Hexagon Game Labs is working on an HTML5-based strategy game called “SteamPower1830,” according to Droid Gaming.

The developers claim that it will be the first premium game developed for HTML5, taking advantage of its multimedia features.

“SteamPower1830 is geared to suit both the casual gamer as well as experienced fans of strategy games. Easy to learn, but difficult to master, it provides exactly the right amount of challenge for each type of player,” Peter Cukierski, Hexagon Game Labs founder and CGO, said in a statement.

The game lets players build up their own railroad empires, combining elements of strategy, simulation and city building games. The screenshots look impressive – less like a Web game and more like a game played on conventional PCs. The game will allow two players to collaborate on the same scenario with a built-in chat feature.

The game can also be played in single player mode, and the multi-player mode will allow players to leave and come back at will, without interrupting the other player’s session.

Since it’s based on HTML5, it should work on just about any device that supports the new standard. Almost all recent browsers do, even if HTML5 hasn’t yet been completely defined by the World Wide Web consortium. The W3C (News – Alert) is expected to release the full standard by 2014.

While the game will theoretically work on any HTML5-compliant browser, individual performance, as they say in car commercials, may vary. Every browser has its own quirks, as anyone who’s ever tried to make a cross-platform Web application will tell you. A complex game like “SteamPower1830” will no doubt pose a challenge for the company as it tries to maintain an acceptable experience across different browsers and devices, from PCs to smartphones to tablets.

Hexagon Game Labs will show off the game at Gamescom 2013 in Cologne, Germany from Aug. 21-25.