Building

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Building is a core aspect of Trailmakers.

The core of Trailmakers is the builder – an intuitive, easy-to-use creative space where making your structures. The goal is to avoid the feel of complicated 3D-software, and make it an accessible part of the game. You can build anywhere in the game!

The game uses Blocks for all the vehices that can be placed by the player and connected through the knobs defined on each block. In doing so, the player can create structures.

In the first edition of Internal Affairs , a block and knobs is described as such:

All blocks are equipped with what we call connection knobs. These knobs are always placed in a grid on the outward faces of the block and allow the player to combine several blocks into a coherent group. Though all blocks are individually simple and have a limited number of connection knobs, the number if possible permutations over them is almost infinite and provides the gameplay with that most elusive of features: complexity through simplicity. The result of the process of combining blocks into larger entities is what we refer to as a structure or a contraption.

Weldgroups

Developer visualisation weld structures. Each coloured box shows a weldgroup.

Trailmakers is a physics heavy type of game, the structures all have physics and needs to work well in multiplayer. Flashbulb Games has worked to optimise the physics processing. One of the methods of doing so has been "welding" which is the operation of creating groups of blocks (Refereed to as Weldgroups) that as a single physics objects instead of independent objects.

While the game tries it best to create "optimal" weldgroups, the better understanding the player has behind these, the more control they can also have to both optimise their structures or creating certain behaviours.

Generally speaking, moving parts like hinges, suspensions and pistons, will create new weldgroups. To build optimally performance-wise avoid having long chains of such moving parts

More information can be found in first edition of Internal Affairs

See Also

• How to play guide for Trailmakers
• Blueprints
• Glitches