Credit for header screenshot goes to pouletch who grew a sandbox city to 150,000 poulation!

Hello Administrators!

My name is Daniel, the lead programmer on Railgrade. I want to give everyone a short update on what we’ve got planned for Update 7, and take the chance to highlight some of the many custom workshop maps by our community.

Our focus on Update 7 is to improve the initial player experience. Railgrade has a number of in-world settings which we presented as modifiers, or in-game mods. These let players set the difficlty and realism to match their preference. For example the no-timer mode transforms the entire experience from a real time strategy game to a classic build-at-your-pace train game. The no-ghosting modifier elimiates the controversal ghosting mechanic, which is where trains can pass through each other at the cost of speed.

Shortly after last update, and under discussion with the community, we improved Railgrade’s short description. Namely now we talk about Railgrade as a real time strategy game, which I hope communicates the skill progression and intensity aspect of playing Railgrade. In contrast in Update 7 I want to make the modifiers panel front-and-center so that players always know they can opt-out of the intense skill focus using the no-timer mode.

We are also working on expanding the industrial chains. Coming in Update 7 are new chains and a molecule! That's hydrocarbon chains and hydrogen molecules! Keep reading until the end to see a sneak peek of those.

From players who’ve exhausted the 60+ campaign missions and Sandbox we been getting requests for paid DLC. To be honest, instead of making yet another product, I’d prefer to highlight the great efforts of our community. Last update I highlighted several, and now I’d like to show off these 3. 2 of which are challenge maps by Gardlt, the ranking Railgrade speed run champ, where he pushes the limits on Railgrade’s mechanics:

By Gardlt

The high cost of labor has forced extensive unemployment. These disgruntled folks have come up with a scheme to extort you.

Can you still meet the punishing quota that Nakatani Chemicals demands?

• High labor costs: each Workhouse costs 16¥/min
  
• Extortion: represented by Import docks
  
• 128 x 128 scenic map
  
• Lean industrially, focused on economics and railroading
  
• All engines available

By Gardlt

Take charge of a frozen city and make it prosper. You will need to rely heavily on imports. There are rumors of a hot spring in the area. Help the scientists who are building mechanical deer that don't get frostbite while exploring the area.

• There are 10 industrial zones. Grow the city to get more access.
  
• Management focus. Estimated first-try playtime 3-5 hours.
  
• Recommended to play my map "1st Class Transport" before this.
  
• Elevated track is not allowed. (enables zone division).

By boss_yaakov

Paranoid of infiltrators, your city's rulers decided it was best to lock industry away on cliffs.

The worst part is, your trains are outdated and only run on steam!

NOTE: Warehouses are currently disabled for this map, until the core devs fix a bug with it. For now, you will need to be very strategic about how you export resources.

Hello Everyone,

Since we released Update #6 we've had a ton of players both new and returning. I want to thank everyone who has played Update #6 and give a special thanks to those patient players who reported issues so we could fix them.

This patch #1 to Update #6 fixes the following issues players reported:
Gameplay
Add upgrade tech for Uranium Mines and Centrifuges
Add 4 more upgrade levels for warehouses

Bugs
Fix pipes and lakes missing from campaign maps
Fix balance of micro and double docks
Fix main menu background music not respecting music volume
Fix missing localizations for new strings
Fix crash when placing warehouse in map editor
Fix demand/supply lines not rendering on long tracks
Fix uranium mines multiplying on deletion
Fix trains stuck on turnaround

Since Update #6 the community mission designers have been on a hot streak! This week along has brought a ton of high quality new maps to the workshop. Please check it all out here: https://steamproxy.net/app/1355090/workshop/

Starting with today's announcement I want to start highlighting workshop maps. These maps are not the only quality missions, but just a selection of what I think Railgrade players will enjoying playing.

