With our small wave of releases ahead of us, we figured it to be a good opportunity to give you some background information what is happening here at DRAGO entertainment and how those things impact Gas Station Simulator and its future.
Let’s start with a bit of background. DRAGO entertainment is developing games since 1998. Most of the time we were creating games for others, but a few years back we decided to not do that anymore and switch to creating only our own games.
The initial plan for this new strategy was to reach its next major milestone after the release of Gas Station Simulator and Food Truck Simulator as well as having Winter Survival entered Early Access. We assumed all 3 games will be successful and earn the company a decent income. Thanks to all of you who bought Gas Station Simulator and made it that big of a success for us, we reached that milestone with the first game already. We did expect the game to be successful, but not that successful.
That lead to massive changes in the studio. Things that we planned to start to happen around halfway through 2023 suddenly had to happen in mid-2022. Don’t us wrong, it is absolutely amazing that it happened, but it also caught us quite a bit off-guard and made us face some unexpected challenges.
We take great effort to remain a rather small, independent development studio and try to avoid the “bloat” that often comes with achieving a success earlier than expected, because in our experience that rarely ends well in the long run. This in turn makes us face various challenges. Most of them we handle really well, but we are still struggling a bit whenever we approach the release of projects.
And this year we still have the launch of Food Truck Simulator on September, 14th, Winter Survival’s Early Access on October, 27th and before that a small DLC for Gas Station Simulator followed by another DLC at the end of the year. Yes, we will post more about those, soon.
Anyway, that is a lot of things for a rather small team like us. To be able to make it happen, we have a portion of our developers switch from project to project whenever the pre-release phase is reached. This in turn slows down the work on their initial project, which clearly is a bit of a downside.
On the other hand, there is a massive upside to that approach: most of the developers here have deep knowledge of all the project which in turn allows us to use something from one game in another. Grab some nice feature, adapt it to the new environment and release it within a reasonable time. Something that would not be otherwise possible.
The way we work is also the reason, why on occasion we are a bit late with stuff. We have the best intentions and what to release things as soon as possible, but sometimes there are multiple members of the team of one game temporary working on another (like right now is the case with Gas Station Simulator and Food Truck Simulator) and there is just no way to avoid a delay here and there. Then again, once Food Truck Simulator and Winter Survival are released, some of the developers on those will help to speed things up on Gas Station Simulator so we should be able to provide a lot more content for the game next year.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1160920/Food_Truck_Simulator/ With Food Truck Simulator being tested and retested, some of the devs are back to Gas Station Simulator and ready to speed some things up, where the now smaller food truck team prepares to deal with any post-release issues and plans out further content for the game. This also means that for gas station our next step is the release of the next major update and will definitely happen within weeks, possibly even earlier with a few more folks now working on it. The two DLCs mentioned earlier are already being worked on for a while and we hope to speed the work on one of them considerably.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1394960/Winter_Survival/ While Winter Survival's Early Access on 27.10.2022 is also pretty close, the situation here is a bit different. We initially planned to release a lot earlier, but there were some marketing bottlenecks and we decided to rather postpone. So for once we don't have the neck-breaking pre-release madness to deal with (or at least not nowhere to the extend we had with gas station or now with food truck) and won't be moving more developers from Gas Station Simulator there. They will continue to work on new improvements and content for the gas station so we really should be able to pick up the pace going forward :)
Party Time DLC
As you might have noticed, there is a new DLC listed on Gas Station Simulator called Party Time. It is a small and free DLC we are preparing to celebrate the first year of the game :)
While we are still in the process of ironing out some of its content, we wanted to let you know that something nice on top of the upcoming major update is coming this month. We will provide you with the DLC’s content and release date within the next 2 weeks.
Trucks & Truckers
More customer variety is a common request for Gas Station Simulator and something we are keeping in mind. We already have plans for bikers in the future and now adding another customer group that is missing just got a lot easier for us: truckers.
Massive long haul trucks is just what we need. And the truckers themselves are always an interesting bunch. We initially wanted to have trucks on the gas station with special fuel pumps and dedicated parking spaces, but we ran into some serious problems with the system handling the traffic. It is something we created early on, but then made the mistake to add and add tweaks onto it. At some point later in the game’s development we realised that the way we set it up and then expanded it simply won’t handle large trucks properly - or anything that “bends” somewhere like trailers etc.
That is a mistake we didn’t make when creating the traffic system in Food Truck Simulator. While we used the Gas Station Simulator traffic system as a starting point there, we went into a different direction with it. And while there are no large trucks in Food Truck Simulator (yet), its traffic system already supports them. So since we are on a roll of stealing stuff from them, we will do it again. It will require some more work to make it play nicely in Gas Station Simulator, but we don’t really have a choice in the long run:
Yes, trucks and truckers are going to play a more significant role in Motel Simulator and since Motel Simulator, Road Diner Simulator and Gas Station Simulator will have mechanics supporting each other, some of the content from one of the games will inevitably have to spill over to the others. In this case having a nice gas station here will provide incentives to truckers as customers for the motel and thus they will have to show up on the gas station. That is going to be so cool! This whole “making these games work together” approach is something that we are really excited about.
