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35-459: Railroad Tycoon was written by game designer Sid Meier and published by MicroProse . Though it shares the "Tycoon" suffix, it is not related to other Microprose games such as RollerCoaster Tycoon and Transport Tycoon , which were developed by Scottish programmer Chris Sawyer . The objective of the game is to build and manage a railroad company by laying track, building stations, and buying and scheduling trains. The railroad must be built in

70-476: A certain time to win the game. The original version allowed the player to start companies in several settings: the U.S. West and Midwest or the Northeast, England, and (on a smaller scale including southern England) Europe. The player manages the business as described above and may also handle individual train movement and build additional industries. The game also has other railroad companies attempting to put

105-456: A cost-cutting measure, Spectrum cut many of the jobs at MicroProse in 1996 and consolidated much of their operations. Meier, along with MicroProse employees Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds , were dissastified with these decisions, and opted to leave the company to form Firaxis Games in 1997. Firaxis continued to develop the same type of strategy games that Meier had developed at MicroProse, many of which are follow-ups to those titles, such as

140-620: A couple of these boxes, and promote him as the star.' And that's how Sid's name got on Pirates , and Civilization ." The idea was successful; by 1992, an entry in Computer Gaming World 's poetry contest praised Meier's name as "a guarantee they got it right". While emphasizing that he did not encourage MicroProse promoting his name, Meier did insist on doing all of the work on games himself, including sound and art, until work by artist Michael Haire, whom Stealey had hired for Silent Service (1985), persuaded him. Meier

175-520: A few of his games, such as Und Tschüss , Volldampf , and Tempus . He has also published a number of games through his own company, Warfrog . These include such titles as Struggle of Empires and Princes of the Renaissance . Wallace is the founder and chief designer of Treefrog (former Warfrog) Games. Wallace is known for designing complex strategy games that depict a variety of historical settings. Two themes he has frequently used are

210-446: A special game engine since around 1996 which he uses to prototype his game ideas and which he has not shared with anyone else. Dennis Shirk, a senior producer, said in 2016 that Meier would sometimes arrive at the office and announce he had a new game prototype for the company to try out and see if it could be developed further. The engine is believed by Firaxis employees to be based on his original Civilization source, but expanded over

245-515: Is a devout Christian, and he and his wife attend Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cockeysville , where he is the Director of Contemporary Music. Susan was one of the original 13 employees at Firaxis Games along with Sid. Meier has a son, Ryan Meier, who worked for Blizzard Entertainment , Firaxis Games , and Google . In 1996, GameSpot put Meier at the top of their listing of

280-612: Is an English board game designer from Manchester . Martin Wallace was born and raised in the U.K., and has been resident in Manchester for most of those years. He began gaming in his teens, starting with titles from SPI and Avalon Hill , and as a student he got into Dungeons & Dragons . Wallace worked for a while at Games Workshop , then started designing games in earnest in the early 1990s, his first DTP game being Lords of Creation . Eventually German companies picked up

315-720: Is available on their website. An updated version of this game named Railroad Tycoon Deluxe was created and released in 1993. Despite a host of new features and graphics, Deluxe sold very poorly, due to some bugs and slow gameplay (most notoriously the F4 map screen, which brings the game to a crawl). Deluxe is essentially the same game as Railroad Tycoon, with improved hi-resolution graphics, new sound effects, and several additions. The additions are: new maps (South America and Africa) with region-specific cargo types (e.g. troops for Africa), new time ranges and locomotives, bandits who can hijack trains, and sheriffs who will arrest them. Although

350-452: Is not always the main designer on titles that carry his name. For instance, Brian Reynolds has been credited as the primary designer behind Sid Meier's Civilization II , Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri , and Sid Meier's Colonization , while Jeff Briggs designed Sid Meier's Civilization III , Soren Johnson led Sid Meier's Civilization IV , Jon Shafer led Sid Meier's Civilization V , and Will Miller and David McDonough were

385-688: The Civilization series, Meier co-founded MicroProse in 1982 with Bill Stealey and is the Director of Creative Development of Firaxis Games , which he co-founded with Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds in 1996. For his contributions to the video game industry , Meier was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. Meier was born in Sarnia , Ontario , Canada, to parents of Dutch and Swiss descent, which conferred on him both Canadian and Swiss citizenship upon birth. When he

