Derail Valley about to go Early Access on Steam

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Looking forward to try this game in VR:

Steam page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5880 ... il_Valley/

Route about the size of the island of Malta, two locomotives (one steam, one Diesel)

5 person team created the game over the last 2 years. , it's in VR what I hoped TSW would be , so DTG take notice of what TSW could have been.
http://www.derailvalley.com

Highlights:
ABOUT THIS GAME

Derail Valley is a highly immersive train driving simulator, letting you truly be in a train cab and operate controls with your own hands! Choose jobs and deliver a variety of cargo between industries in a vast open world, using a diesel-electric shunter or a heavy steam locomotive. Explore the beautiful landscape of 256 km² filled with railways, industries and maybe even some secrets!

Freely choose step-by-step jobs found in offices of every industry. They include (un)loading, shunting and hauling, involving dozens of cargo types modeled after a realistic industry chain. Use the hard-earned money to refuel and service locomotives, or even buy new ones! Finally, try to stay on the tracks!

Derail Valley Early Access is a major upgrade to the award-winning demo from 2016, being developed by a small team. Features:

Built for VR from the ground up
Emergent simulation of a shunter & steam locomotive
256 km² open world
Procedural jobs driven by industry chain
Derailment physics
Locomotive maintenance & basic damage

[hminky]

If you have any problem with motion sickness don't try VR.

Took me almost a year to get over the effects of using VR.

Just been able to play my car racing games after trying VR last year on Playstation.

VR is really neat but beware.

Harold

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

If you have any problem with motion sickness don't try VR.

Took me almost a year to get over the effects of using VR.

Just been able to play my car racing games after trying VR last year on Playstation.

VR is really neat but beware.

Harold

I know the feeling. Adults apparently have more motion sickness than kids and youth when playing VR games.
I didn't make past the first turn in the VR rollercoaster demo without getting really dizzy and nauseous.

We really need to wait for high resolution headset with a wider FoV, those are said to eliminate motion sickness for a great part.

[hobo1960]

I have the beta and its truly amazing! I can't wait for the full release as there will be a steam locomotive to feed as well!

The challenge of actually driving the locomotive, as one would in the real world has been a handful, to say the least. Reach here, look, there, reach over here as well...

I built a brand new VR PC this year and have moved solidly into the VR realm...no regrets. The immersive nature of the experience makes all previous computer gaming experiences pale in comparison.

I realize that many here are not likely to take the plunge but trust me...it's an incredible experience!

The VR realms have reminded me how far we have come in just 20+ years.

I also have been enjoying a variety of other 'sims' in VR -- especially X-Plane 11. My most recent venture was the purchase of a pair of VR gloves that allow one to interct realistically with one's hands -- as in natural world.

Oh! One more amazing VR experience is the Gemini space simulator -- talk about really appreciating just how cramped those little cabins were ...

The most important aspect (to me) of VR gaming is that now everything is depicted in true 1-1 scale.

Thanks for sharing.

KB

[hobo1960]

And I thought I'd also provide some insights into the 'motion sickness' associated with VR.

Yes, it is a common experience (thus the reason all VR games are rated: Everyone, Moderate, Extreme..etc) but there are a number of ways to oversome:

1. Build up tolerance level
2. Motion sickness wrist bands (my current choice $7.00 at local drugstore)
3. New physical adapter in the pipeline (which I'm waiting for more results of the round of betas testing..so far looking quite good).


So for those who are excited and willing to embrace the technology -- do it! VR is an amazing experience!!

If only RW or Trainz offered VR support...alas..

KevinB

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

My most recent venture was the purchase of a pair of VR gloves that allow one to interact realistically with one's hands -- as in natural world.

Most interested in these, Vive wands are nice, but ....

Any first hand (sic) experience, links, do's and don'ts??

[ex-railwayman]

I've just been looking at the Steam blurb, there is a free demo version from 2017 and it does state that there is a version for PC users, which sounds interesting.

Non-VR support:
For players who are not in position to use VR, we include rudimentary controls for playing on a regular flat-screen PC, using keyboard and mouse.
For the best experience however, we highly recommend using a supported VR headset.

However, what is the object of the game, to derail???? It looks very good, graphically and operationally, but, if it's going to be silly, then what is the point in spending money on it, you start off doing all the hard work getting things set up properly then you set off and it derails going round a curve, then, you have to start all over again, what a waste of time and effort!!!!!!

Cheerz. Steve.

[hobo1960]

Steve, I agree that their promo video makes the game look rather silly but trust me it's more sim than game. But to each his own perspective I suppose.

o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha ,
I'm still waiting for gloves to arrive. My current VR hardware is with Oculus (much better controllers than the crazy Vive sticks! The Oculus controllers provide a more natural interface between player and the game.

Once I receive my gloves I'll let you know if they interface with the game. It appears they are only being incoprated ina few select games from the get go -- I bought them as they are being used in XP11.

KevinB

[Griphos]

I'm thinking pretty hard about diving into VR. I have the machine for it now after the build this past summer.

This sim looks pretty interesting! Thanks for the heads up.

[NorthernWarrior]

I bought into the Early Access. For £15 not bad and the developers (from Serbia?) seem very keen, responding to feedback on the Steam forum and pushing regular small updates on an almost daily basis.

The concept is interesting - kind of what the interactive industry should have brought in Trainz if the original Auran/Greg Lane roadmap had been followed. at this stage I have to say it doesn't really represent a serious threat to our friends at DTG, N3V or 3DTS though it may be giving them food for thought. Think Euro or American Truck sim but with trains.

Biggest issue at present is that, indeed, it is so easy to derail on a run quite often for no apparent reason. This really frustrates your progress particularly as any form of checkpoint or save game has yet to be implemented. It got to the point last night where I rage quit after two consecutive attempts at a run ended with a derailment, in circumstances that would hardly happen with real train physics. Still I guess that is what early access is for, play testing and bug hunting and, as I said, the developers are very responsive to feedback. Also currently £15 (UK) to buy into the EA which is considerably more reasonable than the outrageous £55 N3V charged for Trainz 2019.