It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here Engineers!
We're very proud to announce the 3rd major content update for Train Life! Talk is cheap, so lets get into the meat and potatoes of the update you've all been waiting for!
Patch Notes
We mentioned before on our socials and Discord that this update is going to be the biggest yet, and we weren't kidding! Buckle up, cause it's going to be a long one!
Additions
Features
- Station Gameplay Overhaul - A long time in the making, but we’ve made some significant adjustments to Station Gameplay. We’ve added a new Station Panel in the tablet, contract reservations, a brand spanking new cargo coupling/decoupling mode as well as an overhaul to the Radio Communication system.
Weather
- Now, you’ll be able to experience all the seasons in Train Life: Rain, Snow and Storms. Before you ask, there will be no rain in the tunnels and the rain drops that hit your windshield will interact with the wipers!
Customization
- As opposed to our April Fools post that our genius Community Manager made with the help of others, you can now customize your cabin with certain bits and bobs. You can now add the company colors to the exterior of your locomotives as well to even more, pimp out your train.
- Added new locomotive drivers – now, you don’t ONLY have to look at the bald head of Gerald (atleast that’s what we call him)
- Driver model in cabin according to player’s avatar – so when you pick an avatar when starting a new game, that avatar will now correctly correspond to the model in the cabin of your train.
Player and Track Improvements
- Added Track/Platform Number Signs and Track/Platform Directional Signs
- Added locomotives wheels animation
- Added automatic train parking on station's track
- Added Achievements – Now you can get that hit of dopamine when you complete tasks.
- Added job completion screen
- Added level up screen
Regions
- Added a new region: Alps. People living in warmer parts of our blue planet, will now get to experience snow for the first time 😊
Locomotives
- Added a new locomotive: Newag Griffin
Sounds
- More ambient sounds that add life to the surroundings: church bells, dogs barking, sirens in the cities.
- New horns for the locomotives. Now each brand of locomotives has its own unique horn sound. This is something that has been asked by the community since day 1 launch of EA. We're super stoked that we can finally deliver new horn sounds, thanks to our amazing sound designer, Greg, the sound guy.
Settings
- Inputs remapping
- Add player option of NPC trains spawn place
Changes And Fixes
Tracks & Railways – a lot of you have been letting us know about misplaced signs, signals and not having the option to bypass certain stations. So we did a deep dive, and fixed those to hopefully, deliver a more fluid and close-to-realistic experience as possible:
- Fixed blocked tracks
- Fixed misplaced Sign and Signals
- Fixed improper Speed Limit Signs
- Fixed z-fighting on tracks
- Redesigned railway-schemes to create easier-to-navigate junctions
- Added passthrough tracks to all stations
- The speed limit on all passthrough tracks has been increased to 80km/h
- Station Gameplay - Showing track for pickup and deliveries
- Fixed marker of NPC moving locomotive
HUD
- Fixed GPS route after loading save data
Tablet
- Service Center shows supported transportation modes for locomotives
Gameplay
Since we launched the scenario system, a lot of you have been enjoying it, however, we know that it was missing a lot of stuff like rewards and stats. With update 3, we believe we gave the player more of a “carrot on a stick” per say, to go back and make scenarios great again.
- Scenario system update
- Scenarios now start on different times of day
- Scenarios now have rain and fog
- Scenarios that go through more than one country display all the countries on the list
- Changed some of the time estimates for scenarios
- Train station in scenarios should have more people on them
- Fixed missing/redundant scenario barriers
- Scenario system is part of career game
- Added Scenario level requirements
- Added Scenario total time play of scenario session
- Added Scenario reward to player career
- Added Scenario save in Load Main Menu
Difficulty
- Specific difficulty options can now be seen when choosing difficulty
- More difficulty presets
- Added Custom difficulty setting
Post Update 3 focus and beyond!
First of all, on behalf of Simteract and Nacon, we would like to thank the entire community for sticking it out through thick and thin throughout the development of Train Life. To us, Train Life is a work of passion. Passion that we want to bestow upon the gaming community and show people that they dont have to settle for nothing less when it comes to Train Simulation games.
We are already hard at work with Update 4, and as usual will keep you guys on the up-and-up regarding that. Expect more fine tuning in Update 4, the release of the famous Orient Express, new shunting and towing scenarios, an overhaul of the GPS system and much more. Of course, our Lead Game Designer Joey will write the next blog for you all as we have a little bit of a secret as to who wrote this one. Hey guys, it's me, your community manager Mike ;)
Follow us on all the things
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch and of course Discord, is where you can get all of the latest and greatest information regarding the development of our game. You can also follow the development process on the official Train Life Trello and when Joey gets back from his vacation, you can even @ him with any questions, comments or concerns you may have on Discord among our other fantastic designers, QA testers and programmers. I (Mike) will be there as always :)
Have fun in Update 3 everyone!