That’s always a problem with early access games. Again and again, they leave players dissatisfied because they have set themselves too ambitious goals, fail to communicate adequately with the community, or the development is not progressing fast enough.
The unusual train building game Sweet Transit is trying to set a good example for early access even before its release. After a free demo was available for the Steam Next Fest, the developer has now in one detailed blog entry explains how he intends to respond to the most important wishes and criticisms of the players. 12 specific changes are planned or already implemented.
Here’s what you need to know about Sweet Transit
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Sweet Transit is a city building strategy and railroad sim rolled into one!
Sweet Transit combines city building elements with a complex railway simulation. In the course of the game you build several villages that can only be supplied with trains. That’s why you build an initially simple but steadily growing railway line to transport the required goods and workers back and forth.
You have to cleverly use the available space to plan efficiently functioning stations and routes. You can also build your trains as needed and adapt them with different types of wagons and locomotives.
If you haven’t heard of Sweet Transit before, take a look at our preview as well:
Sweet Transit
The Factorio for peace-loving railway enthusiasts
By the way, Sweet Transit comes from the solo developer Ernestas Norvaisas, who previously worked on the Steam hit Factorio. This is clearly evident in Sweet Transit’s signal system, which Factorio players will almost feel at home with. Our detailed GameStar test also tells you what has made Factorio so successful.
That will change before the release
The mixture of city building and railway sim was pretty well received by the players as a closed beta and also as a demo in early June. Nevertheless, there was of course also criticism and requests for improvement. We would like to briefly summarize what is to change before the release on July 28th or shortly thereafter. For the sake of clarity, we have divided the changes into 3 categories.
accessibility
The clarity of the menus is still to be worked on.
- Started: Several changes have been implemented to make it easier for beginners to understand the game. For example, there is now automatic advice on the use of buildings and certain wagons. In addition, you can now see which train is blocking a route. Recently, it has also been made possible to store trains in the depot.
- Error Messages: If you are unable to construct a building in a certain location, the reason for this is now clearer.
- Menus: We are still working on the display and organization of menus. Various statistics displays and an overview of unlockable buildings and trains are planned for the first Early Access update.
route planning
Routing and route planning take up most of your time in Sweet Transit.
- rail network: In Sweet Transit, the construction of a railway network is based on its division into sections by means of signals. Normally a track segment can only be occupied by one train, which can be impractical in some cases. Therefore, the sections are now split at places that cannot be equipped with signals. This should enable more efficient use of the route.
- Wait conditions: When planning a new route, you can specify what your train should wait for at a scheduled stop. Since it makes no sense to drive to a station without a waiting condition, a default waiting condition is now automatically added when planning a route. In addition, there are other new waiting conditions.
- Train stations: Your stops will experience several changes at once. Your dwellers will now actually migrate to one of their village’s stations instead of just being available there. In addition, stations are automatically named after the local industry or the name of the village when they are built. Finally, if possible, routes are adjusted by themselves if you tear off a stop.
- pathfinding of the trains: Your trains will now recalculate their route if their destination station is occupied by another train.
- signals: As already mentioned, signals play a major role in your railway traffic. There are now new setting options for the request signals, which only allow a train to pass under certain conditions.
Construction
Your initially humble villages grow into cities as the game progresses.
- building distances: Industrial buildings can only be built at certain distances from each other in Sweet Transit. This distance is now defined by a square instead of a circle around the building. So you should be able to use the available space more efficiently.
- Decorations: All decorative buildings no longer need a road connection. The decoration system is to come later
more tactical
while for now you just need to build enough decorations. - residential buildings: Residents now store the goods they need right in their house. It should be possible to only supply villages with imports. Before that, the goods were stored in the corresponding production buildings.
- Production building: Coal mines, sawmills and other industrial buildings can now be disabled to save on operational costs or manpower.
Have you played the Sweet Transit demo or even participated in the closed beta? What do you think of the intended changes? Write us your opinion in the comments!
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