Hello truckers! There are less than three weeks to go until we launch on Steam. Three weeks! We can barely believe it. We are so excited to be able to release our game into the wild and have you all play it - we hope you’re as excited as we are. Last week we talked about how Alaskan Road Truckers fits into the field of trucking games, this week we’re going to look at how it compares to simulation games. We’re going to answer the question - is Alaskan Road Truckers a simulation game? [h2][b]What is a simulation game?[/b][/h2] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33660248/6a8a3eddb0f33a6dd7bf9f7ae003f4b46e32c8c6.png[/img] It’s surprisingly hard to pin down what makes a simulation game a simulation game. It’s an incredibly broad category of gaming, containing games as diverse as Gas Station Simulator, The Sims, and Stardew Valley. Despite allowing players to experience things in a huge variety of ways, there is one thing that unites all simulation games - they simulate an experience. That experience can be as large as designing, building, and managing your own city or as small as living the moment-to-moment experience of a singular person doing a job. Simulation games are all about putting you into a role and giving you the tools to experience it, most often with a degree of fidelity to real life. [h2][b]Sims and Alaskan Road Truckers[/b][/h2] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33660248/9365093f735880f81c124d82ef3ce7cae7747456.png[/img] So the question is: where does Alaskan Road Truckers fit into the simulation genre? Do we simulate an experience? Yes. Alaskan Road Truckers is all about putting you in the shoes (and skin) of an Alaskan trucker. You’ll live, eat, drive, and exist as a trucker, and as a result, many things are simulated. Weather, driving conditions, hunger, energy, health - they’re all in the game, and they make the game step into the simulation space. So on the surface, Alaskan Road Truckers is a simulation game. That said, we would hesitate to brand Alaskan Road Truckers as pure simulation. We’re focusing more on recreating the feel of being an Alaskan trucker rather than recreating every minute aspect of owning a truck or running a trucking business. We want you to feel like a rugged trucker, working through storms and against the odds to deliver your cargo, we don’t want you to feel like you have a never-ending spreadsheet of tasks to complete before you get to the fun stuff. This is a game inspired by real life, it isn’t a recreation of real life. We spoke last week about how we’re not aiming to take the crown of trucking sims, and that’s still true. We are an indie team making an indie game and our ambitions are big but still modest. We’re making the best Alaskan trucker experience ever, we aren’t making the most high-fidelity simulation game ever made. Every aspect of our game has been designed to put you in those trucking boots, and we think you’ll be pleased with the look, sound, feel, and level of simulation we’ve put into the game. [h2][b]Playtests? Playtests.[/b][/h2] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33660248/12493b6b8a6d6c123a6fed933b37297ab89416b0.png[/img] We’ve been running limited closed playtests with parts of our community, and we’ve got more planned! If you’d like to take part, the first step is to join our Discord, where you’ll find info on how to sign up: [url=”https://discord.gg/7nzKkAVgN4”]https://discord.gg/7nzKkAVgN4[/url] [h2][b]Stay in Touch[/b][/h2] With less than three weeks to go until we launch on Steam, stay up to date with everything Alaskan Road Truckers by wishlisting us. We’ve also got a ton of social channels where you can stay in touch with us - come join us! https://store.steampowered.com/app/849100/Alaskan_Road_Truckers/ Join our Discord: [url=”https://discord.gg/7nzKkAVgN4”]https://discord.gg/7nzKkAVgN4[/url] Like us on Facebook: [url=”https://www.facebook.com/alaskanroadtruckers”]https://www.facebook.com/alaskanroadtruckers[/url] Follow us on Twitter: [url=”https://twitter.com/alaskantrucksim”]https://twitter.com/alaskantrucksim[/url] Follow us on Instagram: [url=”https://www.instagram.com/alaskanroadtruckers/”]https://www.instagram.com/alaskanroadtruckers/[/url] Follow us on TikTok: [url=”https://www.tiktok.com/@alaskan.road.truckers”]https://www.tiktok.com/@alaskan.road.trucker[/url]