FreeRails is a real-time, multi player railway strategy & management game where players compete to build the most powerful railroad empire. It is based on the RailRoad Tycoon I and II games.
It is written in Java and the code is released under the open source GPL-3.0 license. The project is currently in an intermediate state. It has a long development history.
The goal is to finish the game with a modern 2D graphics style using JavaFx and a stable, efficient game engine with similar features to RailRoad I&II and worthy AI opponents, so it can be played single-player or multi-player.
The latest version is 0.4.1 released on January 2nd, 2018. It's a minor release.
Direct download of FreeRails 0.4.1
For information how to play FreeRails see the FreeRails manual.
The source code uses Gradle as build system which makes it independent of the choice of the IDE. Most IDEs can import Gradle based project easily, but you could also install Gradle and use it from the command line together with your favorite editor.
Eclipse IDE for Java Developers (4.7.2)
Select Menu File/Import, Select Gradle/Existing Gradle Project, Select Next, Set Project root directory to the FreeRails local working directory, Select Finish
In the Gradle Tasks window execute task verification/check for running the tests and application/run for running the application.
NetBeans IDE 8.2
Make sure the Gradle support plugin is installed (Menu Tools/Plugins)
Select Menu File/Open Project and select the FreeRails local working directory (should show the Gradle logo) and select Open Project.
Run the project with F6 and test with Alt+F6.
IntelliJ IDEA Community 2017.3
Select Import Project, select file build.gradle from the FreeRails local working directory (should show the Gradle logo), if not set, select "Use default gradle wrapper" and select a suitable Gradle JVM.
Select Menu View/Tool Windows/Gradle and execute task verification/check for running the tests and application/run for running the application.
Use the custom dictionary with Menu File/Settings and Editor/Spelling/Dictionaries and add file /docs/dictionary/freerails.dic from the FreeRails local working directory.