Worldwide Rush News

Worldwide Rush | Blogpost 4

[p]Hi everyone!

We are thrilled to announce that Worldwide Rush will be released on August 20th this year. This date was in the world map the whole next fest, so some of you might know it already.[/p][p]
I hope everyone enjoyed the AI addition, even if it is still early. Now we can evaluate the feedback much better as all the core mechanics are in the game. Next, we need to improve what we have and work on QoL. We will talk a little bit about our next development goals in this blog post.
[/p][p]Like everyone, we enjoyed and played some demos. There are many good demos this fest. There were some demos we loved, like Escape Simulator 2, some that inspired me as a developer, for example BitCraft and how it is made.
[/p][h2]AI[/h2][p][/p][p]AI definitely changed the biggest concern of it being too easy to unfair. At this point, I believe that AI is still not smart enough, but it already poses a challenge to many. I have seen players concerned that it is impossible to beat and later the same day destroying it. It is the matter of understanding how it plays and how to counter it, like with any strategy game. The problem here is that there are too many variables moving that need multiple clicks to find. We will need to add more tools to compete and know what is happening.

Also, demo does not help with having a small map and small vehicles. It just leaves with AI spamming tier 1 vehicles, connecting everything it can connect. At some point, the game stops feeling satisfying, and we do not want that.[/p][p][/p][h2]New Meta[/h2][p][/p][p]First, we want to change how the game is played. The problem is passengers and how many of them there are. Because of the sheer quantity, players are forced to connect everything at one point or another. This leads to vehicle chaos that prevents us from making some on the map visuals, like routes. What we want to do is change the meta from connecting everything, to moving travelers to a bigger hub where bigger vehicles will transfer them to another bigger hub and from there they will disperse as needed. Basically, like in real life, it does not make sense financially buy double-deckers to all surrounding cities and villages and repeat that in every city and village.

We already reduced passengers count per destination and max destination level. We still want travelers to travel in many different directions. Adding a cap to that leaves many cities wanting to travel to some big cities, but their count is not significant enough to have direct routes. With this already, you will find yourself hoarding travelers at a single point so that a bigger and more profitable vehicle can take them in one go. You will still be able to connect everything, but that will reduce how much money you can generate.[/p][p][/p][h2]Hub Manager[/h2][p]To help with chaos and expansion, you will have hub managers to help you. They will act independently with their own budget. That budget will come from vehicles that are in the hub. Hub managers will act as mini AI managing vehicles, making sure there is profit and buying new routes if you tell them so. All unused money minus hub manager salary will be transferred to you. They will provide a helping hand once there is too much to manage, allowing you to focus on where you want to play.[/p][p][/p][h2]Some Trains[/h2][p]Graphics are also worked on daily. Probably the biggest workload left is to complete vehicles. Here are some trains that we currently have in the game. Now I am mostly working on EU vehicles, but there are still two more continents. Once we have more, it will be very interesting to balance them between continents.

Until the next week![/p]

Mixing Flight Sim and 4X strategy, ultra-detailed logistics game is playable now

A lot goes into setting up and maintaining transport infrastructure. It only makes sense, then, that the incredible detail involved with modeling government systems in grand strategy games like Crusader Kings 3 or Europa Universalis 4 would eventually be translated into the present day logistics seen in projects like Microsoft Flight Simulator and Train Sim World. That's the approach taken by Worldwide Rush, an ambitious upcoming global transport simulator that you can check out for yourself thanks to the launch of a new demo on Steam.

Read the rest of the story...

Worldwide Rush v.0.2

The Steam Next Fest Update has arrived!

[p][/p][p]Hi everyone![/p][p][/p][p]The first big update has arrived! We hope you enjoy all the additions. Here are the highlights:[/p]

[p]AI[/p][p]Optional AI will add some challenge for those who were missing it. Compete in fair rules.[/p]

[p]Route Management[/p][p]Buying a new vehicle, duplicating, selling existing ones or changing the whole route will be just a click away.[/p]
[p]New Systems[/p][p]Country and city trust, changing destinations, demand price, road/rail removal, vehicles and routes naming[/p]
[p]Many Fixes[/p][p]Fixed the overall experience from start to finish, starting from bugs to other QoL features.[/p]
[p]And More![/p]

[p][/p][h2]Demo Expansion[/h2][p][/p][p]With the next fest update, we added the Netherlands and Denmark. With these two additional countries, you will have more landmass to compete against AI or just experience more solo company expansion.[/p][p][/p][h2]Full Changelog[/h2][p][/p][h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

