A Letter to Saber Interactive

[Sparx]

Dear Saber Interactive,

A year after the release of Expeditions and with the impending release of RoadCraft, I wanted to draft this open letter communicating the experience of myself and the community as it relates to SnowRunner, Expeditions, and soon RoadCraft.

I have been a huge fan of the series since the release of SR and have built my career in-part alongside the Runner community through various content formats and I feel that it's important to pass along various discussions, comments, opinions, wants, and concerns about the upcoming title.

The launch of Expeditions has shown that converting the SnowRunner community to a new title requires balance of familiarity and innovation; while in many ways it was a refreshing change to the formula, many changes felt clunky and confusing to navigate without a clear purpose for their existence. We want to feel the soul of SnowRunner within RoadCraft by way of familiar controls, menus, mechanics, and playstyle.

You have uniquely built one of the most notorious multiplayer titles in modern gaming, SnowRunner to this day carries the reputation of being one of the best co-op experiences available; please do not underestimate this. Myself and others felt that the lack of priority towards the dysfunctional multiplayer system in SnowRunner for many years and the release of Expeditions without it were a clear sign that the co-op experience was not a priority, it is. We want to experience RoadCraft for the first time alongside our friends.

Some rumours about simplifying the gameplay have been circulating, relating to the removal of the fuel system, gearbox, and vehicle customization; I do not believe that the community is after further simplicity and that the challenges that these systems create only strengthens the experience. Optional settings to cater towards players looking for a more casual experience is always welcomed, but removing these mechanics while continuing to refer to RoadCraft as a Simulator shows a misunderstanding of the expectations that go along with that title.

In terms of peripherals such as wheels, shifters, joysticks, button boxes, etc. I am unsure how much of the community uses these devices but the SnowRunner experience on a wheel has been immensely engaging and immersive. The wheel/shifter combo in SR really can't be understated and with new machines comes the possibility of joystick integration. Please take care with this compatibility despite the challenges it bring to development.

Finally, release state, potentially the biggest point of frustration in modern gaming as developers and publishers push unfinished product with the intent to fix post-release. This is a disconnect between the industry and it's customers, developers largely do not actually have that opportunity; the release state of a game will be the reputation that your game carries through it's entire life cycle and in an age of near infinite options, many players will never return after a poor experience. Expeditions became a case study in a handful of bugs pushing players away for good. Do not underestimate the importance of your launch state, and delay the release if needed; there is only one chance to release a great title.

What we have seen of RoadCraft is incredibly exciting and promises to evolve the Runner experience in ways that we have always craved. We are excited for it, we want it to be a title we return to for many years as we have with SnowRunner. The community wants this to succeed as much as I am sure the Saber team and it's interests do, though we often feel our voices go unheard. Let us work with you to build a game we can play for years.

Best,
Sparx

[Purple]

Wholeheartedly agree.
Personally i'd also love even minimal VR support - meaning at least being able to look around, don't even need any support for VR controllers etc.

Trust me, when you play SnowRunner in stereoscopic 3D, you finally see the real depth of the terrain, something a flat screen just can’t display. The low speed of trucks actually makes sense when you see the terrain this way lol.

[Zoiyya]

Nice letter or something, tldr, but for your information there is not a single Saber developer or anyone working for them here. Not a single developer or publisher reading the steam discussions.
Only chance to reach them for basically anything would be their own forums.

[Sparx]

Originally posted by Zoiyya:

Nice letter or something, tldr, but for your information there is not a single Saber developer or anyone working for them here. Not a single developer or publisher reading the steam discussions.
Only chance to reach them for basically anything would be their own forums.

I had cross posted this to a few spots, Reddit seems to be where we see the most dev action but they are generally not very responsive.

[MugWumpJizm]

109GB update cued? yeah ♥♥♥♥ that. uninstalling.

we must stop supporting devs that are too lazy to optimize games.

[Qrazy]

Ah another one that has no idea how steam updates work.

[Joey Two Bastards]

Yeah, the actual downloadable update was tiny. Too much Bug Powder Dust, Mr MugwumpJism? Personally I got more flavour than a packet of macaroni, you might want to check it, yo.

[TonyP75]

Expeditions drove me crazy at first with the controls. While playing SnowRunner I started pressing the wrong buttons to engage AWD and Diff lock and then whenever I switched to Expeditions I'd use the SnowRunner buttons! I got used to the differences, though, before they released a SnowRunner control scheme for Expeditions. I have kept the default controls for Expeditions. Too late, Saver, but thanks anyway! I love this letter, very well constructed and the content of it summarizes very nicely what the majority of the community wants. I think the steering wheel issue is tricky, though. Definitely doable, as ATS and ETS2 have shown (I don't use a wheel, just know more wheels are supported in ATS and ETS2).