Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/732050/Voxel_Tycoon/
Price: £21
A little while ago, I took the notion to fire up OpenTTD (an open source version of the old classic Transport Tycoon Deluxe). It was nice, and brought back many fond memories, but it made me wonder if there’s a modern equivalent. Is Voxel Tycoon ‘the one’? Read on…
Starting
On first load, you go through the usual stuff of generating a unique (voxel) map with several towns already populating the map. Since the map is voxels, it’s theoretically infinite. At the start, you have access to only a certain area within the map. That will expand with your empire.
The basic idea is to link the towns to the resources they need – using road or rail. You then start your company by hauling the goods from the area to the town. Of course, you have only a certain budget to start with. So planning is key!
Since the map, and everything on it, is 3D, you can zoom in and examine the towns and to carefully place your pick-up and drop-off points. You need to say ‘this truck will go here, pick up (fully), then go here, and drop off (fully or not, it’s up to you)’. You can, thankfully, copy/paste vehicles and save routes to apply to other vehicles.
Branching Out
Of course, it’s not all resources. You also need to set up bus routes with depots and bus stops. But will it be profitable? That’s all part of the planning.
Only when you can afford it, do you move into trains.
Conclusions
I’ve been playing this for only about a week, but I love it. It starts off nice and simple with just a road/two, and a few trucks transporting wood or ore, but it soon gets to be a bit more tricky when you start thinking about running buses. Then trains? Well, that soon starts eating into your profits.
It may look simplistic, visually, but there’s plenty of detail in there. You can examine your truck's speed, profit, and the like. This lets you decide if that truck is running at a loss or profit.
I have to drop it a star since the tutorial is so short. It shows you how to get started with a couple of roads and trucks, very little about adding buses, and doesn’t even mention trains, and the trains are the tricky part with lights and so on. Really, the tutorial should run you through all these things. Another minor gripe is when a vehicle says it can’t complete its route. Why? Yes, it’s inevitably my fault, but a hint on the problem would be nice.
My favourite part is that you can ride in the vehicles! Yes, you can even toot the horn.
So, is this the spiritual successor to TTD and OpenTTD? I think so, yes. It’s the same idea and depth with a modern look. And it’s not too resource intensive – which is good. My Entroware all-in-one doesn’t have a 3D graphics card and it plays this perfectly.