Watch us play in co-op for the automation fest!

[ 2024-07-18 20:47:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Watch Streamer Cranberry play the multiplayer campaign in the new version 1.1 of the game!

[ 2024-06-09 20:00:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Multiplayer co-op campaign

This was the most requested feature, so I'm happy to announce that it's now possible to play the entire campaign in multiplayer mode! And when someone leaves the game, their passenger stays in the game as "offline" and can be grabbed and moved by other players. Also, when you reconnect to a game, you get reassigned to your previous passenger, keeping your health, tools, hats and score!

Restart menu

What if you barely pass a level, but you are stuck at the next one, missing water, having a train in bad condition? Restarting the current level won't solve your issue... With the new restart menu window, you can now choose from which completed level you want to restart!

Save & load multiplayer games

The host of a multiplayer game (campaign and quickgames) can now save the session, so you can play it in parts across multiple days!

Attack has it's own button

A recurring feedback I got was about the fact that the attack button was the same as the interaction/use button. While the goal was to make the game easier to learn and play, it was more an annoyance that anything else. Player would often grab things by mistake after an enemy was defeated, or could not eat a fruit too close to an enemy. These actions are now separated, fixing all these issues!

New items

There's a bunch of new items that have been added to the game: 3 new locomotives, a new turret, a new weapon, multiple hats, and more.

The bullet

Introducing "The Bullet", a fast & powerful but expensive electric-powered locomotive! It was largely inspired by the Japanese Shinkansen Series 100 built in the 80s.

Class J - The Queen of Steam

Inspired by the Norfolk and Western J Class form 1941, this steam-powered locomotive is quite strong and robust. But most importantly, it looks super cool!

Darkstar - Top secret locomotive

It's top-secret, so I can't tell you much about it. I hope you'll understand.

Rocket Launcher

That's right, things are getting serious! With a high range, rockets give quite a bad day to any encountered enemies!

Armored Wagon Turret

This is a stronger and more powerful turret that can be attached on wagons. It can also hold a rocket-launcher!

More items variations

Some items such as the blimps have more visual variations. There is also a new character skin to choose in multiplayer mode!

New hats

The crates contain a new collection of hats to wear!

Secret items

Not saying a word about those. You'll have to discover them by yourselves!

Collect multiple items at once

As pointed out by many people, it was tiresome to collect resources one by one from a storage or a pile. But not anymore! Now, holding the action key will prompt an incrementing counter indicating how many units of a resource is being collected. Simply releasing the key will complete the transaction! You can adjust the speed of the increment in the settings (Hold Action Delay).

Minor improvements

• Passengers can sprint. When there's no targeted enemy, use the new Attack Key/Button for a quick dash!
• There is now a special "locomotive" category in the blueprint inventory.
• Passengers can now be attached to wagons without being boarded in single player mode. Useful if you don't want them to run to follow the train when it's moving.
• Pipeline can't transport water anymore, reducing confusing with thirsty passengers
• It's now clearly indicated which item is selected to be repaired in the hint bubble
• Locomotives and wagons upgrades can't take damages anymore. They will still be destroyed with their parent.
• Wagon turrets can't be moved once attached to a wagon.
• Consumables (fruits, potatoes, seeds) are being eaten one unit at a time, for better control.
• Passengers can hop on free flatcars that are attached on the train.
• Furnaces automatically pulls coal from nearby coal storages each time it's needed.
• The animation of Barbara was improved.
• The blueprints of Howie and the coal storage are already unlocked by default in new games.
• Derrick pumps, pump jacks and windmill don't spill resources once their attached storage is full.
• There is now a slider in the settings to control how much the camera can be tilted with the mouse movement or gamepad joystick. Set it to zero if you have motion sickness when moving the mouse.
• Fruit pies, popcorns and gratin can be stacked.
• The campaign contains more crates.
• The smelter pops two irons each cycle.
• Some tutorial windows have images to clarify their content
• Quick games maps contains save point near train stations.

Bug fixes

• Threats (wild fires, enemies) countdown hints are being correctly removed between levels.
• Map editor eraser works properly. This is not an ideal fix, but at least it should work.
• Multiplayer restart and reconnect work consistently.

As always, let me know in the comments what you think, and if you encounter any bugs or have suggestions join our Discord! I try my best to take as many feedbacks into consideration as possible. Cheers and Choo-choo!

