Steam Century: Studio 346 shows off the planned attention to detail of its multiplayer steam engine simulation for the first time

Studio 346 has publicly shown for the first time in a video what the game development team at Century of Steam will be claiming (we’ve reported). The video was previously viewable to supporters and recipients. So it shows the state of development about four weeks ago.

Obviously, the development team wants to pay special attention to the correct implementation of steam whistles. 60 steam whistles are planned for the game. Each has its own graphic design, sound, and sometimes quirks that it has. This indicates the approximate number of locomotives that will be incorporated into the game, even if Studio 346 does not explicitly mention the exact number.

In order to properly display the sounds, Studio 346 developed a special system that correctly simulates the sound in the game world without having to rely on recordings.

In other words: if you’re trained to kiss, you’ll be able to identify other tugs in the distance by their sound in multiplayer. In addition, the environment is taken into account. In a valley, for example, there can be strong echoes, which Mark “Hayes” Hopper also demonstrates in the game.

By the way, at least in passing, the rendering quality that Unreal Engine 5 will offer is demonstrated in Century of Steam. Although nothing was moving except for a few steam whistle arms and some tracking shots, a certain degree of detail could already be seen. This is especially true of mountainous terrain. Buildings, path construction and the like are not yet visible.

Online railways with better communication

Meanwhile, Railroads Online, a major competitor, is showing the first signs of a different outreach. The RRO Team is becoming more transparent on the Steam forum. Gadirol also has it The developer was interviewed at Gamescom. Accordingly, it is scheduled for completion in 2024. The game should also include other industries such as cattle ranching and the only network code that was previously mildly running in Railroads Online should be improved.

So far they have clients Big problems with rubber bands. The wagons then navigate the train formed by the other players, and sometimes the trains move as if by magic, though the server doesn’t know about it. It can be very difficult for other players to get on a locomotive at all, since the visible position of the locomotive on the client does not match the actual position on the server.

The game is in early access and playable in principle, but the multiplayer part in particular requires great adaptability from players in network sessions, for example when a player on a server has to rush to the aid of other players when locomotives suddenly disappear. Without workarounds, this is not currently possible in multiplayer mode. However, in single player mode, Railroads Online is easy to play, albeit quite complex.

Century of Steam was ultimately born out of dissatisfaction with the development of Railroads Online. The next few months will show if Railroads Online can maintain its development lead with the help of new publisher Asstragon.