We’re happy to announce the next stage of our work – Metro Simulator 2!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1787480/Metro_Simulator_2/
New render engine, Moscow Metro Line 6 and a new train (now 3 of them in total!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoB8VCJMniA
As you may know, we’re a small team and our work heavily depends on amount of sold copies of the game and DLCs. Metro Simulator is, of course, an experimental project with its own niche to occupy. We started with small things and went on developing the game and creating all systems from scratch. It was a very valuable experience for our developers. And this is what we’ll tell about the ongoing work on Metro Simulator.
Why a new game instead of an update or DLC?
Actually, it was very hard to make this decision. For both players and us, maybe it would be easier to stick with one project and gradually make it better by releasing updates and DLCs. But, after thoroughly thinking about all the outcomes, we decided that releasing a new separate game would be the optimal solution for all.
For all the players (whether they bought Metro Simulator 1 or not), Metro Simulator 2 would be cheaper than the total price of all the new content we’re working on if we would’ve decided to implement it into Metro Simulator 1. The reason for that is simple: we get more attention from bloggers, Steam and mass media when we release a new game. This way, we get more potential buyers and, consequently, we can lower the price because it’s easier to regain the development budget. For DLCs, we have to raise the price because they are made only for current player base.
Another important thing is the new render pipeline, HDRP. It allowed us to make graphics look a lot better and fix some fundamental bugs like glitching on big distances from the initial coordinates. But, for a number of reasons, it’s harder to work with than the standard renderer.
The downside of HDRP is higher hardware requirements. Not dramatically, but system requirements for Metro Simulator 2 will be higher than for Metro Simulator 1. If we would’ve transferred Metro Simulator 1 to a new pipeline, those who play on weak PCs could no longer play the game at all. Releasing the separate title would help us work around this problem. So, players with low end PCs would still be able to play MS1 and transfer to MS2 when they’re able to. Of course, system requirements for MS2 will be posted on Steam, so you can take a look at them and understand whether the game will run on your system. Moreover, if the game doesn’t satisfy you, you can refund it following Steam refund policy. So, if we decided to switch to new graphics in MS1, it would be incorrect in relation to the part of our audience.
What to wait in Metro Simulator 2?
HDRP, the new rendering pipeline. For some time, it’s being actively used for developing games with modern graphics. As you can see by the screenshots, graphics are now significantly better. Finally, we can work with volumetric lighting, lens flare and reflections on materials of trains, stations and tunnels.
Our level designer has been working on Line 6 for more than a year now. There’s a lot of work – 26 stations (including 2 double stations)! Also, HDRP requires us to make textures and materials of even higher quality. The look on screenshots is no final, but if you compare this to MS1, it’ll be easy to spot the difference.
Another interesting thing to cover is traffic lights. They work differently on Line 6. Unlike on Line 8A, you can see traffic lights signals on lenses in tunnels. We’ll cover that in detail in another post.
The new train (it’s new only for the game, but actually it’s been serving Metro for many decades) is known for its appearance for many years even far outside the former USSR countries. We can easily say it’s a living legend among Metro trains. We are trying to keep in mind certain aspects when working on functionality of this train.
Also, we re-worked the appearance of “Oka” and “Russia” trains from MS1. We did quite a huge job to make them look better.
We’ll tell you about other features of Metro Simulator 2 later. Make sure to follow our socials in order not to miss any news – we promise to make posts as frequently as we can!
Finally, we’d like to say thanks to you, our players. It would be impossible without your support. Thank you!
