California Dreamin'

During our special Christmas 2020 live stream, we announced that we would be revisiting California in American Truck Simulator to give our starting state a reskin! Today we are excited to share with you a development update on the progress of this project and what changes you can expect to see! Let's take a closer look, shall we? 

Thanks to the growth of our map teams here at SCS Software, we now have the capacity to take on this huge task at hand, while also working on future map projects. So what exactly is in store for California? 

• All cities will undergo a redesign and adjustments to reflect our current quality standards
• A large number of new assets reflecting California's specific signs, architecture, road systems, tourist attractions, industrial depots, and more!
• New Agriculture Control Stations which will be located at the borders of the state
• Major road layout rework

The reskin will come as a free update for all owners of the American Truck Simulator and will be released in smaller phases over the course of upcoming game updates. While at this time we don't have an estimated date of when the reskin project will be complete, know that our team will be working hard to bring details and extras we missed the first time around.

Let's focus on one of the more noticeable changes drivers will experience when arriving in California, the new agriculture border control stations! These special stations are the first line of defense in pest exclusion efforts. All drivers hauling goods into the state will have to undergo special checks from the control station where vehicles are inspected for commodities that may be infested with invasive species, and for the correct documentation.

In-game, we will mimic these scenarios with a new feature, which will work very similar to the current weigh stations. Upon your arrival at the border, depending on what you are hauling, drivers will be notified to pull over for an inspection at one of the control stations before they are given the green light to enter the state. 

We can't wait to share with you more development updates from California and more! Keep an eye here on our official blog and social media channels for more content in the future. Happy trucking! 

1.41: Revisited Photo Mode

We know how much our players love to take photos! From rest stops to landmarks, our social media channels receive hundreds of photos each week of drivers on their virtual travels in Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator! That is why we are happy to share with you a peek at one of our upcoming features in development for the in-game photo mode in 1.41. 

We understand that lots of you take your time to get the perfect shot, and for many, this also includes finding the right lighting conditions and weather. So to help create that perfect trucking memory, we have implemented a new feature that may save you quite a bit of time when it comes to using console commands! 

Introducing the new Time and Weather options! Players will now be able to choose the conditions of their liking, to create the perfect trucking snap just by simply adjusting a new slider to change the time, or clicking on two buttons to control the lighting/weather, all of which will appear in the updated in-game photo studio. We can't wait to see how drivers will use this new feature in the future and we look forward to seeing your snaps! 

Be sure to let us know in the comments your thoughts on this new feature. We look forward to sharing more upcoming 1.41 development news with you in the future!

Renault Trucks Evolution Design Community Vote

The unique and innovative community design contest we've started with our friends over at Renault Trucks is reaching its final phase! After gathering all the creative and cool contest entries, we are now coming to you with an announcement of the 5 finalists, who'll try to steal your heart and your vote! 

These 5 participants should already feel like a star, as their submitted designs have impressed the team of judges comprising of designers from Renault Trucks and a few consultants from SCS Software too! Plus, as was promised in some of the previous articles we've published during this campaign, these 5 creative members of our #BestCommunityEver have just won the amazing T150 steering wheel kindly provided by Thrustmaster, the exclusive sponsor of the contest! 

If you see your name/design amongst these 5 finalists, then make sure to keep an eye on your email inbox, as we will get in touch with you very soon to get your shipping details for the delivery of your prize!

HetriX

SabR

Junnky

Kriistof

Stefan

But here's where the race for everlasting fame begins! Because now, we will all decide together who the ultimate winner of the #RenaultTrucksEvolution community contest design will be; who'll become a real legend, whose design will not only be implemented into ETS2, but also recreated on a real truck as a monument to this close collaboration between the automotive and gaming industry!

Please visit this special landing page and cast your votes, to help us decide who the star of the show is, the chosen one, the person who designed the most impressive and unique design out of these 5 finalists. You can take some time to closely inspect and browse the designs. The community voting is now active and ends on the 2nd of May, 2021, at 23:59 CEST. Also, we highly suggest you read the full regulations here.

The winner, along with the winning design, will be revealed later this year in the summer at a very special event in Lyon, France. This is where the winning designer will be invited by Renault Trucks, to be the star of the night, to reveal the truck and to test-drive it as well!*

*The planned reward of an expenses-paid trip to the launch event in Lyon might be subject to change, as neither SCS Software nor Renault Trucks can guarantee that future COVID-19 travel and safety restrictions will allow such an event to take place.

Wyoming: Mines

The mining industry in the United States has a long history and continues to play a crucial role in the country's economy today. Despite being a top consumer of coal, the US is also among the top five exporters of it. Today, we will be taking a closer look at the U.S state of Wyoming and the industries in which players will be able to take job contracts in our upcoming DLC for American Truck Simulator.

Located in a mountainous region, Wyoming has been the USA's leading coal producer since 1986, providing around 40% of the country’s coal, with 42 billion tons of reserve recoverable coal, with an estimated 1.4 trillion tons that has yet to be mined. One such mine which will be featured in our upcoming Wyoming DLC is The Black Thunder thermal coal mine. Located in Campbell Country, this is one of the largest coal mines in the world. Despite the rising adoption of cleaner and renewable energy sources, the mine still continues to cater to large demand, producing an estimated 115 million tons of coal per year, and was the first coal mine in the world to transport one billion tons of coal!

