This is genuinely a great devlog that shows what building infrastructure for an indie game looks like. Also glad to see that Thomas the Tank Engine has left permanent impressions on your brain chemistry like it did on mine 🚂
You could try adding signal boxes dotted around the map to add a sensical reason to the ability to switch the points inside the cab. The engine could even give a slight peep of its whistle to let the signalman know to change the points!
@@Elliottblancher Ooh that feels fun, and immersive too! For turntables, you can whistle to turn, and just whistle again until you're pointed the way you want to go.
I think some fun potential for progression would be that you find broken switches, fallen trees blocking tracks, etc, that you need to find some way to fix to get to new places. Loving the devlogs, wishing you luck on future development!
Another method of turning a train around is a "wye" that is a triangle of tracks, which might be nice to see for major junctions near a destination. Turntables tend to be at the end of lines, but were also are at most major depots.
Definitely, most British narrow gauge lines had no way to turn locos and those that did used turntables. I can't think of an example of a Wye constructed for loco turning on any line Most ran the same direction a their lives- as you want the cab end downhill to keep the water over the fire Also definitely add rear cab windows, they were on any loco that had a back of a cab to put them in! @@MashUpGames
This game looks promising! But I do agree that wyes will probably look more realistic than turntables scattered about. They're quite bulky and expensive.
@@RobinRense but not really fitting the vibe of a small rural line like this, for a narrow gauge line with these small locomotives a hand powered turntable is actually probably cheaper than 3 sets of points and track for a Wye, and much more compact and useful
NIMBYrails went through the agonizing trouble of doing tracklaying in the game that does what real world track follows: not beziers, not circular arcs, not trochoids, but clothoids-- where changes in curvature must be gradual.
Man it would be cool to have some puzzles to solve like shunting cars to specific places to either clear the right of way or a differnt reward like a slate quarry and i think a map would be useful but like one the player adds locations to it as the journey continues
I would absolutely love to see more about the editor and procedural track systems you've developed! Making a train/transport game has been one of my dream projects as a hobby programmer/developer, but there are so few resources out there that cover how others have developed their track network systems (beyond the bezier/track pieces decision). Any insight into the track building tools themselves would be very nice to see!
I don't feel you gave yourself enough credit for the switch design, that logic is hard to build in a robust manner especially when a switch can have multiple throws from one piece... excellent job!! I have a similar project going on where I'm programming a fully autonomous train dispatching and signal system at my local model train club which heavily relies on the same ghost agents you mentioned. These systems are so insanely tedious to construct while also being seriously hard to get right. It's awesome seeing your success in it, keep up the fantastic work :)
Here's a rule I follow for making my narrow gauge layouts look better. "The only truely straight tracks are next to the platform." By which I mean, the tracks have been reused, relaid, bashed, and pusehd and the straight tracks actually wobble gendly left and right all over the place. Also, older lines are more thoroughly overgrown. Which would lend nicely to less obvious lines. Also, most railways have lever frames that control multiple points from a single location. Especialy in shunting yards. If when interacting with this you saw a popup interface that showed you the track layout it's connected to and allow you to set multiple points all at once would be a good mechanic to use.
8:15 when you turn a train around , usually the turntable turns the engine around and then there is a run around track to store the train cars and after the engine turns around it travels to the correct side of the train
This is looking quite fun and enjoyable so far. You mentioned the visual problem of the points lever (the bit of metal you grab to throw the switchrails) changing on its own. In reality in this sort of setting, an engine would signal by a series of "crows" and "pips" on the whistle to indicate their intended direction, usually to a shunter or pointsman walking around while in yards, or to a signalman in the signalbox when on the running lines. For this, you could have an employee in a railway cap or flatcap fade in when the player touches the button on the UI, the engine whistle blows two short "pips" to go left for example, points are thrown, character fades out. In the cases of the signalbox a similar scenario plays out, just without anyone visible on the lineside. In these circumstances, realistically you wouldn't have a points lever next to the track, so you might still want something visual on the ground to indicate the direction they're thrown, and you wouldn't have a 'box for each individual set of points since theyd control a group of them within a reasonable area (about 400yds radius usually). Personally i love the idea of a cute little signalbox in the middle of nowhere next to a tiny junction, similar in style to Ivor the Engine's "Owen the Signal". Just some thoughts for you. Looking forward to the next one.
Oh man I spent hours trying to figure out how to get trains to follow curves and you explained it in < 10 minutes ... You sir are a legend @MashUp Games!
I suppose quests might be the next thing that'll be added, but who really knows. I aboslutely love the turntables, and I can't wait to play this game one day. Keep up the good work!
@MashUpGames Great to hear, good luck with the creation of not only the quests' functions, but also wagon design. If it helps, there are many slate wagon designs online. Have a good day and good luck with the rest of the game!