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420-590: The Railroad Tycoon license and featuring box art very similar to the third entry in the series, it has been published under the title Railways of the World since 2009. Railroad Tycoon takes place in the eastern United States in 1830. Each player takes charge of a pioneering new railway company. Sid Meier's Railroads! was released in October 2006. It was the first game in the Railroad Tycoon series since

455-469: The "Most Influential People in Computer Gaming of All Time", calling him "our Hitchcock , our Spielberg , our Ellington ". That same year, Computer Gaming World ranked him as eighth on the list of the "Most Influential Industry Players of All Time", noting that no game designer has had as many CGW Hall of Fame games as Sid Meier. In 1997, Computer Gaming World ranked him as number one on

490-539: The 'fun parts' of a simulation and throws out the rest". The magazine reported that year how "Meier insisted that discovering the elusive quality of fun is the toughest part of design." According to PC Gamer , "Though his games are frequently about violent times and places, there is never any blood or gore shown. He designs and creates his games by playing them, over and over, until they are fun." Meier lives in Hunt Valley, Maryland , with his second wife Susan. He

525-610: The Swiss Alps, the jungles of South America, and even several places around the world in a possible future where Earth's oceans have risen. Most of the ones in Railroad Tycoon 1 are in Railroad Tycoon II . There are also many more first and second century campaigns to choose from than in Railroad Tycoon . An expansion pack Railroad Tycoon II: Second Century was later added which contained new scenarios focusing on modern and near-future times, plus added new elements to

560-425: The construction and operation of railroads , and the rise and fall of ancient civilizations . He has developed a reputation for blending elegant European style game mechanics with the strong themes that are more typical of American style games. Many of his games feature economic systems, incorporating rules for income, taxation, and debt. In 2016, Wallace announced the closure of Treefrog Games and focussing on being

595-445: The designers of Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth . After the release of F-19 Stealth Fighter , Meier focused on strategy games, later saying "Everything I thought was cool about a flight simulator had gone into that game." Inspired by SimCity and Empire , he created Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon and later the game series for which he is most widely recognized, Sid Meier's Civilization , although he designed only

630-556: The economy. The game and its expansion were repackaged together in the Gold Edition and then, with 50 additional user-made scenarios, into the Platinum Edition . A short lived, budget title The Next Millennium went on sale in 2000. It featured many scenarios and features of The Second Century , but no map editor. It had no instruction booklet and was sold only in a jewel case. The second sequel, Railroad Tycoon 3 ,

665-424: The first installment. Around 1990, Stealey wanted to expand MicroProse to produce arcade games, which Meier felt was too risky. Unable to resolve the matter with Stealey, Meier sold Stealey his half of the company, but remained with the company in his same role. MicroProse, after it had become a public company , merged with Spectrum HoloByte in 1993 under Spectrum's name, with Spectrum as the operating company. As

700-508: The first version are missing in this sequel, such as the ability to build tunnels and signal towers, but many new possibilities were added, such as the ability to have unlimited money, trains, and train routes, much better control of routes, dozens of new maps, and the ability to create and modify scenarios and maps. The Dreamcast version was in full 3D. There are dozens of new scenarios to play including ones in Africa, North America, Germany,

735-419: The game is called Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon Deluxe , Sid Meier himself had nothing to do with the development of this version. A sequel featuring improved graphics and more complex gameplay was published by Gathering of Developers in 1998 after PopTop Software acquired rights to the name from MicroProse, Sid Meier's original company which he himself left a year earlier to form Firaxis . Some features of

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770-457: The game. An expansion pack, Coast to Coast , was released for download in 2004 with new scenarios, including a map of the entire United States and eight new locomotives. Railroad Tycoon is a railway-themed board game designed by Martin Wallace and Glenn Drover. The game, published in 2005 by Eagle Games , is derived from Wallace's earlier railway-themed game Age of Steam with more stylistic box art and simplified rules. Originally using

805-497: The inclusion of his name was because Pirates! is very different from the company's earlier titles. Stealey decided that Meier's name would make those who purchased the flight simulators more likely to play the game. Stealey recalled: "We were at dinner at a Software Publishers Association meeting, and Robin Williams was there. And he kept us in stitches for two hours. And he turns to me and says 'Bill, you should put Sid's name on