[p]Fixed holding Ctrl still closes new route UI if accept UI pops up[/p]
[p]Fixed double same task bug[/p]
[p]Fixed UI zoom hotkeys not working the same as the settings slider[/p]
[p]Fixed game using an integrated GPU instead of the dedicated one[/p]
[p]Fixed game not remembering window position[/p]

[h3]Changes[/h3]

[p]Removed viewports tab[/p]
[p]Removed tooltip saying that vehicle needs to start route from the hub as it is false[/p]
[p]Removed city names collision in road/rail build mode[/p]
[p]Removed showing tasks for fulfilling demand to just leveled up cities[/p]
[p]Made road vehicles and trains drive on the correct side of the road[/p]
[p]Made vehicles show their whole route when selected[/p]
[p]Made fully bought out vehicle to increase its inventory at the end of the month[/p]
[p]Made UI hide unneeded parts if playing only with one vehicle type[/p]
[p]Adjusted how some cities show their names to not overlap[/p]
[p]Increased roads and rail prices[/p]
[p]Increased planes ticket prices[/p]
[p]Increased grant amounts by x2[/p]
[p]Reduced train station time by half[/p]
[p]Doubled planes airport time[/p]
[p]Improved countries shading in grayscale mode[/p]
[p]Improved overall performance[/p]
[p]Improved AI route management[/p]
[p]Improved AI decision-making[/p]

[h3]Additions[/h3]

[p]Added vehicles UI route scroll support for long routes[/p]
[p]Added full vehicles routes to company vehicles sheet[/p]
[p]Added full vehicles route to its tooltip[/p]
[p]Added colors to routes[/p]
[p]Added the ability to name vehicles with icons[/p]
[p]Added Add/Subtract for default Increase/Decrease game speed hotkeys[/p]
[p]Added ability to relocate floating UI's with MMB[/p]
[p]Added roads and rails remove mode[/p]
[p]Added multi-vehicle route management system[/p]
[p]Added routes tab[/p]
[p]Added route panel with vehicles management[/p]
[p]Added company trust system in cities[/p]
[p]Added vehicle company country information in the tooltip[/p]
[p]Added a rule that a hub can only be bought 50% of the price if a company owns majority of the trust[/p]
[p]Added a rule to allow buying a competitor's hub at a not fair price if player has 55% of trust in the city[/p]
[p]Added a rule for cities to shrink if their fulfillment is below 30%[/p]
[p]Added a rule to change the last city destination if its fulfillment is below 30%[/p]
[p]Added infrastructure to the company value[/p]
[p]Added notifications for important events[/p]
[p]Added destination demand price system[/p]
[p]Added camera sensitivity slider[/p]
[p]Added camera pan alternative options[/p]
[p]Added real-time clock option[/p]
[p]Added option to color your cursor based on company colors[/p]
[p]Added Katakana and other relevant typing support[/p]
[p]Added a system for vehicles auto-balancing distance between them[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Are you enjoying the game?[/h2][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]This year the full game will feature the whole world, 120 unique vehicles, more game modes and a deeper gameplay loop with additional mechanics.[/p][p]Add the full version to your wishlist![/p]

Worldwide Rush | Blogpost 3

[p]Hi everyone![/p][p][/p][p]We are excited to share v.0.2 build with you all, and we're especially thrilled to announce that the v.0.2 build will be participating in the upcoming Steam Next Fest! As you saw in previous blog posts, it was mostly about addressing feedback and adding AI. It is not finished, and we will keep updating it, that way our development will not feel as lonely. In the future, v.0.2 will also have things like hub managers, more task types and some graphs to view and compare statistics. But most importantly, I hope with your help and feedback we can bring gameplay with AI more fun than playing solo.[/p][p][/p][p]Note, that this and previous updates are available. You can opt in the Steam Betas tab.[/p][p][/p][h2]Current Changelog[/h2][h3]Bugfixes[/h3]

[p]Fixed holding Ctrl still closes new route UI if accept UI pops up[/p]
[p]Fixed double same task bug[/p]
[p]Fixed UI zoom hotkeys not working the same as the settings slider[/p]
[p]Fixed game using an integrated GPU instead of the dedicated one[/p]
[p]Fixed game not remembering window position[/p]

[h3]Changes[/h3]

