Trailmakers game blueprints how to#

Therein lies where my troubles began: as the game gradually holds off on the tutorials, you’re expected to figure out the inner workings of crafting. Meanwhile, hidden parts are strewn across the world, so you naturally feel compelled to explore. These aren’t just haphazard rewards, either the terrain adjusts to their respective quirks, so you’re more or less required to apply them (for instance, you’ll certainly more engines to climb that hill, or a RAW Jet Engine to fly off that ramp). Moreover, earning parts is tied to progression: as you reach checkpoints, you’re rewarded with engines and suspension springs and the like, so you’re encouraged to experiment as the game goes on. That it starts off well enough is what convinces me Trailmakers isn’t a broken product: the cars operate as you’d expect, and as this is DIY, the physics feel natural in appropriately adjusting to whatever you craft.

Trailmakers game blueprints how to#

Thing start off fine there: through a series of tutorials, you construct an ideal vehicle, learn how to navigate the camera, how to automatically repair your car, and adjust to the controls. Admittedly, I was a little too ashamed of my failed experiments to show them off to others, so I mainly stuck to tinkering in the Sandbox and setting off on the Expedition, wherein you gradually accumulate materials as you navigate an unknown planet.

Is that the case? Well, let’s look at the actual game first: Trailmakers - or at least its Early Access version - offers single-player and multiplayer modes, the former featuring an Expedition and Sandbox mode and the latter a series of online rooms featuring more sandboxes and a “Dethrone” mode.

As I forged on, however, the ensuing trial-and-error frustration had me worried it was not Trailmakers‘ failure to properly lecture me on its DIY design, but in my own ignorance of Driver’s Ed. Nonetheless, the emphasis on a DIY sandbox - a concept supported by its Lego-esque cars - within the premise of exploring an uncharted alien world struck me, and so I decided to take the plunge. I embark on writing this preview with some major trepidation: for starters, driving and racing games are not my forte, so it would only make sense I’d pass upon participating in the Early Access for Trailmakers, an indie driving game from Flashbulb Games.