840-625: The initial years of the 1980s. Sid Meier has stated on numerous occasions that he emphasizes the "fun parts" of a simulation and throws out the rest. Meier founded MicroProse with Stealey in 1982. After a few initial 2D action games, such as Meier's platformer Floyd of the Jungle , MicroProse settled into a run of flight simulation titles beginning with Hellcat Ace (1982) and continuing with Spitfire Ace (1982), Solo Flight (1983), and F-15 Strike Eagle (1985), all designed and programmed by Meier. The first appearance of Meier's name on

875-445: The list of the "Most Influential People of All Time in Computer Gaming", for game design. In 1999, he became the second person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame . In 2008, Meier received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Game Developer's Conference . In 2009, he came fifth in a Develop survey that asked some 9,000 game makers about their "ultimate development hero". In 2009, he

910-517: The new Civilization games and a remake of Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004). In 1996, he was granted a patent for a "System for Real-Time Music Composition and Synthesis" used in C.P.U. Bach . Next Generation listed him in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995", calling him "a prolific developer of some of the best games in [MicroProse]'s catalog". According to Firaxis employees, Meier has been constantly developing

945-565: The original to have direct input from Sid Meier himself. Railroads! features a variety of scenarios and trains from both North America and Europe and is less industry-focused than previous versions. It has a simpler user interface for track laying, full 3D graphics, and real time gameplay. Sid Meier Sidney K. Meier ( / ˈ m aɪər / MIRE ; born February 24, 1954) is an American businessman and computer programmer. A programmer , designer , and producer of several strategy video games and simulation video games , including

980-481: The past several years, so the dinosaur game remains on the shelf. However, I do love the idea of a dinosaur game and would like to revisit it when I have some time." An autobiography, Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games , was published on September 8, 2020, by W. W. Norton & Company . Computer Gaming World reported in 1994 that "Sid Meier has stated on numerous occasions that he emphasizes

1015-433: The player out of business with stock dealings and "Rate Wars". The player starts with one million dollars, half as equity, half as loan. The player can get more cash by selling $ 500,000 bonds at various interest rates (which depend on the current economic condition in the game). As part of the release of the new Sid Meier's Railroads , 2K Games released the full version of the original Railroad Tycoon game for free, which

1050-448: The realization of the potential for employing computer programming in the creation of video games. He found a co-worker, Bill Stealey , who had a similar interest in developing games, and shared the games that Meier had developed. The two decided to establish a new company for computer game development subsequent to the widespread advancement and growth of the software and personal computer industries, which were developing extensively during

1085-413: The retail box of a game was as the credited creator of Formula 1 Racing in 1982. In 1984 Stealey began marketing Meier himself, hoping to attract other developers by promoting him as an auteur ; by 1986 MicroProse was using Meier's name and face in advertisements for its games. In 1987, the company released Sid Meier's Pirates! , the first game with Meier's name in the title. He later explained that

Railroad Tycoon - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-441: The years with updates that he or other engineers will write for him. Meier worked with a team on a dinosaur -themed game starting in early 2000, but announced in an online development diary in 2001 that the game had been shelved. Despite trying various approaches, including turn-based and real-time gameplay, he said he found no way to make the concept fun enough. In 2005, he said, "We've been nonstop busy making other games over

1155-489: Was about three years old, his family moved to Detroit , Michigan , where he was raised. At the University of Michigan , he studied history and computer science , graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science in 1975. Following college, Meier worked in developing cash register systems for department stores. During this timeframe, Meier acquired an Atari 800 around 1981, an experience that led him to

1190-669: Was ranked second in IGN 's list of "Top Game Creators of All Time", and was called "the ideal role model for any aspiring game designer". In 2017, he was awarded the Life Achievement by the Golden Joystick Awards . Meier has been the developer, co-developer, and producer of many games. A complete list of his works which includes early non-commercial titles is available in the appendix of Sid Meier's Memoir! Martin Wallace (game designer) Martin Wallace

1225-418: Was released in 2003. It featured a full 3D environment, overpasses and tunnels, and much improved graphics. Gameplay changed significantly, with dynamic pricing of goods across the entire map and cargo that can find alternate means of transportation if no train service is provided; track was no longer laid on discrete square tiles, but as curved track on a 3D map. A map editor is included but cannot be used during

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