Future plans

The Future plans of Derail Valley are under active development, and the developers have actively communicated with the community about upcoming content and what is not planned for the game. This page tracks everything not mentioned in the community unlocks page and also what the developers have denied for addition. Much of the information on this page comes from the future plans information board, which was released on April 10th, 2023.

In progress

In addition to features planned for part of the Derail Valley: Simulator update, the developers have shared what their priorities are following the release of Build 93.

• "The first thing we will start working on after Simulator is the internal track editing tool to support more features, such as double-tracks. This is a precursor to adding new locations, new cargo models and new job system, as well as the future train traffic and passenger systems" - slobodan#2947 Sunday, August 14, 2022

Trains

• New vehicles
  • 2 locomotives — DH6, E6
  • 4 work trains — Microshunter, Speeder, Mailbus, MOW Equipment
  • 6 new cars — Bulkhead, Centerbeam, Livestock, Powder, Short Tank, Closed Hopper
• New simulation elements
  • Electric powertrain simulation
  • Double-cab support
  • Knuckle couplers — option to choose the coupling system in-game
• Train modding improvements
  • Steam Workshop "Probably not yet in Simulator, but if all goes well, the plan is to have it added later, as soon as the rest of the train mod infrastructure is deemed stable."
  • "It's made in a way that it'll require no coding from the modder to create a new loco. It still won't be easy, but it'll be easier than so far" - slobodan#2947 Saturday, July 9, 2022

Environment

• New locations in the existing map
  • 13 new industries
  • 3 new cities
    • "City with a big train service center and a lot of wrecked vehicles. It will receive wrecked trains as cargo, and will produce scrap metal like the other cities." - slobodan#2947 Thursday, September 16, 2021
      • Here you'll be able to customize your vehicles, when that's added in a couple of years - slobodan#2947 Saturday, September 18, 2021
  • 10 new depots
  • 27 villages
  • Bonus yard
• Railways rework
  • Layout modifications
    • Better map coverage
    • Straightening some sections, higher average speeds
    • Adaptations to accommodate new features and locations
    • Future-proofing for AI trains, passenger transport and customization milestones
  • Double-tracks, passing sidings
  • Sign generator revamp
  • New types of bridges, viaducts, tunnels and landslide walls
  • Electrification
  • Passenger stops — in villages
  • Track age variation
• Roads
• Domestic animals
• Improved level crossings
  • Static for now, but could become functional in the future

Gameplay

• Advanced economy simulation
  • Reactive ecosystem with dynamic supply and demand
  • Economic strategy features — to be announced
  • Contract system revamp
    • Delivery order permanence
    • Advanced car/cargo compatibility logic
    • Incentivizing longer, mixed trains
    • New UI for order management
• 150+ new cargo types
• Track defects and maintenance — simplified, to be announced

UX

• Game manual revamp
  • DV Guide, Train Basics and loco manuals will be replaced by more extensive (but still noob-friendly) information in the GUI. Loco manuals will be per loco type and not per specific loco, for future proofing. Locos will only come with diagrams of where to find what (e.g. reverser, speedometer, etc.), but the information on how to use them will be in a common GUI. Tutorial will retain a booklet that will teach you things step by step, but it will be tutorial-specific and no longer a shunter manual -slobodan#2947 Wednesday, September 8, 2021
  • "Only the steamer one will stay, as a generalized checklist of how to operate a steam engine." - /u/altfuture Wednesday, January 25, 2023
• Localization updates
  • Languages that are currently planned are: Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian , Italian , Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (BR), Portuguese (EU), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Ukrainian.
  • Right to left scripts are not currently planned for implementation - slobodan#2947 Saturday, March 5, 2022
• UI-based navigation for comfort players
• External view and related UI features in VR
• Hands in non-VR
• RailDriver support

