As the release of Creative Mode draws near, the Mini Motorways team has been reflecting on their time spent building this much-anticipated feature for players. In this interview, some of the development team shared their thoughts on what they enjoyed, what players can look forward to, and how excited they are for players to finally get their hands on the game’s big new feature out this August.
“My very first project with Dinosaur Polo Club was assisting with the release of Mini Metro Workshop all the way back in 2020, so I’ve seen firsthand how creative and inspired our players are for almost six years now,” said Casey Lucas-Quaid, the team’s Community Manager.
What started as a series of prototypes sketched on graph paper has now become Mini Motorways’ most fully fleshed-out feature, an expansive new way to play the game across all 23 of its maps. The update’s size means that every team had something new to contribute, which could be daunting at times, but ultimately meant a lot of creative latitude and experimentation, too.
When asked what his favourite part of working on Creative Mode was, Artist Aidan Fox says, “The juice. I like to add a little bit of bounce to any UI I work on, and we don’t usually have any reason to adjust or add new UI in Mini Motorways, so when Creative Mode came along, I couldn’t wait to add a bit of juice to the new interface.” Programmer Francis Stephens agrees. “I enjoyed modifying the simulation to allow deleting buildings. I also enjoyed building a new UI screen, and the art team was constantly working to add charm and improve the way the new menus would feel for players.” It’s not every day you get to add brand new menus, dials, and interfaces for a game that’s almost six years old.
Lucy Weekley oversees the studio’s Quality Assurance and testing across all projects. She’s more familiar with the game than anyone because she ensures every new feature, map, and update runs smoothly. She had the following to say: “Since I play Mini Motorways so much, over 2,000 hours and counting, I’ve often experimented with getting artistic in the empty areas of the map to add a bit of flavour (pro tip: you can make a lot of really beautiful patterns using the color-changing road tiles in Expert mode!), so it’s been a dream to test Creative Mode.” Why specifically? She explained further, “I really get the space and freedom to make all of my ideas, whether silly animal shapes, tailored down to the last tile, or completely cursed cities designed just to torture the tiny motorists. Making a beautiful rainbow city and then turning on Cinematic mode… heaven! It’s also been great to work on delivering something so many players have wanted — yes, we do read all of your comments and ideas — and seeing it come to life over the development cycle.”
Lucas-Quaid agreed that the whole team is excited to finally deliver something that the game’s players have been requesting so much. “All over our communities on social media, Reddit, and the various Apple Arcade communities online, we see people post screenshots of the cities they build, and being able to give them another tool to wow us or horrify us is honestly one of the best parts of my job. The game’s in an even bigger, better place than when I first started, and Creative Mode will absolutely shine now.”
One of the benefits of releasing Creative Mode a bit later in the development cycle is just how many maps players will now have to play with. “It surprised me how much I enjoyed being able to design cities the way I wanted,” Stephens said. “I think players will enjoy redesigning New York in particular.”
Designer Tom Butler even dug up the old photos featured in this article. “The early concept work of Creative Mode was SO much fun.” When the first early concepts for Creative Mode were in the brainstorming phase, the team worked through them by drawing maps, roads, and pathways on graph paper in a big table in the middle of the office. These drawings eventually grew to include Lego houses, cars, minifigs, paper cut-outs of whole neighbourhoods, and other assorted bits and pieces.
“The paper prototyping process with the team felt like we were all kids playing with building blocks again,” said Butler. “And I hope we’ve managed to evoke that feeling for the players, too.”
Creative Mode launches on 26th August Pacific Time!
