Are you curious about how our Coaches DLC for Euro Truck Simulator 2 is being created? You're in luck! Today, we're giving you a behind-the-scenes look at this upcoming expansion. We interviewed Dominik, the producer of Project Coaches, who will share a few insights.
"Hi, I'm Dominik, and I'm the producer of the Coaches DLC. Even before I joined SCS, I was very interested in coaches, waiting for news, and looking forward to what SCS would come up with. When I moved into the role of a producer, and we were discussing what project I could take on, coaches were the obvious choice. It's a very interesting project with a long history, but one that has been stagnating for many years. Taking it on and seeing it through to completion is a challenge. I'm very happy to have been given this opportunity and to be able to work with the team on this great project," he shares with us.
Dominik has been with our team for several years, and his path to becoming a producer for the Coaches project has provided him with strong, relevant experience.
"I joined SCS as a map designer for the Italia DLC. I gradually worked my way up to map lead, and after a few years, I moved to the position of a producer. This prepared me quite well for Coaches' development. I had extensive knowledge of the map and coach station coverage, I was familiar with the map development process, asset submission, and managing large numbers of people and tasks. Of course, there were many other challenges ahead of me. Working with the game design and programming teams was new to me, and overall, it was a more agile project with more unknowns than in map development," Dominik told us.
So, what exactly does a producer do on a project like this? Dominik gave us a clear overview of his responsibilities and how they all come together to ensure the project's success.
"The main focus of this position is coordination. My job is to ensure that the whole team pulls together, that everyone knows what they are supposed to do, and that they have all the necessary resources and information to reach our common goal as quickly as possible. Sometimes it is necessary to secure additional capacity and work outside the team; for example, when we discovered that we couldn't render such a large number of raindrops due to the large windows on coaches. This problem concerned the rendering team, as no one within our team could solve it. I try to keep track of the direction of development so that I can quickly respond to any changes that may arise," he explains.
Of course, a project like this doesn't come without its challenges. Dominik talked about some of the hurdles involved and how he works through them.
"The difficult thing is to keep the scope of the project under control. We and the community have lots of ideas and expectations about what could be incorporated, but we need to remember that our team is relatively small and we don't want this project to drag on for another 5 years; we want to get it to our players as soon as possible. So we need to carefully choose what we focus on now and what we will develop in future updates."
Dominik also explains the core design thinking behind making this game mode feel distinct from trucks while still fitting naturally into the existing game.
"The basic question we asked ourselves was what makes coaches different and how to make them unique. The answer, of course, was the passengers. Not only can they be seen inside the vehicle, but the player must also drive more carefully; they should not slam on the brakes or make sharp turns if they want to avoid a penalty. Last but not least, we are also working on sounds so that the player is aware of the passengers thanks to the sounds. At the same time, we are mindful that the primary focus of the game is still trucks, and coaches are an addition, so we don't want to get bogged down in simulating the management of a coach company or hiring drivers," Dominik shares with us.
The team working on Coaches is still relatively small, but there are a lot of people joining the project in consulting roles, for example, but don't work on it directly.
"We have put together the core gameplay with a team of four: a producer, a game designer, a programmer, and a tester. Then there is a branch of the team that takes care of the map, where we have a researcher and currently two map designers – one deals with coach stops, the other with map modifications necessary for the proper functioning of coaches, such as border crossings. And of course, the QA at the end. Finally, we have the vehicle part, consisting primarily of two vehicle designers and also QA. If I were to add up all the various additional consultants, asset designers, physics programmers, marketing, etc., I would say that a total of about 20 people are working on the coaches," he says.
For Dominik, this project has been something of a dream come true. Having wanted to work in this area since childhood, he is a natural fit for the producer role.
"Ever since I was little, I've been a fan of anything with wheels, and I couldn't wait to get my driver's license so I could drive myself. I liked to sit at the front of the bus and watch everything the driver had to do, how he had to take corners, check his mirrors, make sure he had the engine brake on, and so forth. When I couldn't drive myself, I at least explored what the gaming world had to offer. I played games from SCS, at that time the 18 Wheels of Steel series, almost every day, and Bus Driver was a must. I didn't become a bus driver, but I still play simulators, not only those from SCS but other titles as well," he explains.
What Dominik enjoys most about his work is being both a fan of simulators and being closely involved in the development process.
"I can try out internal builds as features are gradually added and the project comes together. I can see the progress. I can go through it and see how we are moving forward, and everything that was once just ideas on paper is now really working in the game. It was great to organize an internal playtest where we watched various colleagues who haven't had much contact with the project drive the coaches. It was great to see their reactions and suggestions," he says.
Apart from the fact that players will be able to try out different vehicles in the game, Dominik believes it will be the passenger satisfaction system that they will enjoy the most. "Players have to balance arriving at the stop on time with not driving too fast and upsetting the passengers. This adds a whole new dimension to the gameplay that players haven't experienced in our games before," he shares with us.
For the Coaches DLC, the team looked for inspiration everywhere possible, as Dominik says: "We looked at our older game, Bus Driver. Of course, we browse forums and other sources for ideas from the community, we have a person on our team as a consultant, who worked as a bus driver for many years, and last but not least, we also looked at other games in a similar genre."
He also believes that this project won't end with the release, as they already have some future plans. "Of course, I don't want to make any empty promises about what we might deliver a year after release, but we want to continue working on the project, and we have further plans and updates for it. For example, we are currently exploring cooperation with other long-distance coach manufacturers. We would also like to further support the tourist aspect of the game and take players to places that are attractive to tourists, thereby guiding them through the scenic locations we are building in the game," Dominik hints.
And at the end of the blog, he has a short message for our #BestCommunityEver. "In conclusion, I would like to say that I am really looking forward to the release. I hope that the coaches will entertain the community. I look forward to reviews and reaction videos, and I believe that this will encourage SCS in a similar way as do the positive reactions to Nordic Horizons and Louisiana," Dominik says.
We hope you liked this peek behind the curtains of this upcoming expansion. Don't forget to add the Coaches DLC to your Steam wishlist! If you want to keep track of future updates, make sure to follow us on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube, or sign up for our newsletter. Until next time, happy travels!
