the gold market which sparked the market crash of 1869 also known as Black Friday. Gould is best-/worst-known for his ruthless financial attacks. Adolph von Hanseman Von Hanseman co-founded the Romanian Railway Company, the reorganization of which saved the fortunes of many European aristocrats in the late 1800s.

Politically well-connected, Twitchell ran the Boston & Worchester Railroad and ATSF Railroad as well as becoming a member of the U.S. Congress in 186773. William C. VanHorne VanHorne is credited with the expert general management of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. George Westinghouse An inventive genius, Westinghouse created a variety of locomotive safety devices, not the least of which were the safety signals and the air break Roy B. White White took over the operations of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad during the crisis of WWII. Demand on railroads around the world were taxed to their limits during this time. Daniel Willard Noted for being diligent and creative, Williard was nothing if not dependable. Albert A. Robinson Robinson was responsible for the laying of over 5,000 miles of track while in charge of the ATSF Railway. He had a reputation for honesty and integrity. Philip Randolph Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Union in 1935. Later he became a Vice President of the AFL-CIO in 1957. Andrew Carnegie Born in Scotland, Carnegie managed the Pittsburgh section of the Pennsylvania Railway and latter became one of the first steel railway bridge manufactures. Carnegie is best remembered as a great philanthropist. Rudolph Diesel Diesel invented the oil burning engine that would later bear his name. Unfortunately for Diesel, bad financial dealings and unscrupulous businessmen ensured Diesels financial failure. Ben Holladay Holladay was one of the most successful early stagecoach operators in the western United States. Holladay bought the Pony Express and made a fortune in carrying mail and freight across the west. Later, poor investments in Oregon railroads and the panic of 1873 cost him his fortune. Bat Masterson Scout, Indian fighter, Buffalo hunter, and railroad worker, Masterson was a study in Western U.S. legends. As deputy sheriff of Dodge City and security man, Masterson became a legendary gunfighter. Henry Booth Manager of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1829, Booth helped develop the earliest operation procedures for railways.
Andre Chapelon This Frenchmans work was to revolutionize steam engine design. His conversion of existing steam engines produced enormous increases in power. Many of his designs were adopted worldwide. Thomas Crampton Cramptons engine designs, though not popular in his home country of Britain, were very popular in France and Germany, and they influenced designs in mainland Europe for centuries. Dr. Robert Garbe A prominent railway engineer for the Prussian State Railways from 18951917. His locomotive design P8 4-6-0 was distributed worldwide. Herbert Garratt Patented a unique articulated locomotive that was ideal for sharp curves and efficient power generation. Unfortunately these designs never gained popularity in the United States or Europe, but found strong use in many other countries. Henri Giffard Giffard invented a water injector that increased steam production; steam was power. Allen MacNab Director of the Great Western Railway and a Canadian legislator from 183062. George Pullman Pullman created the Pullman Palace Car Company. His parlor and sleeping car designs revolutionized passenger service on railroads around the globe. Dr. Wilhelm Schmidt While working for the Prussian State Railways, Dr. Schmidt introduced the super heater to the world of steam locomotives. This was a major overall improvement to steam power. Ernst Siemens A brilliant German inventor, Siemens created the first practical electric vehicle in 1879. He also created the first public street railway. Robert Stevens A ferry and steamboat designer of some notoriety, Stevens invented the "T" rail, railroad spike, and improved railroad bed-laying techniques. John Wootten Wootten designed the "Wootten Firebox" which would burn bituminous coal. The ability to burn this low-quality coal produced great savings for steam engines with this device.

