In the latest Trailmakers dev blog by Flashbulb Games, they cover the interesting topic regarding “realism” and “fun”. The devs discuss what players can expect when Trailmakers the game hits Early Access and how they hope the physics will turn out on release. Trailmakers is set to come out sometime in 2017 for PC via Steam Early Access.

Scrap Mechanics proved to be a very popular physics-based, vehicle building game given that on release it had very little competition and as of now allows players to build almost anything. Well, whether the devs behind Trailmakers like it or not, the upcoming game will stand to be competition to said game. However, the true question is will Trailmakers release with realistic or fun physics like Scrap Mechanics?

In addition to the above, Flashbulb Games answered the above question when a certain user by the name of Coda on the Steam Community Hub asked the following:

“What level of control should we expect? When does physics go from a matter of making something fly for the fun of it, to micro-managing attack angles and points of force as a tedium?”

Interestingly enough, the devs are still discussing the very topic on physics in Trailmakers in that they posted up this image below showing how some of the physics work in the game’s engine.

The devs later on followed the above GIF up with a bulleted list summarizing what they think is best for players when playing Trailmakers, which is that..

• It should be simple to build something basic
• It should feel satisfying to succeed in building something complex
• It’s alright if it takes a bit of experimentation before you get it right
• You have to be able to tell what is wrong when you build something that doesn’t work
• ‘Predictable’ is more important than ‘realistic’
• Complexity should be possible but optional.

In other words, the devs want Trailmakers to be plausible when in its Early Access stage rather than being realistic. The act of something being plausible allows for a player to experience a fun challenge, whilst using a bit of thinking to tinker around and fix any stifling problems in their creation(s).

Anyways, if the physics in a game are too wonky stuff like this are bound to happen…

Trailmakers is slatted to release sometime late in 2017 for PC via Steam Early Access. More info can be found on the game through the latest dev update or its main site.