The breakdown of how you do all the track is so amazing. I've tried to make my own track system before, and I never thought of the circle strat. Really clever, and great breakdown
Your videos on this so far are very visually helpful, and really insightful into game design! That track switch feature is very reminiscent of Spirit Tracks. I can't wait to eventually play this!
I do like that you are actually respecting the fact trains do need some mechanism to turn around, a huge number of games just have it magically flip round at the station terminus. (Logistics games are especially guilty of this despite how much extra challenge you could have if the player was actually required to factor in passing loops and turning locos which always baffled me) Turn tables aren't the only way to turn a train round however, turning wyes and balloon loops also serve a similar function and it could be novel to have these in more out of the way locations as an alternative where a turntable never got built.
I would love to see more about the editor and procedural track system. Like a few others that have commented already, I've wanted to make game based around a train system for a while but struggled to find any good resources on this that show/teach how to make a full system like yours. While there are some paid options out there I always want to learn how to do things myself so any sort of tutorial/guide or even links to useful learning resources would be great!
This has just got me wondering what an alternative game could be like where, instead of exploring a railway network, you have to build a railway network. I can imagine, assuming we're using a railway system similar to yours, you'd start with a single stretch of line connecting two towns, a forest and a ballast/stone mine. You'd also start with a locomotive, but then you'd need to expand your network to connect to other towns and industries (e.g. a brick factory so you can build stations and workshops, and an iron mine + steel mill so you can build more locomotives and wagons) by a) planning the route of your expansion, and then b) delivering the materials from the relevant industries to the rail head. That could be a very fun alternative to the typical railway-building games such as OpenTTD and Transport Fever 2.
Brilliant video! I loved the explanation and animations. I'm also having flashbacks of when I made a train VR game. This looks much better than that ever hoped to be.
im so glad to see this comming along, since io saw ur first ep on this i thought "wow this seems cute" and as a train enthusiast myself i approve of ur work and would so much to have this on my steam games list, now that u've done more about it i can visualize where ur going with this, (kinda lol) anyway im happy to see that a cute little game like this is still gonig forward, cant wait to see the finle product... keep ur steam up and keep chugging ;)
I've waited so long to see this devlog and I would love to learn more about how you created the procedural track generation and other elements you didn't discuss in this video but mentioned at the end
Incredible! Would be very interested in more that went into the tracks and the hurdles you had to overcome. The visual aesthetic of this game is looking amazing and the thumbnail is very satisfying :)
You’re doing an INCREDIBLE job with this game, my friend. I REALLY hope it’ll be ready sooner rather than later. I can’t wait to do some exploring! But, at the same time, I understand that you need time. 🙂
instead of using magic in a switch, can't you have npcs doing it like in old days? your character says " hi!!👋" and the guy on the cabin activate the switch 😶🤔
Definitely this. And given the cute aesthetic, some of the signal NPCs could be woodland creatures wearing little conductor’s hats. Might not fit the game vision, but it could be fun!
Superb work! Really great to see all the effort that's going in behind the scenes with this. Very excited to see how it all continues to develop. Best of luck with everything and looking forward to seeing more of Railway Life in 2025 😃
Good video! For a future video I'd love to see the thought process of physically making the railway in game. Like how things are going to be laid out, what kinds of features this island will have, etc.
Maybe you could make rewarding progression by having you start off with having to manually switch tracks and then later giving the player the tool to switch from the UI? Awesome vid btw!
I don't usually comment on TH-cam, but I feel i had to tell you how much I adore this project. Ever since Stardew Valley released I've been obsessed with cozy games, and as someone that finds old steam locomotives super cool, I'll buy this game the second it releases. The best to you, and I'm excited to see the next devlog!
This is really great to see, I’m also working on a train focussed game and had come up with a very similar system myself. Really looking forward to playing this when it’s done
I like the phantom track walker to handle the switching problem, but there’s an easier solution here. Your map is static, not edited by the user. So the nearest switch in either direction on a given length of track never changes. That means you can easily store the ‘nearest switch’ for every piece of track. No ghost track walker needed; when you load a track ID, it automatically knows if there is a nearby switch coming up, and can show the switch button. I don’t imagine the current method is too slow, but it could help in cases like 7:27 if there are switches close together. You wouldn’t have to make this database by hand; it could be compiled by the same track walker method, just saved with each track ID. Having each track piece know what it connects and leads to could also be used for pathfinding in the future; a CPU agent could navigate the map by pathfinding among switches that lead to each other, assuming each switch knows the switches past each branch regardless of distance.
