Description

Iron Roads is a top-down 2D train management game for Desktop and Mobile with a focus on optimising train networks. Its minimalistic interface is well suited to setting up sprawling and complex networks, while being approachable for new players. We’re aiming for the accessibility of Mini Metro and the depth of games such as OpenTTD and Opus Magnum, while also capturing the irreverent tone of games like the Two Point series and Let's build a zoo.

The demo is available on Steam and itch.io right now. It is a slice of the game that will arrive in Early Access on 20 January 2025.

Features of Iron Roads right now

• Board game like mechanics For example, Iron Roads has resource tokens rather than money. These can be earned by growing towns or completing contracts, and need to be used strategically to expand networks and progress the game
• Procedural music Music in Iron Roads is a combination of notes generated from trains and passengers, and authored melodies. The music generated is as unique as the layouts built by players
• Performance graphs The main goal of Iron Roads is to optimise the train networks, so charts are available to analyse data relating to finances and passengers
• 3 Game modes Scenarios are hand crafted levels with unique gameplay elements; in the time-based challenges you must transport as many passengers as possible in a fixed period of time; there is also a free play mode where you can build your network and transport passengers free of any constraints

Roadmap

This is far from a complete list, but some of the more commonly requested features on our roadmap include:

• Further content: Iron Roads already has a number of hand-crafted scenarios, timed challenges and an endless mode, but we plan to expand each during Early Access
• Multiplayer
• Mod support

Iron Roads will not have:

• Buses, boats, planes or any other form of transport
• 3D graphics: our focus is on enabling players to build large networks easily, and we find 2D better for that
• NFTs, lootboxes or microtransactions

Development Background

Iron Roads is our third game, but it marks a slight change in direction as our previous titles were narrative games. This time round we were enticed by the challenge of making a strategy game with deep mechanics that does not require hours of learning to be able to get going.

We also wanted to evoke the feeling of playing a tabletop game, rather than make a realistic tycoon-type simulation game. The relatively recent addition of resource tokens has pushed Iron Roads further in this direction. Of course, we couldn't completely part with our narrative background, so we set Iron Roads in a post-human world inhabited by opinionated animals that the player must try to unite through the use of clever railroad networks.

About us

We are Marina and Duncan, a BAFTA-nominated husband-and-wife team, and we develop games and art inspired by our love for management games, literature, puzzles and travelling. While we don't have defined roles, Duncan tends to be responsible for writing the engine and game design, and Marina does the writing and illustrations. Cowleyfornia is a nickname for the area of Oxford in the UK where our little studio is based.