1998 1999

Electric Diesel Electric Electric Diesel Diesel Electric Diesel Electric Electric Electric Electric Steam Electric
260,000 292,000 390,000 226,000 478,000 425,000 1,000 K 492,000 2,500K 1,600K 850,000 750,000 400,000 1,250K
19,000 18,000 17,000 17,000 32,000 25,000 40,000 35,000 200,000 65,000 80,000 72,000 75,000 170,000
38,043 61,966 38,016 37,734 68,410 88,068 111,756 72,625 274,139 140,000 70,000 81,000 140,000 70,000
85/137 103/166 85/137 93/150 70/113 103/166 186/300 75/120 280/448 168/270 155/249 145/233 120/193 137/220
The Industries Industry Chart Rolling Stock 1 Rolling Stock 2 Second Century Chart The men and machines of railroad history wouldnt be noteworthy if it werent for the industries they directly and indirectly created, supplied, and profited from. The following section contains information about the various industry types/buildings in Railroad Tycoon II. The columns are self-explanatory for the most part: Name = the name of the building, Purchase $ = Purchase Price, Demands = what the building needs for production, Produces = what the building produces, Qty. Annually = the number of cars filled annually, and Bonuses = production bonuses. If there is nothing in the Demands column, then that building produces without need of outside materials. Note that in the Demands column, items separated by a comma indicate non-dependent items, which means the building produces two different things, or two types of the same thing (Goods, for example) from the items. Items separated by a plus (+) symbol indicate that both items are required for production. A few buildings have nothing listed in the Produces column because they either produce things that arent transportable (Electric power) or they are the end point for materials that reach it (Landfill). If the Produces column has "N/A" in it, this means that the buildings amount of annual production is directly dependent upon how much demanded material is supplied. Aluminum Mill Produces aluminum, which is used in canning and other manufacturing processes. Tool and die factories can use a steady supply of aluminum. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses
$500,000 Bauxite Aluminum N/A Auto Plant Send this plant steel and tires, and it will spit out autos. Autos will be demanded by any city; the larger the city, the greater the demand will be. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $600,000 Steel + Tires Autos N/A Bakery Properly supplied with grain and/or sugar, a bakery can become quite profitable and a decent revenue-producer. Send the food of bakeries to cities and towns. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $300,000 Grain, Sugar Food N/A Bauxite Mine Bauxite is sent to the aluminum plant. It is only used in the process of manufacturing aluminum. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $150,000 Bauxite 2 Cannery Canneries take bulk coffee or produce, and combine it with steel or aluminum cans to export as canned food. Send a cannerys output to any city or town. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $250,000 Coffee or Food (canned) N/A Produce + Steel Cattle Yard Moo! Cattle yards raise cattle for slaughter at your local meatpacking plant. If you ship grain to a cattle yard, your production increases by 50 percent. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $150,000 Cattle 3 Grain (Prod. + 50%) Cement Plant

Housing is unique. As cities grow, more houses crop up. Each one "produces" a certain amount of passengers and mail annually. Both services can be very lucrative between high-demand destinations. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses N/A Passengers/Mail 0.5/0.2 Iron Ore Mine Iron ore is the key ingredient in steel. Unfortunately, youll have to haul the ore a long way, since most iron ore mines are located in mountainous areas, and steel plants are near cities. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $200,000 Iron 2 Landfill This is one of the last industries available. Landfills accept waste from electric plants and nuclear power plants. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $300,000 Waste N/A Logging Camp Found in heavily forested areas, logging camps produce logs and pulpwood. Both products are shipped to lumber mills and paper mills respectively. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $150,000 Logs/Pulpwood 2/1 Lumber Mill Lumber mills demand logs and produce lumber, which is then demanded by cities. Lumber mills are generally located close to cities. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $200,000 Logs Lumber N/A Meatpacking Plant Unfortunately for cattle, the meatpacking plant is where they are turned in to food, which is then demanded by cities. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $400,000 Cattle Food N/A
Nuclear Plant This industry is not available until 1950, and it produces electric power and waste as a by-product. Nuclear waste is sent to landfills. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $1,000,000 Uranium Waste N/A Oil Refinery Oil Refineries process oil and turn it into diesel fuel, a hugely important commodity that is heavily demanded by electric plants. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $500,000 Oil Diesel N/A Oil Well Oil wells pump oil out of the ground, which is then hauled to oil refineries, or directly to cities after 1890. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $200,000 Oil 3 Paper Mill Paper mills produce paper, which is demanded by cities. This industry is available in 1800, very early in the game. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $300,000 Pulpwood Paper N/A Port Ports are special cases. Their demands and production are set within the map options when a map for the game is created. Up to four different sets of demands/production can be specified for each map. Customs houses are essential additions to your stations that are near ports. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses $300,000 Varies Varies N/A Produce Orchard Available in 1800, produce orchards ship their produce to towns and cities up until 1876. After that, they must ship to canneries, which in turn send canned fruit to cities for consumption. Purchase $ Demands Produces Qty. Annually Bonuses

SOFTWARE Backup or Archiving. After You install the SOFTWARE into the permanent memory of a computer, You may keep and use the original disk(s) and/or CD-ROM (the "Storage Media") only for backup or archival purposes.
Restrictions. Other than as provided specifically in this Agreement, You are not permitted to copy or otherwise reproduce the SOFTWARE or ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS; modify or prepare derivative copies based on the SOFTWARE or ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS; distribute copies of the SOFTWARE or ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS by sale or other transfer of ownership; rent, lease, or lend the SOFTWARE or ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS; or to display the SOFTWARE or ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS publicly. You are expressly prohibited from transmitting the SOFTWARE or ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS electronically or otherwise over the Internet or through any other media or to any other party. You are expressly prohibited from selling or otherwise using for profit any levels, level packs, add-on packs, sequels, characters or other components or items created by utilization of the SOFTWARE's level editor and/or based upon or related to the SOFTWARE or ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS. YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO REVERSE ENGINEER, DECOMPILE OR DISASSEMBLE THE SOFTWARE IN ANY WAY. Any copying of the SOFTWARE or ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS not specifically allowed in this Agreement is a violation of this Agreement.
Limited Warranty and Warranty Disclaimers.
LIMITED WARRANTY. Owner warrants that the original Storage Media holding the SOFTWARE is free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase as evidenced by Your receipt. If for any reason You find defects in the Storage Media, or if you are unable to install the SOFTWARE on your home or portable computer, You may return the SOFTWARE and all ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS to the place You obtained it for a full refund. This limited warranty does not apply if You have damaged the SOFTWARE by accident or abuse.
CUSTOMER'S REMEDY. Your exclusive remedies, and the entire liability of Owner, shall be (i) replacement of any original Storage Media with the SOFTWARE or (ii) full refund of the price paid for this SOFTWARE. By opening the sealed software packaging, installing and/or otherwise using the SOFTWARE or ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS, you hereby agree to waive any and all other remedies you may have at law or in equity. Any such remedies you may not waive as a matter of public policy, you hereby assign, or shall assign as they become available, over to Owner.

