The player's company and the individual stations each have ratings that depend largely on their efficiency at moving goods from one stations to the other. One transport route can utilize several different forms of transport, e.g. To start building a transport empire, the player must construct transport routes, consisting of stations near industries or towns, and in the case of trains or road vehicles, near physical routes.

A fan-made game engine recreation OpenTTD is also available. A version for Android and iOS was released on 3 October 2013 based on the sequel, Chris Sawyer's Locomotion. Transport Tycoon Deluxe is an expanded and improved version of the original game, released in 1995.

It is a business simulation game, presented in an isometric view in 2D with graphics by Simon Foster, in which the player acts as an entrepreneur in control of a transport company, and can compete against rival companies to make as much profit as possible by transporting passengers and various goods by road, rail, sea and air. Transport Tycoon is a city-based pixel video game designed and programmed by Chris Sawyer, and published by MicroProse on 15 November 1994 for DOS.

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