Hello truckers! We’re warming up our engines ahead of the PC launch of Alaskan Road Truckers - coming [b]October 18, 2023[/b]. We’re excited to let our game out into the wild, and we’re busy working away, making sure our vision of the game is achieved for the launch. This week we wanted to take a moment to talk about what Alaskan Road Truckers is, where it sits in the field of simulation games, and how it compares to some of the other games out there. We hope this helps everyone understand what Alaskan Road Truckers is meant to be as a game. [h2][b]Truck Sim or Survival?[/b][/h2] You might have heard us say (and if you haven’t, where have you been?) that in Alaskan Road Truckers you play as a trucker - not a truck. That isn’t just a snappy marketing slogan, it’s core to the identity of our game and how we differentiate ourselves from other trucking games out there right now. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33660248/d66bbcf1e89ecc86ecde5da9dbaf9822db34c810.png[/img] In other trucking simulation games, what’s simulated is the truck. Not only driving the truck, but maintenance, upkeep, refueling, and loads of other aspects of running a truck - and often running a trucking business too. When we decided to make Alaskan Road Truckers, we decided to take it one step further. Instead of simulating only your truck, what about the person driving it? Setting the game in Alaska, one of the most varied and rugged environments on the planet, helped us in deciding to focus the game all around living as a trucker, not simply driving a truck. From there, the gameplay concepts flow naturally. You’re a human in Alaskan Road Truckers, so you need to eat, sleep, and stay healthy. Then things like temperature begin to play a part too, you have to stay warm in the harsh winters of the frozen North. These all helped us to flesh out what Alaskan Road Truckers is - it’s not just a trucking simulation game, it’s a survival game too where you take your life in your hands every time you climb out of your cab. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33660248/bd717d42df8dc8005dac8cdf99b5095b147e628f.png[/img] It didn’t just stop there - these ideas around survival also helped us provide a deeper trucking experience. The weather will also affect your truck - too cold and it won’t start. We added hazards to the roads so you’ll either have to clear them (if you can) or take detours, which can affect not only your ability to complete your current job but also if you’re unprepared for a lengthy trip, you might run out of fuel, your truck might break down, and you might end up cold and hungry in the wilderness. From a simple start - what about playing as a trucker, not a truck - we’ve expanded our ideas to incorporate a ton of gameplay systems that add up to what we believe is a compelling simulation of trucking life. So when you look at Alaskan Road Truckers and other games and wonder why you should check us out, remember that we’re offering something fundamentally different. [h2][b]How Alaskan Road Truckers Compares[/b][/h2] There are more trucking simulators released every year and a couple of big names that currently hold the trucking crown. It’s important to remember that we’re not aiming to take their crowns - we’re not looking to be the best trucking simulation game ever made. We’re looking to be the best truck[b]er[/b] simulation game ever made. Let’s look at American Truck Simulator for an example. The team at SCS created vast swathes of the USA (with more to come) and have the pre-eminent American trucking game out there. We’re offering something fundamentally different to ATS. We’ve built a smaller experience, focusing on nailing the every day feeling of being a trucker living in Alaska. As we mentioned in last week’s devlog, we’re a small team, so we’ve made our game deeper - not broader. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33660248/4f3408b0e87a95c8fc833c1c24bdd50e497f9390.png[/img] That’s not to say that it’s not important that we have a varied map and a satisfying driving experience - we do, and we’ve made sure that there’s plenty to see and many realistic roads to rumble over in your truck. We’ve ensured that driving your truck in-game feels like driving a truck, you’ll be spending many hours behind the wheel, so we needed to make sure that this is up to scratch. As we continue to support the game after launch we’ll also be adding more to the map and the experience, stay tuned for our post-release roadmap - coming soon! We’ve also decided to launch on consoles, bringing our trucker experience to a wider audience who desperately need a solid trucking game on console. The biggest trucking games are still currently PC only, and we felt that console players deserve to get the same chance to live as a trucker as those on PC. We haven’t announced our console launch date just yet - but it is coming. We can’t wait to get the game in front of PS5 and Xbox Series X/S players - and we hope you’ll love what we’ve got in store for you. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33660248/9608c580d99e9709f66cbeb59c84bd9e6dfd3010.png[/img] [h2][b]More Beta Previews[/b][/h2] Over the last week, we’d seen more people play our beta build and share their experiences on Twitch and YouTube. Here are a few of the wonderful previews that have come in over the last seven days: [b]GametechUK[/b] [previewyoutube=clNXvuwBbyI;full][/previewyoutube] [h3][b]Ebute Gamer[/b][/h3] [previewyoutube=imrA94Osgec;full][/previewyoutube] [h3][b]Hilmi Şahin[/b][/h3] [previewyoutube=7aldIU-A4pA;full][/previewyoutube] [h3][b]アフロマスク[/b][/h3] [previewyoutube=HPoalB-uvjc;full][/previewyoutube] [h2][b]Sign up for the chance to test our game[/b][/h2] We’re currently running some limited invitation playtests of our beta build of the game. To make sure you’re in with a chance to be selected, join our Discord and join in the conversation. Come hang out with us and talk about trucks! [url=”https://discord.gg/7nzKkAVgN4”][img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33660248/12493b6b8a6d6c123a6fed933b37297ab89416b0.png[/img][/url] [h2][b]Stay in Touch[/b][/h2] Now you’ve read all about how Alaskan Road Truckers fits into the field of trucking sims it’s time to head over to our store page and smash that wishlist button. We’re launching on the 18th of October, so make sure you're ready to hit the road with 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=”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]