Take your next piece underground
Hey everyone!
The Subway is ready to explore. Follow long tunnels between four stations, find a wall in a quiet passage, or paint a whole train car and watch your work head off around the line. This update also brings more room in Practice Yard, new routes through the Factory, and a lot of work on how painting feels, especially when a room gets busy.
Thank you to everyone who tried the changes, pointed out awkward corners, and helped make this update better.
Four stations, plenty to explore
The S1 line connects Art District, Downtown, Depot and Port in a loop. Platforms open into passages, ticket halls and stairways, with several levels to explore. Between stations, long curved tunnels and stretches where the tracks separate give you plenty of different places to paint.
- Art District: matching ticket halls on both sides, with an underpass connecting the platforms.
- Downtown: a large station with an upper gallery, a café, a newsstand and plenty of walls above and beside the platforms.
- Depot: an industrial station with lower service tracks, extra passages and a train that stays parked.
- Port: a broad platform hall with ochre steelwork, back passages and longer tunnel approaches.
Both subway entrances in Art District lead down to Art District station. You can also choose The Subway through Extras → Map, or press M on desktop. It is part of the connected world in public rooms, private rooms and singleplayer.
Paint a train. See it come around again.
Two five-car trains travel around the loop in opposite directions. They stop for five minutes at Art District, Depot and Port, and ten minutes at Downtown. The journey between neighboring stations takes about a minute. Everyone in the room sees the same timetable, and your paint stays on the same car as it moves through the map.
Paint from the platforms while the trains are stopped. A short beep-beep, a visible countdown and flashing amber strips announce departure during the final three seconds. The visual warning works with sound off and stays visible even if the warning area has been painted over. Rolling train sounds and quiet station ambience help bring the tunnels to life.
For a session without a departure countdown, head to the lower Depot tracks. A third five-car train stays there permanently, giving you time to work through a whole piece at your own pace.
One continuous side, including the windows
The steel body, recessed doors and windows are all paintable. Each car side works as one continuous painting surface, so you can carry a line across a door or window without it breaking into lots of little sections. The train sides also have higher paint resolution for finer details up close. That is especially welcome in VR, where you can lean in to work on a line or inspect a fill. Your Paint Detail setting still controls the detail shown on your device.
Become a Supporter & Unlock VRMore room in Practice Yard
Practice Yard now extends to the other side of the bridge, putting the bridge in the middle of a much wider painting area. The original basketball court remains on one side, with a new open yard on the other, nine additional practice walls, more perimeter wall space, benches and planting.
The long retaining wall has moved outward with its existing paint intact. Your work on the original walls is preserved, and the new walls give everyone more room to spread out. The eastern spawns have matching signs for community rules, painting etiquette and photographing your work.
New routes through the Factory
The Factory has gained the missing second-floor catwalks across the furnace section, plus second- and third-floor crossings in the entrance section. Upper walkways connect back to the existing stairs, with railings and supports completing the routes.
There is more room to move around the upper floors and find a view across the hall. Existing painted walls stay intact, and the brighter lighting makes the interior easier to read.
Keep the stroke going
Paint can now spill onto adjoining paintable walls when your brush reaches a shared edge. It helps strokes flow across joined panels, around corners and along curved tunnel walls, instead of leaving a hard cutoff at each surface boundary. Those curved Subway walls are paintable too.
Crossing between surfaces also keeps the tool sound and painting display steady. The “You’re painting too quickly” check now recognizes a continuous stroke across several surfaces as one action, reducing unnecessary interruptions caused by the surface changes. Normal limits still apply to excessive painting activity.
Large spray strokes have received attention too, particularly Mist, Fat and NY Fat on the trains. Broad fills should feel more responsive. Decorative cables, ribs and station bands in the Subway no longer catch the spray cursor when you are aiming at the wall behind them.
Less waiting when everyone is painting
Busy rooms should feel less stop-start. Receiving other players’ paint is now less likely to interrupt your own strokes, especially when several people are working close together. The focus is on keeping your painting responsive while the latest changes catch up around you.
You may still see “Syncing paint” when a surface needs to catch up before it is safe to continue. The aim is to avoid unnecessary pauses while keeping everyone’s work in the right order. I would love to hear how it feels at your next group session.
More depth, smoother exploring
Lighting and rendering improvements now reach across all the maps. Stations, tunnels and factory halls keep their light and shadow as you look around, with more of the work done before you arrive. Exploring a new view for the first time should cause fewer of those brief stutters after joining.
Wall texture remains visible beneath paint, fresh paint catches the light, and metallic paint has its shine again. The trains combine brushed metal, recessed windows and doors, raised lamps and illuminated displays. The Subway also has new tile, steel and platform textures, station signs and a proper route diagram.
These improvements are intended to make sessions steadier on desktop, mobile and in VR. Results still depend on your device and settings, but you should spend less time noticing the game catch up as you turn or move. On mobile, the map’s travel details now open in a closable popover, leaving more space to see the map.
Help build the next place to paint
If you enjoy PAINTSESSIONS.COM and want to help keep it growing, become a Supporter. Your support helps fund the shared world, new locations and the ongoing work that makes painting feel better. Supporters also get extras including VR painting on compatible headsets and browsers.
Become a Supporter & Unlock VRAlready supporting? Thank you. Sharing a piece, inviting someone to paint, or telling me what needs attention helps too. Drop into the PAINTSESSIONS.COM Discord to share your first train piece or let me know how the update feels.
See you on the platform. Peace!