Really enjoying watching this process! I started making my own railway based game a while ago, but being a complete amateur with now game dev experience I gave up when it came to working out how track layouts and sections worked. Think I'll leave that to cleverer people. 😅
@@MashUpGames I sent a link to this video to my sister and she immediately identified the Corris loco in the thumbnail, I'll definitely be watching the rest of your videos dw 😁
Wow - came here for the devlog but was more stunned by the video-edit. Don't get me wrong, it was super interessting what you said about the track-system. But this is literly the best dev-log I've ever seen on TH-cam (and I watch devlogs here since years!). I guess you've put a lot of effort into making this video and I just want to say: it was worth it. It made following you super easy, straight forward and even playful. I'm really impressed. Unfortunately I can like this video only once. Hitting the like button triggered me several times and I had to be careful to NOT REMOVE the like by accident xD
Simple, cute, and a whole lot of fun. Best of luck getting the game out as soon as you can, and a happy new year. I do hope you find this... ...as I've been meaning to ask you some question that I'm hoping you'll answer. I admire trains, and am really interested in this project. P.S. Please do the editor discussion video, and also (if you can and want to) do a whole video discussing how you coded in the terrain and landscape. P.P.S. That's funny, but never mind that. Will you think about doing a video focused around the different type of jobs and/or "other activities" that you can do in the game, or other interactions, like NPC/"in-game" characters or rolling stock?
4:41 if you use radians for angles instead of degrees, you can instead use the equation (theta)r = l (with theta being your total angle, r being your radius, and l being the arc length). this is actually where the circumference equation 2(pi)r comes from - 2(pi) radians is equivalent to 360 degrees.
Great to see you implementing turntables and points in the game! Will the game get different variations of wagons other than that of the blue van shown in the videos? Wagons such as passenger coaches or slate wagons that would be found on that talyllyn railway (where sir Haydn works)?
What I did once was: You can move along a bezier curve at very near constant speed by sampling at intervals to build a lookup table when the track is placed, then linearly interpolating between samples. Since your train is very short though, you could just use collision meshes for the rails and train and be ok. I've found that a frictionless sphere (which can only collide with rails) between the rails works good.
0:19 there was a time when canadian railway engineers drove a diesel locomotive down a regular road to provide power to a town that was affected by a blizzard (or something else that cut the power and impeded survivability without it, cant remember exactly what) i.e. its doable, but tends to severely damage the road surface (those steel flanges kinda just sink in and leave big gashes) and steering isnt the most practical (when the canadians did it, they started by lifting the locomotive off the nearest level crossing with a crane)
Me when a game has TTTE influence cus the classic era of that show is amazing 🔥🔥🔥 But also, I have a suggestion, while procedural generation is good, I think planning out a realistic real life use and story for the railway’s construction really elevates the feeling of exploring, discovering mines, working buildings, ports and towns, etc. Making them all very unique is a really key part of railway exploration. And also I’m assuming you are adding more elevation changes to the game as well, as I saw with the bridge, and that’s great!
I love your game and also love the talyllyn (as a thomas Lover and a train lover). I can wait to see how much this game will be I'd love to play it it!
The ability to remotely switch rails is a real thing. Honestly all you'd need to do is add a little square box to the bottom of the switch stand which pretends to have a little motor inside it. Voila, you can now switch tracks remotely! Now, as for the rest: it looks awesome! Just one remark: I'd like to be able to choose which way the turntable turns. Oh and: let me hold the 'turn' key to automatically keep going instead of pausing at the first connection available. Would be really nice!
The more I see of this game the more the anticipation builds. Looks fantastic, very clever. Bit like a digital train set.? The scenery looks great too. Rather than magically changing the points, what if every so often there was a signal box and you had to blow the whistle to get the points changed? In more remote areas then you could have to get out and pull the ground frame lever, just like real life.
The whole thing about curves following circles, is actually what's often referred to as arcs. They are a spline segment like a bezier curve, but they're a constant angle that does not change, which means you could make multiple of them into a circle. It's uses the same math though, just a different term.
maybe a fun idea: Add a slingshot to the driver and have them shoot the point switch. Its by far more work but maybe a fun side thing when the base game is done and playable. Love the project so far. Looks extremely awsome
I am beyond excited for this game, it looks so cozy and fun, I could see myself playing for HOURS!! I am interested to know more about the rolling stock and the jobs that’ll be available. Will we be able to pull passengers or are we strictly handling goods?
You can use switch boxes instead of switch stands for the switches. There is automated cab switching in some narrow gauge locos, it’s also modeled in derail valley, it’s an absolute lifesaver when shunting or going high speed.
I'd love to see a video about how you built the track builder you mentioned at the end of the video. I'm working on a game where you race slot cars which is very similar to how a train track operates. I'm still fairly deep in alpha, so thus far I've simply built a bunch of track segments in Blender, imported them in, and used defined points in those models to determine car paths.
