All Aboard! The Train Defense Express is a train-themed game that mixes tower defense and survivor-type gameplay with idle/clicker casual simplicity. The goal of the game is to survive against endlessly spawning hordes of orcs. Buy 3 of the same type of train carriage to upgrade it to the next level.
Store page
- Steam (demo available): Save 25% on All Aboard! The Train Defense Express on Steam
- itch (web demo available): All Aboard! The Train Defense Express by likadev
Game Development Information
The game was developed using a custom build of Godot v4.4.1 and was done with about 90% GDScript, 10% C++ code. I compile the engine myself with my C++ code as a custom third-party module. Most of the C++ code is from a custom-made infinitely scaling integer class and certain high-frequency calculation pathways such as damage per second and gold per second meters.
I adapted the BigCat BigNumber library into a C++ RefCounted module so that I could have infinitely scaling integers in my game. The maximum gold limit is 9.999999 x 10^72. Doing calculations at that range can easily cause performance issues even on a good computer, so I wouldn’t dare raise it much higher.
I started development in November 2024, got a working demo in time for Steam’s February NextFest, and released into Early Access in early March. The game got a very good sized audience, especially from the Korean community. I decided to do a “release a major patch every 3 weeks” schedule until the summer sale started, which is where 1.0 would be released. Giving myself non-stop crunch time for 3 months was, in hindsight, pretty stupid, so there was a lot of 14-hour days that went on for weeks at a time.
A friend of mine helped with some of the relic, boon, and achievement icons, but most of the art was either from itch.io or done by me. I’m not an artist, if you can’t tell. The sound effects were 100% generated from Bfxr, and the music was licensed from various places. Check the in-game Credits if you want to know more.
I’m pleased to say that the game is a financial success and enjoys a good review rating on Steam! The next step is a mobile release for Android and iOS. I already have it running fine on Android, but it’ll take a lot of work to get everything looking correct. In hindsight, I definitely should have designed every bit of the UI around mobile early on, since I’ll have to redo every screen to make it look good on smart phones, but I didn’t have much time during development for some reason.
In my future projects, I want to work on making appealing, attractive user interfaces.
Thanks for checking the game out! If it interests you, give it a try.
- Likadev