Rail Route News

Hello Dispatchers!

Let me share what we've achieved this week while preparing the next update of Rail Route, our train dispatcher simulator game.







We have multiple sprites for every element on the board. The first column is for a zoomed-out camera to show a simplified version. To achieve a nice neon feel, we compose the sprites from two layers in the standard view. A solid layer and an emission layer (on which we can control the intensity of the glow in our shaders) above give the glowing feel.



So we revisited all sprites; some were missing this emission layer (tunnels, coach yard, sensors), and some were missing the zoomed-out variant. They are all clean and beautiful now. We could also call them high-res now, as the resolution has been increased twice. And while we aligned them correctly to a power of two sizes, they can now be compressed, so the size remains the same. That's a double win.





Construction UX refactoring is still outgoing (a big task!), and we revisited the sprites we'll be using in a construction.



There's a new indicator for a cursor where you will build a track and which track will be modified. That also applies to any point, like signals or sensors.




Maybe you see a different sprite for "borders" than what you are used to. We made them stand out in building mode to help new players understand their purpose. It needed to be clarified, and we also received some feedback to make them more visible, as the contrast could have been better. While they are unimportant during "operational" gameplay, you must see them clearly while construction progresses.




All sprites also received their zoomed-out variant, while others have been polished. Mainly the sensors were missing, but tunnels and coach yards should now be clearly visible.



Sorry, the fluent gif had over 50MB, and there's no possibility to use a format other than gifs.

While all the sprites are now in place, this zoom level still would need more love and adjustments. But this change should already be a significant improvement. Next thing to go on this topic would be better train labels and alerts, scaling with the zoom level. This is how the zoomed-out level looks now.





Nothing significant (to be visually shared) happened last week, but the work continues intensively, providing a solid foundation for future content in new buildings and sensors. We need the flow to be robust, simple, and easily understandable by newcomers.

We want to release these significant changes in construction somewhere at the end of April, including new possibilities for platforms, autoblocks, and stuff I mentioned last week.



A new graphic has joined our team to fully work on the new fluent UI experience we are preparing. It's a relatively long-term task, and while some groundwork has already been done, there's nothing unique or visually attractive (in a polished state) I could share with you. I hope there will be more next week while we progress forward. These changes are planned after the Construction UX update, as they're even more enormous.


Our Chinese community will have a minor update this week, which brings them localized stations in stock maps, so stay tuned.

Until then, happy dispatching!
- Angel

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Hello Dispatchers!

This week, it'll be shorter than long as last week flew faster than light, which seems impossible. But yeah, that's how it is, so let's dive into what has happened in the previous week of Rail Route development.





One part of the dev team is still working on the reworked building; don't get me wrong, it's a lot of work. It's not about bringing new UX to that process but also refactoring whole underlying structures so we can bring more new content, which we plan for 1.0, much easier and faster. On top of polishing, we've handled tracks bulldozing and started to see how autoblocks are being placed.



These you usually don't build in the normal gameplay but the editor. Our new system could have difficulties building two signals and a track simultaneously, nothing hard to overcome, but maybe that approach was not as good. What about you would change whatever track to the autoblock? That way, we've allowed more possibilities, not just one straight (horizontal) autoblock with two signals at each side, but bent, vertical, and other options. And there doesn't need to be a signal at the edge of it, or it can have a different orientation. We feel this will bring more creativity and freedom into the map creation process.



With this in mind, we would likely approach building platforms similarly. There have been several suggestions on the platform placement, and maybe this would solve them all. The platform can be any track; you'll place a platform number on it and assign it to the station, and that's that. Also, vertical, bent, or platforms without a signal at its end would be possible. The only downside of this approach would be that it makes more effort to build the same platform as you are used to now; you need to place a track and two signals and then upgrade the track in between them to a platform.



What would you say? Bent, vertical platforms, without a need for a signal on its ends but more clicks?





Bulldozing of tracks was another task keeping us busy last week. With an updated control scheme, we've assigned the bulldozing onto an action key 'X' / 'D-pad down.' If you press this key without any element highlighted, you'll turn the "Bulldoze tool" on (or off). From that point, you can bulldoze either whole tracks and points via primary action (left mouse / A on the controller).



