Help with player autonomy in a train-based tower defense

[u/ShooBox07]

I'm currently making a tower defense game where you build up your armored train to fend off loads of enemies. When I released my prototype, the gameplay could be described as a train going in circles around your base, and every time you level up, you choose one out of three random options of gun carriages in order to build up your armored train.

I got some feedback on my prototype, and I had lots of people mention that the train in my game should do a lot more than just go in circles. Some say that it'd be cool if they could create their own rail network. My thought process was that the players wanted more autonomy and more freedom when it came to creating their defense and their build, so I decided that a good pivot was to have multiple bases and a pre-made rail network in which the player can use junctions to be able to move their train to defend certain bases depending on where the highest concentration of enemies are.

My question is if I'm correct in understanding that players want more freedom and autonomy in creating their own strategies? Is the idea of creating levels with more complex rail networks good? Or would it be better to just implement a rail creation system like the feedback said?

(I'm also getting rid of the choose one out of three mechanic and instead I'll have something similar to plants vs zombies where you are given a catalog of unlocked carriages, and you choose a few to bring with you depending on the level design. You incrementally gain money during a level and then you purchase carriages. This is another solution I think would help out with allowing the player to create more personalized builds and more depth with strategies.)

I haven't published any changes to the old prototype. You can check it out if you'd like more insight:

https://shoobox.itch.io/exo-rail

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[u/loulo88]

I think you read the feedback right, but "circling is boring" usually means "my decisions stop mattering once the train is built," not necessarily "let me draw track." Junctions on a pre-made network are a good middle step because you control level difficulty and every switch is a live decision under pressure, which is where the fun in TD tends to live. One thing to test: make the train unable to cover everything at once, so throwing a junction always means abandoning something, otherwise it collapses back to one optimal loop. If playtesters still ask for track building after that, maybe offer a few buildable rail segments per level as a limited resource rather than a full free-form editor.

[u/GobletStudio]

Route building and dispatching on fixed rails offer different kinds of control, so I’d check which decisions players feel they’re missing. Show testers a sketch of the junction network and a sample attack, then ask what they’d want to do and what prevents it. Wanting to redirect toward another base suggests dispatching might help; wanting to shape where the train fights suggests track layout might matter more. Use those answers to choose a small playable test.

I’d leave carriage selection unchanged for that first test, so feedback on the rail changes is easier to interpret.

[u/Typical-Assistance-3]

I'd test the junctions before changing carriage selection. If both change together, you won't know which gave players more control. Keep the same waves and carriage choices, add one junction serving two bases, then ask players why they chose each route. If they can explain what they were protecting or sacrificing, that's useful evidence for your interpretation of the feedback.