Update #5: Sandbox Mode Out Now!

Hello Everyone!

Lead programmer on Railgrade, Daniel here with a Christmas surprise gift for our dear players!

Drum roll please….. *drum* *drum*

SANDBOX MODE is out now!

Sandbox mode is our promised Update #5 and brings a brand new long form play style to Railgrade. Everyone asked for it, and we listened! We’ve been hard at work these past two months since release to make the sandbox mode we think you are were all hoping for.

Let me walk you through the Sandbox experience. I hope you’ll see this Sandbox is full featured with everything players can expect from the factory automation genre.

First off, from the main menu is now a Sandbox mode. Just below the existing Campaign mode you’ll have two new options. Generating a new sandbox, and loading existing save.

Random Procedural Maps

Generating a new sandbox allows you to tune a ton of parameters in our new random map generator. Each of the 5 biomes has a unique algoritmn and even unique tuning parameters. We’ve designed the gneeration parameters to be understandable. Instead of the traditional noise tuning, you can pick comprehensible choices like “Canyon Depth” on Savannah, or Valley flatness, as examples.

Multiple Save Slots

Once you’ve generated a sandbox, you can freely save the map to a “Backup file”. This will generate a new save file which you can load at any time from the main menu. Or you can start multiple sandbox regions. On PC you can have an unlimited number of save files for the same sandbox region.

Research Centers

Once you land on a sandbox you’ll need to survey the land and decide where to build your starter city! Yes that’s right, you build entire cities in sandbox mode. At start you get 1 free city, zeppelin dock, and research tower. You’ll need these to kickstart your economy. Over time you’ll want to invest into building new cities, and even Zeppelin docks. New in Sandbox mode the zeppelin docks are rate limited. Meaning you must decide what to export to best use your dock’s capacity. Special in sandbox mode is the Research Tower. These might computing complexes consume tiered resources to break the patent encryption on increasingly valuable techs.

Tech Tree

Techs are now encrypted and must be researched for use on your sandbox region. Use the tech tree to determine what to research but watch out for the costs. Higher tiers of research require more complex inputs. Existing players of Railgrade will recognize the tiered inputs mechanic similar yet different from the city growth gameplay.

As you grow your economy and develop your sandbox region you will find Railgrade’s core gameplay has been expanded into a 20+ hour sandbox experience without losing the dynamic choices and gameplay first design. The whole team is proud of our extensive efforts these past months and we are excited for all the players who have given our humble train game a chance. Without your support we could not have made this happen.

Thank you for playing our game :)
Dainel
Lead Programmer on Railgrade

Change Log

v5.0.54.1 Update #5
Features
• Add procedurally generated Sandbox Mode
• Add Research Tower for generating research
• Add tech tree in Sandbox Mode
• Make horizon curved
• Add support for multiple saves per sandbox region
• Add free buildings mechanic for use in sandbox starts

Gameplay
• Boost PC entity limit by 5x
• Make zeppelin export docks rate limited in sandbox mode
• Make deliveries to research towers not pay for freight
• Add deep lakes
• Add option to scale frequency of idle barks

UI
• Add procgen preview window to sandbox generate mode
• Add save selection menu for Sandbox saves
• Add lockout safety option to prevent accidental campaign restarts
• Add tech tree in sandbox mode
• Fix windows cursor at 200% DPI scaling, now scales on game start

Bugs
• Fix cursor on Mac appearing as four dots
• Fix water pump upgrade missing from map editor unlocks panel
• Prevent map editor placements outside map limits
• Fix Steam generated desktop icon being blurry
• Fix Region 22 Branch B showing unused retrograde quest