Or start partial track removal via secondary action (right mouse / B on the controller) if you want to remove just part of the track.



The rest of the team is working on an updated UI. This week, we've finalized some core design components and laid a new foundation for "Onboard UI." We had difficulties developing a proper design for more complex node configurations like routing sensors. I've mentioned it previously, but we realized it's not a way to go, at least not a good enough way to go.



If you see this panel for the first time, you will not understand what's happening there. It's also why it is a common question in Rail Route's Discord server. So we tried to prototype other approaches and realized that we do not need to create a new abstract structure for something already in the game and should focus on that rather than a new UI panel. So we'll take a different approach with all Node Configuration or where it'll make sense. Here comes the new "Onboard UI."



We hope this approach will give you a more streamlined experience while configuring your rail network and a much easier understanding of what's happening. It's still in an early prototype, but this is the way we'll go. You won't do something in a tiny panel disconnected from the rails and elements when you can do that directly on them. I hope to share more about this with you soon, so take this as a teaser. There's still a lot of work to be done.

That's all for now; thanks for coming, and happy dispatching!
- Angel

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Hey, here we are with our next Rail Log, and we'll have a look at our keybinds this time. While a dev team is iterating over a new UI/UX, this is also vital to have thought through beforehand.



Without knowing we'll bring a new UI, we likely target keybinds earlier in our Early Access stage. But waiting had its benefits as we see what's missing, what has flaws, and what kind of features we want to be in the game in much deeper detail than at the beginning of Early Access.

So I apologize that we still don't have a keybinding to open a construction mode, for example. A bright future is in front of us; trust me!





As you may know, we already support a controller. The current state could be better, but as we see it as an excellent fit for the game, we are improving it along the way. It's not just about the proper control schemes but about UX flows and how a virtual cursor behaves.



For example, we've prototyped the "stickiness" of the nodes (signals, switches, ...) that attract the cursor sucking it closer to them, and I must say, it's improving the user experience to the next level. It just requires more work and must be accompanied by the new UI. We'll put this into the game once this new UI is nice & ready.





The keyboard and mouse will still be the primary way to play Rail Route on PC. As you can see, there are few structure changes, more just additions. We must drop all modifiers like CTRL or SHIFT, which is excellent, as I personally hate we've put them into the game. They were hard to communicate and explain. They also share too many different use cases, their biggest problem. So no more holding two keys at once. But we don't need them at all.

A new 'Configure' action opens a node's (sensors, signal, station, ...) configuration UI previously assigned to CTRL + click. I've mentioned that part of UI (node's detail panel) of the routing sensor in my last article, and I'll bring more exciting details soon in one of the following Rail Logs. We've finally found a way to do it properly, and it'll be great.

One may ask what these context actions are. I'll return to them shortly; let's check the controller scheme first.





While designing our UI workflow, having the controller in mind helps us define the game controls much better. Not just for a controller but the keyboard as well. The outcome is much cleaner. The mouse buttons are replaced with A and B buttons, which is kind of a standard. We could use triggers for these, but putting a zooming control on them suits the game much better.

While the left stick controls the virtual mouse (with some additional help in the form of magnetism of the nodes I've already mentioned), the right maintains the map. And you can press them for time control.

The shoulder buttons are used in any navigation context, which we'll often use in upcoming UI. And on a d-pad lay the context actions. I already mentioned these, so let's dive into them!





Depending on what you are doing in the game at any moment, there can be actions you can make. And they depend on the current context. For example, check out the current state of the building's UX improvements as part of the dev team working on it.



Additional actions can be available throughout the construction mode whenever you move your cursor over an active element, and you cannot build there. And that's when these Context Actions come in handy. Over a signal, you can rotate, upgrade or delete it.



Note the grabbing action. It is available for all elements, and moving stuff around when slight adjustments to your rail network are needed is brand new and easy. You move desired sensors leaving their configuration intact. And sensors no longer split the track, so whenever the destination track is being targeted in any of the sensors, their configuration remains valid.





Let's have a look at the new building menu. We want the panel to be as simplified as possible. You can select the build item by using navigational keys (Q, E for a keyboard, LH and RH for a controller) and with context actions, additional tools are available (buy, bulldoze, and selection). On top of that, when hovering with a mouse, you can assign a 1-10 key to a single item for an instant shortcut. That's something not available on the controller side.