I am all about this game so far. This is pretty much all I've wanted in a train game. Something nice and relaxing, with little to no pressure, and just letting my autistic ass enjoy the trains.
As cool as it is to have the railways be disused, I think it could be awesome to have a couple of NPC trains that you can recognize when you stumble across them, like Miguel's Guide Plane from Wii Sports Resort. Having some basic AI behaviors to have the AI dodge the player and each other would make the area feel so much more alive.
Looking good! I sort of guess you have added/will add coupling? Would be great to be able to run around the train at stations that don’t have turntables!
Streetcars have a system to remotely switch, rail switches. The driver can set a button to which direction the switch will turn and it gets switched automatically when the streetcar drive over some contact. I hope this game will feature long trains. Having the possibility to pull more stuff is more fun. That just having a few cars. XD
Fantastic editing m8. Not only are you a talented dev but are amazing at motion graphics, sound design and editing! What did you use for the animated bits, after effects?
Hey somthing i noticed in the game play footage the c Wheels are turning faster than the engine is going and you can actually change the points “remotly” with the help of a friend in the signal box so it isnt 100% magic except for electicle magic but i love how the rolling stock will work and the simple almost drawn look of the controls cant wait to play this when i get it
I’m really impressed with how this game looks! I didn’t have two questions though; 1. Will there be a sandbox mode where you can create your own track layout? And 2. How long do you think it will take for a Thomas mod will be added lol
Genuinely so excited to see where this game goes! Im sure theres been other comments talking about these, but another way to turn trains around is a type of junction called a "wye." Its pretty much just a triangle of switches that allows you to change direction. Since you want to have a lot of options for exploration, maybe having some wyes dotted around might be good in case a player comes across a junction facing the wrong way. It can save the hassle of having to go find a turntable. On the topic of switches, how do the switches work when you're coming up to where 2 tracks come together? If the switch is set the wrong way, will you still have to set it so you can keep passing through or will that function just kinda disable and you can pass through the switch without worry?
This is genuinely a great devlog that shows what building infrastructure for an indie game looks like. Also glad to see that Thomas the Tank Engine has left permanent impressions on your brain chemistry like it did on mine 🚂
once Thomas is in your brain, he never leaves. THEY NEVER LEAVE
Hi Ollie
You could try adding signal boxes dotted around the map to add a sensical reason to the ability to switch the points inside the cab. The engine could even give a slight peep of its whistle to let the signalman know to change the points!
That's cool
1 whistle to go left, 2 whistles to go right
@@Elliottblancher Ooh that feels fun, and immersive too! For turntables, you can whistle to turn, and just whistle again until you're pointed the way you want to go.
I think some fun potential for progression would be that you find broken switches, fallen trees blocking tracks, etc, that you need to find some way to fix to get to new places.
Loving the devlogs, wishing you luck on future development!
There could also be old, abandoned tracks without switches that can be triggered remotely. Another reason for you to get out of the cab.
Another method of turning a train around is a "wye" that is a triangle of tracks, which might be nice to see for major junctions near a destination. Turntables tend to be at the end of lines, but were also are at most major depots.
Good point
there likely will be a wye or two in the world, but if it's just a case of turning the locomotive around then I'd prefer more turntables than wyes
Definitely, most British narrow gauge lines had no way to turn locos and those that did used turntables. I can't think of an example of a Wye constructed for loco turning on any line
Most ran the same direction a their lives- as you want the cab end downhill to keep the water over the fire
Also definitely add rear cab windows, they were on any loco that had a back of a cab to put them in!
@@MashUpGames
This game looks promising! But I do agree that wyes will probably look more realistic than turntables scattered about. They're quite bulky and expensive.
@@RobinRense but not really fitting the vibe of a small rural line like this, for a narrow gauge line with these small locomotives a hand powered turntable is actually probably cheaper than 3 sets of points and track for a Wye, and much more compact and useful
NIMBYrails went through the agonizing trouble of doing tracklaying in the game that does what real world track follows: not beziers, not circular arcs, not trochoids, but clothoids-- where changes in curvature must be gradual.
That's a must-have for a simulator but is overcomplicated for an adventure.
Trainz needs this!
NIMBYrails is great! Haven't played since the new scheduling system dropped though, haven't had time to figure it out yet 😐
Man it would be cool to have some puzzles to solve like shunting cars to specific places to either clear the right of way or a differnt reward like a slate quarry and i think a map would be useful but like one the player adds locations to it as the journey continues
I would absolutely love to see more about the editor and procedural track systems you've developed! Making a train/transport game has been one of my dream projects as a hobby programmer/developer, but there are so few resources out there that cover how others have developed their track network systems (beyond the bezier/track pieces decision). Any insight into the track building tools themselves would be very nice to see!
I don't feel you gave yourself enough credit for the switch design, that logic is hard to build in a robust manner especially when a switch can have multiple throws from one piece... excellent job!!
I have a similar project going on where I'm programming a fully autonomous train dispatching and signal system at my local model train club which heavily relies on the same ghost agents you mentioned. These systems are so insanely tedious to construct while also being seriously hard to get right. It's awesome seeing your success in it, keep up the fantastic work :)
I was impressed, and then you shared that there's a track editor and that the track pieces are procedurally generated. Neat!
Here's a rule I follow for making my narrow gauge layouts look better.
"The only truely straight tracks are next to the platform."
By which I mean, the tracks have been reused, relaid, bashed, and pusehd and the straight tracks actually wobble gendly left and right all over the place.
Also, older lines are more thoroughly overgrown. Which would lend nicely to less obvious lines.
Also, most railways have lever frames that control multiple points from a single location. Especialy in shunting yards. If when interacting with this you saw a popup interface that showed you the track layout it's connected to and allow you to set multiple points all at once would be a good mechanic to use.
Most platforms especially for smaller train lines are not straight
8:15 when you turn a train around , usually the turntable turns the engine around and then there is a run around track to store the train cars and after the engine turns around it travels to the correct side of the train
I am so excited to see this game! Keep up the great work.
This is looking quite fun and enjoyable so far.
You mentioned the visual problem of the points lever (the bit of metal you grab to throw the switchrails) changing on its own.
In reality in this sort of setting, an engine would signal by a series of "crows" and "pips" on the whistle to indicate their intended direction, usually to a shunter or pointsman walking around while in yards, or to a signalman in the signalbox when on the running lines. For this, you could have an employee in a railway cap or flatcap fade in when the player touches the button on the UI, the engine whistle blows two short "pips" to go left for example, points are thrown, character fades out. In the cases of the signalbox a similar scenario plays out, just without anyone visible on the lineside. In these circumstances, realistically you wouldn't have a points lever next to the track, so you might still want something visual on the ground to indicate the direction they're thrown, and you wouldn't have a 'box for each individual set of points since theyd control a group of them within a reasonable area (about 400yds radius usually). Personally i love the idea of a cute little signalbox in the middle of nowhere next to a tiny junction, similar in style to Ivor the Engine's "Owen the Signal".
Just some thoughts for you. Looking forward to the next one.
Oh man I spent hours trying to figure out how to get trains to follow curves and you explained it in < 10 minutes ... You sir are a legend @MashUp Games!
The game looks absolutely beautiful! Iv'e always loved the Englend/New Zealand - esque countrysides.
I suppose quests might be the next thing that'll be added, but who really knows. I aboslutely love the turntables, and I can't wait to play this game one day.
Keep up the good work!
I worked on quests at some point last year, but will need to revisit it soon
@MashUpGames Great to hear, good luck with the creation of not only the quests' functions, but also wagon design. If it helps, there are many slate wagon designs online. Have a good day and good luck with the rest of the game!
Me to
The breakdown of how you do all the track is so amazing. I've tried to make my own track system before, and I never thought of the circle strat. Really clever, and great breakdown
Your videos on this so far are very visually helpful, and really insightful into game design! That track switch feature is very reminiscent of Spirit Tracks. I can't wait to eventually play this!
I do like that you are actually respecting the fact trains do need some mechanism to turn around, a huge number of games just have it magically flip round at the station terminus. (Logistics games are especially guilty of this despite how much extra challenge you could have if the player was actually required to factor in passing loops and turning locos which always baffled me)
Turn tables aren't the only way to turn a train round however, turning wyes and balloon loops also serve a similar function and it could be novel to have these in more out of the way locations as an alternative where a turntable never got built.
I would love to see more about the editor and procedural track system. Like a few others that have commented already, I've wanted to make game based around a train system for a while but struggled to find any good resources on this that show/teach how to make a full system like yours. While there are some paid options out there I always want to learn how to do things myself so any sort of tutorial/guide or even links to useful learning resources would be great!
I love how you approach the different issues and how you break each problem down, great watch !!!!
This has just got me wondering what an alternative game could be like where, instead of exploring a railway network, you have to build a railway network. I can imagine, assuming we're using a railway system similar to yours, you'd start with a single stretch of line connecting two towns, a forest and a ballast/stone mine. You'd also start with a locomotive, but then you'd need to expand your network to connect to other towns and industries (e.g. a brick factory so you can build stations and workshops, and an iron mine + steel mill so you can build more locomotives and wagons) by a) planning the route of your expansion, and then b) delivering the materials from the relevant industries to the rail head. That could be a very fun alternative to the typical railway-building games such as OpenTTD and Transport Fever 2.
Just chiming in to say you're kind of describing Factorio. The specific gameplay you're describing could probably be done with mods.
Brilliant video! I loved the explanation and animations. I'm also having flashbacks of when I made a train VR game. This looks much better than that ever hoped to be.
im so glad to see this comming along, since io saw ur first ep on this i thought "wow this seems cute" and as a train enthusiast myself i approve of ur work and would so much to have this on my steam games list, now that u've done more about it i can visualize where ur going with this, (kinda lol) anyway im happy to see that a cute little game like this is still gonig forward, cant wait to see the finle product... keep ur steam up and keep chugging ;)
Fantastic devlog! The editing was great but just the way you so clearly explain information and your methods, I love it!
I love the way you can explain the 'game' elements and bits I don't understand in a way that's easy to follow. It's looking really good.
I've waited so long to see this devlog and I would love to learn more about how you created the procedural track generation and other elements you didn't discuss in this video but mentioned at the end
Incredible! Would be very interested in more that went into the tracks and the hurdles you had to overcome. The visual aesthetic of this game is looking amazing and the thumbnail is very satisfying :)
You’re doing an INCREDIBLE job with this game, my friend. I REALLY hope it’ll be ready sooner rather than later. I can’t wait to do some exploring! But, at the same time, I understand that you need time. 🙂
If it took me 2 years to get this far, you may need to wait a while longer 😅
instead of using magic in a switch, can't you have npcs doing it like in old days? your character says " hi!!👋" and the guy on the cabin activate the switch 😶🤔
That would be really cute and in keeping with the aesthetic of the game
Costs to much to hire people nowadays, cheaper to use computers
Definitely this. And given the cute aesthetic, some of the signal NPCs could be woodland creatures wearing little conductor’s hats. Might not fit the game vision, but it could be fun!
This was such a fun and well edited video. Great stuff Ollie!😁
I love the way you explain the math parts and programming logic, especially with the JayTheDevGuy-type paper drawings.
Superb work! Really great to see all the effort that's going in behind the scenes with this. Very excited to see how it all continues to develop. Best of luck with everything and looking forward to seeing more of Railway Life in 2025 😃
Good video! For a future video I'd love to see the thought process of physically making the railway in game. Like how things are going to be laid out, what kinds of features this island will have, etc.
This is amazing. Keep doing what you're doing - it's awesome!!
i cant wait for this game. i have dreaming of a game like this so thank you can keep up the great work.
i love your channel and i’d love to see more about this game! seems super cozy and interesting!
Maybe you could make rewarding progression by having you start off with having to manually switch tracks and then later giving the player the tool to switch from the UI?
Awesome vid btw!
Ooh i like it
that's what I thought!
ooh that's a good idea!
I don't usually comment on TH-cam, but I feel i had to tell you how much I adore this project. Ever since Stardew Valley released I've been obsessed with cozy games, and as someone that finds old steam locomotives super cool, I'll buy this game the second it releases.
The best to you, and I'm excited to see the next devlog!
This looks so good. I've wishlisted it on Steam. Can't wait to play it!!
This is really great to see, I’m also working on a train focussed game and had come up with a very similar system myself. Really looking forward to playing this when it’s done
Always happy to see updates on this project! Next thought, have you looked at signalling?
you explain things really well and your animations are funny :)
That's awesome ! Wishlisted it !
Yeah I would totally like to see more videos about this game you are making.
Great video. This game is amazing
This looks so cute! It's on my wishlist now!
I like trains and this project looks awesome, gonna follow and see what it becomes :D
I really want to see more of these game! Its so neat! Great job 👍
Very much excited for next next parts... There's no video on the whole internet better than this video
Can't wait to see this game out!
You doing a amazing job watched you last few videos and just wishlist your game so hopefully comes out soon. But carry on doing it
I like the phantom track walker to handle the switching problem, but there’s an easier solution here. Your map is static, not edited by the user. So the nearest switch in either direction on a given length of track never changes. That means you can easily store the ‘nearest switch’ for every piece of track. No ghost track walker needed; when you load a track ID, it automatically knows if there is a nearby switch coming up, and can show the switch button. I don’t imagine the current method is too slow, but it could help in cases like 7:27 if there are switches close together. You wouldn’t have to make this database by hand; it could be compiled by the same track walker method, just saved with each track ID. Having each track piece know what it connects and leads to could also be used for pathfinding in the future; a CPU agent could navigate the map by pathfinding among switches that lead to each other, assuming each switch knows the switches past each branch regardless of distance.
Good point, maybe I'll do that when I do more optimisations
This game looks so promising and cute! Keep up with the development, I would love to play it!
Wonderful edit and explanation. Next level stuff here. I wish the predictive switch detection was in Minecraft for minecarts. Merry Christmas, mate!
As a learning Blender animator, watching this is incredible since some of these tactics apply to Blender. Your videos are awesome
Really enjoying watching this process! I started making my own railway based game a while ago, but being a complete amateur with now game dev experience I gave up when it came to working out how track layouts and sections worked. Think I'll leave that to cleverer people. 😅
beautiful. can't wait to see more.
I thought I recognised your locos, this the first video of yours I've seen then at 7:50 I was shown Tywyn Wharf!
You just got yourself a new sub ❤️
if you watch my previous video I talk more about my locomotive and Talyllyn
@@MashUpGames I sent a link to this video to my sister and she immediately identified the Corris loco in the thumbnail, I'll definitely be watching the rest of your videos dw 😁
Man this is looking good!
Wow - came here for the devlog but was more stunned by the video-edit. Don't get me wrong, it was super interessting what you said about the track-system. But this is literly the best dev-log I've ever seen on TH-cam (and I watch devlogs here since years!). I guess you've put a lot of effort into making this video and I just want to say: it was worth it. It made following you super easy, straight forward and even playful. I'm really impressed. Unfortunately I can like this video only once. Hitting the like button triggered me several times and I had to be careful to NOT REMOVE the like by accident xD
I glad you liked it because it took me way too long to make 😅
Simple, cute, and a whole lot of fun. Best of luck getting the game out as soon as you can, and a happy new year.
I do hope you find this...
...as I've been meaning to ask you some question that I'm hoping you'll answer. I admire trains, and am really interested in this project.
P.S. Please do the editor discussion video, and also (if you can and want to) do a whole video discussing how you coded in the terrain and landscape.
P.P.S. That's funny, but never mind that. Will you think about doing a video focused around the different type of jobs and/or "other activities" that you can do in the game, or other interactions, like NPC/"in-game" characters or rolling stock?
4:41 if you use radians for angles instead of degrees, you can instead use the equation (theta)r = l (with theta being your total angle, r being your radius, and l being the arc length). this is actually where the circumference equation 2(pi)r comes from - 2(pi) radians is equivalent to 360 degrees.
Great to see you implementing turntables and points in the game! Will the game get different variations of wagons other than that of the blue van shown in the videos? Wagons such as passenger coaches or slate wagons that would be found on that talyllyn railway (where sir Haydn works)?
There will be other wagons, the blue van is kinda your "home" so you'll always have that but will use other wagons for quests
Awesome! Since you practically created a track builder, it would be awesome if players would be able to construct their own layouts!
0:17 absolutely amazing animation lol
I'm begging you, you have to make some more rolling stock for the game! It would really help giving your game more things to do around it!
as a train enthusiast, this game is really appealing me. I can't wait to play it when it released
What I did once was: You can move along a bezier curve at very near constant speed by sampling at intervals to build a lookup table when the track is placed, then linearly interpolating between samples. Since your train is very short though, you could just use collision meshes for the rails and train and be ok. I've found that a frictionless sphere (which can only collide with rails) between the rails works good.
This is my first time seeing this channel, but I am a railfan do you plan on adding more locomotives?
0:19 there was a time when canadian railway engineers drove a diesel locomotive down a regular road to provide power to a town that was affected by a blizzard (or something else that cut the power and impeded survivability without it, cant remember exactly what)
i.e. its doable, but tends to severely damage the road surface (those steel flanges kinda just sink in and leave big gashes) and steering isnt the most practical (when the canadians did it, they started by lifting the locomotive off the nearest level crossing with a crane)
0:17 imagine seeing this down the M1 pulling an express😂 also very awesome game btw
Imagine if Big boy pulled up beside you at a red light in an 18-wheeler wanting to do a drag race.
Me when a game has TTTE influence cus the classic era of that show is amazing 🔥🔥🔥
But also, I have a suggestion, while procedural generation is good, I think planning out a realistic real life use and story for the railway’s construction really elevates the feeling of exploring, discovering mines, working buildings, ports and towns, etc. Making them all very unique is a really key part of railway exploration. And also I’m assuming you are adding more elevation changes to the game as well, as I saw with the bridge, and that’s great!
I love your game and also love the talyllyn (as a thomas Lover and a train lover). I can wait to see how much this game will be I'd love to play it it!
I love your engines! I wish there were train simulators focused on 19th century British narrow gauge.
The ability to remotely switch rails is a real thing. Honestly all you'd need to do is add a little square box to the bottom of the switch stand which pretends to have a little motor inside it. Voila, you can now switch tracks remotely!