[ 2024-06-04 05:55:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

This patch addresses a part of the issues encountered by players. First of all, the campaign difficulty slope was made more linear. Level 5, 6 and 7 where particularly hard compared to the level 3 & 4. I've also removed some enemies in level 8, 9, but these levels should still be challenging. At least now the difficulty is more progressive instead of being too abrupt from level 5. I've also added a function that clears all on going heatwaves and attacks between levels. This makes it easier to rest and prepare when starting a new level. When an un-active passenger is taking damages and is not attacking, it will now try to seek refuge by moving closer to the locomotive. I've clarified some messages such as the "Attach a storage" that appears on an excavator to make it more understandable. In this case it now says: "Attach a coal, rock or iron ore storage" Clouds generate less often lightings and now contains 10 water instead of 8 Collecting water from lakes and aquifers is faster Passengers move a bit faster and they will stop collecting water when they are full to prevent waste (in lakes and wells) Wildfires are shorter, slower and makes less damages (but remain a decent challenge!) Nights have 3 waves of enemies instead of 4, making them shorter. Also there was an issue with the music being duplicated. It's now fixed Some enemies were spawning on the edge of the map and stayed stuck there. This should be fixed. It's now possible to walk through storages when they are on a flatcar, in order to get to the other side of the train Please note that you'll need to begin a new campaign to see the full effects of this patch, as some informations are written in your save files. Other than those point, I've also fixed a few bugs here and there. For example, the host was not stopped if the "menu" button was pressed from the game over window. Let me know directly if you have any other issues with the game: https://discord.gg/dqjAFeP29T

[ 2024-04-20 18:31:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Watch us play Trackline Express co-op and campaign mode!

[ 2024-04-19 15:00:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Watch us play Trackline Express live as we are about to release the game!

[ 2024-04-17 09:04:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi folks! While this patch was mainly focused on quality of life improvements and bug fixes to make sure everything is working flawlessly before the release, I've also managed to add a few cool new features:

Tool management menu

It's now much easier to swap the tools of the active passenger. Holding the action key will open a new menu listing the 3 equipment slots each passenger has. From there you can un-equip or replace tools in one click!

Star rating system

In order to give players more incentive to complete all ongoing quests and keep the train in a good shape before finishing a quickgame or a multiplayer run, there is now a star rating system. You get one star for reaching the terminus, 1 star for completing all quests, and 1 star if your train is 100% intact Make a perfect run by getting all 3 stars! Good luck, it's really not that easy to achieve!

• Due to popular request, the health bar is now "inverted": the light color indicates the amount left and not the "loss"
• The map editor was improved to have a better UX. For example, right click allows you to pan, no matter which tool is active, the speed of the pan was also adjusted
• Blueprints added in the game display a more exhaustive list of the required resources
• Added a new character skin to choose in multiplayer mode
• Added new music for menu and map editor
• Added spectator mode during a multiplayer mode (press action key to switch between passengers when you are waiting to be revived)
• Fine-tuned the map generation algorithm for better performances and balancing
• Fixed typos and clarified some item descriptions
• Many other bug fixes!

Dont forget to join our discord to learn more about the game development!

[ 2024-04-15 13:51:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everyone! This new patch mainly focuses on improving the multiplayer mode, based on the feedback I got from our wonderful beta testers on our Discord Server!

• Restarting a multiplayer game should work now
• You can now use the "boost" in multiplayer mode
• The map generator was improved to better distribute the resources and the threats on the map and create a smoother progression of difficulty through a run
• There's now a "Boost combo" that you can get: 6 boost in a row will give you a coin!
• Other small fixes

[ 2024-03-20 21:49:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

After a weeks of tweaking, tests, trial and errors we're finally releasing a new beta version of the game! We're happy to present the features it includes:

Techtree-based blueprint unlocking

There's a new way to access and unlock blueprints. Instead of collecting them along the tracks, or after reaching a new level in the campaign mode, now the blueprints are related to each other. For example, to unlock the well, you'll need to unlock the pickaxe first. This change allows to have a unified way to progress in the game across all game modes. It also gives a better and easier way to add new blueprints with future updates. Another benefit of this, is the it is up to the players to decide which "branching" strategy to follow: Do you want to focus more on improving your defense? Or you maybe want to have a stronger train? You decide what's best for a specific run.

New locomotives and more

Meet the "Crocodile". Based on the iconic Swiss locomotive, this engine requires electricity to work. We added a generator, and batteries to build! Windmill are also back on the item's menu. They also produce electricity. It comes with an upgrade that increase the power and speed.
Barbara has a new "Turbocharger" upgrade for its diesel engine! It'll give you the boost you need to escape enemy attacks! There's also a few more weapons available: Blunderbusses, cannons and catapults (because why not!)

