I’m excited to announce the development of 18 Wheel Empire today. I have been laying ideas for this game on paper for a long time, but I’ve only recently started writing code for it. I have many what I think are exciting ideas, but I’m not ready to lay down all the details just yet. I do, however, want to sketch a basic overview of the game for you so I do not draw in a great big crowd of people that are expecting something different than I’m developing.

What I am not developing is a driving game. While one might easily expect that 18 Wheel Empire would be “just another truck simulator” its not. The market has driving simulators covered and I’m not interested in competing with that. What I’m developing is much more involved than just driving, because as any of us who have driven a truck before knows, driving is only part of the week. It is certainly a big part, but there are many other factors that too often go ignored in a game.

I’m interested in focusing on things that many people, including drivers, often do not stop to truly consider when they go into trucking, or venture into purchasing or leasing their own truck. Payments, insurance, licenses, tire wear, fuel mileage, maintenance costs, and the list goes on and on. Running a truck as an owner operator often comes with some hidden costs, and I’d like to be able to bring them to light here.

Thinking about buying a truck? Come play for a while and see how you do in a virtual world. Got a friend that doesn’t understand how the business side of trucking works? Bring them to the game, let’s show them the difficulties, the expense of eating in truck stops, how getting stuck without a load means you don’t make money, and how when you want to get home more than ever, sometimes you just can’t. Oh! Don’t worry, I’m even working on detention time for those of you who love “reefers”.

I’m planning to try to incorporate things like driver health, dock time, equipment benefits, and lifestyle choices. I want things you own or choices you would make at home to have an impact on your driver. We’ll track tire wear down to the tire and mile, while oil changes, or a lack of them, will impact the engines overall life. Actually taking the time to do a pre-trip could save you a ticket and keep you from getting fired.

It is my hope that during the development of this game it will gather a following that can be beneficial to the game as a whole, and it is that reason that I have chose to announce its development so early in the process. I am a CDL holder with about a half a million miles logged. However, I haven’t been on the road in 6 years so I’m out of touch and would like driver input.

I need to know things that I can’t check anymore. Like what is the year, make, and model of your truck and how much does it weigh without a trailer and how much fuel is on board? How are dispatchers treating you now days? What is your live load vs. drop and hook percentages looking like? How often do you have to touch freight? What are lumpers costing now days? How much time are the beloved grocery warehouses holding you up now? This only scratches the surface!

Not all factories will just automatically generate freight. Everyone should know that without trucks America stops! While I’m planning to make sure the raw materials (wood, oil, cotton, and steel to name a few) keep entering the game, beyond that if you don’t haul freight to a factory, it will be unable to produce product which will eventually run it out of business.

While I can fill in the blanks with made up numbers like most developers do, I’d rather stick to as close to real as I can, but I’ll need the help of current drivers and/or companies to do it. I need real industry numbers, in order to generate an environment as close to real as I can get. This game after all is about the numbers!

The only question that will remain in the end is: Do YOU have what it takes to make it out there?