Hi Truckers,
Today is the day. Servers are indeed live! After logging in, you’ll see the option to select a server with one selected by default. Currently, we have a US East and US West server but we’ll be expanding on these in the future depending on demand/demographics. To switch servers from the play page, simply click the name of the server above the right panel (where active players used to be) to return to the server selection. Now that I’ve said boring things, let’s talk about what this means:
- Multiple trucks (1 per server)
- Better localization and connections
- Ability to add additional servers, including experimental/weird/preview
- Scalable architecture to handle an influx of new players
- We don’t have to eat any more f#$@ing shrimp-flavored ramen to keep up with server costs
For those of you concerned about your current progress, truck, and gear, fear not; we’ve migrated all of that into the Snack Shack server which you’ll be able to see simply by selecting Snack Shack and recognizing your familiar truck. You can now make a new truck on Taco Town (what the hell are we doing with these names) and start fresh. A few things you should know before you ask us questions but I’m not sure if anyone actually reads this so you might ask anyways and that’s cool:
- Friends are server-specific
- Chat and DMs are server-specific
- Gifting between servers is not possible
- All progress made on one server is not related to a different server
- All free daily crates (and purchased) are server specific
- All perma upgrades like auto-nitro are account specific (they carry over)
- Offline progress… ?
Yeah, about that last one. Now that servers are in place, that’s only really half of the equation. When we decided on the multiple server approach we made that decision for a variety of reasons, but one of those reasons was how serendipitously or synergistically if you prefer (you don’t; no one does) they played with offline progress. Imagine, if you will, playing a truck on one server; cracking a crate, gearing up, slapping on a paint job, buying some upgrades, then simply switching servers and playing a different truck. Hours later, you return to the original server and your truck has made a lot of progress, earned some cash and crates and you’re ready to upgrade again. The idea is, eventually, you can juggle multiple trucks while they progress offline if that’s your thing.
Regardless of my clear emphasis (see: bias) towards multiple truck play, offline progress requires us to do a few things first. In the past, we’ve had some desync issues with travel. Warehouse loops, lost progress, incorrect map placement or miles, fluctuations in coins or scrap, and so on. These issues are all related to exactly what we’re about to fix, and once those issues are fixed, offline progress is a very, very happy side effect. We’ll be tracking your progress in real time. Closed your tab really quickly because your significant other caught you playing Truck Life in the middle of the night? No worries, we know where you left off. Jokes aside, this means you can play STL at your leisure without ever worrying (in theory) about lost progress, regardless of when you log off or close your tab, and when you come back we’ll tell you how far your truck went without you! Holy $#&@!
Oh yeah, and we fixed an audio bug where the radio didn’t always load in Safari. So there’s that.
This post has been a long one but it felt kinda necessary since we’re moving on to real-time tracking and offline progress. Once those are in place, it’s all about balance, polish, and content (content, content). We couldn’t have gotten this far without all of your support, feedback, criticisms and props. So thanks ya’ll.
Let’s Go Bois,
Mike / Dan