Our next playtest is almost here! 🚂
Hi everyone!
It’s time to get more of you on the rails! You can now request access to the Speed Rivals: Model Trains playtest directly from our Steam store page.
This playtest brings together several parts of the game we’ve been working on: building your own model railway layouts, exploring on foot and boarding trains, learning to handle deliveries, and sharing a railway with other players.
We want you to get hands-on with these systems, experiment with them, and help us understand what feels good, what needs explaining better, and what still needs work.
📅 How access will work
We’ll be opening the playtest in two stages:
- This week — initial testing: we’ll gradually grant access to selected players who have requested to join. This smaller first wave will help us check the build and catch issues before opening the doors to everyone.
- Mid-next week — public playtest: once those initial tests are complete, we plan to open access to everyone for one full week.
During that public week, you’ll be able to explore all the content included in the playtest build without restrictions. Spend your time building layouts, playing through the singleplayer levels, trying co-op, or switching between them.
If you request access and don’t receive an invitation straight away, don’t worry! We’re starting with a smaller group before the public phase begins.
🛠️ Build your own railway with the Layout Editor
The Layout Editor is a central part of Model Trains, and this playtest is your chance to start experimenting with it yourselves.
Create your own track arrangements, shape and connect rails, and work out how you want trains to move around your layout. Whether you enjoy putting together a simple railway or spending time experimenting with junctions, different routes, and changes in elevation, we’d love to see what you build.
We’re particularly interested in the experience of turning an idea into a working layout. Are the tools easy to understand? Do the rail connections behave as you expect? Can you make the changes you want without getting stuck?
Creating, saving, and loading your layouts is also an important part of this test. If something doesn’t behave correctly, or a tool makes a straightforward task feel complicated, please let us know.
🚂 Singleplayer: three levels to learn the ropes
The playtest includes three singleplayer levels, starting with a very simple tutorial and introducing more mechanics as you progress.
You’ll meet Jeff and begin with the basics: moving around outside the train, climbing aboard, driving forwards and backwards, and changing junction directions to take the route you need.
From there, you’ll gradually move into the railway’s day-to-day work: collecting wagons, planning your route, and getting deliveries to their destinations. It’s about learning how to operate the railway, as well as how to drive the train.
We want those first steps to feel approachable, with each level building on what you’ve already learned. This playtest will help us check whether the instructions are clear, whether the objectives make sense, and whether new mechanics arrive at the right pace.
If you find yourself wondering “What am I supposed to do now?”, that’s useful feedback for us too!
🤝 Try an early version of co-op
The playtest also includes an early version of our cooperative mode.
Here, players share the same railway layout, control their own characters, get on and off trains, and work together to complete missions. Sharing the tracks adds another part to the experience: deciding who handles each task, coordinating movements, and keeping deliveries moving together.
Co-op is still in an early stage of development and does not represent the final experience. There are rough edges to work through, and both the mechanics and the way they’re presented may change as development continues.
Getting players into the same layout will help us test more than technical stability. We also want to learn how you naturally divide up tasks, where coordination becomes confusing, and which moments make working together enjoyable.
💬 What feedback will help us most?
You don’t need to write a detailed report to help. A few words about something you enjoyed, an instruction you didn’t understand, or a problem you ran into can make a difference.
For this playtest, we’re especially interested in:
- The first-time experience: does the tutorial give you enough information to get started?
- Controls and objectives: can you understand how to operate your train and what each mission asks you to do?
- The Layout Editor: how does building, connecting tracks, saving, and loading feel?
- Singleplayer progression: are new mechanics introduced at a comfortable pace across the three levels?
- Co-op: what works well when playing together, and where do you encounter problems?
- Bugs and performance: anything that breaks, behaves unexpectedly, or prevents you from continuing.
Please share your impressions in the Steam discussions. When reporting a bug, tell us what you were doing just before it happened. Screenshots or short videos are especially helpful when a problem is difficult to describe.
🎟️ Request access now
Head to our Steam store page and click “Request Access” in the playtest section to sign up.
Request access to the Speed Rivals: Model Trains playtest
Thank you for following the development of Speed Rivals: Model Trains and helping us shape the game. We’re looking forward to seeing your layouts, hearing about your first deliveries, and finding out how you get on together in co-op.
See you on the rails! 🚂❤️