BC Ferry/Ship simulator

[delta6]

discussions have been taking place with V step,a marine simulator company . to feature some of the BC ferries in their next "ship simulator" game. Ship Sim is a program designed for home PC's. The same idea as flight Simulator. Feed back regarding this would be appreciated as I will forward it to the ship sim forum. feel free to check it out your self. "Ship Sim Forum. The engneers at the soft were company like the idea but of course get requests internationaly for vessel apperance. strength in ####'s. Please reply

[Starsteward]

delta6, the ship sim program featuring some BC Ferries would be very cool.
For some of us 'old BCF hands' having a simulator game would be a great way of getting our hands on the controls again:)

[Canucks]

Great idea Delta! What section is it in because whenever I go there I can never find things as it is way to busy. I did suggest a BC ferry in a section once but it never went anywhere.

[Deleted]

I love the Ship Simulator game .I only got to play online with canuck once though.

[Ferryman]

I have a copy of both versions of Ship Simulator on my computer. I'm pretty sure I've mastered docking the two vehicle ferries they have on there, Pride of Rotterdam, and Red Eagle. I'd love to see a game come out featuring BCF. The BCF fleet with Coastal BC as the backdrop would be a game in itself. BCF actually does have a simulator, for training new bridge Officers/Masters. It was mentioned in one of the recent issues of The Wave. A while back I remember reading what sort of things that need to be done in order to suggest a ship. I remember reading things such as "how long it takes for the vesel to accelerate to full speed", "how long it takes the vessel to stop", "how many props it has", "you need permission from the company that owns the vessel before anything". But if you think you can get the ball rolling on that, I think that would be awesome. It would keep all of us armchair Captains happy, and could even be a good practice for some of us future Captains .

[delta6]

the more requests put onto the ship sim forum the more the soft ware engneers will remember the name BCF.
Im working on the company

[Queen of Nanaimo Teen]

I think that this could be the coolest thing! I would pay hundreds of dollars for it!

My ideal impression of this game would be:

Start BC Ferry Corp how you want it
Choose which vessels you want- Stretched, lifted, MLU, etc
Choose the paint scheme
Be able to use some of the actual original blackball vessels
Include the original Ministry of Transportation in there somewhere
Be able to make your own terminals and system

I get excited just thinking about it!

[Hardy]

Nov 9, 2008 22:30:45 GMT -8 Queen of Nanaimo Teen said:

I think that this could be the coolest thing! I would pay hundreds of dollars for it!
...
Be able to make your own terminals and system

SimFerry? If you are going to do a true "sim" of BCF, don't forget to add in political interference/malfeasance, union work disruption, unexpected costs, federal gov't intervention, labour shortages, etc etc etc.

Remember that BC Politics is a bloodsport, and that for the longest time (arguably STILL!) BCF has been (is) just another (knurled) arm (knuckle) of the government (okay, maybe carbuncle).

[lmtengs]

So is anything happening with this?

[hullnumbers]

Why not have a SIM's thats based off the history. What i mean is that we start with the Sidney class in 1960 with the paint job. then it goes through till the present ships with present color scame. We can also put the ferries from Black ball, CP, Ministry, and seaspan that were from that era.

We can also build our own terminals and deas dock.

[Nick]

Nov 29, 2009 13:51:58 GMT -8 hullnumbers said:

Why not have a SIM's thats based off the history. What i mean is that we start with the Sidney class in 1960 with the paint job. then it goes through till the present ships with present color scame. We can also put the ferries from Black ball, CP, Ministry, and seaspan that were from that era.

We can also build our own terminals and deas dock.

I realize it's all nice to dream and everything, and I have to admit I've dreamed a bit about just what you're proposing. However, do you have any idea how much work it takes to put out a decent computer simulator? It costs millions, if not billions of dollars to produce a game in the caliber of Flight Simulator or Ship Simulator.

In order to make it worthwhile, the maker needs to have a very large base of potential customers. Flight Sim is able to be as detailed as it is because there is a huge worldwide following of aviation fans who are willing to shell out 70 bucks for a copy of the game, and therefore pay for the astronomical development cost. In contrast, how many people do you think would be willing to pay for a BC Ferries simulator?

It is the same reason why the present ship simulator is so expensive, and honestly isn't the best game in the world, programming wise. It's a huge resource hog on the computer, and for the resources it uses, the graphics and detail aren't the greatest. It's also why the ships available in ShipSim are mostly the popular European ferries, since seems to be a much bigger "ferry fan" community in Europe than North America.

I think, back when the Coastals were under construction, somebody sent an email to the makers of ShipSim to inquire about having a Coastal available on the new version. They responded saying that they could do it for a 20,000 euro fee.

[hullnumbers]

Any computer game experts on this forum, We could start a small version and it can grown.
And by the way theres customers, we're the customers who think this is a good idea.

[lmtengs]

The game could have different scenarios like rough weather, beat the rival ferry company's ship to the destination, Aid another ship (like a grounded or sinking vessel), drive with one disabled propeller, etc... then they could have different onboard problems that could occur, like a power failure, or a man overboard, or a fire in the engine room maybe you plow into a marina accidentally You even get beached on a reef.
There could be vessels from BCF, AMH, BCDOT, WSF, Seaspan Coastal Link, as well as retired ferries from years gone by, like the SS San Mateo or the P-cats. You could choose from multiple different ferry routes, all with realistic terminals, based on the real ones, or you could just use "free sail" option where you just aimlessly drive your ferry around the Gulf.
Regarding an above post, I doubt EA games would do it, as there might not be enough interest for a game of this type (just ferries). I think that we would need to hire an independant game designer, or learn how to design the game ourselves.