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Chapter 3

THE EXPERTS Sid Meier, Firaxis
General Game Design: Strategy Games
Do you like to use some brains along with (or instead of) brawn when gaming? This chapter is for youhow to create breathtaking strategy games. And do we have a roundtable of celebrities for you!
Bill Roper, Blizzard North Brian Reynolds, Big Huge Games Bruce C. Shelley, Ensemble Studios Peter Molyneux, Lionhead Studios Alex Garden, Relic Entertainment Louis Castle, Electronic Arts/ Westwood Studios Chris Sawyer, Freelance Rick Goodman, Stainless Steel Studios Phil Steinmeyer, PopTop Software Ed Del Castillo, Liquid Entertainment

Sid Meier, Firaxis

Theres a very good reason why Sid Meier is one of the most accomplished and respected game designers in the business. He pioneered the industry with a number of unprecedented instant classics, such as the very rst combat ight simulator, F-15 Strike Eagle; then Pirates, Railroad Tycoon, and of course, a game often voted the number one game of all time, Civilization. Meier has contributed to a number of chapters in this book, but here he offers a few words on game inspiration. Find something you as a designer are excited about, begins Meier. If not, it will likely show through your work. Meier also reminds designers that this is a project that theyll be working on for about two years, and designers have to ask themselves whether this is something they want to work on every day for that length of time. From a practical point of view, Meier says, You probably dont want to get into a genre thats overly exhausted.
For me, working on SimGolf is a ne example, and Gettysburg is anothersomething Ive been fascinated with all my life, and it wasnt mainstream, but was a lot of fun to writea fun game to put together.
To Meier, it all boils back down to passion:
What do you get excited about, and what are you good at? Do an RPG, not an action shooter just because its in style. Find something new and freshpublishers want to be leading-edge, too, so theyre usually receptive to new ideas. But remember, for every 20 guys who walk into the door, maybe two ideas are worth considering.

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Theres a temptation to create the ultimate game of all time, so keep your focus on a couple of cool features, make sure those are great, and leave some room for a second game.
Be sure to read Meiers advice on programming, articial intelligence, proper game testing, breaking into the industry, and more in later chapters.
Bill Roper, Blizzard North
Blizzard North VP Bill Roper is an industry veteran with countless triple-A titles under his belt, including WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness (producer), Diablo (producer), StarCraft (producer), Diablo II (senior producer), and StarCraft: Brood War (executive producer). Most recently, he has participated on the oversight team for WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos, in which he was instrumental in shaping the direction of the game. We chat in depth with Roper in Chapter 5, General Game Design: Role-Playing Games (RPGs) and Persistent Online Worlds, on role-playing game development, but here we have his inspiring and enlightening words on strategy game design, and how WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos could serve as a benchmark to others. Roper was rst asked to discuss what he personally learned from working on such epic projects as WarCraft III. Following is his thorough response.

Persistence of Vision

The main goal of WarCraft III was to create a real-time strategy game that was heavily inuenced by roleplaying sensibilities. Although we went through innumerable changes, both grand and minute, we strove to keep the concept of the game in the forefront of discussions. This often proved challenging when we would have to try to balance the needs of a strategy game with the mechanics of a role-playing game. One of the key features of the game is the Legendary Hero units, and to emphasize their importance, we originally used an over-the-shoulder camera angle and required that regular units be attached to the Hero. This gave the game a very distinct look and feel while immediately driving home the point that role-playing elements were going to play a big part in the experience. Unfortunately, we discovered that this design prevented us from doing many things that we felt were necessary to create a strategy game. While the camera angle needed to be changed, we also didnt want to lose the immersion we had attained, so we also made sure that the environment had a much more organic feel as we pulled back the camera, making it easier to strategically control multiple units while at the same time eliminating the game board feel from which many strategy games suffer. Keeping our eye on the overall vision for the project allowed us to make major changes to even key elements of the game, with the knowledge that we would end up with a cohesive and fun game design.

