(PC) Train World - Railroad Tycoon on a Huge Map

About me

My name is Dmytro, I am from Ukraine, and I've been a game developer for over 10 years. In the beginning, I worked on mobile games. Later I worked for the company focusing on interactive displays and various interactive solutions. For the past two years, I've been working on my own project Train World. I do enjoy transportation games a lot and always wanted to make one. I focused on one problem that always kept me frustrated - lack of space, and I addressed this in my game.

Idea

Train World has a large map. At the moment test map is over 38 000 square kilometers. Enough space to build the train network of your dreams. The other major aspect is the ability to operate trains that are 100 cars long.

Gameplay

The map is divided into regions. Each region has a capital some number of cities and industries. Build the railroad, connect industries and towns, and transport cargo and passengers. As soon as all the requirements are met you will be able to open more regions, discover new biomes/territories/cool places and expand your network.

There is no strict connection to the timeline. Play at your own pace. You start with trains of the mid-nineteenth century and progress via a tech tree. In the tech tree, you will be able to unlock more new trains and wagons.

There will be 3 eras. Each has its unique style which will be visible in the cities. You will be able to progress to the new era by reaching it in the tech tree.

Also, there will be a tasks system that will generate random tasks for you to complete and get nice bonuses.

Graphics and style

I would call this low poly with hi-res textures and a hint of cartoonish look.

Packages that are used in the project

Packages that are used in the project and my comments on experience with these packages:
URP - has all the necessary features and is easy to work with
ShadreGraph - almost all shaders are done via shader graph, some of them are pretty complex, excellent tool
UI Toolkit - has a steep learning curve, but absolutely worth it. In the end, UI building becomes very easy and fast. UGUI is used only in a few very specific places.
Jobs and Burst - great tools, recommend mastering them for every Unity developer. Can dramatically improve performance in some cases. In my case, these packages are key for fast terrain generation and much more.
Entities and Hybrid Renderer - tough to start with. Without these packages, my game would not be possible. For example, at one moment there could be more than 200 000 trees rendered. Not easy to learn, complex, and demanding, but you will be generously awarded at the end of the learning cycle. For advanced developers only at this point, in my opinion.
Input System - nice tool, don't have a lot of experience with it. A lot of functionality and with it a bit more complicated than standard Input.
The rest of the packages are either dependencies or basic ones like Sprite2D or TextMeshPro.

Status

The game has a page on Steam - Train World. The planned release is sometime in 2023.

Roadmap

The main focus at the moment is the Demo for Steam Next Fest in February 2023. Features will be limited. You will be able to build rails, set up lines and trains, and deliver cargo and passengers. Only a couple of regions will be unlockable. The demo is planned for the end of this year or beginning of the next year.

Any feedback is welcome. Also, I plan to add a couple of tech posts about this game development. The were a number of challenges and I would like to share how I overcome them.

More about the Game on Unity Forum.
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Train World on Steam