Hello everyone!
Welcome to the second devlog about Trainfort! In this series, we’re sharing different parts of the game’s design, from systems to worldbuilding to the little details behind the scenes. Today we’ll talk about the biomes, what makes them special, and why the world is built to keep you moving.
The Biomes of Trainfort
Right now, there are two main zones in the world of Trainfort. The first is the “regular” zone, which includes forests, fields, deserts, and mountains. These are relatively safe (at least during the day) and give each area a different feel as you travel. The second is the “infested” zone: same biomes, but much more hostile. Toxic air, dangerous creatures, and a time limit on how long you can survive without protection.
The game uses "areas" as modifiers for biomes. So a forest might be part of the regular zone or the infested one, depending on where you are. Infested zones come with dead trees, aggressive monsters, toxic gas, and special resources or structures that can’t be found anywhere else. You’ll need proper gear just to stay alive there, but they’re also home to unique technologies and progression materials.
In the future, we’d love to add more area types, like frozen zones or volcanic regions. These could come with their own hazards, like strong winds or lava geysers, and force players to change their approach completely.
Each biome also plays differently depending on terrain and visibility. For example, forests can give you cover but make it harder to spot threats, while open fields are great for movement but leave you exposed.
The Real Reward in Exploring
You won’t find any achievement pop-ups for visiting a new biome. That’s intentional! Instead, we wanted the world itself to be the reason to explore. Certain areas are rich in lootable structures, and some are even hidden underground. The infested zones in particular are packed with tough enemies and high-value rewards.
So if you’re wondering whether it’s worth leaving your starting area, the answer is… YES, you have to move!
How Exploration Works
One key detail: resources don’t respawn. This means that staying in one place forever won’t work. The world is designed in clusters, where interesting locations spawn together, but each group is far apart. You could try to bring everything back to your first base… but packing it all up and moving is usually much easier. And would you look at that: as luck would have it, packing is really the focus of our game ;) (if you haven’t checked our first devlog about Packing in Trainfort yet, pack your stuff and go read it here)
Nomads at Heart
We’re still tuning the systems, but everything, from packing, to biome placement, to resource distribution, is designed to support a nomadic playstyle. We really want players to keep moving, discovering new zones, and adapting their setup as they go.
The mobile base idea came from older RTS games like Red Alert 2, where you had construction vehicles that could deploy into buildings. Over time, we turned that concept into something that works for survival gameplay.
The current system is a balance between functionality and weirdness. The animation is simple, but under the hood, it’s the same system we use to load the whole world, save inventory items, and even remember the contents of shrinkable machines.
Tick-Tock, time is passing!
The day/night cycle is more than just a visual change. In the regular zone, nighttime means spores start spawning monsters, making travel much more dangerous. We’re planning to make each area behave differently depending on the time of day, with new threats, new opportunities, and another reason to stay alert while you explore.
We’re also not following the usual survival blueprints. Games like Space Engineers let you build complex structures, but they don’t move or pack away. We wanted to refresh the formula by giving players more control, more movement, and more reasons to leave their comfort zone.
That’s all for today! We’ll be back soon with another devlog. Until then, we hope you’re enjoying the alpha, and don’t forget to share your thoughts with us here, on itch.io or on Discord. See you!