Game Modes
There are five game modes and five difficulties available: Endless, Versus, Quick, Sandbox and Time. All game modes can be played either locally or online. In local lobbies, players can start a game by themselves and will be given a robot lackey if the player is alone in the session. The robot can be commanded by holding up a paddle of the action they wish the robot to take.
Modes
Endless
In endless, the players begin in the Grass biome and have to progress as far as they can. At each map segment, they can either complete the train track to the station on the right or build at the map border. If they build at the border, the station disappears and the next segment flies in. If they build to the station, they enter the shop mode. In both cases, the train increases its speed.
At the station, the players can use Bolts to upgrade their train or to buy a new engine. When buying a new engine, the next map segment progresses to the next biome and the train speed resets to a lower value.
Endless mode can be won by collecting all special bolts (one per biome) and upgrading the engine six times.
Versus
In versus, 2-4 players pick sides (Top or Bottom; Team 1 or Team 2) in a 2v2 map. The players start in a random biome (depending on the difficulty) and are generated identical maps in a split-screen style fashion. This is less than half the width of in the other game modes such that it fits on a single screen. The goal is to outrun the opposite team by either connecting first to the station or by surviving longer than the opponent team or (in case both trains crash at the same time) by crashing further to the right.
Versus can only be played with at least two players (one on each side). If a team has only one player, the robot is substituted as the second and can be commanded by the (single) player in the same team.
Note that not all biomes appear on all difficulties:
- * Easy: Plains, Desert
- * Medium: Plains, Desert, Snow
- * Hard, Extreme: Plains, Desert, Snow, Lava
Quick
In quick, the players start in a random biome (depending on the difficulty) and have to build only to the next station in the shortest time possible. The train has one random additional wagon and the an upgrade-crate on the map can be picked up and placed on any wagon to upgrade it mid-game.
Note that not all biomes appear on all difficulties:
- * Easy: Plains, Desert
- * Medium: Plains, Desert, Snow
- * Hard, Extreme: Plains, Desert, Snow, Lava, Space, Mars
Sandbox
In sandbox, the players directly start in a configuration station (similar to the shop in endless) where they can detach and attach wagons from the set of all previously seen wagons. Also the engine can be changed into one of all previously seen ones and the train speed can be configured as well. When leaving the shop, a map segment depending on the engine taken will fly in and when players build to the next station, the configuration screen appears again.
Time
In time, players have 20 minutes to build the track as far as they can, with these features:
- * Your mining speed will increase by over time starting at 100% and increasing to 250% as the timer reaches 00:00.
- * There will be boxes (similar to Quick Mode) instead of bolts, which can be used to upgrade wagons or increase the constant speed of your engine.
- Note 1: 1 box will upgrade a LVL 1 wagon all the way to LVL 3 (then in 1 level increments up to LVL 8) except for the base wagons (Crafter, Storage, Tank).
- Note 2: If you upgrade a LVL 1 wagon during the first few seconds when you get a new mission, it will be upgraded to LVL 2 instead of LVL3. (This is a bug.)
- * The shop is unavailable in Time Mode. Missions can be completed for a random "Wagon of Choice" (as shown by the icon) and can be picked up by connecting the station.
- Note: The maximum number of wagons is 11 in this mode (including the 3 base wagons).
- * 3 of the total 6 biomes are chosen chosen based on the Seed and one is randomly selected after each station.
- Note: Space only appears at the 3rd section or after, Mars at the 5th section or after.
- * When the train leaves Space or Mars you will lose the ability to fly, and if you are not on the ground, you will teleport to the train and drop everything you had in hands.
- Note: As long as you are off-screen you will be able to continue to fly, but you will teleport as soon as you re-enter the screen, unless you are on the ground.
After the 20 minute timer has passed, your train will spike in speed and will continue to slowly increment until it crashes. Players can still improve their score beyond this time by placing tracks however, once the train has crashed, newly placed tracks are not counted towards your team's score.
Difficulties
In all difficulties other than Kids, if Checkpoint is enabled, an autosave is created when the train reaches the first station of each biome. Players can only manually save the game in the middle of a biome, and the manual save can only be loaded once.
Kids
This difficulty is only available in the Endless mode. The map generation is the same as Easy, however, an autosave is created at each station. Allowing the players to retry the same level multiple times by loading the autosave.
Easy
In Plains, Desert, Snow and Underwater, an unobstructed double wide path to the next station is always available. In Lava, there is always a double wide path to the next station. However, the path is normally blocked by resources. In Space and Mars, there should normally be a double wide path to the next station. One-way pinches are rare, and there should always be at least 3 paths forward.
Medium
In Plains, Desert, Snow and Underwater, a double wide path to the next station is always available. However, the path is normally blocked by resources. In Lava, Space and Mars, there should normally be a double wide path to the next station. One-way pinches are rare.
Hard
There should normally be a double wide path to the next station. Pinches are rare, and sometimes the only alternative path is also a pinch. Pinches are common in Mars with occasional double pinches or long pinches.
Extreme
Pinches on every single level. There is only one alternative path and it is also a pinch. Long pinches and double pinches can appear from time to time.
Seed
The last two digits of a seed can reflect the mode and difficulty of the game.
Difficulty
Reflected by the second last digit.
Kids | I | Y | o | 4 |
Easy | A | Q | g | w |
Medium | C | S | i | y |
Hard | E | U | k | 0 |
Extreme | G | W | m | 2 |
Mode
Reflected by the last digit.
Quick | Y |
Endless | s |
Versus | I |
Sandbox | g |
Time | U |
Spooky | E |