Drivers in Wyoming will be able to help contribute to the service and upkeep of the mine dumpers that transport coal in the Mines, by delivering parts and goods to the maintenance garages located on their outskirts. 

However, coal isn't the only large export from the state! Wyoming is also home to the world’s largest deposit of trona, supplying about 90% of the nation’s soda ash (or more commonly known as baking soda). It is used in a number of everyday products including paper, detergents, textiles, glass, and more! 

Truckers in our Wyoming DLC will also be able to deliver to a nearly 1:1 landmark depot of a soda ash mine and help contribute to delivering the necessary materials and cargo needed for its day-to-day operations. 

If you want to say 'Wyoming is mine', be sure to add Wyoming for American Truck Simulator to your Steam Wishlist. It really helps supports us in the development and release of our upcoming content. We thank you for your support. 

#BestCommunityEver Celebration

Through rain and shine, there's been a driving force that has kept our team in top gear throughout our company's history of game development. From earlier game titles such as Hard Truck: 18 Wheels of Steel to our well-known titles of today, we've been lucky to have YOU, our #BestCommunityEver as our co-driver every mile of our journey so far.

From modders to content creators to virtual trucking companies, we are lucky to have what we believe is THE best community a game studio could ask for. For us, you are so much more than just an average fan base! You are a never-ending fountain of ideas, suggestions, research, feedback, constructive criticism and so much more. We also see daily examples of drivers helping each other on various social media platforms which in turn creates a better driving experience for everyone. You have become our driving force throughout the years and because of you, we have recently reached some amazing milestones! 

From 300,000 subscribers on our official YouTube channel, through nearly 180,000 followers on our Instagram profile, 120,000 followers on our Steam Developer Hub, more than 235,000 followers on the American Truck Simulator Facebook page, nearly 220,000 followers on our official and finally verified SCS Software Facebook Page, almost 110,000 followers on our Twitter profile, to the enormous 1 MILLION FOLLOWERS on our Euro Truck Simulator 2 Facebook page, we wanted to reward all our drivers with a special gift to recognize our trucking family. 

We couldn't think of a better gift than one that you can proudly adorn whenever you are on the road! So we've created a special #BestCommunityEver Truck + Trailer paint job for both Euro Truck Simulator 2 & American Truck Simulator; this can be earned by taking part in our World of Trucks micro-event! 

Rules:

Using External Contracts or External Market, with a World of Trucks-connected profile in Euro Truck Simulator 2 or American Truck Simulator, deliver 1 external contract cargo (any cargo) with a minimum of a 500km distance. 

Players will be rewarded the #BestCommunityEver paint job in each game which they completed the delivery in (Euro Truck Simulator 2 or American Truck Simulator)

Thank you for being our #BestCommunityEver! We really believe we have a wonderful family of ETS2 & ATS truckers and we appreciate all that you do to support us and the continued development of our trucking titles. We can't wait to spend many more miles on the road with you! 

#RenaultTrucksEvolution Design Contest Reminder

We've teamed up with the amazing team over at Renault Trucks to give you the incredibly exciting opportunity to create a paint job design for the new Renault Trucks T High Evolution, which could feature in-game in Euro Truck Simulator 2 and on a REAL Truck!

With limited time left until your entry must be submitted, let us run you through how YOU can get creative and take part in this amazing opportunity, and what prizes are up for grabs. 

You have until the 25th of April to create and submit your own originally created design and this can be done in a number of ways! 

• If you have experience in modding, you can create your paint job and transfer it in-game. Then take a screenshot of the T High Evolution truck with your "skin" in the game and send it. 
• If you are good at editing, you can paint/draw/overlay your design onto images of the truck
• Not great with software? Print out the template images provided, draw on them and scan/capture them and send them to us! 

Everything you need to know is on this special landing page developed especially for this contest! We highly suggest you read the rules, plus terms and conditions very carefully!

So what exactly is up for grabs in terms of prizes? All of the 5 finalists will receive very cool rewards kindly provided by the exclusive sponsor of this campaign, Thrustmaster. Winners will receive the amazing T150 steering wheel!

And what about the ultimate winner? Well for that person we have prepared something very special. Their design will actually be recreated by the team at Renault Trucks on one of their production trucks and revealed in a special event around Summer 2021 at Renault Trucks' headquarters in Lyon, France. The creator of this design will get an expenses-paid VIP invitation to this special celebration, to be the star of the night, to see the truck, to test-drive it, and to enjoy a good time with people from SCS Software and Renault Trucks*.  Plus, we will bring this design into the game as an exclusive paint job as well! 

With so many exciting prizes up for grabs, you have zero reasons not to enter! Get creative and you could see your original artwork on a Renault truck! We have received so many great submissions so far and we look forward to seeing so many more! Here are just a few of them so far (this doesn't mean you won't be picked as a finalist, we are simply just showing some of the ones we personally like!)

If you are looking for some inspiration, have a watch of our previous streams where you can find tips and tricks not only from one of our own artists here at SCS Software but also from Paul Daintree, Design Director for Renault Trucks! Watch them below! (we apologize for the technical difficulties with audio during our stream with Annie!): 

*The planned reward of an expenses-paid trip to the launch event in Lyon might be subject to change, as neither SCS Software nor Renault Trucks can guarantee that future COVID-19 travel and safety restrictions will allow such an event to take place.