How to create an exciting puzzle: Railbound, a train on a winding journey

Hello! My name is Luke and I’m here to tell you about our latest game – Rail bounda cozy puzzle game about a couple of dogs on a train trip around the world.

On the right way

To move forward railbound, Players must place, reroute, and remove rail links to allow rail cars to be safely connected to the locomotive while maintaining the correct order. The difficulty comes from the fact that you can only use a limited number of tracks in each level, and also from the fact that we gradually introduce new mechanics and reinforce them with later puzzles.

In order to achieve an optimal experience, we test the game at a very early stage. For example, we recognized early on that players would have a hard time understanding that they could change the direction of already placed trains without removing them, which led us to add special puzzles focused only on this aspect.

Another example could be that in early development, the original direction of the wagons wasn’t visible enough for players to know which direction they were going – which is why we included animated arrows in front of them to alleviate this issue. These features have been redesigned through extensive testing so that we can make the first gameplay experience as enjoyable as possible.

Almost everyone on our team was involved in developing puzzles Railbound This represents a unique opportunity as all members have a slightly different approach to creating new levels. For example, I tend to focus more on the unexplored design space between mechanics (what interactions haven’t been covered in existing puzzles?) as well as on player familiarization (in what order do we teach the mechanics? Is the pace of the tutorial too slow?). or too fast?). Meanwhile, other team members could pursue other aspects, such as “levels that look nice and symmetrical” or “let’s just make a really brutal puzzle,” adding an interesting balance to the endgame.

connecting the world

In our previous titles – in bento And golf tips – We’ve always struggled to include bonus puzzles that are fun for more experienced players but don’t cause frustration for those looking for a more casual gaming experience.

Therefore in railbound, We’ve divided our 200+ puzzles into “Basic” and “Bonus” levels, which are linked together on the world map. The first type are levels that need to be completed in a linear manner and we usually use them to teach mechanics that you will need on your journey. Also, for solving all the basic puzzles in a given world, you will get a cute illustration with our in-game mascots! (And yes, you may pet the dogs).

Bonus levels present similar but more complex challenges, often designed as a variation or extension of the base levels. Very often these extra levels were actually designed first, but after realizing they were a bit too challenging (yet interesting enough), we designed easier versions of them to serve as the base puzzles. It often turns out that solving a single tile in a level or removing a piece of railroad can make the solution much, much harder!

Our goal is for most players to focus on the main path; But if you ever need an extra challenge or can’t find a way to beat a base level, feel free to check out the bonus levels too!

trains for everyone

As already mentioned, we have a big focus on Rail bound made sure all players can enjoy the experience; That’s why we’ve added a number of accessibility features to accommodate all types of gamers.

First of all, at the beginning of the game you can decide to unlock every single level Rail bound and skip any puzzle that seems too tedious for you. This also comes in handy for anyone who wants to continue playing on another device…or who may have lost save data due to a younger sibling.

If skipping puzzles seems like too much for you, we have an optional hint system that suggests placing some tokens in the current level without spoiling the whole solution.

We hope you will enjoy playing Rail bound and our other puzzle titles – we’ve put our hearts and souls into them and will continue to do so in the future.