Dear Community,
new year, new tasks! We're all back from our annual holiday break and incredibly excited for what's ahead of us in 2023. As we're approaching the end of January already, we wanted to give you a quick update on what we've been working on during the last few weeks, what's currently happening behind-the-scenes and what's coming next. Let's get started!
Lots of QA and a full Code Review
Our very own internal QA studio spent a looot of time playing the game to perform a huge analysis regarding the overall gameplay and feel of the game, looking at it from a player's perspective. While we definitely believe to have a good understanding which areas could and should be improved in the future based on our own impression and your feedback, a professional analysis is of tremendous help as well.
In addition, we performed an extensive code review with an external studio, going through the entire codebase of Railroads Online. We wanted to have an unbiased look at the state of the game, where there's room for optimization and what should be changed in the near and distant future. We believe that this will help us in improving the game going forward – especially in terms of graphics, UI, performance, physics and multiplayer.
Currently, results of both the QA run and the code review are being evaluated to ensure we find the right path for our development roadmap we previously shared.
New content coming soon
While the analysis is running, we continue to work on some frequently requested features. Some of them, including the amazing telegraph offices, have already been implemented but, as always, there's much more to come.
One thing we're incredibly excited about is a new gameplay mechanic that is being developed at this very moment: Coal firing! In addition to the existing method of using wood to keep the oven warm and cozy, you can fire the locomotives with coal as well. To do that, you gotta use your new shovel to transport the coal from your tender into the firebox.
Additionally, coaling towers will be introduced which need to be supplied with coal from the coal mine. You can use the coaling towers to load the tenders with coal. Locomotives will exhaust smoke particles when being powered by coal and also receive exhaust sound synchronized with the cylinder action.
Obviously, we'll add a pack of coal fired locomotives as well – coming with the next update. More rolling stock and facility buildings are also in progress (you loved our previous teasers, didn't you?). Take a look at the screenshots to get a first glimpse!
No worries: Improving the overall stability and performance while fixing a lot of bugs remains our top priority :)
A better store presence
The sales, product management and marketing teams at astragon are also working on a better and improved presence on Steam. As we've added a lot of features and plan to introduce even more, we think it's time for some fresh screenshots, trailers, an updated logo and a clearer game description. We've changed a few things already and exchanged some texts but more stuff is in the works. You might have noticed that we, for example, altered the name of the game a little bit.
Yes, it's now "Railroads Online" instead of "RAILROADS Online!". Looks a little bit... cleaner.
Community Contest
Hundreds of players participated in our recent community contest and we're absolutely thrilled to check out what you have built! Eventually, we plan to feature the coolest, fanciest, or craziest creations in Railroads Online in a future community trailer.
As going through the worlds of every single one of you requires a lot of time, it will take a bit longer to announce the winner of the contest and make a decision on who exactly will be featured in the trailers. Please have a little bit more patience! 🙏
And that's it for today! We'll have more to share and release in the coming weeks. For now, have a good time in the valley and never stop shaping the world of Railroads Online ❤
Your Railroads Online Team