Rolling Line · build 20717807 · published
The day has finally come! Rolling Line now has multiplayer. It's been the most highly requested feature since day one, and I've always dreamed of adding it. Working on multiplayer was always going to be a massive undertaking, but I'm so glad with how it's turned out!
Multiplayer has been in private beta testing for a while now, and I'm hoping that all the major bugs have been spotted. But launching any kind of multiplayer feature always has unforeseen problems, so please make sure to report any bugs you find! (I've added a new "Multiplayer bug reporting" thread here in the Steam community discussions).
Rolling Line multiplayer is a sandbox for driving trains and messing around on maps with other players. You can do realistic operations or just have silly fun.
The main limitation is that map editing is not possible in multiplayer!
I've spoken about this before, but I decided to make the decision that doing multiplayer map editing was going to be FAR too big of a job to take on all in one go, so my plan was to focus on train driving only to start off with. In the future though, I do plan to have a go at multiplayer map editing, since building a layout together with your friends would be a truly amazing experience.
There is also currently no server browser, as the game is very much designed around small groups of friends rather than large public servers. I do have plans to potentially add a public server browser in the future though, and add more moderation tools for running larger servers.
But what you can do right now includes:
Driving trains (in the cab and in large scale with controllers).
Controlling signals, turnouts, turntables, etc.
All other intractable map elements, like doors, levers, light switches, etc.
Circuitry and automation.
Spawning in and driving modded trains.
Voice chat and text chat.
Customizable player character and gesture animations.
Server control options like muting, kicking and banning players.
It's easy as!
If you want to host a map, simply load the save file you want to play on and then go to the pause menu and choose "Pause menu -> Multiplayer -> Host a server".
This is all done through Steam, so you can easily invite people from your friends list to join your game, or share a join code to anyone you want!
To join a game, you can either receive a Steam invite from someone directly (and just simply click "Join game" on the invite) or you can join them using the "join code" from their server.
Here's a full guide to answer all your questions!
The main new key bindings to remember are:
Press T to open the text chat/player list/options menu
Press G to open the gesture animations menu
Hold V for push-to-talk voice chat
Press Z to ping a location for other players to see
All of these are re-bindable in the controls menu of course.
You can also customize your character in the "Pause menu -> Multiplayer -> Customize character" menu:
Everything!
You can play any maps you like, whether they are on the Steam Workshop or in your own local save files. Prop mods and track mods will also work perfectly fine as long as all joining players also have those mods downloaded.
It is also highly recommended that you share your map on the Steam Workshop and get all joining players to download it. This will make the joining process much faster since players won't need to download the map file directly from you!
If your map contains train mods then all players joining your server also should have those mods downloaded (otherwise they will only see a placeholder train model).
Making a "collection" on the Steam Workshop is the best way to do this, then ask all joining players to first download the map's mod collection:
This initial release of multiplayer is just the beginning! I have lots of plans for future features coming to multiplayer. Some of these are:
Expanding the character customization (more clothing, more detailed color customization, etc).
Character model modding support (3D models and custom gesture animations).
Server roles (things like locking players to miniature only, only allowing some players to drive trains, etc). And other features to make operations more interesting.
VR specific animations (like hand tracking).
And of course, hopefully one day adding multiplayer map editing!
I decided to focus on the core basic features of multiplayer first and get this all polished and functional for release. Then after making all of this public, I can focus more directly on expanding features (like character customization) and release these features in future updates.
And that's everything for now!
Developing multiplayer has been a dream of mine for a long time, and seeing it actually become a reality has been a really enjoyable process. It's been a ton of work, and this is only just the beginning. There's still so much more to be done to make multiplayer as good as it can be! So keep an eye out for more.
I hope you all have fun experiencing Rolling Line maps with other people for the first time!
Also here's some new promotional screenshots:
As I've mentioned in previous update posts, I've recently started a Patreon!
This Patreon page allows you to donate directly towards me developing the game. I want to always keep update like this complete free, and if multiplayer is something you really enjoy then please consider showing your support through a Patreon donation!
I've also recently made a new devlog video which goes into a bit more detail about the specific features of multiplayer and how they work (like train driving, player chat, circuitry, etc). You can find that video here, along with lots of other devlog videos:
Devlog - Multiplayer features preview
Trainiac 21, Codebag Playz, Joey Drysdale, Clae, The_President, Teapop311, Chloe Surett, Rowan Mackenzie, Matt, Ábris Pataki, NESecretWeapon, JohnR, ItzAerozic, Matthew Johnson, Microcosmologist, Blake Prevett, TrainTiny, Thomas Merolla, Don Willis, Jayton Hawkins, Helga Nordgren, Leto Gloas, TheAmazingRyry, Outertoaster, Nathan Perez, TrainMann, Railraider, Garst, Richard Prior, Joblogh, Detroit_, CAMOGUY54321, Ben Burch, Michelle chan, Jack Fruh, Jonathan Ginsburg, Lynk_Wyland, SmokeStream, KathalLasagna, Rivet, HuskyDynamics, Trackmeister, Lutz
You can join the Patreon to help support me to keep making free updates!