RAILROAD TYCOON II       RAILROAD TYCOON 3         TROPICO         TROPICO 2: PIRATE COVE

FIRST INFORMATION

Conventional wisdom in this industry states that opening cut-scenes, setup screens and other non essential parts of the game should be developed at the end of a project, after the core gameplay is complete. Then again, conventional wisdom in this industry also states that showers are optional. We decided to buck convention by showering regularly and starting on our setup screens at the mid-point of the project.

The idea for our opening setup screen came the way so many ideas do–copied out of another game. Specifically, Dungeon Keeper 2 has a great setup sequence, with a fully animated scene that the camera moves through as you make your choices. It looks great in DK2, and I had grand visions of something similar for Tropico. I assumed we'd contract with an outside Hollywood-type specialist shop – you know, the places that brought Titanic to life. A few inquiries with these specialists helped me to understand why Titanic cost $300 million, and no, it wasn't all spent on hair gel for Leonardo. Since our budget is closer to Lifeboat than Titanic, I rapidly grew pessimistic.

Fortunately an answer arrived from an unexpected source. A local artist applied for a job. Brian's previous game industry experience consisted of work on one game whose total sales had reached roughly the dollar amount of a McDonald's happy meal (non-supersized). He was still working for the toy company that had made that game, but was now stuck creating 32x32 pixel displays for Austin Powers-licensed LCD watches. In other words, he was in artist hell.

However, close inspection of the failed game revealed that his art was actually very good, and that the game had failed for other reasons. We hired him, and a few days later, after making him bring us a generous supply of "new guy donuts," we put him to work. His instructions were highly detailed and thought out, just like everything around here – "Uhh... Make a dictator's office with cool stuff the camera can fly up to."

Checking back with him a week or so later, I was surprised to see a very attractive and detailed office, worthy of any Latin American despot—plenty of guns, booze, and cigars. Our dictator even has a girly calendar on the wall—"Chicas Revolucionarias" (Revolutionary Chicks–who says Yanquis have all the fun?).

As with all game elements, serious tweaking was required. After internally rolling out a new version of the game featuring the new camera animations, one sequence featuring particularly severe camera turns and rolls earned the nickname "The Vomit Comet". After toning down the movement, this sequence is now closer to "The Upset Stomach Comet," which, while not nearly as clever a name, makes for a better gameplay experience.

While most elements of the setup sequence are completely modeled and rendered in 3D, one section is being done by my favorite old-fashioned method: 2D still photography. The design-your-dictator part of the setup uses a scene with a dossier style folder on a desktop. You make choices from within the dossier to create your character. Because this entire sequence occurs on a flat surface, with basically flat objects, we're able to lay it out in 2D, using Photoshop, then import the 2D texture into our 3D program (3D Studio Max), and save a lot of time.

In addition to some paper and folders, I needed some old desktop-type items to give the scene flavor. I made a visit to the ultimate archive of moldy old stuff: my parents' basement. I gathered some of the same materials that I used for a similar scene in Railroad Tycoon 2: an old pocketwatch, a postcard my grandmother received as a child (postmarked Feb. 4, 1909), and a small glass paperweight with a picture of my grandfather in it. If you've got a copy of Railroad Tycoon 2, you can see all these elements in the company detail screen (and you can even read the date on the postcard.)

To reduce perspective distortion, the camera needs to be as far from the physical scene as possible. The scene has to be on a flat surface with the camera directly overhead. The only easy way I know of to get an angle like this is by setting up the scene in my backyard, leaning over the edge of the deck above, and shooting straight down (This gives a camera-to-scene distance of about 10 feet.). So at 10 a.m. on a recent Thursday morning, I was dragging a desk out onto my back yard, putting old stuff on it, and leaning over the deck railing taking pictures. This was pretty amusing to at least one neighbor. Then again, my neighbors already think my job profession of "game developer" is more or less a nice way of saying "slacker" at best, "unemployed" at worst.

Somehow, I don't picture James Cameron or George Lucas using their backyard deck to shoot any crucial special effects scenes. But then again, The Blair Witch Project, shot for approximately $11, was a better movie than Star Wars–The Phantom Menace. Hey George, if you're looking for locations for the next Star Wars, my backyard is available–but Jar Jar is absolutely not allowed.

by Phil Steinmeyer

TROPICO: Phil's Latest

Philip Steinmeyer writes a column for Computer Games Online, here is the latest edition of his column:

"Most of my time is spent in fairly mundane ways, not too dissimilar from a lot of other white collar jobs out there."

