Mind the Gap was our jam entry into Ludum Dare 26. The theme for LD26 was minimalism, so we decided to create a game inspired by the London tube map. The player builds the tube map as the city grows around them. Stations fill up, and if the player’s network isn’t up to scratch they’ll quickly overcrowd. The entry is still playable.

Mind the Gap, our Ludum Dare 26 jam entry and prototype for Mini Metro.

We were pleased with how the concept came out and floored by the response we received, so we decided to continue development into a full game.

Mini Metro

So was born Mini Metro! There was plenty of room to improve over the prototype, so while the basic gameplay remains almost everything has been improved upon. The art style is much closer to the inspiration, rivers and tunnels present a new challenge, line editing is more powerful and intuitive, pathfinding is much smarter, and the player’s capabilities are increased throughout an upgrade system. We’ve attempted to stick closely to the minimalist theme throughout development.

Greenlight & Press

Despite our initial estimates (of course it’ll be done by 2014!), a year later and we’re not quite out but almost there. Mini Metro’s been in open alpha since September 2013. In March 2014 we submitted the game to Steam Greenlight and received some amazing press—weirdly, mainly from non-gaming press. Mini Metro popped up on mainstream sites such as The Verge, Huffington Post UK, Wired UK, Brokelyn, The Atlantic Cities, Popular Mechanics, and Fast Company. The alpha has since been played well over a million times, and we’re furiously working at getting Mini Metro finished and out the door!

Release

We hope to release Q2 2014 on desktop (through Steam and DRM-free through the Humble Store), iOS, Android, and PS Vita. The alpha is playable at http://dinopoloclub.com/minimetro/.

A huge thanks to everyone behind Ludum Dare! It’s impossible to overestimate the motivation you receive by competing, both from finishing your entry and receiving feedback from the great community.