As yet another "train" game comes out, I would like to forever remind all #gamedevs that 2 things everyday mainline #trains really cannot do are:
- Steeper grades than 4%
- Sharp curves
Stop it.
Please reach out & consult me directly regarding anything train related if you intend to include trains of any kind in your game. I am the railroad expert you're looking for. It's literally my day job to do this kind of research, and I'm happy to help for fair compensation. lnk.bio/InterurbanEra
Because:
- YES I am the target market for chill, voxel, 3D or isometric 2D games featuring trains
- NO I will not buy it if you don't to the most bare bones "baby's first train book" level knowledge when it comes to mechanics like this.
- Trains do not handle like autos. They require as broad a curve and as gentle a grade as possible to maximize hauling capacity across a line.
Why do I sound terse in this post? It's because I've seen dozens of these games hit the market with ugly art, bad track geometry, or dumb mechanics when we could have just had a game at least as fun as Railroad Tycoon II from...1998?! It also can and should be done better, RT2/3 is merely a good jumping off point for what could be an even more incredible game if done well.
Building a railroad in a game should ALWAYS be a challenging "puzzle" within constraints. Why #gamedevs ignore this is so deeply baffling to me. I suppose if they consulted someone like me, this could be improved.
The fun is IN the constraints. If you just make ski jumps and tight curves, you're making a "wild mouse" rollercoaster game, not a railroading game. Pretend you're Theodore Judah surveying your way through dramatic mountain passes instead of faking it with lazy or bad game mechanics.
It isn't too hard to lock in this game mechanic, and combining it with cuts, fills, bridges, and tunnels would make it a fun an entertaining challenge. Don't know what those terms mean? You can ask me. The fun is in getting the "big picture" details right. The world is literally overfilled with lazy, unrealistic train games that have no clue how passengers or cargo/freight trains ACTUALLY operate IRL. A lot of them assume it all works similar to metro/subways, which is rarely true of regular railroads.
I'm happy to help consult early on into your next train game. We can make it far, far better than it would have been otherwise, with richer puzzles and more immersive gameplay. Make it something someone who knows even basic railroad knowledge would enjoy playing without having their suspension of disbelief broken.
It's honestly kinda shocking how well Railroad Tycoon II holds up even today; it got so many things right and made a point of not allowing the player to easily bypass the real-world limitations of what trains can do.
And like... the whole 4% grade thing is really emblematic of that, because when I first played the game back in high school I didn't really have a good bearing on what a 4% grade felt like, so I just kinda went along with the green-yellow-red paradigm the game used and avoided anything in the red.
Flash forward a couple decades and now I know all the ins and outs of ADA-compliant parking lots and handrails and... ramps, which are usually kept to a 5% slope at maximum, and when you think about how that 5% accessible ramp slope feels very meager and is meant to accommodate wheelchair users, then realize that almost every train in the world would struggle to climb a hill of that slope, it really puts the whole thing into perspective.