Idle and logistics management games frequently suffer from generic 2D spreadsheets disguised as games. When designing Waybill, my goal was to combine the addictive progression loops of supply-chain logistics with tactile, miniature 3D dioramas powered by Apple's RealityKit engine on iPadOS.
Here is a technical overview of how RealityKit, physics dispatch, and mathematical balance modeling came together.
1. Why RealityKit on iPadOS?
Traditionally, games on iOS are developed using third-party engines like Unity or Godot. However, RealityKit provides substantial advantages for native Apple platforms:
- Hardware-Accelerated Metal Rendering: Optimized natively for Apple Silicon (M-series chips on iPad Pro and iPad Air).
- Spatial Audio & Dynamic Lighting: Realistic physical audio and directional lighting that adapts naturally as the player tilts or rotates the diorama.
- First-Class SwiftUI Integration: Via
RealityView, allowing declarative SwiftUI control panels to float seamlessly over active 3D models.
2. Five Dynamic Regions, Hand-Crafted Dioramas
In Waybill, progress moves through five distinct topological regions, each introducing unique physical constraints and vehicle dynamics:
- Riverside: Regional box-truck distribution and introductory four-step logistics chains.
- Harbour City: Intermodal scheduling with cargo ships, berthing windows, and automated quay cranes.
- Granite Pass: Heavy freight railway networks crossing suspension bridges and mountain tunnels.
- Metro: High-density urban dispatch featuring autonomous delivery vans and eVTOL air taxi routes.
- Orbit: Rocket staging, orbital payload launches, and booster landing telemetry.
Supply Source ──► Processing Hub ──► Intermodal Transit ──► Market Destination
(Mining/Agri) (Manufacturing) (Ship / Train) (Metropolis)3. Real-Time Physics & Procedural Scheduling
Vehicles in Waybill are not simple prerendered animations; they are physics-enabled entities adhering to velocity, mass, braking curves, and collision bounds. When a cargo ship berths in Harbour City, quay cranes calculate inverse-kinematic paths to unload containers into waiting truck bays. If a bottleneck occurs, trucks queue physically along the highway, giving immediate visual feedback on logistical inefficiencies.
4. Rigorous Balance Simulation
An idle game lives and dies by its mathematical pacing. To ensure a playthrough takes approximately two and a half weeks of organic play (three short daily sessions, idle accumulation in between), the entire economy was modeled in Python (balance.py) simulating progression curves, cash-flow velocity, and upgrade costs before committing a single line of game code.
Explore Waybill
Waybill is fully open-source under the MIT License:
- GitHub Repository: github.com/Yvsleyen00941/Waybill
- Interactive Showcase: yorben.me/#waybill
- Official Release: v1.0.0 Release on GitHub