It would be AWESOME, but at the present time I don't think there would be enough interest in that sort of thing... everyone's still too preoccupied by their gross, gory shoot-'em-up games

[hullnumbers]

Uh, t.hats what i suggested a few posts ago

[Kahloke]

I would love to see some of our ferries make it into Ship Simulator. Northern Expedition, one of the Coastals, Queen of New Westminster, MV Coho, and one of the Jumbo Mark II's (maybe MV Tacoma) would be at the top of my list.

[lmtengs]

Nov 29, 2009 14:31:46 GMT -8 hullnumbers said:

Uh, t.hats what i suggested a few posts ago

yeah, I know. I was just detailing it a bit with some of my own stuff.

[fargowolf]

Nov 29, 2009 14:23:56 GMT -8 @lmtengs said:

maybe you plow into a marina accidentally

Somehow, I saw that comment coming...

[lmtengs]

Here's a link to a poll on this topic:
lmtengs.blogspot.com/

[Kam]

I think one of the Coastal class ships would be the easiest sell to VStep.

They have an international appeal being built in Germany and the world’s largest double ended passenger ferries.

And I love to play with Ship Sim as well, although I must admit to sinking the Titanic about 50 feet from the pier...

[stingray]

My Top BC Ferries Picks for Ship Simulator.

A Spirit Class Ship.
A Coastal Class Ship.
Queen of Nanaimo.
Northern Expedition.
Mayne Queen.
The Sidney.

[M/V LeConte]

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that it will be released in March. I'm having trouble finding more info because of the restrictions of our work servers. Though I did find these:


Paradox Interactive Announces Ship Simulator Extremes

Paradox Interactive today announced Ship Simulator Extremes, the next installment of the acclaimed Ship Simulator Series. Created by Dutch game developer VSTEP, Ship Simulator Extremes gives players the opportunity to take on exciting missions all over the world as they captain an impressive array of vessels and live the story of real ship captains.

Have you ever wondered how it feels to sail a half-million ton supertanker through the perfect storm or to take on illegal whale hunters in the Antarctic? Feel the rush of serving as a coast guard as you evacuate an island threatened by a volcanic disaster. With missions based on actual events that take place in realistic environments and locations from all over the world, Ship Simulator Extremes has you endure extreme conditions, fight the elements and face all of the challenges associated with being a ship captain.

“Following the successful legacy of our game series, we look forward to cooperating with Paradox Interactive and continue to give gamers worldwide all the excitement of being in the captain’s helm chair,” said Frank Dolmans, CMO of VSTEP.

Key features:

• Wide range of vessels to control, including hovercrafts, coast guard interceptors, mammoth tankers, tugs, cruise liners, and many others.
• Includes exciting storylines and missions all over the world.
• From the very hot to the very cold, sail to the most enchanted regions of the world. Explore the Antarctic or take in beautiful Bora Bora. Includes famous harbors and locations worldwide.
• Official Greenpeace license : sail famous Greenpeace ships and take on ecological missions based on real events!
• Realistic water & weather system. Sail a calm sea or take on the most extreme conditions ever witnessed at sea.
• Online Multiplayer mode. Sail online with your friends and take part in cooperative missions and community events.

Ship Simulator Extremes is scheduled for release in Q1 2010 and will be officially introduced to world press at the Gamescom 2009 in Cologne. To keep up with the latest news about Ship Simulator Extremes, visit: www.shipsim.com or www.paradoxplaza.com.

UPDATE:

NEW YORK - August 20, 2009 – On the heels of last week's unveiling of Ship Simulator Extremes, Paradox Interactive and VSTEP released a brand new trailer for the recently-announced title at Gamescom today. With over 450,000 copies sold of the orginal title, the series returns to take you deep into the heart of the most extreme conditions on Earth.

For a preview of the action to come, watch the Gamescom trailer:

[herrbrinkmann]

Last year I wrote a mail to Pjotr van Schothorst of Vstep proposing to have the Coastals implemented in their software, telling him they won a prize and are the largest double ended ferries and so on...

I got this reply:

Markus,

Thanks for your interest.
Your vessels look really great, and I agree that they would be nice additions to the game.
Because we are overwhelmed with similar requests, and because it takes us a lot of time and effort to add a vessel to the game, we only add new vessels on a sponsored basis.
The sponsor fee for this is EUR 20,000 per vessel.
The vessel would appear in Ship Simulator 2009, due for Q1 2009.
Currently, we have sold the current versions of the game to 350,000 customers, so you would reach many people.
Is this of interest to you?

My answer was: no...

Just as an info.

[Kam]

Hmmm... lets see, I have $20 and a bag of pop bottles. Anyone else?

[herrbrinkmann]

if someone can give three "0", then we are done ;D

[lmtengs]

Dec 10, 2009 3:05:57 GMT -8 Kam said:

Hmmm... lets see, I have $20 and a bag of pop bottles. Anyone else?

I'll give 30$...