Various improvements

- The map between the levels in the campaign now display the progression of the wild fires. You better watch your back and move forward quickly! - Balancing. We spent a fair amount of time balancing the game: adjusting the unlock costs, the rewards, the damage factors of the weapons, etc.. - Bugfixes, and more bugfixes

[ 2024-01-31 10:54:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Campaign mode

Trackline Express now features a brand new Campaign Mode! It serves two main purposes:

More content

This mode adds 3 to 5 hours of gameplay to Trackline Express. It contains new items that you can or even need to create to reach the next levels, and has a simple storyline giving the characters a purpose.

Simpler learning curve

The campaign mode also addresses a common issue that was brought up by play testers. Some aspects of the game were a bit complicated to understand at a first glance. While it is in the DNA of the game to not explain everything and have the players figure out things by themselves, it is necessary to give them the right keys from the beginning to help them look in the right direction. The first 3 levels teache the basic rules of the game in an easy way, helping new players in!

Equip your passengers

Instead of having to grab/drop tools every time you want to do an action, you can now equip your passengers with tools that they will have on them permanently. Each passenger has two slots for tools (pickaxe, axe, wrench, ...) and one for weapons (spear, crossbow, ...).

And more

- Many small bugs were fixed - I'm still working on the multiplayer mode. it is not accessible in the demo, but if you want to try it, join our Discord. If you ask nicely and are willing to give constructive feedback, we might give you a key to access the beta version of the game!

Wishlist

If you like this game, please help us by wishlisting it! Click here to join our Discord Until next time, Choo choo!

[ 2023-11-17 11:24:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Steam Fest is over, a few days (weeks!) have past, the dust has settled. Now I can see more clearly how the game is perceived, the good aspects and the less good ones. First of all, I'm very happy with how the game is doing so far! Overall, Trackline Express seems to be enjoyable! People like the art direction and the concept of the game. phew! That's a huge relief! Now, as always, there are some aspects that require some tweaking. I was lucky enough that the game was played by quite a lot of youtubers, which allowed me to see how it is being played. On the Steam community hub, players also kindly took some of their time to write valuable feedback. And also, on my discord server, people helped me with their suggestions and ideas. I'm very grateful for that! Thanks to everyone who contributed! Today, Im happy to present version 0.7.5 of the demo! The focus of this update was to address the issues encountered by players, and to improve the quality of life and user experience in general.

Changes

Anticipate attacks and bonuses with the Events Wheel

A new element appeared on the screen. I call it the "Events Wheel". It displays events that are coming in advance in a rotating wheel. Nights, attacks or bonuses are shown there, allowing the player to anticipate and prepare to what's coming! It gives a 2-3 min window of upcoming events.

Carry more than one resource at a time!

That was a very popular request! I'm happy to announce that you can now carry multiple items at a time, saving you some cumbersome back and forth between two points. This also makes it much quicker to drop resources in a blueprint!

Attack with tools

It was a bit tricky to unequip a passenger with a tool before he was able to attack. Now passengers can simply use their tool to inflict damages to enemies. Note that only passengers equipped with weapons will automatically attack if they are not being controlled by the player.

Marketplaces

Now you can't sell resources at the piggy bank anymore. The piggy is just a storage place for your coins, that's all. To sell resources, tools or weapons, I've introduced the marketplace. It will appear as an upcoming event in the wheel of events 1:30 min before popping in at a random position in the range of the locomotive. It'll only stay open for a minute before disappearing. You'll have to catch the right opportunity if you want to make some extra $$.

Get a wagon from the beginning

When you start to have a few tools, and a weapon, and a second passengers, and more tools, more weapons,.. it quickly becomes harder to manage everything. With a new wagon that you can attach to the train from early on in the game, it'll make this easier. Wagons have two slots to carry tools and weapons and two slots to carry passengers. So now, before you leave a place, you can simply attach your belongings on it and enjoy the ride!

Small fixes

- Campfires don't have a maximum lifetime anymore. I don't know why I set it up like this, but now they won't disappear after a certain amount of time. - I've added a pre-built parcel and a tutorial at the beginning of the game to explain what it is.

Various UI tweaks

- I've clarified the blueprint slots by adding a + to differentiate them from the normal items. - The description of an item when it is a blueprint is better now. There's also the list of which resources are required. - Seeds can be piled up to facilitate the transport. There you go! I really hope that you'll like this new version. If you have other feedback, please don't hesitate to let me know, either by adding a new topic in the community hub on Steam, or by joining the discord server !

[ 2023-07-13 18:23:14 CET ] [ Original post ]