[p]Removed viewports tab[/p]
[p]Removed tooltip saying that vehicle needs to start route from the hub as it is false[/p]
[p]Removed city names collision in road/rail build mode[/p]
[p]Removed showing tasks for fulfilling demand to just leveled up cities[/p]
[p]Made road vehicles and trains drive on the correct side of the road[/p]
[p]Made vehicles show their whole route when selected[/p]
[p]Made fully bought out vehicle to increase its inventory at the end of the month[/p]
[p]Made UI hide unneeded parts if playing only with one vehicle type[/p]
[p]Adjusted how some cities show their names to not overlap[/p]
[p]Increased roads and rail prices[/p]
[p]Increased planes ticket prices[/p]
[p]Increased grant amounts by x2[/p]
[p]Reduced train station time by half[/p]
[p]Doubled planes airport time[/p]
[p]Improved countries shading in grayscale mode[/p]

[h3]Additions[/h3]

[p]Added vehicles UI route scroll support for long routes[/p]
[p]Added full vehicles routes to company vehicles sheet[/p]
[p]Added full vehicles route to its tooltip[/p]
[p]Added colors to routes[/p]
[p]Added the ability to name vehicles with icons[/p]
[p]Added Add/Subtract for default Increase/Decrease game speed hotkeys[/p]
[p]Added ability to relocate floating UI's with MMB[/p]
[p]Added roads and rails remove mode[/p]
[p]Added multi-vehicle route management system[/p]
[p]Added routes tab[/p]
[p]Added route panel with vehicles management[/p]
[p]Added company trust system in cities[/p]
[p]Added vehicle company country information in the tooltip[/p]
[p]Added a rule that a hub can only be bought 50% of the price if a company owns majority of the trust[/p]
[p]Added a rule to allow buying a competitor's hub at a not fair price if player has 55% of trust in the city[/p]
[p]Added a rule for cities to shrink if their fulfillment is below 30%[/p]
[p]Added a rule to change the last city destination if its fulfillment is below 30%[/p]
[p]Added infrastructure to the company value[/p]
[p]Added notifications for important events[/p]
[p]Added destination demand price system[/p]
[p]Added camera sensitivity slider[/p]
[p]Added camera pan alternative options[/p]
[p]Added real-time clock option[/p]
[p]Added option to color your cursor based on company colors[/p]
[p]Added Katakana and other relevant typing support[/p]
[p]Added a system for vehicles auto-balancing distance between them[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Vehicles Spacing[/h2][p]I was thinking long and hard about how to properly space vehicles. They can take different paths, have different speeds. Making it an option would feel pointless, as there are basically no cases where you would not want that. But forcing it from the start might introduce some further issues. At the end, I made it always on, but not forced. It works by distributing vehicles over time without limiting their speeds or paths. Adjustments happen every time a vehicle enters the first route city, forcing the vehicle to stay longer or less time in the station, based on how much off it was from the desired interval. Moreover, routes will be separated by vehicle type, which means that spacing is also by vehicle type, as it does not make sense otherwise. It raised some internal questions when thinking about limiting a plane to 20km/h so that the little boat could have a fair chance.[/p][p][/p][h2]Dev Mode[/h2][p][/p][p]Here is how Worldwide Rush dev mode looks like. Here we can edit the world, jump into the demo or full version and test our changes. The Worldwide Rush engine is built using MonoGame, which offers a great foundation. When working with a custom game engine, there are some downsides, like lack of tools. Today I wanted to share some of the tools we had to create to make the game. I will not go into the rabbit hole of making a custom engine itself, but if there is interest, we can talk about it as well.[/p][p][/p][h3]Roads and Rails[/h3][p][/p][p]Currently, there are 68900 hand placed road and rail nodes. We use real-world data to place these nodes, so that when you press build road, it will resemble real highways. A custom overlay loads and paints roads (from OpenStreetMap pbf files) on top of the map for us to trace. You can always place your custom roads, but for AI these prebuilt roads are the main tool for connecting cities.[/p][p][/p][h3]Sea Nodes[/h3][p][/p][p]It is a similar story for the sea nodes. In comparison, there are only 7048 nodes for our seas and rivers. Ships use these nodes to search for available paths using A* search algorithm and travel within defined bounds. We use Shipmap to reference how real paths look like, and we try to create nodes based on that.[/p][p][/p][h3]Landmass[/h3][p][/p][p]This view shows where there is land and where there is water. Loading pixel by pixel data directly to RAM would require an additional 16GB if optimized. This could limit our potential audience, but we still wanted for custom roads and rails to determine if they are on land, water or how steep the slope is there. So again, there is a tool that generates this data at a custom resolution and right now, it only requires 100MB or so more RAM.[/p][p][/p][h3]Demo[/h3][p][/p][p]There are even tools for Demo area. It might have been expanded a bit for v.0.2. We can add or remove countries, individual cities and just define the general play area. Our Worldwide Rush dev mode then generates a full game data and demo game data separately, allowing us to keep updating the demo without any overhead.