A 5 Mission Mini-Campaign by momomomomomomo
"Welcome to my RG mini-campaign! You'll step into the shoes of employees at Japan's National Monster Defense Agency (NMDA)." Link to mission 1: https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3222836782
Industrial Prankster by Snek
Snek has been an active member of the Railgrade discord and developed this story driven challlenge map with feedback from other mission designers on the discord. The mission represents what I hope to see a lot more of: missions with story, challenge, and campaign-like design. Link: https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3219796239
Nuclear mayhem by Tram-Train
Tram-Train is another active member of the discord and his work in progress Nuclear Mayhem is another campaign-like stand alone story mission. I want to thank him for pushing the mission design community further and giving feedback to other designers. Link
: https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3220117106
PS: Credit to 102_Ruby on the Railgrade Discord for this update's cover photo. He really pushed the limits on Railgrade's city growth!

Hello Administrators!

Thank you for reading and playing our game! My name is Daniel and I’m excited to show off our many new additions to Railgrade we’ve launched today in Update #6. Our goal this Update was to expand Sandbox mode and give it more choices and a high tier goal to work towards.

We’ve also implemented a couple super requested features you can leverage in both campaign and sandbox, so keep reading!


Nuclear Production Chain
Need an absolute ton of energy to catalyze your economy? Consider the Nuclear Powerplant production chain. These giant powerplants are expensive but produce energy using Centrifuge refined Uranium Ore.
Minimap
Now you see the entire map at once in Sandbox. Clicking on a position will pan your camera over to the destination. Industry, Resource Desposits, and Track are highlighted on the map.
Microdocks & Double Docks
In Sandbox export docks are limited in how much freight they can handle in a minute. Therefore we've added two new docks to allow you better optimization when picking a dock in your export chain.
Wait until full and Wait until empty Station Behaviour
Players have long requested the ability to tune the behaviour of trains at stations. Now you can!
Warehouses!
Next up, and perhaps our most requested feature: Warehouses! Use these to store excess freight or transfer freight between main lines and branch lines.
Check out the full change log below to see even more features & Fixes. Thank you for playing our game!

v6.0.56.1 Update #6
Features
Add Warehouse building for storing and transferring freight

Sandbox Features
Add Minimap to sandbox mode
Add Nuclear Powerplant
Add Uranium Mine & Ore
Add Centrifuge
Add Double sized Zeppelin Dock
Add Micro sized Zeppelin Dock

Gameplay
Increase the distance between lit-up arrows in the train path animation
Double max zoom distance in sandbox
Make max track count unlimited on PC
Add click & pan to overworld
Add optional stop and wait behavior for stations

UI
Add level name to pause screen
Move region save away from checkpoint store option in pause menu
Display researched status on tech tree as text
Add tech preselection in tech tree before research switching

Bugs
Fix negative profits locking deposits in the bank
Fix zooming being instant at low frame rates
Fix main menu background music not looping
Fix campaign maps being editable in map editor
Fix asynchronous asset loading crashing on some PCs
Fix music skipping mid song when menu sfx played
Fix achievements not unlocking on Mac
Fix crash in steam terraforming missions on Switch

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for so many players trying out our sandbox mode! And thank you for the feedback and bug reporting! This minor patch is meant to quickly address several issues players have raised, and features requested.


The headline for a number of players is you can now delete sandbox save files from within the save file list. Please be careful, as while there is a confirmation dialog once you delete a save it truly is deleted. Remember, you can always make new backup sandbox saves using pause menu's "Save to New File" action.



Next, by player request: the Bank is now a researchable tech. Select it from the tech tree as a tier 1 tech. Once unlocked you can purchase a single Bank for 512yen. Fear not, the Bank will instantly allow you to borrow the regular amount. That 512yen is merely the cost of the branch office, not the Bank's working capital.


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


v5.1.55.2 Update #5 Patch #1
Gameplay

• Add Bank as unlockable in sandbox tech tree

UI

• Add deleting from sandbox save file list

Bugs

• Fix overly aggressive tree and track LODs on 512x512 sized maps
  
• Fix rocket related buildings not buildable in sandbox mode
  
• Fix christmas music using sfx and not music volume setting
  
• Fix background music occasionally resetting on menu opening
  
• Fix sandbox saves not being synced
  
• Fix crash on win11 caused by pak precaching
  
• Fix track refund money multiplication glitch

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Greetings Administrators and Railroad Engineers,

RAILGRADE needs you! Yes you! To nominate Nakatani's finest music selection for the rightful Steam Award.