Just a reminder, Food Truck Simulator is going to be available on September, 14th. There is an updated demo, so you have a look at the traffic system there. It's a tad more sophisticated, no question about it:
Today’s hot fix is a tiny one, but considering the amount of support requests that lead to it, we decided to deploy it ahead of the upcoming big update.
There is a quite substantial memory leak in the UI code (well, there are actually several as it turns out), but this one is pretty serious and we decided to patch it right away. We took care of the other ones already as well, but we can’t deploy them since they require an update of the entire engine.
This hot fix has no other fixes, just a bit of new UI code that should help a lot of players running with low amounts of RAM. The upcoming large update will improve RAM issues even more, but there is just no way for us to patch it ahead in a hot fix. Even this hot fix contains some UI elements from the upcoming patch. In certain circumstances you might get to see a UI element to close/open certain areas of the gas station. While you might be able to click around, it won’t do anything yet.
There just were some changes to the UI we had to deploy with this hot fix without being able to hide them, sorry about that. On the bright side, the large update is just around the corner :)
And before you ask about the new engine: yes, the next update will also update the game’s engine as this was necessary for many of the performance improvements we made. And to quote the lead guy on the Food Truck Simulator team: “If you keep going to steal our sh*t, at least have the decency to upgrade your damn engine to match ours and make all our lives that little bit easier!” Since we intend to take some more good stuff from them (we’ll post about that later this week), that’s what we did and the upcoming large update comes with a significant update to Gas Station Simulator’s engine as well as new features and content aside from all the fixes and performance improvements :)
Managing Crucial Aspects
Whether your business is handling or running four wheels or running on four wheels, there are a few basic rules to follow. When you master these common factors, you will become really a business shark in an ocean of opportunities. Let's analyze two economic activities that may become yours even today: Food Truck and Gas Station.
Renown
Fame has different appearances and in Gas Station Simulator we like to call it "popularity". If an adventure on Route 66 is still ahead of you, popularity is a system that tracks feedback from your customers. Do not exceed the required amount of fuel while fulfilling the order. Check out each product carefully and do not scatter them on the floor. Take care of the gas station so that it is clean and its shelves are not empty. These and many other activities contribute to increased popularity, which means higher traffic, the possibility of further expanding and developing the gas station and unique visual rewards. For those who are struggling to reach the maximum popularity level, we hear you! We are working on a new way to increase popularity to make leveling more enjoyable.
For Food Truck Simulator, based on the experience and feedback in Gas Station Simulator, we have created a new system called “prestige” that approaches this topic slightly differently. There is nothing more sensitive than a customer with an empty belly, and as a chef and salesman you will meet many of them. Be careful because such a customer might be a ticking bomb that will damage your prestige when exploding. How to avoid it? Feed them properly. Keep an eye on the ingredients and don't make them wait too long. Take care of cleanliness! Nobody wants to eat a grilled burger that's wrapped in burnt fat. If you manage to do it, it will open up a whole host of new opportunities.
Time
If you thought you would have peace of mind at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, then you are almost right. The business beginnings are usually slow, and later on you can either take a break by closing the gas station or get help by hiring employees. Nevertheless, once you spread your wings and start offering fuel, a cool drink or a bathroom as the only place within dozens of miles, don't be surprised when a wave of customers floods you. May you be prepared for this in advance and have a warehouse full of products and tanks full of fuel. Time is not your ally, so keep an eye on it. In Food Truck Simulator, time management begins in the garage. Plan a route, analyze all strategic places, and when you are ready, start the engine and show off with your driving skills. If you manage to get to the supply store on time before the competition, you will get a better offer. Be late and pay full price like any other. The next stop? The selling point where the time and mass of hungry customers stand against your kitchen under your command.
Progress
This point applies to both your business and you personally. Let's start with the Food Truck. Traveling through the corners of the city, makes you discover new locations that will provide a greater business range. You meet new people, thanks to whom you will expand your service scope. Over time, your vehicle will become a better mobile kitchen, and you will become a better driver which will allow you to get to further places faster. However, you can also focus on any single selling point. Focus on your favorite type of kitchen, which will please both you and the consumer. Some say that a good cook is not one who has trained 10,000 dishes, but one who practiced a dish 10,000 times. And how to manage this in a desert? Las Vegas and Dubai were also built on empty sand. So remember the day you wake up for the first time as the owner of this not very spectacular abandoned gas station. Think of it a month later as you enter a huge and refurbished facility. Recall the initial silence when you hear the clamor of constant engines and people around you. When you go inside the workshop to save a customer's vacation or use the car wash to make sure someone's date goes well, think of the piles of sand that stood where these structures are now. The future is in your hands.
