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Belight Software takes a chance on gaming with Rails at Macworld 2013
Belight Software was showing off one of the few games on the floor of Macworld 2013 last week. The company usually makes utility apps, but just recently released its first game, called Rails, available on the iPad right now. The game is kind of a personal project for the devs -- they were big fans of an old DOS game called Short Line Express, and decided to make a game like that for the iPad. I found the game relatively similar to Matt Rix's game Trainyard, though it doesn't have that title's abstract feel. Instead, it's a little more straightforward -- you have a series of guidelines around each stage that you can draw tracks on, and then trains come out of different colored stations, and need to be delivered to stations of the same color. Trainyard's complexity came in its tracks, but Rails' complexity comes with its trains: Each one has a different ability that has to be either used or dealt with in a certain way as you guide them home. The game starts out simply, with the player just hitting switches and drawing tracks as needed. But things get very complicated. All trains will crash if they hit each other (except for bumper trains, which have the special ability of just reversing when they hit another train), but there are also trains like Kamikaze trains, which will do their best to drive towards other trains, or longer snake trains which are tougher to maneuver around, or trains that need to be kept on the track for as long as possible, or cleared through the station quickly. With all of these various elements, the game can get quite frantic, asking the player to switch trains and cars quickly after a while. Rails is a "project of interest" for Belight -- the company generally sticks with (and is happy with) utility apps, but the team obviously has a drive to make this one. It's done alright so far, according to the company's rep, and there's a Mac version coming to the Mac App Store as well. In the future, Belight is planning to add some features into this one, including the oft-requested ability to delete tracks. The rep also told us at Macworld that they may put some related games together for it as well, or the team may choose to create some other games. It's an interesting strategy -- the team is simply chasing their passions with this game, and it definitely shows.
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Process
Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We at Joystiq believe no one deserves to starve, and many indie developers are entitled to a fridge full of tasty, fulfilling media coverage, right here. This week, Denis Tambovcev of Russian developer TrainYard Interactive asks for 20 minutes of your time with his free game, Process, and all you have to do is step foot on a speeding train bound for certain disaster. Interested? What's your game called and what's it about?The game is called Process. It's a game project in the adventure genre; its story takes place in several subway train cars. In 20 minutes a disaster will happen -- the train will jump the tracks at full speed. The gameplay takes exactly the time designated before the crash. During this period in grim, dimly lit interiors, combining cyberpunk and industrial aesthetics, the player is to figure out the situation, try all possible means of rescue and in the end take a brand new look at the portrayed events. It's a game about predetermination of events and the subjectiveness of perception of the surrounding world.Technologically it's a classic first-person adventure: panoramic locations with the capability of free, 360-degree view and discreet movement between the panoramas through a point-and-click interface.
The amazing and humble success story behind iPhone game Trainyard
Going from the barebones outline seen above to the top of the iTunes App Store in approximately 16 months, Matt Rix's Trainyard is a runaway success. Rix details the game's development -- and astronomical sales -- on his blog, showing its humble beginnings scribbled in a notepad, development delays due to his other job (he developed Trainyard at home in his personal time), and how the birth of his son allowed him to finish the game last May. He also delves into the relatively small amount of money he made from Trainyard early on, and how offering a free version of the game (Trainyard Express) dramatically drove sales. "I released Trainyard Express on September 30th ... A day later, an editor at a prominent Italian blog discovered the game and wrote a fantastic article about it. The game shot up the Italian charts and quickly became the #1 free app in Italy, netting 22,795 downloads in its first day at #1. Along with the Express downloads, the paid sales in Italy also started getting higher, and within a day of reaching #1, I had beaten my single-day launch profit record of $140 with $240 in a single day. It was awesome to know that the up-sell was working." More importantly, however, word started spreading of the train-based puzzle game and soon the free version was charting in the UK. So much so, in fact, that Apple contacted Rix to feature his game in the iTunes paid apps list -- he describes the effect it had by saying, "It's like winning a lottery, but a lottery where you work really really hard to buy your ticket." Most recently, Rix has dropped the price of Trainyard "for a short time" to $.99 (from $2.99), resulting in his game beating out Angry Birds for the number two spot in the US. Perhaps fittingly, Rix even has a humble reaction to the monstrous success of his recent sale: "Mission accomplished." Head over to Rix's blog entry for his far more thorough account (not to mention an adorable picture of his baby son -- congrats, Matt!), and check out Trainyard in action after the break or head to iTunes to pick it up.
Trainyard's tale on the App Store
About four days ago, I was sitting in a waiting room about to board a train. Bored, and a little restless, I pulled out my iPhone 3G to take a look at the App Store and see if there was anything new that I could download to kill some time. Recently, I'd almost given up on visiting the App Store. With the frustrating performance of my 3G, downloading apps and using them had become more of an endured task than a pleasure. But, on this particular day, I went straight to the UK free download charts hoping for a gem. My eyes immediately scouted the star ratings, and I was quickly drawn to an app that I'd never seen before called Trainyard Express. I think, at the time, the app had a four star rating, well above some of its contemporaries that were similarly placed on the chart. Skipping over the blurb and taking a quick look at the pictures, I thought, this could be a game I actually might enjoy. I like puzzles, and I like trains. So, since I was about to get on one, I downloaded the app. To say the least, I was truly surprised at what a fantastic game I had found. I was totally engrossed for the duration of my journey, not to mention repeatedly returning to the game in the coming days. I enjoyed it so much that I got my wife to download it, too. Why was I so pleased with the game? Two major things struck me. The first being that I was bowled over by how good the game actually is. To me, it's engrossing, looks great, and is a pleasure to play. And secondly, I was delighted to have downloaded a game for free that has so much to offer. That is such a rarity these days that it only reinforced my positive perception of the game. On Tuesday, Matt from Struct.ca, the developer of the game, posted the story (so far) of Trainyard. Matt explains the journey he went through in developing the game as well as the highs and lows of getting Trainyard discovered on the App Store. Since I enjoyed discovering the game for myself so much, it's particularly interesting to read Matt's story of Trainyard being discovered. So, grab a cup of coffee and take five to read the blog post here. Then, go and try the free version of Trainyard Express for yourself. If you like that, go and download the paid version at just £0.59 - I just did. You can catch a demo video after the break.
