We are starting the playtest of the sandbox mode for Iron Roads. If you are interested in trying it you can opt into the beta branch on Steam using the password ironroadstest. There are notes on how to access it on our website.

Sandbox

The headline feature for this update is sandbox mode. Rather than play on a map we have hand drawn, you get a page of options, and Iron Roads will generate a map with whatever parameters you choose. The scenarios in Iron Roads are quite directed by us, so this is an opportunity for you to remix the game in whatever way you prefer.
Wed love to hear how it works out for you, or if there are options you are missing, so do please let us know your thoughts!

Hotkeys

One of the greatest usability issues in the initial Early Access release was the lack of hotkeys. Weve added them now. There isnt currently a list of them in game (it will appear soon), so for now the full set of hotkeys is:

• ESC Toggle menu
• TAB Select mode
• W or Up Arrow Move map upwards
• A or Down Arrow Move map downwards
• S or Left Arrow Move map leftwards
• D or Right Arrow Move map rightwards
• Left Shift When held it speeds up map movement
• Q or Minus Zoom map out
• E or Plus Zoom map in
• 1 Pause
• 2 Run at normal speed
• 3 Run at 10x speed
• Space Toggle between current speed and pause
• R Build track
• F Build bridge
• C Build tunnel
• Z Build platform
• X Delete/refund construction
• T One-way tool
• G Non-stop tool
• V Clear orders

Again, if there are any missing hotkeys, or other issues you notice, please let us know!

Minor changes

We have made a number of more minor changes to adjust the balance

• Weve moved the one-way arrows on the tracks to make two way tracks more readable on diagonals
• The Tithonus was a game breakingly good train, so it is now slower, more expensive and carries fewer passengers
• After a great deal of feedback that the Horseshoe Isle scenario was surprisingly hard as the second scenario weve rebalanced many aspects of it
• Futura was a little hard to unlock, so weve reduced the star unlock requirement of Futura from 5 to 2

Thanks so much to all of you who have played Iron Roads and given feedback. There is no way we could get to it all in a single update, but we will be working through it over the course of Early Access!

[ 2025-02-26 10:07:59 CET ] [ Original post ]