Letting Go

During the creative process of designing a game, you come up with thousands of great ideas and notso-great ideas. Sometimes you come up with ideas that seem like amazing groundbreaking concepts. Occasionally, these ideas just dont work. Whether for technical reasons, world continuity and design considerations, or simply because theyre just not fun to play, these ideas need to be changedor set

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aside. Sometimes, this can be a simple matter when you try something out and realize that it isnt fun or simply doesnt look right. Other times, this can be an extremely difcult decision because you can see how it might work and are willing to try and nd ways to keep the idea alive. For example, we had a major shift in the look and the associated design elements of WarCraft III after a year or so of development, when we moved away from the over-the-shoulder angle associated with Hero units. The interesting aspect of this decision was that although it probably caused some concern and confusion to our players, the development team actually found that they could now make the game they envisioned; the rest of our design concepts related to melding role-playing elements into a strategy game were basically unaffected. Dumping an idea that you have conceived, fostered, and perhaps even implemented is a painful but necessary process. Not everything works out as planned, and its difcult to admit when that gameplay mechanic you thought would revolutionize the industry turns out to be an adventure into tedium. When youre faced with the need to pull the plug on something in the gameno matter what the causeyou have to do so as quickly and painlessly as possible. Dont be afraid to scrap ideas because many times youll replace them with something far better or simply nd that [you dont need] anything there at all.
Bill Roper says that WarCraft III is one of our greatest accomplishments to date. We started out hoping to create a tting sequel to WarCraft II, and we ended up crafting a world of epic proportions. WarCraft III offers players an incredibly fun and dynamic experience.
(Used with permission by Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.)

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Taking Time for Tools
The design and implementation of the World Editor for WarCraft III was key to the successful realization of the role-playing game aspects found in the single-player campaign. The level designers worked handin-hand with the editor programmer to create a tool that was not only powerful but also easy enough for them to use day in and day out. While its not uncommon to see tools created without much thought given to the end user, the growth of the World Editor was a cooperative venture between the people making it and the people using it. This was essential, not just because we intended to ship it as a part of the game, but also because we knew that we wanted to free up our game programmers as much as possible from having to do special-case programming for the campaign. By putting a heavy focus on designing a robust tool that the level designers could use to modify their work and then immediately review it in the game, we streamlined our development process [and gained] many more chances to iterate on those designs while reducing our required quality assurance testing time [see Chapter 17, Proper Game Testing]. Its said that a craftsman is only as good as his tools, so giving your craftsmen the best possible tools will help them create the best product they can.

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responsive and iterative rhythm section. They listen to what the soloist is doing and then play with it and off of it. In turn, the soloist responds with his own intuitive iterations or departures. When a second soloist joins the fray, his performance is augmented by what he has just heard only if he can build on and learn from that experience. As game developers, we shouldnt be afraid to play other companies games and learn from what they did. We also need to play our games and learn from our own mistakes and failures. The rest of the equation is to listen to the people who buy our games and see what they want out of a play experience. All these things can inspire new chains of thought and can lead to new ideas in the design of game mechanics, world concept, and story.
In Chapter 21, Breaking into the Industry, Bill Roper offers some advice on breaking into the industry.
Brian Reynolds, Big Huge Games
Throughout his illustrious career as a programmer and game designer, Brian Reynolds, now president of Big Huge Games, worked alongside Sid Meier at Microprose and Firaxis on such remarkable strategy games as Colonization, Civilization II, and Alpha Centauri. His latest project is Rise of Nations. Read more about this game, published by Microsoft Game Studios, at www.bighugegames.com. It seemed a simple task for Reynolds to list his best advice for strategy game designers and support these words with an example from past or current projects:
1. Get something running in the rst month that you can actually play. (It doesnt matter if graphics arent so great.) With Civilization II, we had the game to where you could play it all the way through over a year before it shipped (even though it was all-new code from the original Civilization). We knew that we needed to play and try out all the new things we wanted to add and that wed need that much time to get the balance and AI tuned. For our current game at Big Huge, we had something playable by our rst milestone, even though all we were actually required to deliver was a design document. Strategy games are extremely complex to designalthough the individual components look deceptively simple, having a lot of simple moving parts makes for a very complex overall balancing task. Its easy to look at a strategy game and say, I could make this better; Id add this and this and this, but very hard to actually integrate lots of new parts into a game system without breaking the things that were already fun. To balance all the moving parts correctly, theres no substitute for actually playing your own gamethe combinatorial explosion from all the moving parts makes it impossible to truly anticipate or tune results on paper in a design document. The sooner you get your game running, the sooner you can actually get to work on making the game fun and making it balanced. Both fun and balance tend to be taken for granted by novice designers. They think, If I make a game about topic X and it has features A, B, and C and technology J, then it will be fun, but as it turns out, fun and balance both take a lot of hard work.

