Transport Fever 3 Interview – Urban Games’ Sam Bennett on Playing Your Way

Engaging millions of worldwides fans with its previous two entries, Urban Games’ upcoming Transport Fever 3 is gunning for the esteemed title of “The Ultimate Transport Tycoon Simulator” – we said as much in our preview!

During a recent New York media event, we had an intimate chat with Urban Games’ Community Manager Sam Bennett about all things Transport Fever 3 – see how one can play their way with our interview.

Transport Fever 3 Interview – Urban Games’ Sam Bennett on Playing Your Way

Gamers Heroes

I really appreciate the time today! 

I’ve spent about an hour and a half with the title so far, and I love how dynamic it is.

When checking out the Sandbox mode, I turned on the mod for unlimited funds, played with the first-person car perspective, things like that.

Doing a bit of homework, I saw there’s a number of people on your socials, with fans on Discord, Reddit, and so on – it’s a devout community!

With fans absolutely infatuated with first two entries, what made your team want to take on a third entry in the series? 

Sam Bennett

Why do a third one? Because we haven’t made the game yet! 

We know what the game wants to be – the guys who set up the company originally had a very clear idea of what the game should be.

With each new release, they get a little bit closer to that – and Transport Fever 3 is arguably the closest to the vision that they’ve had all along: 

A 21st Century reimagining of the classic Transport tycoon. 

Is there anywhere further we could take it? You can always take things further, but this is definitely the biggest leap forward we’ve made so far.

Gamers Heroes

I totally understand!

Is there one particular dynamic element you’re especially proud of you hope players will really notice?

I know one can control the weather, take advantage of a day-night cycle, and tweak a bazillion other things…

Sam Bennett

It depends who you are as a player! We’ve got so many different types of players.

There are those who set out to recreate their home railway station – and their town around it – perfectly.

There are also those just trying to set challenges for themselves and build the most profitable line you can possibly imagine.

There are also those who play without anything else turned on at all, using the game like a virtual model railway. 

There are so many different ways to play! 

For me, when it comes to my personal taste in games, I like a good management game. I like strategy, and I like managing things. 

When it comes to Transport Fever 3’s road management, it makes me so happy! I can now go out of my way to actually create traffic problems, just so I can fix them.

Gamers Heroes

I like that!

Sam Bennett

It is immensely satisfying! 

I’ve said to a couple of people today that the game itself is only one part of it – it is about building the thing that you’re making right.

It doesn’t matter if that’s a route, redecorating a town, or whatever else. 

You spend three-quarters of your time doing the building, and then the rest of the time you watch what it’s doing. You see how it responds, and you then see how it behaves. 

For me, there is nothing more satisfying than an enormous disaster area that you go:

“Right – I’m going to solve it by doing this, this, this, and this.” 

Then you press go, and just watch.

From there you go:

“That queue is getting shorter, that one’s starting to build up, is the balance right? Do I need to fine tune it a bit more?” 

I don’t try and build things perfectly; I like playing in a fairly haphazard fashion.

That for me is just so satisfying to see!

Gamers Heroes

Absolutely – I wish we had that in California! Long overdue, right? 

During the talk this morning, the Urban Games team mentioned they were at gamescom and the Tokyo Game Show.

I’m sure there are devout communities over there, but what’s it like working with these different regions? 

You’ve got Japan, you’ve got Europe, you’ve got the Americas… 

What do people gravitate toward in these different areas when it comes to the series?

Sam Bennett

When it comes to the community, everyone likes to see what they’re familiar with.

That can be anything from the range of vehicles available, to the way that roads are built, to the way that buildings look stylistically.

Everyone initially gravitates towards that which they’re familiar with, and then later they might go, 

“Right, I’m going to build something that is truly divorced from reality.”

It’s completely agnostic in terms of what can run where, and that’s great. 

We facilitate that as much as we can, and we’re very lucky to have dedicated modders who just love building stuff for the game. We encourage them as much as possible, and help them as much as possible.

We know the game you get out of the box – as much as you don’t get games in boxes anymore.

However, the game you get out of the box is not the game that you’re playing a year later – it has evolved and changed.

It’s almost like the second that the game is available to buy, we lose control of the game, and its then up to the community to do what they do with it. 

From there, modders can take the title in directions we never dreamed of.

When it comes to representation around the world, whether that’s Japan, Brazil, or the US, they will be well-catered for by modders from their own country.

It’s things like trains and planes particularly – they have an enduring appeal, where there are always engineering-minded individuals that really want to recreate historic vehicles.