There are so many more tools like creating world data, combining height and satellite imagery, water tools, localization tools, creating country landmass and river meshes, many different generation tools and so on. Most of the development first half was about creating these tools to make development easier and faster for the long-run.[/p][p]

Now you have had a peak at how Worldwide Rush is being developed.[/p]

Worldwide Rush | Blogpost 2

Hi everyone!

Most of this week was about AI. Adding features and testing. It is very time-consuming making sure that AI behaves the way you want. Sometimes small changes can break their brains, but at least it makes me chuckle looking at them. It is like teaching your own child how to play, but it takes all instructions literally, and you are the only one to blame when you contradict yourself. But as I understood, it will be the most iterated system in the game before and after release.

Now let's talk about what we added.

Note, that this is not yet in the demo build.

[h2]AI[/h2]

AI is built from the grounds up to be deterministic and not demanding. The demo will feature up to 3 competitors, but the full game will have up to 100. This number can be bigger, but the vehicle's amount grows silly with more. Already with 10 vehicles per company, you will have 1000 vehicles total. After a decade or so, a single AI can grow to 5-10k vehicles, which really tests performance. Granted, then many others will be bankrupt or bought out.

AI thinks in steps per frame. This way it mimics a human player and does not act like a god that does 1000 decisions per frame. AI will search for available paths and vehicles that fit them. It will do so indefinitely, stopping to reevaluate existing routes or to search for a new hub. AI will invest in good routes that it found if there are enough finances to do so. Otherwise, it will plan ahead discarding, improving and finding new potential routes. Easy AI will have less capacity to think per frame, while the hard one will have more.

Hopefully, AI will provide difficulty some of you are searching for. They definitely make you play slower and more methodical. Last time I played in China it was a very interesting experience trying to compete against the local companies, losing country's trust and making some small plans to take it back. But then you zoom out and see that the whole world has skirmishes and plans. For those who never wanted competition, then good news! They will be optional. But there is still much to do.

[h2]Difficulty[/h2]
AI will have several difficulty options that will allow you to experiment with them more. Easy AI will not buy other hubs or companies, they will simply try their best to thrive. Medium AI will buy other companies and hubs, but it will not try to buyout players company. But with Hard AI, there will be no friendliness. It will use all tricks available to try and be the dominant company in the world. AI will not cheat as there is no code for them to do that, they will have the same rules and information as you do.

[h2]Passengers[/h2]

This topic requires a blog post on its own. Today, I just wanted to mention how passengers choose which vehicles to board. This should help to compete against AI. Here is the list of current factors:
- Travelers will ignore vehicles that are taking longer paths than the shortest available. By providing short direct routes, you can always win passengers if competing against indirect routes.
- Then there is trust. Passengers will prioritize vehicles that are from trusted companies. Low trust means that it will be very difficult to compete for the same destination. But you can always pick the neglected destination and earn trust that way.
- Vehicle tier can bypass trust if you are offering higher tier vehicles. Comfort is more important than company loyalty.
- And passengers will prioritize vehicles that are in the city longer. This will only influence your own company vehicles and will not affect competition.

With that being said, if there are enough passengers to board, they will board all vehicles. Passengers do not wait in line, they just board whoever accepts them, starting from the most factor favored vehicle.

[h2]Cities Shrink[/h2]
Cities will be able to shrink now. For this to happen, the overall fulfillment needs to be below 30%. Cities will stop shrinking if they reach the minimum level, which is 2 at the moment. With this, you can redirect your traffic through AI city and look how it fails to handle the increased demand.

[h2]Last Destination[/h2]
Another addition for neglected cities is that the last destination can change at the end of the month if its fulfillment is below 30%.

[h2]Demand Price[/h2]

Not all cities and destinations need to be the same. The next update will include destination demand price, which basically means how much passengers are willing to pay. This value will change based on supply. Neglected destinations will decrease its price, while fully satisfied will increase it.

[h2]Notifications[/h2]

Finally, I wanted to mention new notifications in the game. With added features, it is easy to get lost in what is happening and changing. Notifications should help by notifying you about the most important events that you should know about.

Until the next Friday, where we will talk more about Worldwide Rush development. Also, we will share the demo beta access to those who will want to test out all the new systems that will come with the next update.