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2. Each strategy should have both a unique strength to make it cool and a unique weakness to keep it from being too powerful. Rock, paper, scissors is the best model for game balance. Our current real-time game is based around a rock, paper, scissors model for game balance. That is, unit A is really strong against unit B, but weak against unit C; whereas B is weak against A and strong against C, etc. That way, no unit is so powerful that its unbalanced. Also, all units are strong against something, so theyre cool to build in the correct context. 3. Play your game regularly. If you have multiplayer [capability], get that running early so that you can balance it. By the time our new game ships, well have had our multiplayer running for at least 18 months. Weve built a special multiplayer lab with eight workstations side by side (its modeled on the lab we saw at Ensemble Studios), and we run at least one multiplayer game a day thereoften several. We have novice days, pro days, intermediate days, freefor-all days, and so fortheveryone in the company signs up and plays. Everybody in the company gets to see their own work interacting with the rest of the game, gets to see the big picture, and has a chance to contribute to the design and balance. The progress on design and game balance was dramatic once we got the lab in, and we have plenty of time left.
Most of Brian Reynolds advice in this book is found in the chapters on programming (see Chapter 11, Programming Theory) and articial intelligence (Chapter 12, Articial Intelligence [AI]), as well as on how best to break into the industry (Chapter 21).
Bruce C. Shelley, Ensemble Studios
Bruce Shelley is a lead game designer and spokesman for Ensemble Studios, the development studio that has created award-winning and critically acclaimed real-time strategy games for Microsoft. In the past, Shelley has worked on computer games such as Civilization (Microprose), Railroad Tycoon (Microprose), and others. His latest project was the million-unitseller, Age of Mythology. Shelley offers some key tips for those starting out in the industry:
Be familiar with lots of games, but especially those most like the game you most want to design. Consider which parts of a game are working and which are not. Providing a player with interesting decisions is the rocket science of game design. If you agree, then consider whether a game youre playing or designing is providing interesting decisions. When you attempt to add a new piece to a game, ask yourself whether it will add interesting decisions for the player to deal with. When considering a new game, look at the competition rst and make lists of features they do well, poorly, or not at all. The features they do well are the minimum requirements for your game. The features they do poorly or not at all are a list of opportunities where you can differentiate your game and offer innovation. Always seek to differentiate and innovatedont clone around.

Finally, Shelley was asked to be frank about what its like working with a powerful publisher such as Microsoftsomething many game designers are likely curious about! Shelley says the pros are that big publishers get shelf space; have marketing muscle; have PR departments; and are usually well organized for testing, localization, and manual creation. They do virtually everything better than the alternatives (small publisher, self-publishing). But he discusses some of the cons as well: They usually control the purse strings and can dictate schedule dates and budgets. Your game is just one in their portfolio. They may use it for strategic purposes good for their company, but not necessarily for yours (loss leader, bundling deals). Bruce Shelley offers advice on many other topics in this book, including writing design documents (Chapter 6, Creating Characters, Storyboarding, and Design Documents), coding realistic AI (Chapter 12), creating a good user interface (Chapter 14, The All-Important User Interface [UI] and Game Control), and breaking into the industry (Chapter 21).

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Peter Molyneux, Lionhead Studios
One of the computer game industrys most revered game designers is Peter Molyneux, the brilliant (and soft-spoken) managing director at Lionhead Studios. And talk about a track record! Molyneux is responsible for some of the most beloved PC games, including Populous, Magic Carpet, Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper, and the Black & White series. Molyneux is currently overseeing a number of new projects, including Project Ego, Black & White 2, Black and White: Next Generation, and The Movies. Molyneux shares some advice he wishes he was told before he got involved in this industry:
1. Come up with a concept thats easy to explain in a sentence or so. This was highlighted to me by Bing Gordon at Electronic Arts back in 1993. I was heading up to a meeting to try to sell the concept of Magic Carpet. [As we rode up together in the elevator] I said that I was looking forward to making the presentation, and Bing replied that if I couldnt explain the concept on the way up then it probably wasnt a good concept. We were on the rst oor, and the meeting was on the second oor. Games that are easy to explain and that deal with subjects people can easily understand are always going to be more successful than more abstract ideas. 2. The most brilliant concept is useless unless you can think of the way that people will play the game. In the end, game design comes down to interface designthe key to making games playable is how youll get people to interact with your concept and how simple the interface is. 3. Dont be frightened to be original and innovative. Remember that the greatest game concepts and interfaces are yet to be designed; just because everyone else has done things a certain way previously doesnt necessarily make it the right and only way to do something.