Express yourself
This is your business. You are your own boss and don't be afraid to show it in an artistic way. Whether it's a gas station or a food truck, you'll start your working day with a smile when you look at your handiwork with pride. There are plenty of customisation options in both games and we intend to add even more!
Gas Station Simulator is obviously available already and Food Truck Simulator will be released in few weeks on September, 14th:
As we mentioned in an earlier annoucement, we are right now making our first experiences with Steam’s Playtest feature with our other game, Food Truck Simulator. After only a couple of days, we are very satisfied with it and as mentioned back then, we wanted to see if that’s something that we might adapt for Gas Station Simulator in the future.
We now made the decision, that we definitely will. Starting most likely with the Shady Deals DLC, we will make it available in its then current state via Playtest ahead of release to get some feedback sooner and have enough time until release to put some of that feedback into the final product. While some things might not work fully yet, we believe giving at least a selected number of players access to the DLC way before its release makes a lot of sense to iron things out early on and get some things noticed before it’s too late.
Sure, a Playtest is not for everyone, it’s basically like a more streamlined beta test, but considering the amount of players that asked us for beta tests before Gas Station Simulator’s release, Steam’s Playtest feature seems like the perfect solution.
It wasn’t that we opposed to the concept of beta testing as such, just that organising it and its handling are quite a lot of work that would take time away from the already busy developers. With Food Truck Simulator’s Playtest we are seeing now how much less time is necessary to set it up and we will use Playtests a lot more frequently in the future.
The Playtest in Food Truck Simulator is still running, so you might want to participate in it to have a look how it works and what to expect. Just head over there and click the Request Access button.
And in case you have forgotten what Shady Deals is about, that’s a quite large DLC we are working on for Gas Station Simulator that will see, among many other things, the return of the uncle with a new business scheme:
As you might have noticed, a while ago we announces two other games that will expand the gas station “universe”: Road Diner Simulator and Motel Simulator. But it is not about just creating games using an existing brand, it’s about making them actually work together.
The folks working on Road Diner Simulator just posted their first DevLog and it outlines how these 3 games will work together when you have any 2 of these 3. Certainly a worthwhile read to see what the future holds for Gas Station Simulator as well:
Having all 3 games working together like this will also mean a lot of changes to Gas Station Simulator in the future and new content adapted from both other games in order to make it work. So even if you don’t get Road Diner Simulator and/or Motel Simulator once they become available, your Gas Station Simulator will still see some nice new things added on top of what we already have in the pipeline for the next 12 months or more.
How about having a food truck on the gas station? As you might be aware, the release of our Food Truck Simulator is just around the corner (September, 14th). This means the game is in testing and that involves the folks who are working on Gas Station Simulator having a closer look at it occasionally as well. And on one of those occasions they came up with an idea… yeah, of course they did.
“Wouldn’t it be fun to have a food truck on the gas station?” asked one of the developers. “You mean like a decoration or an event?” asked another in return. “Eh, yeah, we could do that, too. But I meant like having an actual food truck there that you control, that is another boost for popularity and provides some income.” was the unexpected answer. And then hell broke loose…
I will spare you the avalanche of expletives that ensued from other devs who heard the conversation or the finer points of treats, intimidation and borderline harassment involved in the process of making the idea take on an actual shape of a plan…
Anyway, after a lot of back and forth the idea really did take on some shape. What we were thinking was adding a food truck to the gas station that you can manage. You won’t have to cook or drive it like in Food Truck Simulator, since let’s face it: it would be far beyond the scope of the idea and that’s what Food Truck Simulator is for. Not to mention you are already busy running the gas station and handling the day-to-day tasks there and more are coming with new content later this year.
Instead, we figured we let you “just” manage the food truck. You will have to take care of its maintenance, make sure it has enough supply to prepare the food it sells and see that the guy doing it all is actually getting paid. We would add a map of the area and on that map there would be several locations in the vicinity and you would have to select when the food truck should be where to maximise its sales, pretty much like you have to do in Food Truck Simulator.
What we would do is grab some of the game logic from Food Truck Simulator when it comes to maintenance, supplies and locations and use them for this idea, as adding a food truck from scratch would just take too long to be a viable idea. Heck, we might as well steal some of their nice customisations while at it so you have to fix it up before it can be put to some use.
Food Truck Simulator has a pretty good demo you should check out to get a better idea how these things work and what we are writing about:
And this leads us back to the question: is this something you’d like to see us add to Gas Station Simulator? We have to be upfront about one thing though: adding the food truck might slightly delay the already planned new content for Gas Station Simulator. There is always something, hence us trying to get some feedback from the community to see if in your view, this idea is worth pursuing further.
Please use the Discuss button below to let us know.
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