Paul Jeffrey
Premium
SCS Software have revealed plans to substantially increase the size of its open world maps found in cult classic title American Truck Simulator.
Released to much acclaim by fans of the series, American Truck Simulator has been designed as a complimentary release alongside the studios previous European focused title, European Truck Simulator 2. Although popular on release, some elements of the trucking community have commented the new game doesn't feel of a grand enough scale to truly offer a realistic experience of America's many vast road networks and landscapes.
SCS have listened to the feedback and taken on board the perceived need to increase the scale of its virtual world inside American Truck Simulator. Work is now underway by the studio to upscale all current content within the sim to produce markedly larger environments than players currently enjoy. As can be seen by the map overlay's below, new road sections and enhancements to current environments are proposed and currently being worked on by the studio. Intended as a free update to the current game, SCS are planning to the up the map scale from its current 1:35 scale to 1:20, this will mean gamers can enjoy 75% longer road sections outside of heavily populated cities within the map. Not only will scale increases be implemented but also finer details and improved road networks and buildings will make it into the new release.
"The new scale is equivalent to that of Euro Truck Simulator 2, so the flow of time in both games will be the same. There is also more room now to go back and improve some of the places that were compromised due to the limited scale and replace them with more realistic depictions.
The benefits are clear - you're going to get a free "take 2" on the West-coast states that you already have in the game, and roomier game world for future expansions. In addition, this expansion will come with new road segments to explore and updated technology for the old roads."
Work will be undertaken to provide a better sense of scale and distance, allowing more room to accommodate more iconic areas of the landscape as well as redeveloping many sections of roads and sometimes awkward intersections found in the game. Work on the in game timescales will be brought closer in line with the previous European Truck Simulator title meaning a slower day/night cycle and longer intervals between when the driver needs to rest and refuel. This should again add to the overall feeling of larger and more detail world environments within ATS.
SCS have warned that the significant work required to develop this game enhancement could take several months and therefor development timescales for new DLC and maps will suffer as a consequence.
The proposed changes to American Truck Simulator will no doubt be welcomed by the community and serve as a fine example of how games development studios can listen to their communities and improve a product for the benefit of all concerned.
Check out the RaceDepartment ATS and ETS2 forum for mods, discussions and news around both these cult classic truck driving titles.
It shouldn't be fun but it is... what do you think of American Truck Simulator so far? Like the ideas mentioned in this article for the game? Would you recommend either ATS or ETS 2 to a friend? Lets discuss below!
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Glad to hear it, because it didn't take very long to cover all three states. I found myself driving the same areas repeatedly in just a few hours of game-play.
