ETS 2 Coaches Producer on Scope, Raindrops and Plans After Launch
SCS Software opened the year with a long interview with Dominik, the producer of the Coaches DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2. It is one of the more candid looks at the project so far, with real detail on team size, priorities and what the DLC will deliberately leave out.
From map designer to producer
Dominik joined SCS as a map designer on the Italia DLC, became map lead and later moved into production. That background helps here: he already knew the map, the existing bus station coverage and how map work is planned. Working closely with game design and programming was new, and he describes Coaches as a more agile project with more unknowns than a map expansion.
He calls the project one with “a long history” that had been stuck for years before he took it on.
The raindrop problem
His job is mostly coordination: making sure everyone knows what to do and has what they need, and finding help outside the team when a problem goes beyond it. His example is a good one. Coaches have huge windows, and the game could not render that many raindrops on them. Nobody on the Coaches team could fix it, so the rendering team had to step in.
Keeping the scope under control
The hardest part, he says, is not letting the project grow forever. Players and developers both have plenty of ideas, but the team is small and SCS does not want Coaches to take another five years. So the team picks what goes in now and what waits for updates.
That also explains a clear design decision. Coaches are built around the passengers: you see them inside, you have to drive carefully to avoid penalties, and sound will tell you they are there. What it will not do is simulate running a coach company or hiring drivers. Trucks stay the core of the game, and coaches are an addition to it.
About 20 people in total
The core gameplay was built by four people: a producer, a game designer, a programmer and a tester. A map branch adds a researcher and two map designers, one on coach stops and one on map changes such as border crossings. Two vehicle designers handle the coaches, with QA across all of it. Count the consultants, asset designers, physics programmers and marketing, and Dominik puts the total at about 20 people.
The team also has a consultant who drove buses for many years, and it looked at SCS’s old Bus Driver, community ideas from the forums and other games in the genre for inspiration.
After release
Dominik is careful not to promise too much, but says the team wants to keep working on Coaches after launch. Two plans he mentions: talks with more long-distance coach manufacturers, and more support for tourist trips that take players to scenic locations on the map.
He expects the passenger satisfaction system to be the thing players enjoy most, because balancing punctuality against a smooth ride is something SCS games have never asked of players before.
Source: SCS Software blog. Images and video: SCS Software.