Other future plans

• Improved Gameplay (better job system and more)
  • "A major job system rework is planned which will make jobs and locos persistent, sometime in late 2022, early 2023" - slobodan#2947 Thursday, February 10, 2022
  • "Time bonus will be removed as a concept in the job system revamp coming much after the Simulator update. Something else will incentivize being quick at deliveries" - slobodan#2947 Wednesday, February 16, 2022
  • "job system revamp will make jobs persistent (no refreshing) and it will be possible to see them all listed for all stations...it's still far in the future (about a year from now, along with adding new locos and industries)" - slobodan#2947 Wednesday, February 16, 2022
• Massive industry chain improvement -slobodan#2947 Thursday, January 6, 2022
• Paid DLC - 2024+
  • US-inspired and more train packs
  • US-inspired map, and more maps
    • Deserts, mesas, pine hills
    • Bigger loading gauge, more straight tracks
    • 50+ additional hours of gameplay
    • Localized designs of road vehicles and some buildings
  • Tunnel and ferry connections between maps, Trans-map deliveries
• AI trains - 2025+
• Passengers - 2025+
  • New vehicles: 2 railcars — DM1P, E4P2, and finished coaches
  • New simulation elements - Air conditioning simulation
  • Station and industry workers
  • Passenger transport orders
  • Timetable-based orders
  • Passenger models and behavior
• Customization - 2025+
  • Trains
    • 20+ parts
      • Invisible stat boosters — Better fuel tank, engine, compressor, etc.
      • Visible parts — Light racks, bumpers, cow catchers, railings, etc.
    • 40+ gadgets
      • Installable gadgets — DPU, roadrunner, digital speedometer, clinomter, fusible plug, etc.
        • "a box you can install in the cab and it'd show the state of the upcoming switch. On that box you'd have buttons to set the upcoming switch to a desired direction." - /u/altfuture Monday, February 6, 2023
    • Paintjobs
  • Vehicle ownership
  • Depot ownership and renting
• Extras - 2026+
  • Pedestrians and wildlife
  • AI car drivers on roads - /u/altfuture Tuesday, January 24, 2023
  • Human mechanics for hardcore players — Eating, sleeping, ability to get hurt, etc.
  • Optional physical rerailing using cranes and rerailers
• Player character models - "For the first person, no. For the external camera, yes, but only when we get to work on the passengers, so it might take a while till we get there" - slobodan#2947 Sunday, July 31, 2022
• Ingame keymapping - slobodan#2947 Monday, November 8, 2021
• Climbable ladders - slobodan#2947 Thursday, July 1, 2021
  • "Climbing things is on our todo list, but not high priority so I'm not sure when it'll be added." - /u/altfuture Tuesday, November 15, 2022
• The train driver hat (and a couple other hats) will be added in ~2 years or so, when we get to the customization - slobodan#2947 Wednesday, September 1, 2021
• Distributed Power Units (DPUs) - /u/altfuture Thursday, January 5th, 2023 and Saturday, January 14th, 2023
• B-units - official addition is "not soon, but maybe in the future," however Simulator will support mods for them. slobodan#2947 Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Unplanned features

These are features that the developers have indicated won't be officially added to the game. Note that items in this section could still be modded in!

• 2-player Co-op - Zeibach#0961 Monday, March 20, 2023
  • Was formerly uncertain - "Not for 2 years for sure" - slobodan#2947 Thursday, August 19, 2021
  • "It was intended to be a very simple version, with the second player being a set of helping hands to the main player, but people read into it as a full-blown multiplayer. That is never going to happen..."
• Multiplayer - "if we ever do multiplayer, it will be likely pushed to a potential sequel, rather than crammed in the current game. However, it's still possible we'll attempt the co-op in the current game too and see how feasible it is. Important thing to note here is that there are way too many single player things that must be done first. They dictate the future. MP itself is out of scope currently in any shape." -slobodan#2947 Monday, January 10, 2022
• Loading/unloading animations - slobodan#2947 Wednesday, February 9, 2022
• Track or building expansion - slobodan#2947 Wednesday, February 2, 2022
• Seasons and snow -slobodan#2947 Tuesday, December 21, 2021
• MPH instead of km/h for gauges and signs -slobodan#2947 Wednesday, October 27, 2021
• Multiple time periods -slobodan#2947 Wednesday, October 27, 2021
• Increasing the size of the current map -slobodan#2947 Tuesday, October 19, 2021
• Ambient music - "it's just not a game to be stuck behind a repeating soundtrack. No matter how good and ambient it'd be, spending 200+ hours in that repeating, while paying attention to train sounds and using the Boombox, wouldn't make much sense"- slobodan#2947 Thursday, September 9, 2021
• Snowsheds - slobodan#2947 Friday, August 27, 2021
• Visual wear/dirt on locos or other things like cleaning the smokebox - slobodan#2947 Saturday, July 24, 2021
• Cameras/displays - heavy for performance (vr in particular) - slobodan#2947 Tuesday, July 20, 2021
• Console port - "That's beyond our scope, for now. The intent is there, but no resources just yet." - /u/altfuture Friday, February 11, 2022
• Water scoops for steam engines - slobodan#2947 Wednesday, February 16, 2022
• Narrow gauge - "Narrow gauge is something we'd like to have at some point, but I don't know if we'll ever get to it. If we ever do, it'll be a few years from now, at least." - slobodan#2947 Monday, June 20, 2022
• Achievements - "Maybe in a few years when all the other features/content/goals have matured" - slobodan#2947 Wednesday, August 24, 2022
• Diesel fuel tenders - "Currently not planned, but might be added later if needed." - slobodan#2947 Monday, August 15, 2022
• "Modern-ish locomotives with electronics" - slobodan#2947 Monday, April 18, 2022
• Replay mode - slobodan#2947 Tuesday, February 7th, 2023
• Folders and item holders - this is abandoned, the new inventory solves the original problem - slobodan#2947 Wednesday, February 8, 2023