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About Loco / Trains:

The Name:

I refer to this project as Loco or Trains almost interchangably. Probably because I have no idea of what to actually call it!
I'm a coder, not a marketdroid.
The word "loco" in this context refers to a Locomotive, or train engine. Think what you will.

The Background:

I love the game Transport Tycoon Deluxe made by Microprose. There is just something appealing about building minature train tracks and minature train engines and watching them chuff and puff around a minature world. Unfortunately the game now seems a little dated and a little limited.
Not in the least, it only runs on DOS (and sometimes Windows), but since I am a firm follower of the Penguin these days this makes it more tedious to start a game, and while I also value cross-platform development, my loyalties lie with Linux first.

The Goal:

The goal is to create a game similar in nature to Transport Tycoon (Deluxe) that works under Linux, and hopefully almost every other Operating System too.
But, ideally I want more than a bad clone; so the goal is also to make it more customisable, more intelligent, more scriptable, and more fun!

The Current Status:

Previously there existed code that uses Allegro and can draw a green landscape. A limited interface allows the user to raise / lower terrain, place tracks, and even start little "trains" driving around.
No sound. No economic model. No save / restore. No AI. No real artwork.
As of December 2001, the code has been ported to SDL. It is not yet as functional as the original Allegro code, but work shall continue apace.

Recent News:

12 January 2002 web Corrected email address.
1 January 2002 code Happy New Years. Fixed a lot of the mouse stuff. Not perfect but better.
29 December 2001 code Ported code to SDL. Not fully functional yet, but compiles and runs.

If you want you can email me.
These pages were designed entirely using Emacs.
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This page was last updated: Friday 28 December (20011228)

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