Now, as for the rest: it looks awesome! Just one remark: I'd like to be able to choose which way the turntable turns. Oh and: let me hold the 'turn' key to automatically keep going instead of pausing at the first connection available. Would be really nice!
The more I see of this game the more the anticipation builds. Looks fantastic, very clever. Bit like a digital train set.? The scenery looks great too.
Rather than magically changing the points, what if every so often there was a signal box and you had to blow the whistle to get the points changed? In more remote areas then you could have to get out and pull the ground frame lever, just like real life.
i am super hyped for this game, i love your sir hayden model, i wish i could make a game like that i can only 3d model
The whole thing about curves following circles, is actually what's often referred to as arcs. They are a spline segment like a bezier curve, but they're a constant angle that does not change, which means you could make multiple of them into a circle. It's uses the same math though, just a different term.
Amazing work
maybe a fun idea: Add a slingshot to the driver and have them shoot the point switch.
Its by far more work but maybe a fun side thing when the base game is done and playable.
Love the project so far. Looks extremely awsome
i'd love to see a deep dive video into your track editor system! :)
I am beyond excited for this game, it looks so cozy and fun, I could see myself playing for HOURS!!
I am interested to know more about the rolling stock and the jobs that’ll be available. Will we be able to pull passengers or are we strictly handling goods?
You'll be doing a mix of both, but debatable on if that would be the primary gameplay as I'd like the player to still explore at their own pace
Shoutout to this devlog's animation, soooo nice to watch! what program did you use?
drew the art in Photoshop and edited in Premiere, though this video took ages to make so I'll likely need a better workflow
You can use switch boxes instead of switch stands for the switches. There is automated cab switching in some narrow gauge locos, it’s also modeled in derail valley, it’s an absolute lifesaver when shunting or going high speed.
I'd love to see a video about how you built the track builder you mentioned at the end of the video. I'm working on a game where you race slot cars which is very similar to how a train track operates. I'm still fairly deep in alpha, so thus far I've simply built a bunch of track segments in Blender, imported them in, and used defined points in those models to determine car paths.
The dummy switching reminds me a lot of how Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks did it's track switching and I find that heavily nostolgic.
I am all about this game so far. This is pretty much all I've wanted in a train game. Something nice and relaxing, with little to no pressure, and just letting my autistic ass enjoy the trains.
As cool as it is to have the railways be disused, I think it could be awesome to have a couple of NPC trains that you can recognize when you stumble across them, like Miguel's Guide Plane from Wii Sports Resort. Having some basic AI behaviors to have the AI dodge the player and each other would make the area feel so much more alive.
Looking good! I sort of guess you have added/will add coupling? Would be great to be able to run around the train at stations that don’t have turntables!
I am indeed going to add coupling, it's technically already in but doesn't really work yet 😅
Man i love this
I'm loving these update videos! Very exciting! Is this planned for the Switch also?
It's definitely a goal of mine to have it on a handheld Nintendo device
Streetcars have a system to remotely switch, rail switches. The driver can set a button to which direction the switch will turn and it gets switched automatically when the streetcar drive over some contact.
I hope this game will feature long trains. Having the possibility to pull more stuff is more fun. That just having a few cars. XD
Fantastic editing m8. Not only are you a talented dev but are amazing at motion graphics, sound design and editing!
What did you use for the animated bits, after effects?
I draw the cutouts in Photoshop and then animate it in Premiere with way too many keyframes
Seeing the flying Scotsman going down the m1 would be pretty cool
Hey somthing i noticed in the game play footage the c
Wheels are turning faster than the engine is going and you can actually change the points “remotly” with the help of a friend in the signal box so it isnt 100% magic except for electicle magic but i love how the rolling stock will work and the simple almost drawn look of the controls cant wait to play this when i get it
I’m really impressed with how this game looks! I didn’t have two questions though; 1. Will there be a sandbox mode where you can create your own track layout? And 2. How long do you think it will take for a Thomas mod will be added lol
Nice to see the Talylynn Railway in the video 👌
Genuinely so excited to see where this game goes! Im sure theres been other comments talking about these, but another way to turn trains around is a type of junction called a "wye." Its pretty much just a triangle of switches that allows you to change direction. Since you want to have a lot of options for exploration, maybe having some wyes dotted around might be good in case a player comes across a junction facing the wrong way. It can save the hassle of having to go find a turntable. On the topic of switches, how do the switches work when you're coming up to where 2 tracks come together? If the switch is set the wrong way, will you still have to set it so you can keep passing through or will that function just kinda disable and you can pass through the switch without worry?
At the moment you'd just pass through the switch without worry, though in the future I may consider it automatically switching
@MashUpGames that's lovely to hear, thanks!