Put to the testto support his advice with real-world examplesMolyneux passes brilliantly:
The idea of designing and building your own theme park was very accessible and clearin one sentence, you know all about the game and what you need to do to play it. Although this is the most perfect example, I can think of others. You play God in Populous, you play the bad guy in Dungeon Keeper, and you nd out who you are in Black & Whiteall are examples of games that explain themselves. In Black & White, we wanted people to be able to do anything they wanted in the game world, so using the hand meant we didnt have to use a lot of explanations in the interface (although for this reason I think the tutorial should have been longer).
Molyneux once said in an interview that he would prefer to make games with a shorter development period. He claries this point:

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The length of time a project takes is becoming a real issue. More power means bigger teams, having to take care of more than just graphics and programmingAI, physics, interfaces, gameplayand all of these elements need coding to be built from scratch. It makes the task of developing a game quite overwhelming. For a game to have the best graphics, sounds, and animation means that developing a game is becoming a Herculean effort. I hope that with better internal organization of our team, it will be possible to compress 34 years into 23 years.
Molyneux talks briey about programming in Chapter 11 and breaking into the industry in Chapter 21.
Peter Molyneux says, The greatest game concepts and interfaces are yet to be designed. Pictured here are a couple of sneak peeks at the upcoming Black & White 2.
(Used with permission by Lionhead Studios.)
Alex Garden, Relic Entertainment
Alex Gardens most recent venture, Relic Entertainment, is one of North Americas premiere game-development studios. Relics rst title, Homeworld, has won more than 50 awards, including the prestigious Game of the Year award from CNN.com, MSNBC, and the worlds largest computer game magazine, PC Gamer. Gardens latest game is Impossible Creatures, released in early 2003. This game allows players to make war-hungry creatures by combining animal traits. Garden was cornered to surrender some of his best-kept game design theories. Interestingly, his answers are similar to Sid Meiers advice:
1. Design around themes that youre passionate about. Life is short, and making games is supposed to be fun. Make sure youre having fun making games, and chances are that people will have fun playing them.

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2. When youre coming up with concepts, focus more on what makes your game fundamentally fun to play, not what the story is. Understand that as a game player you rarely consider the underlying mechanics of the experience youre having. More often, you focus on the story that youre playing through. When you read a book, you rarely think about the fundamental appeal of the book; you think about the setting, characters, etc. As a game designer, the paramount rule you must obey is to make sure that the core experience is appealing before you worry about the story. If story is your only concern, write a book. 3. When making decisions about your game, ask yourself two questions: What do I think is the right thing to do? and What does the paying public think is the right thing to do? A totally uncompromising commitment to your own personal vision creates art. But art alone doesnt sell. You must make fun art.
As examples, Garden provides the following:
Homeworld had a totally freeform 3D camera. Some people loved it, but most people found it too hard to use. With Impossible Creatures, weve included the option to play with a totally freeform 3D camera, but by default the game is played from a xed viewpoint, which dramatically simplies the learning curve, thereby making Impossible Creatures accessible to a wider audience.
How can you create a new concept yet still include enough familiar concepts so the game isnt too obscure to the gamer?
Our design rule at Relic is One revolutionary step, multiple evolutionary steps. Basically, we try to do one fundamental thing that will set us apart from everyone else, then we try to do everything standard better than everyone else. In Impossible Creatures, the revolutionary leap we took was to add a totally user-created army-building system with real-world animals. The evolutionary steps are all based on the lessons we learned through our experience with Homeworld and Homeworld: Cataclysm.
Does anything about todays games irk Garden?
I think that most games (and indeed, most game designers) today are afraid to take risks. When you take risks, bad things can happen (Daikatana), but truly magical, wonderful things can happen, too (The Sims).

Later in the book, Alex Garden talks about design documents and storyboards (Chapter 6) and breaking into the industry (Chapter 21). Read more about Relic Studios, Alex Garden, and Impossible Creatures at www.relic.com.

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Louis Castle, Electronic Arts/Westwood Studios
Louis Castle is the general manager and co-founder of Westwood Studios, one of the most successful game development houses in the world. Westwood is best known for its Command & Conquer franchise, as well as Blade Runner, Monopoly, The Lion King, Earth and Beyond, and others. In early 2003, Westwood Studios become integrated with its parent company and publisher, Electronic Arts. Castle provides some advice on creating successful computer games:
1. Know your audience. Spend the time to gure out who is likely to buy your product and research competitive or similar products. If none exist, spend time playing the best-selling and respected titles on your platform of choice. Be your best and worst customer. 2. Make design a deliberate process. Abstract the activities, emotional beats, and just about everything you can think of. Use the abstractions as lters and compare them to your favorite products. Design in any form is a deliberate action that requires planning, execution, and ongoing analysis. 3. Listen to others. The more exposure you can get and the sooner you can get it, the better your chances are to realize design aws before youre committed to them. Be able to give up your best idea if it doesnt work in the context of your vision. Dont make it t.
Asked to comment on the key differences when creating a game for a console versus a PC, Castle has these comments:
The main difference between consoles and a PC is that a console game is one in which youre playing the interface device. You need to treat the controller as the actual game and let the audiovisual systems be subordinate to the device. The console player builds skill in a game through manipulating the interface device. The PC player builds skill from understanding the game and environment. The interface needs to be transparent, and the best PC games dont require skill in manipulating the keyboard and mousebut rather, knowledge of what to do and when. Of course, both of these points are important on both platforms, but the emphasis is different. Console games are about instant satisfaction and longterm skill development. PC games are about quick entertainment and accomplishment followed by indepth understanding and mastery.
How can you acquire a dev kit to work on a console game?
Console development kits are acquired through well-known publishers who support the platform. Developers can get systems directly through the manufacturer, but it usually requires a track record and volume of titles to be of interest. The very early systems typically cost tens of thousands of dollars and are in very limited supply. (Theyre considerably less now, although developers are not allowed to reveal exact prices. Formerly of THQ, Mike Rubinelli talks more in depth about dev kits in Chapter 21.)

