- DevLog #8 - Game Modes - 9 August 2026
Hello Conductors! In this small update, I would like to explain the game modes. Given the demo feedback, I’ve decided to implement 3 modes + the tutorial mode. In Casual/Relax Mode, you have the freedom to just drive the train in any way you want, without time constraints, events or penalties. This is meant for those who just want to relax while enjoying the sights of our retro lines. In Regular/Normal Mode, you have the actual gameplay challenges but with a more forgiving ruleset, including bigger allowance and time limits. It’s the middle term between pure relaxing and hardcore train driving. In Professional Mode, the challenges are real and very difficult. You must master the line, events, driving and stopping to finish the course. It is meant to please those in search of a realistic train experience. In Tutorial Mode, you will learn the basics of the gameplay with a guided instructi…
- Retro Rail: Japan! - 8 July 2026
Hello, conductors! It’s been sometime after the Steam Next Fest event, and I believe it’s a good time to talk back to our community. First and foremost, thank you for all the support. It was the sheer amount of awesome people sending messages from all sources that kept me going during the wild and tough ride following the demo release. It is because of it that I decided to maintain and complete the project. As you can see, a few things have indeed changed, not because of the haters, but to maintain the game in a healthy and safe path of development. We are now called Retro Rail: Japan! We’ve updated the title, trailer, screenshots, demo and UI of the game, while maintaining the core gameplay intact. As promised, there will be more UI presets and customization within each, so do not worry if you are not yet 100% onboard with the new designs. The demo has been updated, all of the placehol…
- A Difficult Update Regarding Retro Rail GO! - 17 June 2026
First of all, I would like to thank all of you who have been following our game ever since I’ve started these DevLogs. The past few days have been a rollercoaster of emotions for me. The amount of visibility the Steam Next Fest gave my tiny project has been insane. We jumped from 700 wishlists to almost 2.000 in a matter of 48 hours. We got featured in 4 big gaming news websites (Retro Gamer, Time Extension, GameSpark.jp and DenfaminicoGamer.jp) with a great reception and praise, as well as on X/Twitter to which I cannot thank enough. I never expected RRG to reach these heights and reach so many people. Unfortunately, there is also a big sad side to the story, which has been many people complaining about the game being a rip-off, clone and even wishing japanese companies to sue me and take the project down. Naturally, this has saddened me to an extreme, and I am honestly considering giv…
- DevLog #7 - DEMO OUT NOW! - 5 June 2026
After many months of hard work, our demo and trailer are finally out!Check it on our Steam page and have fun!Share with all your conductor friends! Thank you all for the feedback and support!
- DevLog #6 - Itch.io Demo V2 Update! - 3 April 2026
Hey everyone, A massive thank you to all of you who took the time to play the itch.io demo and share your thoughts. Your feedback has been absolutely crucial for tweaking the mechanics, fixing bugs, and pushing development forward. Here's the link! We’ve just pushed a fresh update to the itch.io build based on your input. To keep things simple, here are the major changes and additions you can expect when you jump back into the conductor's seat:New Content & Environment Polish: The route is expanding! We've added the new Ayukai-Koguwa section and cleaned up the world rendering, specifically fixing the bridge model gap and an extensive patch of forest.Gameplay & Systems Overhaul: Driving should feel much more responsive and dynamic. We've introduced a new event system to handle station signals, horns, and max speed areas. We've also implemented an emergency brake, rebalanced notch power f…
- DevLog #5 - Itch.io Demo is out! - 11 March 2026
Hello everyone!I’m happy to share that the very first playable Retro Rail GO! Demo is now live on Itch.io. Here's the link! This is a very small, simple, and still quite rough early demo. It features one line, three stops, and the core gameplay loop — just enough to start giving everyone a first taste of the game and, most importantly, to begin gathering feedback from the community. To keep this build focused, I removed features that were still too incomplete or unpolished. The goal here is not to present a full or highly refined experience yet, but to put something in players’ hands early and learn from it. At this stage, I would love feedback on anything and everything, but especially on:Art styleLevel designOverall feel and atmosphereUI readability and presentationGeneral gameplay impressions This demo also includes UI preset customization and weather customization, so you can try a…
- DevLog #4 - New Schedule - 18 February 2026
Hi everyone! It's been a while since our last DevLog, so let's get started! Since then, I have been working hard to get the trailer and the demo out for the Steam Next Fest, and made big leaps towards a more polished version for everyone to try. Unfortunately, due to some personal time constraints, I was not able to finish them on time for this event. Not all is lost, since 1) I'll make an Itch.io demo live soon, so everyone will still get to try RRG and 2) We'll actually partake on the June Steam Next Fest and 3) We'll release into Early Access right after the Steam Train Fest, in July. With this schedule in mind, I believe I'll be able to output the deserved quality, features and polish that the community deserves!As always, I would like to leave you with some visuals of the progress made so far! This is the evaluation and replay screen, showing where you managed to stop your train an…
- DevLog #03 - A Few Setbacks + Steam Next Fest! - 1 December 2025
Hi everyone! From the beginning of the development of RRG, two main "systems" were absolutely core to the game: the line (or spline) that conducts the rail building and gameplay; and the shaders that make the game have the retro look and feel. Without these 2, the game could not naturally be done. Well... Both of them had to be completely replaced! And this became quite a setback, as I was about to release the first internal testing version. This happened because the two systems I was using were discontinued a while ago, and since we are using a newer version of the Unity engine, I eventually ran into issues that broke the building process. Not all is lost! It took almost a month, but now we are back on track - literally! I'm happy to share that our demo will be taking part on the very next Steam Next Fest! You'll have the chance to play Retro Rail GO! and give your precious feedback at…
- DevLog #2 - Customizable UI - 20 October 2025
Hi, everyone! It's been a while since our first DevLog, but work continues on developing Retro Rail GO! This time, I would like to explain and show a bit of our customizable UI! Building a nostalgic "driven" game lead me to understand that different players had different preferences in regards to UI, depending on which game they used to play in the good old days. So, instead of settling for a single gameplay UI standard, I have decided to have a few presets, from which you can further customize the location, visibility and style of each element. In the GIF below, you can see 3 presets: classic, cabin and modern - each deriving from a different era of train simulators. Thanks for reading this far! See you soon!
- DevLog #01 - Hello and Thank You! - 2 August 2025
Hi everyone! I would like to start this very first DevLog by thanking the 150 wishlists across the globe! The reception of Retro Rail GO! was way bigger and more positive than I could ever hope for! I'm really glad that you have liked this small passion project of mine and hope to make it as fun, nostalgic and good looking as you deserve it so! Now, to proper "devlogging": The current focus has been to polish and finalize the core section of our first line located in Chiba Prefecture. With the help of satellite images and user's videos, I'm able to reproduce a retro version of the railway's surroundings, placing houses, buildings, roads and trees along the route. It is indeed a bit time consuming, but the visual component of the game deserves as much attention as possible, so the final experience feels authentic. Below is an image example of the ongoing process: In parallel, work has al…
