When the Roadhouse was still planned as part of Gas Station Simulator, we mostly thought of it as one more building on the lot. It had to fit next to the gas station and serve its purpose, but it was still just one part of a much bigger location.
Once it became its own game, we could approach the building very differently.
We started thinking about what a real roadside roadhouse would actually look like. It couldn't feel too clean or too new. It needed to look like a place that had been standing there for years... constantly repaired, expanded and changed by the people running it.

That meant paying attention to things beyond the main structure: the entrances, signs, lights, decorations and all the little additions around the building. We wanted the exterior to tell you something about the place before you even walked through the door.
And because the Roadhouse was now the main location of the game, the building itself had to carry much more of its identity. It became one of the first things we thought about when imagining what this place and the people who run it - would actually be like.
Sometimes you don't need a giant story to give a place character.
A building that's been lived in long enough can tell you quite a lot on its own.


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[h4] Inspect, Detect, and stop Smugglers - our Prologue of Airport Contraband coming soon![/h4]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3199880/Airport_Contraband_Prologue/?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=devlog&utm_campaign=
[h4] Try out the new Roadhouse Simulator Demo available now![/h4]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4704270/Roadhouse_Simulator_Demo/?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=devlog&utm_campaign=rh_demo

When we first imagined the pub as part of Gas Station Simulator, it was supposed to be another business next to the gas station - something you could visit, manage and then return from.

But the more we developed it, the more systems it needed to work properly. Customers needed their own behaviours, the staff needed managing, supplies had to be delivered, and the evening needed its own progression, problems and ways to go wrong.
The more we added, the harder it became to treat the pub as just another part of the Gas Station Simulator.

Eventually, we noticed something rather important: the better the pub became, the less reason there was to go back to the gas station. It wasn't really supporting the original game anymore. It was competing with it for the player's attention.
At that point, calling it a DLC didn't make much sense anymore. The pub wasn't just another building on the lot.
It had become its own game...


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[h4] Inspect, Detect, and stop Smugglers - our Prologue of Airport Contraband coming soon![/h4]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3199880/Airport_Contraband_Prologue/?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=devlog&utm_campaign=
[h4] Try out the new Roadhouse Simulator Demo available now![/h4]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4704270/Roadhouse_Simulator_Demo/?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=devlog&utm_campaign=rh_demo