In case you missed it: LOTUS

It`s been almost a month now and I personally have been busy with random things. However, in case nobody saw it yet, the news: LOTUS has been announced on October 11^th 2015.

Oriolus software (which is the name for Marcel`s and Janine`s venture) will be developing a bus-tram-metro-railway simulation which is LOTUS. There isn`t much news beyond that and all discussion is within Facebook at this precise moment. 

All that has been announced is:

•           The release is promised in two steps: bus/tram first and railway/metro later;
•           LOTUS will feature a map editor;
•           In terms of modding: Blender users that developed models for OMSI will be able to use the same models provided the model is in .x3d and made by Blender 2.5 or newer.

Release date is not known yet, however Janine did point out that “LOTUS will not be released in the next year”, hence I am personally thinking 2017.

What`s going to happen with OMSI?

This question was also answered. OMSI 2, as per the answer, will still be supported (at least) up until the initial release of LOTUS. Modders are encouraged to continue their work. Essentially, we`ve got more than a year to wrap up any projects that we are working at the moment.

Furthermore, OMSI2 will still be patched as per usual: Janine even promises beta testing before releasing the patch into the wild. Link to the post. (Images from Facebook)

What`s the go with Bērzpils?

Well, this is the hardest part to talk about, coincidentally. The map is in the works and 0.4 version will be released either Dec 2015 or Jan 2016, provided everything goes smoothly enough. I am also aimed at hitting the beta, that is going releasing version 0.5. After that everything becomes uncertain and no promises can be made. At this point in time that is.