RailDit!
Unleash your inner planner on Raildit, the cosy railway network simulator on Reddit! Compete against others on the daily leaderboard for the highest score! Unlock new trains, trophies and flairs as you continue your daily streak! Build your own maps to challenge others! Presented in cosy 3D graphics, all within Reddit. Play anywhere - desktop, tablets, and even on mobile!
Tutorial is available in-game by clicking the '?' button
Inspiration
I have long been fascinated by trains, and by extension, railway network simulation games like Transport Fever and Cities in Motion. This inspired me to consider: how can we spread the joy of such games to more players in a bite-sized, puzzle-like social format, easily accessible through Reddit? That's how Raildit was born.
What it does
A new map every day!
A new map gets posted to RailDit every day! Navigate challenging maps with rivers, mountains and lakes, balance passenger and freight demands, and strategically place tracks, sidings and manage different train models. Build the rail network of your dreams!
Shape the region!
Provide towns with railway service and watch them grow!
Serve stations in time, or they will close!
Unlock new trains!
Play RailDit daily to unlock new trains to upgrade your gameplay! Longer daily streaks, more trains!
Earn special flairs and trophies!
Discuss solutions and compete for first place!
Compete with other Redditors for the highest score! Will you run less trains to save money, or try to move as many passengers as possible? Discuss solutions in the comments, or brag about it with gorgeous generated postcards of your rail network!
Watch others' replays to see how they solved it!
User Generated Content - create your own maps!
Create bespoke, amazing challenge maps with interesting geography, town placement, and more! Watch other players tackle it and try to beat your creation!
Play anywhere!
RailDit is optimised to work on laptops, desktops, tablets and phones, so you can bring the Reddit railway-building fun with you everywhere you go!
How we built it
RailDit is built on Reddit's Devvit platform, utilising Reddit's native social features such as comments and user flairs to build engagement and a sense of ownership. Players can post new maps with bespoke challenges, or a playthrough they felt particularly proud of.
For 3D graphics, we use Three.js and WebGL, ensuring wide compatibility on a huge variety of devices. We built custom systems for superimposing rail lines on the map, passenger and freight simulation, and many bespoke animations for town growth and lighting to add realism to the mini world.
Challenges we ran into
Game Design - The largest challenge was making a transport simulation feel approachable in a few seconds. Railway games can become complicated quickly, so we focused on one expressive action: drawing a line. The depth, such as rush-hour demand, freight routes, terrain costs, congestion, and passing sidings, reveals itself naturally as players get more accustomed to the gameplay.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Social Railway Puzzles - We managed to bring the railway network simulator genre into a bite-sized social format, while keeping the satisfying planning, town growth, passenger demand and freight logistics that make these games fun!
What we learned
Dream Big - Building a complete 3D railway simulator seemed like a huge undertaking at first, especially with the graphics programming, simulation systems and asset sourcing involved. Amazing free resources from Kenney, generous audio creators and 3D artists on Sketchfab helped make RailDit possible!
What's next for RailDit!
An improved economy system, more bespoke scenarios such as cleaning up an existing overcrowded railway network, and much more, are in the works! Stay tuned!
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