Whenever anybody finds out that I’m a professional game developer, I get one consistent reaction..."Oh it must be great to sit around and play games all day long." Yeah, just like politicians spend all day counting their bribes, postal workers spend all day cleaning their guns, and cops sit around all day eating donuts. (Well the last one may be true, but not the others.)

Unfortunately, I spend far less time than I’d like designing and playing games, and far too much time bogged down by the thousand little details that go with developing a game, getting it on the shelves, getting people to buy it, and getting paid for it. Yesterday was as typical as any day.

9:30—Get into the office a little late, grab some coffee. It’s a Monday, and I didn’t work at all over the weekend; usually I do. For the end of Railroad Tycoon II, I worked four months straight, seven days a week.

9:40—Check e-mail. I have about two dozen messages waiting. I’m tempted to ***MAKE THOUSANDS DAILY PLAYING BLACKJACK!***, but decide to pass on that and the other spam. The remaining real e-mail deals mostly with contract issues being re-negotiated between my publisher (Gathering of Developers), and its six developers (including us, PopTop). Over the course of the day I’ll receive about 30 e-mails about this, compose about five of my own, and spend about an hour on the phone with this issue. Lawyers and contracts are the bane of my existence (except for my lovely wife, Leslie, whose only character flaw is that she is a lawyer).

10:10—Review a chunk of Tropico’s opening cut scene with the artist—looks very nice. One of the pleasures of the job is seeing great new art for the first time.

10:30—Talk to a potential new programmer on the phone for 20 minutes. After a year of working 70 hours a week to get a new game out for his publisher, he was summarily laid off, along with the rest of his team. The publisher had decided that the Nintendo 64 market, for which they were developing, was dying. He’s a talented programmer and I hope we get him.

10:50—Spend about 30 minutes each with a couple of artists going over new interface elements. It takes a long time to specify exactly what buttons go where, how big they are, what colors they are, how they should depress, etc.

11:45—Lunch at my desk: Budget Gourmet Fettuccini...with meatballs!!! Mmm.… Stale Pringles round out the feast.

12:00-5:00—More e-mails, some accounting stuff, minor art issues, etc. Roughly every 3.1 seconds I am interrupted by a phone call or some other request that must be dealt with RIGHT NOW.

5:00—I sneak off to Taco Hell for a little more health food and read a game magazine over dinner.

5:30—Review a press release about Tropico created by our P.R. firm. The press release contains a quote from me, about how Tropico will be the greatest game ever, cure cancer, end world hunger, etc. Like a lot of my quotes in these press releases, I didn’t say it—the P.R. person did. But it sounds like something I might say, so I sign off on the release.

5:45—Attempt to write a new Sausage Factory column about E3, struggle for two hours and come up with nothing. (The next morning, I’ll toss it and fall back on, well...this.)

7:45—My first actual programming of the day. As with a lot of programming, it’s nothing the user will see; basically, a series of optimizations to some of our tools. I estimate it’ll take about an hour.

11:45—Programming finished. Ok, so I was a little off in my time estimate (but only by a factor of four—that’s actually pretty good for me). I’m finally done. I go home, watch a little Jerry Springer, and crawl into bed.

This was a longer day than normal—average is about 10 hours. You’ll note I didn’t spend any time playing games—ours or anybody else’s. Most of my time is spent in fairly mundane ways, not too dissimilar from a lot of other white collar jobs out there. There were no sudden design revelations, enormous strides in gameplay, or anything else particularly memorable. But step-by-step, a game is forming. I can’t tell much difference between where the game stands today versus last week, but compared to last month, or three months ago, the progress is clear. Hopefully, in about 8 months we’ll have a completed game, some good reviews and sales, and maybe even a few royalty checks on the way. But I’ll probably still be answering too many e-mails and eating too many frozen lunches (maybe I’ll upgrade to Lean Cuisine).

by Phil Steinmeyer

Gathering Of Developers Announes Tropico

Gathering of Developers has been confirmed as the publisher for Tropico. They have announed the title and have set up a website for it!

Gathering Of Developer's Tropico Website

Below is the article Gamespot produced, covering the announcement:

PopTop, in conjunction with Dallas-based Gathering of Developers, has announced the development of a 3D building and strategy game called Tropico. In the game, players will take control of a newly instated leader on a small Caribbean island and will need to set the groundwork for the island's infrastructure by building homes, hotels, factories, mines, hotels, and roadways. The gameplay is similar to PopTop's Railroad Tycoon II, but it mixes in a dose of Latin American political intrigue along with heavily updated graphics.

