Transportation Tycoon for iOS is coming, and this is what it looks like

The tycoon game genre has been around for decades, starting with games like Lemonade Stand, which started out on mainframe computers back in the 1970s. We take tycoon games for granted now, but there were some seminal titles that helped to define the genre back in the 1990s - games like Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon and Chris Sawyer's Transportation Tycoon.

Sawyer eventually moved on to create the enormously popular Rollercoaster Tycoon series. But now he's back, and he's brought Transportation Tycoon with him. And most excitingly, it will run on iOS and Android devices, planning for a release later this year. The developer has leaked a few screenshots to give you a sense of what's coming.

Transport Tycoon screens 1

Transportation Tycoon has you plotting routes for trains, trucks and other vehicles near industrial zones or cities. It's not purely a railroad game, and it's not a city layout game either - you can set a route that depends on different forms of transportation, just like in real life.

You must borrow money to get your burgeoning empire off the ground, pay it back, and reinvest revenue to grow your business. You can carry resources, finished goods and passengers, and the quicker you get them there, the more money you'll make.

Transportation Tycoon screens 2

A few game developers have already dabbled in railroad and transportation management games, but with Chris Sawyer behind this one, Transportation Tycoon promises to be something very special. We'll bring you more details as we get them.

Peter Cohen