Unfortunately, as of now, we won't plan any copy & paste or move tool to be included in a 1.0 release, but that's something we would like to improve later as we'll arrange to bring more updates after the game is fully released, 1.0 will mark other beginnings, not any end :).





For a bulldoze tool, the default is removing whole tracks with a single click, while partial removal is a secondary action. We are also considering an area removal tool that would clear everything within a defined rectangle. But we'll see how much time we'll have before all significant changes for 1.0 are ready.

That would be all for this week. Maybe you'll ask when all this will be available? In a few months, hopefully.

Happy Dispatching!
- Angel

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Hello Dispatchers,

Welcome to another developer blog series, RailLog! Hopefully, you've enjoyed our small Valentines Update and we are back focusing on the bigger tasks in front of us in our path to 1.0.



This time, I will be focusing on the upcoming changes to the game's user interface. As many of you know, the user interface is a crucial aspect of any game, and we have received a lot of feedback from our players on how we can improve it. Our team has taken this feedback into consideration and has been working on implementing changes that we believe will make the game more intuitive, user-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing.

I'd also gather more feedback, so please, put your comment under the post if you have any concerns or ideas! Better now than later.





Let's have a look at the current state. There are two big "bottom" panels. While the left one shows either list of trains (overview panel) or the train detail, the right one is either the station timeline or the node detail (for example, the sensor configuration). What's wrong? Both are doing a different kind of business while taking so much space but also providing little space. It feels like an oxymoron, but let me explain that. Let's have a look at our mockup of a new interface first.



The most significant notable change (next to the different color pallette) is getting rid of these bottom panels. We've realized we can't share a space for the station timelines with node details (bottom right panel). When you need a node (signal, sensor, etc.) detail, you want to configure it - for example, the sensor configuration. But you don't need that panel to be visible while you are actually "playing" the game. On the other hand, the station timeline is something crucial to be visible all the time. And not just once, right? Clearly, it's the most wanted feature as of now.





That's why we want to introduce Info Panels in our upcoming UI. These panels are stacked at the edges of your UI. You can move or order them at your wish, but they show you crucial information about your gameplay.



Do you want to see a timeline for multiple stations? Not a problem at all; add the corresponding station timeline panel. Visible all the time at your disposal. Left or right edge of the screen.



This is also where the updated overview panel (more of a train list panel) will go. We could redo it a bit to be like an alert list window, but we are not yet done with its design. And we are kind of unsure, what functionality you would like to see in it. The current overview panel is too big with too much of a text (so small on Steam Deck for example) so it requires some updates. Share with me how you using it and what information is crucial for you, please.



The other important feature of these info panels is that you can also put them on the board, as you can see in this example. Important info belongs where needed, so we'll allow you to "glue" the panels directly to your Dispatcher Board. The good thing is that the map author can do that and save that configuration of these glued panels with the map.

We maybe introduce more of these panels after 1.0, but for now, we plan just the station timeline and the train list to replace the current UI functionality.





As mentioned, the bottom right panel must be bigger for our big game. We'll introduce the Detail Panel, taking 1/3 of the screen. The purpose of this panel is to do business there and then be closed — no need to have it open during your usual gameplay. Provided with this vast space, we will have more freedom to design these details panels or others in that spot (map configuration in the editor and others). We are also considering using this panel for any schedule modification, including per station or train. Hopefully, I'll have more designs to share soon because it seems that's also very important aspect of the game where the UX needs to be improved.



At this point, we still need to come up with a reasonable composition for our most advanced configuration of routing sensors. That's the most complex detail panel so far, and we also want to introduce even more functionality (for example, one station to multiple connections routing); it's getting even more complicated.

Maybe a different approach to that bloody complex sensor needs to be done. One way would be to decompose it into multiple buildable, interconnected elements but that seems like a lot of work we probably can't manage to do in a reasonable time frame, but who knows? Let me know if you have any great ideas :).

Other than that, see you next week.
Happy Dispatching!
-Angel

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1124180/Rail_Route
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1896900/Rail_Route_The_Story_of_Jozic/