Railway Depot: Operations & Empire is looking for collaborators 🚆
Hi everyone!
I’m Shiko from Aurora Studio, an indie game studio based in Hong Kong.
We’re currently developing Railway Depot: Operations & Empire, a railway operations and management simulation built with Godot 4.
Rather than focusing only on driving trains, Railway Depot puts the player behind the railway itself: managing depot operations, inspecting rolling stock, dispatching trains, coordinating staff, maintaining facilities, and gradually expanding a railway operation.
The project is currently in Pre-Alpha development, and we already have a playable development build with several core systems being implemented.
🚆 What is Railway Depot?
You don’t just drive the trains.
You run the railway behind them.
The game focuses on systems including:
- Depot operations and train movements
- Rolling stock inspection and maintenance
- Train dispatching and route management
- Staff and facility management
- Timetable and service operations
- Railway company expansion and management
Our goal is to combine detailed railway operations with an accessible management-game structure, particularly inspired by Asian and Japanese railway environments.
🛠 Current Development
Railway Depot is being developed in Godot 4 for PC.
Development currently includes work on:
- Depot simulation systems
- Train movement and dispatch logic
- Interlocking and operational states
- Staff simulation
- Rolling stock management
- Operations UI
- Depot and office environments
- Gameplay progression and management systems
The project is still early, so this is a good stage for collaborators who want to help shape systems rather than simply implement a finished specification.
👥 Who we’re looking for
We’re interested in meeting people who enjoy railways, simulation games, management games, or systems-heavy game development.
In particular, we’d love to hear from:
Godot / Gameplay Programmers For simulation systems, UI, AI, train operations and gameplay tools.
UI / UX Designers For improving the operations interface and turning complex railway information into something readable and enjoyable to manage.
3D Environment Artists Especially artists interested in railway depots, stations, offices, industrial environments and Japanese / Asian urban environments.
3D Rolling Stock Artists For fictional trains and railway equipment inspired by real-world railway engineering.
Game / Systems Designers For depot workflows, maintenance systems, staff management, economics and progression.
Railway enthusiasts and industry people are also welcome. Real operational knowledge can be extremely useful when designing believable railway systems.
🌏 About Aurora Studio
Aurora Studio is an independent game development team focused on transportation, simulation and Asian environments.
Our previous work includes OMSI 2 Add-on Project Numazu, and Railway Depot represents our next step: moving from recreating transportation environments toward building a deeper simulation of the organizations and systems that keep transportation running.
🤝 Collaboration
We’re open to talking with developers at different experience levels.
Because we’re an indie team, please tell us:
- What role you’re interested in
- Your experience and portfolio
- Your experience with Godot, if applicable
- Your availability
- Your preferred collaboration or compensation arrangement
- Whether you’re particularly interested in railways or simulation games
You don’t need to be a railway expert. Curiosity about how these systems work is more important.
🔗 Project
Railway Depot: Operations & Empire is currently in Pre-Alpha development.
itch.io: https://shikosama.itch.io/railway-depot
Official Website: https://www.aurora-studio.org/project/railway-depot
If this sounds like the kind of strange little railway empire you’d enjoy helping build, feel free to reply here or get in touch with us.
Thanks for reading!
Shiko Leung Aurora Studio