(Used with permission by Chris Sawyer.)
If Sawyer could go back and create the original RollerCoaster Tycoon all over again, would anything be done differently?
Very little would change if I were re-creating the game to work with todays PCs. However, given more processing power, Id reduce some of the compromises in the game, improve the graphical detail, and improve some of the AI.
Any pet peeves with todays computer games?
Too many violent games, and not enough that focus on the more positive things we all enjoy, like building things and nurturing things.
Chris Sawyer returns in Chapter 12 to discuss articial intelligence.
Rick Goodman, Stainless Steel Studios
While at Ensemble Studios, a company formed in 1995 with his brother Tony, Rick Goodman was the lead designer on the tremendously popular Age of Empires for Microsoft. He left Ensemble to form Stainless Steel Studios, where Goodman created the epic real-time strategy

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(RTS) game Empire Earth, published by Sierra Studios in 2001. The game won Best Strategy Game of 2001 by the readers at IGN (http://pc.ign.com). Goodmans latest game was Empires: Dawn of the Modern World, published by Activision. Goodman offers us his Ten Commandments of RTS Game Design, here in its entirety. Thou shalt pay attention: 1. The healthiest plants have the strongest roots. Goodman says to know your roots, whether comic books, sci-, board games, puzzles, toy soldiers, chess, Dungeons & Dragons, or anything else. 2. Paper never refuses ink. The key here is how to separate your good ideas from bad, otherwise known as Hey, I have this great idea for a strategy game. Goodman says anyone can write a good design document, but there are four keys to success: Play the game through in your head. Model everything in a spreadsheet. Prototype user interfaces. Compose your strike team of play testers. In fact, Goodman used the Internet to recruit 12 savvy Age of Empires players and uses them all the time for guidance on Empire Earth, and to ush out bad ideas. Goodman reminds designers to welcome advice from others, with the adage Its hard to see the picture when youre inside the frame. 3. A person who walks in anothers tracks leaves no footprints. To innovate or to clone? Goodman reminds designers that we tend to criticize clones and then religiously follow up with new ones. He cites a phrase coined by Sid Meier, innovative continuity, who came up with this term to not preclude him from doing anything he wanted. Balance is keyadd some innovative new things but make players comfortable in the games surroundings so that they understand the rules and wont have to read the manual. Goodman says to enhance the positive, eliminate the negative, and dont ddle with the middle. 4. If I really wanted reality, would I have booted up the computer? Reinforce the fun factor over reality. Goodman refers to Computer Gaming World magazine polls that suggest that fantasy strategy games are often more popular than historical or reality-based ones. Even though Age of Empires is a historical strategy game, not everything is realistic: priest conversions, moving catapults, naval units attacking land units, and so forth.

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Lets not tell them and maybe they wont nd out always backres; its no
different than when you were a kid.
For more information on Empire Earth and the design team at Stainless Steel Studios, visit www.stainlesssteelstudios.com.
Phil Steinmeyer, PopTop Software
For the past few editions of this book, PopTop Softwares president and lead programmer, Phil Steinmeyer, has shared savvy strategy design tips. Steinmeyer has a number of games under his belt, including Railroad Tycoon 2 and the Tropico series. When it comes to general game design, Steinmeyer says to focus on a small niche somewhere within the gaming universe for your rst project:
If you can, create something with a built-in audience that will nd your product with little marketing or distribution clout on your end, and with no big-budget competition. Some excellent niches to start in are war games, detailed 4X space games, games about semi-obscure sports or hobbies, gambling games, and so forth. Too many beginning game developers overshoot on their rst game and never get it done. First, games are rarely brilliantbetter to get something completely done and published and shoot for the moon on your second game.

Where does Tropico t in?