The game is a really great platform for them to showcase just what’s possible. 

Gamers Heroes

That leads to my next point… 

I saw that there’s cross-platform modding support between the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, making for easy content discovery. 

What were some of the challenges – or epiphanies for that matter – working for multiple platforms, basically unifying players?

Sam Bennett

The trickiest thing is: 

In removing the barriers on a desktop environment, you get very used to the freedom of movement a mouse gives you, where you can think it and do it.

The real challenge is not simply replicating the way that a mouse behaves when you’re using a console; you’ve got buttons that are at your fingertips on a controller. Therefore, that gives you more freedom to do things immediately or in a slightly different order.

There is a certain amount of rethinking the expectations we had in terms of how control worked, in order to get the most out of those other platforms. 

Have we got it perfect? Perfect is almost unattainable, but we try and get closer with every change we make. 

The one thing the studio has always been known for is we support this game well after it has been released. 

It’s great doing bench testing and internal testing – you can see how a few 100 or even a few 1,000 people enjoy it. 

But then when you’ve got 10,000 people enjoying it for 100 hours each, you’ve got a huge amount of data you can work with!

You can see whether we should be simplifying this process, making this cleaner. 

This is where the frustration points are, and the point which we can turn the game into everything.

Gamers Heroes

On that note, there’s I’ve been playing a lot with the Sandbox mode – I absolutely love that. There’s also a Tycoon mode and a Campaign mode as well. 

I know post-launch you’ll see a lot of big data, as you said. 

What have people been gravitating toward up to this point? 

Is there a particular mode they especially gravitate toward, or any patterns you’ve seen when it comes to what people have designed?

Obviously, you want to remove the barriers that lead to fun!

Sam Bennett

It’s not just our game! 

If there were a typical path, a new player would turn up. Maybe they’ll play a few hours of the Campaign to get a feel for it, and then they will go into the Tycoon mode.

That’s the point at which they can truly express themselves! 

If you think about Transport Tycoon or titles like Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon, it’s all about:

“I need to connect this and that – how am I going to do that?” 

We give you as many options as possible to connect two things together to then make a viable network out of it. 

The long term players of the game kind of split 70/30 between the Tycoon game and the pure Sandbox. 

Even those who have played the Tycoon game tend to be playing it in a fairly Sandbox-y way anyway. Conquering the financial element in Transport Fever 2, once you knew a few tricks – it wasn’t that hard to do.

That’s one of the things we’re kind of evolving in the new game as well. 

We don’t want to brutally punish people when it comes to the monetary side of things. This is not just about breaking even, but also finding those challenges that motivate people to think about the game.

Gamers Heroes

That makes perfect sense! 

Like you said, it’s ongoing – I can’t wait to see how things unfold.

With over 275, trains, buses, trams, and more, are there any among your team that you’re especially proud of? 

I did see the helicopter – we are in New York after all!

Sam Bennett

I mean, I’ve got probably 200 hours in the latest build! I don’t know how many hours that is over the course of development, but I’ve been playing quite a lot in the last few weeks. 

I love the new ships – they sometimes felt like they were the red-headed stepchild of the different transport options in the game, but now they’ve been shown a lot more love. 

We’ve made offshore industries an integral part of the game, and as such, ships are now very important.

Helicopters and ships are often two solutions to the same problem. It makes a big difference! 

I also love the looks of the new ships, especially the smaller ones – they’ve got a real personality to them. 

I’ve been playing this game and working on this game for over a decade. I have seen so many trains, buses, planes, and trams…

I really like the ships!

Gamers Heroes

I trust your judgment! I can’t wait to check it out myself. 

Sam Bennett

Obviously everything’s beautiful! 

Gamers Heroes

Oh, of course! About to say, that is the diplomatic answer.

Sam Bennett

You’ve got to put that in there – underline it and make it bold! [laughs]

Gamers Heroes

Ending on a short and sweet note… 

If you could pick just one mode of transportation – whether it be ships or whatever – and cost was an issue… 

Which would you pick in real life? 

Sam Bennett

That’s easy – a Dakota! 

Gamers Heroes

There you go! 

Sam Bennett

I’d have a Dakota in a heartbeat!

I’d need a pilot’s license, and I’d need a team of engineers in order to keep it flying…

It’s the look of it and the sound – Dakota immediately. 

Gamers Heroes

That is a great way to end an interview! 

Thank you so much – I really appreciate your time!

Transport Fever 3 will release for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store – learn more via its official website.

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An official Discord server is also available for those that’d like to join the conversation.

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