by FreeMan10 on Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:38 am
I'm not sold on ADL as a hub, either.
1) You show 4 lines/stations at the hub, but it's not connected to four different colored stations, or any paired line stations (like LMR in RailUSA). As a matter of fact, it only appears to be connected to three stations (PGA, BHL, BDT). I think you may have been intending a connection to MDA?
2) There are purple rails connecting ADL to BHL, but ADL itself is/was a brown station and BHL is blue/cyan.
3) After some close inspection, I just noticed that you have "ADL" floating in the water off the southern coast, west of the station boxes - it doesn't tie in well with the station itself. I'm sure this would be patched up in further revisions.
4) It just has the feel that you added this in to be consistent with RailUSA and RailEurope. I honestly hadn't noticed it missing until you put it in. It really does feel as though it's a last-minute afterthought, not a designed in cohesive whole. Tieryn mentioned that it's not representative of Australia rail, and I can't comment on that, but it does just seem tacked on for the sake of tacking it on.
As far as the tin roofs (rusted!) go, I think that makes it too busy, especially if you're putting the continent abbreviation in the roof (as you have for AR & QR, so far).
The background train looks fine to me, though I didn't have an issue with the previous. What's the thing sticking up in the left foreground of that image? That's the only odd part.
Why are some stations connected by rails, and some by lines? I think the single line is satisfactory, and will eliminate much of the issues you're currently having on RailEurope in trying to make them look 'good'. From this high, satellite view of OZ, a single line is all you're gonna see anyway.
I'm looking forward to playing this and learning some OZ geography!