Tropico was my fth major game; I had a much bigger budget and a more experienced team than anybody would typically have starting out. My rst game (released in 1994) was a low-budget war game called Iron Cross. I did all the programming, most of the art and sound, and it was my rst gamea true garage effort. There was a built-in audience (World War II enthusiasts), and little big-budget competition. It didnt sell nearly as many copies as my later games like Railroad Tycoon 2 and Tropico, but it did all right given its budgetI made a decent amount for my time invested, and more important, I got my start in the industry and moved on to bigger and better things.
But is it possible to make a game easy to get into and understand while trying something new at the same time?
Its hard to dene itthis is sort of a gut feeling thing. I think Tropico was pretty good with this. The concept was quite novel (playing a Caribbean dictator, la Fidel Castro). There had been few if any games set in the Caribbean or Latin America before, and our humorous Latin/Caribbean feel was very fresh, I think. At the same time, we grounded our gameplay in previous successful titles, particularly the SimCity series, although that was only a rough gameplay guide. But we thought the millions of buyers of SimCity and RollerCoaster Tycoon would immediately be able to get Tropico just by looking at the screenshots or seeing a little snippet of gameplay.

For more from Steinmeyer, ip to Chapters 6 and 21.

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Ed Del Castillo, Liquid Entertainment
As president and co-founder of Liquid Entertainment, Ed Del Castillo juggles his management responsibilities with active participation in all aspects of product development: especially design and art direction. Liquids rst release was the eagerly anticipated Battle Realms. Before cofounding Liquid, Ed Del Castillo was probably best known as producer in charge of Westwood Studios Command & Conquer franchise, including Red Alert and its expansion packs, various ports to other platforms, and foreign language versions. Del Castillo was asked to provide three pieces of advice to a new strategy game designer looking to be successful in this industry. He responds as follows:
Go to lm school to learn how to tell a story, develop characters, light a scene, set a mood, and evoke an emotion. Never stop reading, watching, and playing everything. Consider another line of work if having a family is one of your goals!
According to Del Castillo, the most challenging obstacle when creating a real-time strategy (RTS) game is getting people to innovate:
The RTS genre has been in stagnation for so long with only micro-improvements that its hard for people to create stuff thats truly better and not just different. Overcoming it is a matter of vision. You have to have a clear picture of what youre trying to achieve.
If Del Castillo could create Command & Conquer (C&C) all over again, would he do anything differently?
Thats tough because C&C taught me so much. I think that I would change two things: A less-limiting universe. C&C is very limited, which is why you see things like Red Alert and Emperor. Theyre both attempts to use the C&C model in other worlds. More controlled presentations prior to ship. A few people, who shall be nameless, went on to great success due to their good memories and timely use of video cameras during our presentations prior to our release. It had its place and time, and Im having a hard time messing with that. The original C&C is my third favorite RTS after [Blizzards] StarCraft and [Bungie Studios] Myth.
Any pet peeves with todays strategy games?
Yes, too much iteration, not enough innovation. We need fewer people just trying to squeeze all they can out of an engine and more people crafting emotional experiences.

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As a programmer, Del Castillo offers these words for others:
Think before you act. The days of the hacker are over. Think modular, exible, expandable, wellorganized, and well-documented code. Truly grasping these tenets will make you incredibly wanted by everyone.
On articial intelligence (AI):
I think the biggest mistake you can make, and not just in AI, is to believe your own marketing. Theres no such thing as a learning AI yet. Everything is still incrementing and decrementing weighting variables on algorithms based on specic and predened data. AI is hard because most games arent in the oven long enough to bake up a proper one. I think the best AIs are written for people who understand how little time they have and work to distill the decision-making tree of a human down to the essentials for that given game. Im afraid that the only tip I have is to study the player. Most of his decisions can be simple to understand and emulate.
Del Castillo gives some examples of his past or present work that reinforce what hes suggesting here on innovation and on adding an emotional layer to a game:
Innovation. When we conceived this game, it came from our ideas. We all came together and designed an RTS with no restrictions, no legacy, no need to be in the same universe as a predecessor. We were unbound by the past, and that allowed us to more fully reach for an ideal. Its the way it should be done. Too many people are held back by what theyve already created and the desire to get more money out of it in the form of an incrementally improved sequel. Battle Realms (BR) endeavored to innovate in two major ways. The rst is combat. First-generation RTSs did a great job of showing the potential of this genre, but inadvertently they were very production-oriented. Building was more important than ghting. In BR, terrain matters. Height makes a difference to combat effectiveness. Real line of sight makes reconnaissance, sneaking, and ambushing a real element in the game. The unit dynamics focus on the combat dynamic and incentivize spending more of your attention commanding the battles rather than landlording the village. The second major thing is to create more of a living world. There are a number of prongs to this, but it basically revolves around distilling more elements of reality and turning them into fun elements for the game. We incorporated a Living Resource System, which allows the player much more freedom. Horses are gathered and harnessed as pack animals or war steeds; water is used to put out res, grow rice, and quench the thirst of peasants. Weve tried to connect everything in some way, like the real world. Inspiration. Its about what I love, not what makes money this week. The inspiration comes from my childhood. Way too much D&D and the like mixed with way too many Kung Fu movies. Ive been a game master for paper RPGs since I was 14, so the world-creation part is denitely something I love.