2022-2023
The Predecessor of Souton
The predecessor of "Souton" can be traced back to mid-2022, when NQIDK created its first official archive (the predecessor of the current "Souton" map) and began the construction of railways and cities. Although the railways and cities at that time were relatively rudimentary, and had problems such as unreasonable building structures and designs, excessively high railway gradients, and excessively sharp railway curves, they laid the foundation for the current "Souton".
July 2023
Two People, A Perfect Match
In mid-June 2023, "MTRBBS", the largest forum in the MTR Chinese community, held its third architecture competition (officially named "MTRBBS Third Architecture Skills Competition"). At that time, JW HK (hereinafter referred to as JW) contacted NQIDK and asked if he wanted to participate. He immediately agreed and collaborated with JW to participate. When naming the project, they were inspired by the Hong Kong MTR server "Easton," naming it "Souton Project," and won the architecture competition with a high score of 95 points thanks to its excellent construction and technology. After the competition, NQIDK went to the United States to study, and his first-generation save file and "Souton Project" were put on hold.
October 2023
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Three months later, taking advantage of a new computer, NQIDK began to recreate the Kowloon Station (now Hung Hom Station) of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Station (English Section) when it opened in 1975 to practice his construction skills, and began building the second-generation official save file the following month (which is now the map save file for "Souton"). At that time, he did not plan to open a server to reduce expenses, which prevented JW, who was far away in Hong Kong, from joining the construction. To resolve this issue, NQIDK eventually launched a server in January of the following year so that JW and he could also work on it when they returned to Hong Kong. The reopened server retained the old name "Project Souton" but was renamed "Souton." NQIDK subsequently transferred ownership of the server to JW. At this point, "Souton" was still not ready to be opened to the public.