Over the last year, Train Sim had 9 official releases, along with a steady stream of beta updates and behind-the-scenes work.
From the outside, that can look simple. A new version goes out, a few new features appear, and the game keeps moving forward. But when I look back at that year of development, what I see is the real shape of indie game development.
Some of it was visible right away. Public updates added new trains like the ČSD Class 754, British Class 360, and Peckett 0-4-0ST, along with a new Austria-Czech Republic themed level, multiplatform leaderboards, train filtering, vehicle crashing, and many improvements to steam visuals, track switching, UI, and bug fixes. Behind the scenes, the git history for that same period shows 126 commits, more than 700 file changes, and over 100,000 lines changed as Train Sim kept moving forward.
That is a big part of indie game development as I know it. It is not just about shipping the exciting parts. It is also about maintenance, iteration, cleanup, and making sure the game keeps getting better to play, not just bigger on paper.
Looking back at the updates, that balance really stands out. One release might add a new locomotive or level. Another might improve steam visuals, track switching, or train filtering. Another might focus on Creative Mode or a long list of bug fixes. Put together, those releases show a game being actively looked after.
That matters to me because Train Sim is not built by a large studio with endless time and resources behind it. I work on it alongside a full-time job and family life, which means a lot of the development happens in the hours around everything else. A lot of that work happens in ordinary evening moments, just me and my MacBook while the TV is on and life is still moving around me. That is part of what indie game development often looks like: not perfect uninterrupted blocks of time, but steady progress wherever you can make it.
So when I look at a year with 9 official releases, many beta updates, feature work, refactors, and technical cleanup, I do not just see output. I see persistence. I see late-night progress. I see the reality of trying to keep building something meaningful in limited time.
I think that is part of what people do not always see in indie game development. Not every long-running game is supported by a big team. Sometimes it is one person returning to the work whenever they can, fixing one more issue, improving one more system, and getting one more release out.
That may not be glamorous, but I think it matters.
If a game is worth continuing, then it is worth showing up for consistently. It is worth improving even when the work is not flashy. It is worth revisiting systems that have become too large, fixing awkward edges, and making room for both new ideas and technical cleanup. Continued support does not happen by accident. It happens because someone keeps making time for it.
That is what this last year of Train Sim development looks like to me: not just a list of releases, but a record of continued care. A mix of feature work, bug fixing, refactoring, and persistence.
If you’d like to see the result of all that work, you can download Train Sim here: