Transport Fever 3 Interview – New Features, New Industries, New Environments, and More

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During the development process of Urban Games’ second sequel for their Transport Fever series, the studio’s community manager, Sam Bennett, graciously responded to some of our queries. The topics covered in his responses varied from revealing new features in Transport Fever 3, to delving deeper into aspects like how the agent-based population impacts gameplay and the distinctive challenges presented by the game’s diverse settings.

Could you tell me some of the major innovative aspects that Transport Fever 3 offers, distinguishing it from its previous versions?

How about day/night cycle, helicopters, warehousing, landmarks, contracts, player reputation…

It’s more beneficial to consider the game’s development as a whole rather than focusing on individual elements. Historically, the tycoon aspect of this game has required the most substantial improvement. While we have an engaging transport-building game, it hasn’t quite lived up to its potential as a challenging tycoon experience. To make the game enjoyable and rewarding as a tycoon, it’s essential to emphasize decision-making: choosing one option might boost profits, but it could lead to negative consequences elsewhere.

While we’ve created an engaging transport-themed construction game, it hasn’t quite lived up to the expectations of a truly challenging tycoon experience.

Our main focus when designing this game has been to create an immersive tycoon experience. However, we don’t want longtime players to feel like they’re missing out on their favorite aspects. Therefore, all the mod-support, customization, and creative build options remain in the game, with equal attention given to each feature.

As a gamer, I’ve never seen a game look this stunning, and with this newest update, I truly feel that it’s never felt this good to play too!

In what ways might certain game settings present distinctive obstacles related to organization and strategic route mapping for gamers?

In the latest game, we’re placing significant emphasis on terrain and surroundings. While our previous map generator was effective at creating diverse environments, there were noticeable patterns or repetitions among them.

In Transport Fever 3, we’ve taken a fresh approach to this aspect – a concept that keeps resurfacing throughout our design process. Rather than the map generator being engineered by our technical team, we’ve reimagined it under the guidance of our game designers.

The creation of environments now aims to accurately represent real-world geography. For instance, temperate landscapes will show mountain ranges taller than ever before, gradually giving way to open plains and forests as they approach sea level, with water bodies like rivers and lakes adhering to the laws of topographical reality. In arid environments, the nature of erosion significantly alters how mountains and rivers are depicted, reflecting the fact that erosion behaves differently in real life.

Essentially, every setting offers unique experiences. For instance, maneuvering through lowland marshes presents quite a distinct challenge compared to operating a river-adjacent transportation system. Similarly, managing a heavy freight train across a canyon is an entirely different task.

Additionally, the method used to populate each environment results in a unique blend of sub-biomes, leading to an unpredictable outcome. Consequently, three distinct sub-arctic maps will offer significantly varied atmospheres. This diversity greatly enhances the variety of gameplay challenges that players will encounter.

“The upshot is that each environment plays very differently.”

How will the new agent-based citizenry play into overall gameplay in Transport Fever 3?

In our games, we’ve consistently incorporated agent technology among the game characters, but we’ve advanced this method to create a realistic world by determining why a character would move from one location to another. If the player doesn’t offer transportation, the character will find it on their own. Initially, this may result in minimal traffic with no significant effects on the world, but as populations expand, traffic volumes rise, causing settlements to slow down in growth. To construct megacities, players must put in a lot of effort to manage the movement of those cities’ populations effectively.

How will different regions and biomes affect things like transport route maintenance?

In our previous games, we’ve primarily focused on modeling maintenance costs and aesthetics of vehicles. However, in the new game, we’ve amplified its significance by introducing performance penalties for poorly maintained vehicles. This could manifest as a decrease in load capacity, pulling power, maximum speed, or loading speed – all negatives! The strategic placement of maintenance facilities now matters more because they aren’t cheap. On tough terrains, the challenges are more about logistics than the environment itself. Instead of specific biomes requiring more maintenance, it’s more probable that maintenance becomes harder to execute effectively in varying environments.

What kinds of new industries will we get to see in Transport Fever 3?

For the first time, we’ve established offshore industries, which not only necessitate shipping for product transportation back to land, but also require workers on-site to maximize their potential – at fishing farms, sand excavation sites, and oil platforms. Time-sensitivity of goods is another important factor to consider. In the past, accumulating large quantities of goods at transit hubs was feasible, but this is no longer an option. While warehousing can provide some assistance, it’s crucial to fundamentally shift your approach to ensure swift delivery of products to their final destinations.

In this updated version of the game, we’ve expanded the number of industries that growing settlements may require. The types of industries available will vary based on the distinct environmental settings. Depending on your game map, you’ll find different industries, and some won’t be established until there’s a demand for them.

As the world undergoes transformation, it becomes crucial to adapt your strategies accordingly, since such changes significantly alter your perspective on the game in the long run.

“We’ve introduced offshore industries for the first time.”

Over time, what methods have been developed for establishing paths such as roads or train tracks within this franchise, and how have these techniques progressed?

Absolutely, our primary focus is streamlining the gaming experience by minimizing obstacles. We aim to ensure players can grasp an objective, strategize, and execute their plan efficiently without the mechanics interfering. To illustrate, imagine developing a passenger express train service between two cities. You’d need stations at both ends, tracks connecting them, capacity for multiple services, maintenance for all these services… The challenge should lie in the strategic planning of this complex system, not in the technical aspects like laying tracks, signaling, or creating junctions, parallel lines, or space for future expansion. The tools should function as an extension of your thought process as a player, not an obstacle. We succeeded in developing a range of tools to handle all these functionalities with the initial game in the series, so since then we’ve been working on making them more adaptable and, for those who prefer it, easier to use. In the new game, we’ve incorporated continuous tracklaying, allowing two-click routes, but this isn’t for everyone, so we’ve introduced it alongside the familiar options and granularity of our previous tools.

In addition, we’ve expanded the scope of road projects, offering an array of choices that will significantly enhance traffic control – a crucial aspect as we progress – and the range of light rail services has been expanded, providing more alternatives when addressing urban planning goals.

What resolution and fps will the game run on PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series S and X?

At the moment, we’re working during the alpha stage, which means we don’t have definite figures yet. However, we plan to release the game for both consoles and personal computers at the same time. Therefore, optimization is certainly a priority before we launch.

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2025-06-25 18:14