Sillon
Playable demoCreator, Game Designer, Developer
A contemplative pixel art train game, GDScript / Godot 4.6, playable in the browser or on Windows. A country line stops at the fourth segment: the bridge to the city was never paid for, and you drive the train that will pay for it. Driving happens inside the cab, with no piloting menu: a regulator with four notches, a firebox fed by shovel, a lever brake, a whistle on a cord, and you have to leave your seat to reach each one. At every stop you step down onto the platform: punch tickets, serve tea, load parcels bound for a station further down the line. What the train earns reopens the track, metre by metre: six stations from the Depot to the City, five worksites along the line.
What this project proves
Playable demo on itch.io · browser + Windows · pixel art
Current state
Playable demo on itch.io · browser + Windows · free
Design stance
Context
A calm game, by design: real driving, no piloting interface, in a valley that makes you want to stay. The public demo, free, covers reopening the whole line; what comes next will be built from player feedback.
Constraints
Fitting all of driving inside the cab: every control is an object you reach by leaving your seat. Tuning a contemplative pace that still plays like a game, the forest crossing, long and stationless, is deliberate. Shipping browser and Windows from a single engine.
Results and lessons
Demo published on itch.io, free, browser and Windows. About an hour to reopen the whole line, longer to clear the exchange's catalogue. French only, keyboard required.
Tech stack
Features
- ▸In-cab driving with no menu: regulator, firebox, brake, whistle
- ▸Six stations, five worksites: the track reopens metre by metre
- ▸Active station stops: tickets, tea, parcels
- ▸Exchange economy and purchase catalogue
- ▸Pixel art, browser + Windows
- ▸Deliberately contemplative pace
Links
Production note
The decision that defines the game: no piloting menu. The regulator, the firebox, the brake and the whistle are objects in the cab, and leaving your seat to reach them is part of driving. The other deliberate choice is the forest crossing, long minutes without a single station. Whether that is long or too long is exactly what the demo is meant to find out.