"PopTop specializes in creating 'virtual world' replicas of real life," said PopTop CEO Phil Steinmeyer. "With Tropico, we will provide gamers with a slice of political life, topsy-turvy third-world leaders and the nations they rule, pitting the rich against the poor, the army against the church, and natives vs. outside carpetbaggers."

Tropico is expected to release for the PC, Mac, and Dreamcast later this year. We'll keep you updated on its development, but in the meantime, take a look at these new screenshots.

Here is Poptop's discription of the game:

TROPICO OFFICALLY ANNOUNCED!!!

Poptop Software have offically announed their new game Tropico, a game in which players take on the role of a newly instated leader of a remote Caribbean island and are challenged to build a path of progress for a nation mired in poverty. The offical website for Tropico is at http://www.poptop.com/tropico.htm

Poptop Software's next game is entitled Tropico, this page contains all the information we know of this game so far!

(other Tropico pages: Tropico Messageboard)

Interview: First info on Tropico!

Yesterday I conducted a brief interview with Franz from Poptop software, below are my questions and his answers. If you run another website please DO NOT copy this article in full or in part, please only link to it, thankyou.

Anyway this article has some news on Rt2 and some interesting points on Poptop's new project Tropico!

1. When is the estimated completion time for Tropico (eg 4th Q 2000)?

No date announced as yet.    

2. Will there be any further offical maps for Rt2?

Probably but not for a little bit.    

3. What can you tell us about Tropico?

Nothing at this time.  The official announcement will be coming very soon.  

  4. Is there any other versions of Rt2 in the works, for example a dreamcast version?

There is a Dreamcast version currently being worked on.  It looks EXTREMELY cool and Tremor is doing an excellent job of adding special features to take advantage of the Dreamcasts ability.   Honest, this thing is looking cool and is NOT a simple port and run, it will have some exclusive features that only the Dreamcast version will have.    

5. How is work on Tropico progressing?

Slow but getting steady.  This was a completely new design with nothing to base it off of to start.  It has some similarities to many games but in almost every case it's a unique design.  It's looking very pretty, so for those of you who liked RT2 just because it was pretty... you won't be disappointed.  :)  The game play is still to early to really comment on as it seems fun on paper but we can't actually play it yet.  Unlike some games which you can play on paper, Tropico is a very hands-on type of game and is extremely a touchy-feely design.  Like RT2, it has a simple premises and until you can play it enough to get involved it's impossible to tell what needs to be changed.      

6. Does Tropico use the S3D engine that Railroad Tycoon II did?

Yes and no.  It's a S3D engine evolution.  It will have all new graphic sets and also incorporate 3D effects directly.  So, this version will take advantage of and support 3D cards as well as software only.  

  7. Will you be releasing any information, press releases or screenshots of Tropico soon?

Yep, like I said it'll be soon.  I'd say definitely this month, but definitely is a word that frightens me.  :)   We are working on creating the press stuff at this very moment.

Mouthpiece

Phil from Poptop writes an article each mounth for CGM, sevral articles recently have mentioned Tropico, here is the most detailed. Below is links to his other recent interview.

So our initial plans for our Caribbean dictator game, Tropico (yes we settled on a name) didn't give much thought to women. However, the game has a heavy political emphasis. To support the politics, we wanted every character in the game (up to 500 or so), to be a unique individual. We gave them each a history, a job, a home, and (here it comes) a spouse. Well, most of them get spouses anyways - even fictional computer characters can strike out with the opposite sex. We decided on a true 50/50 male/female ratio.
...
We also decided that you, the dictator, would not appear amongst the people. Instead, you'll live a life of decadence at the palace, never venturing outside. Since you're never depicted graphically in the game (aside from perhaps a simple portrait on an interface screen), we can be a lot more flexible in letting you design your own character. Not only can you resemble Fidel Castro, Che Gueverra, or Manuel Noriega, you can also portray Evita Peron (or Madonna playing Evita Peron).

other articles: (news source:Poptop)

A Dime a Dozen: Got a Great Idea for a Game? Think it Through
Plan? What Plan? Do designers really know the games they're making?
An Estrogen Injection: Putting women into games

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