Remember the deep bass drop of the main menu? Remember the roar of victory!

Please consider nominating RAILGRADE for Steam Award's Best Soundtrack category.

Daniel
Lead Programmer on RAILGRADE

Hello Everyone!

We are proud to announce that Update #4 with its in-game Map Maker and Steam Workshop support is out now!

This is a big personal milestone for me, and a point of pride for the team. For me, I've worked on many games before Railgrade. Each time the topic releasing a map maker came up but producers shot down the idea. Now that we're in full control, we've made this map maker a high priority. And now you can us it!

But not just any map maker. This map maker is in-game, you can launch it from the Custom Maps menu from the main menu. This same Custom Maps menu lets you download & play maps from the Steam Workshop, edit your own maps, and even upload to Steam Workshop.

As part of this work we've polished up our internal map editor. We've added a thumbnail screenshot taking function, streamlined the controls, translated everything. We've debugged and smoothed the rough edges. If you've enjoyed Railgrade please do consider making your own map. You should find the tooling easy to use and publish, much easier than the modding tools we had as kids.

Daniel

PS: If you wish to share maps with friends privately, or share your map on our discord so non-Steam players can get it, we've added an export map function too.

Hello Everyone,

This patch was a bit unplanned. Our intention was to go straight from Patch #2 to Update #4, but Valve gave as the honor of a verification pass. After some iteration and improvements to meet their standards bar I am proud to announce that Railgrade is now Steamdeck verified!

Changelog wise nothing major to announce. The changes were all User Interface related to ensure text was readable but menus did not overflow. The important bit is Railgrade should now show up in your Steamdeck's verified tab.

Daniel

Hello Everyone!

My name is Daniel. I am the lead programmer on Railgrade. I want to introduce this patch by saying every task, fix, change, or improvement, was motivated or suggested by player feedback. Every day I wake up, check your comments, reply when possible, and make tickets. Those tickets then feed into our work over the past two weeks.

This patch is meant to improve the early game experience, address as many quality of life requests as possible, and fix the high priority crashes and glitches players reported.

What might be most exciting: we've committed to launching Map Maker with Steamworks Integration on November 21st. All to work towards making Sandbox as big as possible!

Daniel

Features

• Add branch direction hotkeys on pc
  
• Make main menu song unlockable
  
• Add option to disable screen edge scrolling

Regions

• Add 2 new large free form missions which skip the tutorials

Gameplay

• Make loaded trains take priority over empty trains
  
• Remove hold & press requirement for tutorial dialog skipping
  
• Speed up Tutorial 2 by removing basic WASD tutorial sections

UI

• Make city level up cutscene wait until player has not performed actions for several seconds
  
• Add input bindings for horizontal rotation
  
• Make Overworld panning go faster when moving with momentum
  
• Make it possible to pan while industry or train are selected
  
• Make zeppelin pause during pause menu
  
• Improve translations for traditional and simplified chinese achievements
  
• Remove hotkey input guide from settings screen
  
• Add titlebar to window during windowed graphic mode
  
• Improve contrast of mouse cursor on Arctic maps

Bugs

• Disable Raw USB inputs to prevent flight sticks and racing rigs from stealing input
  
• Add deadzone to analog stick inputs before switching to controller mode
  
• Fix typo in loading screen jokes
  
• Make industry build menu evaluate buildability upon menu open not level load
  
• Stop Tooltip from overlaying tutorial window
  
• Fix windows desktop shortcut icon being low resolution
  
• Fix DPI scaling mouse cursors under sized for the scale
  
• Remove Emoji from short description

Crash Fixes

• Fix crash reported by some Windows 11 Pro players
  
• Fix GPU glitch reported by M1 Mac players
  
• Fix crash reported by Intel Mac players