Now that the huge Sierra Logging project is complete I can shift my focus on to new things!
And one of Rolling Line's biggest weak points is the new player experience. This game has quite a complicated learning curve since the controls and mechanics are a bit different to what people would expect. I'm planing to dedicate some proper time to improving the new player experience and making the controls easier to understand.
And the best way to kick that off is to finally add some new tutorials!
Previously the in-game tutorials were quite lacking, leaving out lots of important basic game mechanics. So these new ones help fix that by adding step-by-step instructions for things like trackwork, scenery and even some of the more niche mechanics like pantographs and snow plows.
You can play these tutorials from the main menu, or from the pause menu:
For more complex mechanics, like skyboxes, automation and modding, I've already made tons of guides here on Steam:
https://steamcommunity.com/id/jach5270/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides&appid=754150
In other news, the release of the Sierra Logging map has been amazing! I'm so glad that people are enjoying the map so much. I love seeing everyone's screenshots and comments, especially people finding easter eggs and admiring the little details around the map. The Sierra Logging map took a staggering amount of effort and time, and I'm really happy with how it all worked out. It's definitely the map I'm the most proud of from all the official map releases.
I recently posted a proper trailer video for the map:
And a developer commentary where I explore the map and talk about the design inspirations and building methods that went into making it:
The above commentary was released early for everyone subscribed to the Patreon, and I'm going to be making more videos like this in the future!
I'll share them early on Patreon, but they will eventually make their way to Youtube at a later date, since I don't want to lock anything behind a paywall.
If you would like to support the game and help me keep making free updates forever, then please consider joining the Patreon, even $5 is awesome and really helps!
This update also includes some other fixes & features:
Fixed bug where portable drawers were not spawning correctly in VR
Various settings have been moved into the "pause menu -> editing" menu, all settings relating to prop placement and snapping can be found here
There is now a new drawer dedicated to all snow themed props and trains
The drawer style edit menu now disappears correctly when the drawer is removed
The "default up/down context action for prop placing" now affects both VR and PC. This means on PC you can now change the default behavior of whether the scroll wheel changes scale or height offset when placing props
You can now use the 'expand list' button on the various save file list on the main menu
Gap-fill track now no longer requires track snapping to be enabled to work
The 'tutorial complete' message now shows up in VR too
The 'color hexcode copied to clipboard' message is now hidden in VR
VR now has 'fast scaling' enabled by default
Fixed bug where player held items were visible during the load screen
Added labels to the tables & walls drawers to separate the large & small tables
And that's everything!
I've got big plans coming up, mainly revolving around making the game more polished and easier to understand overall. Along with other gameplay themed features like continuing work on expanding the loading & unloading features!
Lots of cool things on the way, so keep and eye out.
GaugeGang: Trackmeister, SmokeStream
Rolling Line enjoyers: Helga Nordgren
Model railroaders: Lutz, Jayton Hawkins, TheAmazingRyry, CAMOGUY54321, Jonathan Ginsburg
Railfans: Don Willis, Leto Gloas, Outertoaster, Nathan Perez, TrainMann, Railraider, Garst, Richard Prior, Joblogh, Detroit_, Ben Burch, Gustavo Sanchez, Michelle chan, Jack Fruh, Lynk_Wyland, KathalLasagna