Hello, Model Trains enthusiasts!
We recently held our second devlog, and it was packed with exciting news about the future of our game, particularly focusing on how we’re building it with modding in mind from day one!
Laying the Tracks for Modding: Build Your Own Model Train Sets!
One of our biggest announcements was our early and deep commitment to modding support. Why are we focusing on this so early in development? Because we believe a game like Model Trains truly flourishes with a vibrant, creative community. By integrating modding capabilities from the very beginning, we aim to involve you, our players, in shaping the game’s evolution from the ground up, getting the modding community onboard faster.
Our approach to modding is very straightforward: we’re using the exact same content pipeline for our internal development team as we will for modders. This isn’t just a convenient feature; it’s a foundational architectural decision. This means our artists building those intricate trains and props are using the identical tools and workflows you’ll get your hands on! This ensures consistency, provides incredibly robust and battle-tested tools, and guarantees that any improvements we make internally directly benefit the modding community. This unified pipeline is how we’ve laid the strong foundation for future modding.
The technical backbone of this strategy involves Unity packages and AssetBundles. We will be providing you with a dedicated Unity package for modding, containing all our custom tools, scripts, and configurations. This comprehensive package will guide you through creating your own trains, buildings, or environmental elements, setting them up correctly, and efficiently exporting them as game-ready AssetBundles. It’s a truly shared workflow – from our studio to your desktop! We can’t wait to see the incredible content you’ll create and how this early foundation will empower your creativity.
For a quick preview, watch this YouTube video about our content modding pipeline:
Another quick update this month is our Context-aware Help system which can serve as a quick introduction to every new game feature and mods as well, when the player first interacts with them. This ensures that as the player’s worlds evolve and they use deeper and complex systems, help is always available.
Get Onboard: Calling All Playtesters!
Are you excited by the idea of creating your own content for Model Trains? We’re actively looking for enthusiastic playtesters who are eager to dive into these early modding tools and help us refine them. Your feedback will be invaluable in making this system as intuitive and powerful as possible for the wider community.
If you’re interested in being among the first to get your hands on our modding tools and contribute to the game’s development, please visit https://playmodeltrains.com to learn more about how to join our early playtesting program. We’re building this world together, piece by piece!
Watch Our Videos!
Want to catch up on our prototype and our previous updates?
- Check out our Prototype Video
- Rewatch our Last Devlog
What’s Next?
We’re incredibly excited about the foundation we’ve laid for modding in Model Trains. This represents a significant step towards a more collaborative and endlessly replayable experience. This is just the beginning, and we’ll be sharing more details, tutorials, and expanded access opportunities as development progresses.
Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you for being a part of the Model Trains journey!
Don’t forget to follow us on Social Media, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for future devlogs!
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