A/B connectors
Another important part of this first beta is the connector system.
Each rail piece has two main connection points:
Point A
Point B
These connectors allow the editor to understand where a rail starts and ends. They are also the foundation for future snapping, route detection and railway network validation.
Right now, the connectors are mostly visual and technical, but they are already helping us detect whether two rail ends are close enough and correctly aligned to be considered compatible.
This may sound like a small detail, but it is a key part of making the editor feel good. In a railway builder, it is not enough for two pieces to be near each other. They also need to connect in a way that makes sense.
Why start with debug visuals?
The current rail editor does not try to look final.
That is intentional.
Before building final rail meshes, sleepers, materials and terrain integration, we need a reliable way to see what the editor is doing. Simple lines, colors and visible connectors make it much easier to test the logic behind the system.
This first step helps us answer questions like:
Is the rail being generated correctly?
Are the connectors facing the right direction?
Can we detect compatible rail ends?
Can the editor support independent pieces instead of one forced linear track?
Is the foundation flexible enough for branches and future junctions?
Once these answers are solid, we can move into the more visual parts of the railway system.
What this does not include yet
This is still an early development tool, so there are several things that are not finished yet.
The current version does not include:
Final railway meshes
Sleepers and detailed rail geometry
Save/load
Steam Workshop integration
Full pathfinding
Final junction logic
Gameplay train movement on the generated network
Those systems will come later. For now, the focus is on making sure the railway editor has the right architecture before we build more features on top of it.
Why this matters
This is the first real step toward the main promise of Speed Rivals: Model Trains:
building your own model railway layouts.
The editor needs to be flexible enough for creativity, but also structured enough to support real gameplay later. That means the system has to understand pieces, connectors, compatibility and eventually full railway networks.
This devlog marks the beginning of that process.
We are still early, but the foundation is now moving from design documents into a real working tool.
Thanks for following the development of Speed Rivals: Model Trains.
See you in the next devlog.