We recently took some time from SOEDESCO for an interview which they were kind enough to give us. SOEDESCO is a Dutch video game publisher which started its journey back in 2002 as a company which focused on creating accessory and game bundles for consoles. It expanded to video game publishing in 2014 and started publishing indie games and so far the publisher has published more than 40 titles and the number is continuously increasing.
In 2019, some of the most major titles published by SOEDESCO included Xenon Racer, Wuppo: Definitive Edition and Among the Sleep. Their portfolio also includes Owlboy, Tricky Towers and N.E.R.O. SOEDESCO has also developed and published its own IPs in the past which include titles such as Adam’s Venture® and Real Farm. The most recent release by SOEDESCO is Truck Driver and it is a very important title for the publisher because it is the first truck simulation game on consoles.
Apart from Truck Driver, SOEDESCO is currently working on another great title Dog Duty which is pretty far ahead in its development phase. We recently had a chance to get in touch with people behind SOEDESCO and ask them some of the questions about their recent titles which fans have been trying to ask them in different streams and social media pages. We discussed Truck Driver and Dog Duty in particular.
You can read our detailed interview of SOEDESCO below in which we ask them different questions about their recent titles.
GH: Dog Duty seems like a pretty fun game. However, it might be a little short for fans of the genre. Are there any plans for adding more content to the game since the game is just in the development phase at the moment?
SOEDESCO: Yes, we are currently collecting a lot of feedback from the community. The plan is to fine-tune features that are already in the game and add more content in places that can benefit from them. If we hear that players would like to play longer before finishing the game, we can always look into adding more content to the game.
GH: Will there be more heroes in the final version of the game?
SOEDESCO: During early access, multiple heroes have been added to the game. For now, we have six playable heroes, each with their own look, feel, skills and weapons. I think that this gives the player a lot of fun, tactical choice and options to play the game in their own way. We are happy with the diversity in heroes and I feel like it gives players the chance to form their own perfect squad. At this moment there’s no concrete plans to add more heroes, but if the player feedback tells us otherwise, we’ll definitely consider it.
GH: Vehicles play an important role in the gameplay of Dog Duty. Will the final version come with more vehicles to drive in the game?
SOEDESCO: Right now we’re happy with the amount of vehicles, but same as the amount of characters, if feedback tells us differently we’re happy to expand!
GH: Having multiple endings based on player choices will certainly increase the replayability of the game. Is Dog Duty going to have multiple endings when the full version is released?
SOEDESCO: Currently, the game already has a secret ending. You can unlock this secret ending by defeating all the end bosses while killing as little soldiers as possible. We definitely want the game to have replayability value, and we are always open to community feedback in this regard. If adding even more endings to the game is something a lot of players want, then we will look into it for sure.
GH: Having multiple weapons for each hero will certainly open up more reasons to kill the bad guys, are there any plans of implementing this feature in the full game?
SOEDESCO: Since you can acquire multiple weapons through liberating areas and freeing captive heroes, it’s possible to swap weapons of every hero with each other. This gives the options to, even during battle, create different team setups to tackle challenging fights, from close quarters fights to long-range battles of waves of enemies, or even a boss that changes his style of attack mid-fight.
GH: The open world of Dog Duty has a pretty decent size. However, it can sometimes feel a little empty. Will there be any random events in the open-world that might end up in random fights or smaller tasks like saving hostages or securing fuel for the cause.
SOEDESCO: We feel like this is something that will make the world of Dog Duty more interesting for sure, so we’ve already added small things here and there such as area octo-generals, blockades on the road and random attacks from the enemy. We’re looking into other options like these too, so that, as you suggest, the world of Dog Duty will feel more alive and fun to cruise and fight your way through.
GH: Truck Driver is a pretty important title because it will be the first of its kind to arrive on the consoles. Not only the fans, but other developers will also be looking at Truck Driver to see how it fares at a console release because nearly all the other truck driving simulations are on PC so far. This makes Truck Driver a pretty important title. Do you think that the performance (in terms of sales) of Truck Driver will encourage other developers to release similar titles on consoles in the future?
SOEDESCO: I think the reception and community around Truck Driver proves there’s a huge audience for trucking games on console. A lot of people are very excited about Truck Driver and have told us they are happy there’s now finally a trucking game coming to console. I can imagine this proves to other developers that it’s definitely worth the efforts to make a game like this for a console audience. Ever since the announcement of Truck Driver, we noticed that there’s a huge demand for trucking games on consoles and we’re definitely happy to give the people what they want. Seeing similar titles on consoles in the future can only bring improvement and further development, also for Truck Driver.
GH: Fans have been wanting to have a bigger map. The map has already been remade from scratch. Are there any future plans to release map expansions for the game in the future?
SOEDESCO: Yes, we’ve seen a lot of feedback from the community about expanding the map, so we have it on high priority for after launch. How we will make the map bigger, depends on what the community wants. Is this longer roads, or a snow landscape? We hope to receive more feedback once the community gets their hands on the game. For now, it is not certain when we are going to expand the map, but it will happen for sure!
GH: So far, the truck customization looks amazing in Truck Driver. Will there be any more customization options added in the game later as DLC or content drops?
SOEDESCO: As I’ve previously explained, we are certainly going to support the game after launch. Adding more customization options is also a high priority on our list. We noticed a lot of interest from the community on this as well. However, for now, I cannot tell you how and when we are going to implement this into the game. All I can tell you is that we are looking into the wishes of the community and based on that, we will update the game with customization options.
GH: Microtransactions is a term that no player wants to hear in the game. Do you think that Truck Driver will receive microtransactions ever in the future?
SOEDESCO: Currently, we have no detailed plans as to what exactly we are going to implement in the game. We will continue to gather feedback from the community to decide how we are going to expand the map and what customized options we are going to add, among other updates. Other than that, we don’t have any concrete plans for microtransactions now.
GH: Saber Interactive revealed Snow Runner recently which is slated for a next year release. The game is planned for release on consoles as well. Although Mud Runner and the upcoming Snow Runner focus on off-road simulation rather than Truck Driver’s on-road focus, do you think that Mud Runner franchise as a whole is a competitor to Truck Driver?
SOEDESCO: I think that more so, we complement each other. Mud Runner and Snow Runner are a different spin on a trucking game. With Truck Driver, we are not aiming to make a game that looks like other trucking games. Instead, we focus on bringing a trucking game that is unique and adds to the genre.
GH: Having more trucks in a Truck Simulation game is never enough. Will Truck Driver get more trucks in the future?
SOEDESCO: For now, our aim is to launch the game and see how the community responds to it. We will definitely continue to keep track of all the feedback and take this into account when adding more content. As I said before, updates will come for sure, but we don’t have any concrete plans when these updates will come and what exactly they entail. Our first focus will be on the map and the traffic in the game, though.
GH: Nintendo Switch is currently one of the highest selling consoles in the world so releasing Teslagrad on Switch is a really good decision however PS Vita is a dying console. Do you think that releasing Teslagrad on Vita and that too, in physical form a good decision at the time when the console had reached the end of its cycle a good decision? Players who own PS Vita these days are sticking mostly to digital purchases.
SOEDESCO: Since the PS Vita factories have shut down, it’s no longer possible to produce new physical PS Vita games. We’re actually one of the last runs they did before closing the factory. There’s still a huge PS Vita audience out there that loves physical games, and to be able to offer a limited run just before the shutdown of physical PS Vita games was great, and fans responded to that very positively as well. LimitedRun sold out completely in the pre-orders.
This concludes our interview with SOEDESCO however you can continue to check out our preview of Dog Duty which is currently under development and SOEDESCO will be releasing the title soon.
