We have changed our mind and released one last update to the alpha preview of Rail Route - the upcoming train dispatcher simulator. This time, it's the biggest and most significant update ever!

It took us more time to redesign the whole UI than we initially thought so we have postponed the Early Access version a few months. And we would like to share some bits of the upcoming version with our community as we have changed a lot!

New UI

That's something you cannot miss. We have redesigned the whole UI not only graphically but also practically. The user experience is on another level. We added a few new panels, moved things around and also focused on how easy it is to use the control items.

System Upgrades

Another big change are the upgrades you can unlock in the Endless Mode. We called that the Research before but we have received numerous feedback on it so we have decided to change that part of the game from the scratch. While you operate the trains you are receiving the experience points (there are two types of experience points right now) that can be used to unlock various upgrades. You can unlock new buildings, upgrades to the buildings, better tracks, new types of contracts or even upgrade your dispatcher interface so you’ll have a better time doing your operation

Contracts

There’s also a significant change in the Contracts design. There was something called contract conversion - the trains that stayed on your map needed to be “re-used” with another contract that went from your map to the outside world. To break the rigid link between the converts from and converts to train, we are introducing the Coach Yard building. Once Coach Yard is unlocked, the player can build one close to each station. It accepts and stables Com and IC trains and keeps counter for each of them. If a train is present there, it can be dispatched manually according to the station’s timetable (receives standard reporting number) or as an empty coaching stock (ECS) train intended for moving the carriages between coach yards.

We will further improve the contracts that are ending on your map with the introduction of shunting in one of the future updates!

What’s the plan for Early Access?

There’s still more content to come in later updates after we release the Early Access version. Currently planned updates are:

• Shunting – trains compositions, attaching / detaching of the cars
• Freight Yard Maps – handle the incoming and outgoing freight cars
• Map events – include a random event or a story line into your maps, make them more interesting
• More unlocks in the Endless Maps

Is that all? No! That's just a list of what we will be doing right after Early Access release. There are a ton of other ideas we've been throwing around for updates later in the game's life. Most of our ideas come from the community, so feel free to pop in to our community discord server if you've got any suggestions you'd like to see happen!

Happy dispatching!

Changelog

The alpha version changelog is not complete and some features can be omitted.

New features

NEW: "Select <object>" UI component can be right-clicked to clear the value
NEW: A starting contract 803 Dejvice Bubny Dejvice is generated upon the start of Prague map
NEW: Added badge to the contracts icon
NEW: Black background & 2d lights settings available in the Options
NEW: Coach Yard added - model, building, save&load
NEW: Highlight UI items in the tutorial
NEW: Highlighting important trains in the overview panel
NEW: Hint over unavailable tracks on the platform select component
NEW: Localization: Use fallback font for Cyrrillic glyphs
NEW: New types of Y junctions possible
NEW: Options for Chromatic Aberration
NEW: Overview panel - better destination & times display
NEW: Overview panel UI introduced
NEW: Screenshot capturing added to Editor
NEW: Screenshot display added to Save List
NEW: Show trainNumber in the autoblock
NEW: Three tasks upon start of the Prague map
NEW: Timetable panel can be maximized in the Editor
NEW: Train focus toggle in train detail
NEW: Train label colors based on the action required
NEW: Train label with the destination
NEW: Train labels are properly shown for train in the Auto Block
NEW: Train name can be clicked to center the camera
NEW: Tunnel connectors are visible in the build mode
NEW: Tutorial UI panel
NEW: Tutorials got music
NEW: UI can be hidden by ALT+S. Bottom part with ALT+B
NEW: Wispa's selected icons on the train detail

Updates

UPDATE: Award research point also for the first trial train
UPDATE: Contract workflow changed: accepted contracts are added to the train waiting list
UPDATE: Don't change the price of items to locked when not available
UPDATE: Don't close the left panels while opening the station timetable
UPDATE: Don't pan the camera when building the walls in the editor while mouse button is being held
UPDATE: Even better display on train's label
UPDATE: Game in Windowed mode can be freely resized
UPDATE: Game simulation is now running at 50 UPS. This will limit the CPU usage drastically
UPDATE: Ignore a small movement when panning with the left mouse to prevent accidental camera move
UPDATE: Increased distance from station for coach yard and freight yard
UPDATE: Level uuid to existing save names for better filtering + migration of existing saves
UPDATE: Load saved on GameOver dialog
UPDATE: More granual control over sound/music volume
UPDATE: Music background play has been reworked from scratch
UPDATE: One-time IC contracts have limit for expected speed based on track speed research
UPDATE: Pause menu items swaped
UPDATE: Platform size can be changed with + / - keys in the editor
UPDATE: Red point for one-off IC
UPDATE: Remember which track speed to select when opening the build menu
UPDATE: Remove lens distortion post processing effect
UPDATE: Reorganize the automation upgrades and adjust unlock cost
UPDATE: Scroll to the bottom of scroll view when adding new station to the board and new stop to the train
UPDATE: Select station is called right after signal is selected on arrival sensor detail panel
UPDATE: Show 'No saves' label on the save list dialog
UPDATE: Show overlay when tutorial is completed
UPDATE: Show research rewards on active contracts panel
UPDATE: Show train buttons even for trains not on the board
UPDATE: Start selection the platform in the timetable editor when adding new stop
UPDATE: Station detail without `Station` word
UPDATE: Station panel is scrolling to bot when new platform for the station is added
UPDATE: Station sensor renamed to Departure sensor and Platform sensor renamed to Arrival sensor
UPDATE: Stop music when pause menu visible
UPDATE: Timetable adjusting on train detail made as button
UPDATE: Train highlight improved
UPDATE: Train label in the station improved (time of departure, color based on departure)
UPDATE: Try pixel perfect setting on the Canvas to fix the Mac missing texts issue
UPDATE: Updated font glyphs & deleted unused fonts

Fixes

FIX: All UI lists are cleared when destroying the board
FIX: Better train speed rounding
FIX: Connectors on sensors were not visible
FIX: Contracts from old saves award 1 primary research point
FIX: Contracts not generated for Endless custom maps
FIX: Custom map properly zoomed on start
FIX: Do not take input from joystics
FIX: Don't crash trains when auto accept is turned on, there are waiting trains and the time is paused
FIX: Don't deallocate path when reversing the train if not allocated
FIX: Don't switch station detail upon train click in the timeline
FIX: Dont wrap the scrolling text
FIX: Intro music volume was not updated after change in the Options
FIX: Manual signel upgrade button not visible when building is not enabled
FIX: Only first queued route of auto-signal is beeing tried to create
FIX: Pain tunnel by speed right after the build
FIX: Proper recovered cost for removing upgraded tracks & incomplete switches
FIX: Rejecting contract with train on board or waiting does not removed the train properly
FIX: Research rewards for starting contracts in Prague
FIX: Save is pausing the time
FIX: Show decimal point when building tracks
FIX: Station (departure) sensor was not run for passing trains
FIX: Station sensor can be used only with auto signals
FIX: Station sensor sprite not in active state after the load
FIX: Station sensor triggered also for stopping train when entered the platform (instead of when departing)
FIX: Stopping at semaphore = at signal
FIX: Submit a feedback redesign UI and is available under pause menu
FIX: Track speed upgrade unlocks different build option
FIX: Tutorials were not visible