WOODS CROSS — Utah’s Diesel Brothers, stars of a TV reality show, are now featured in a truck building simulator video game.
The game debuted May 10 on the Steam PC gaming platform, offering players the experience of scavenging junked frames and parts to craft and race powerful diesel trucks.
Diesel Brothers: Truck Building Simulator is based on the Discovery Channel show featuring the men from the Woods Cross truck shop, Stark Motors, and associated businesses.
“Experience the thrilling life of Heavy D or Diesel Dave, as you search for busted four-wheelers and transform them into legendary diesel-drinking monsters,” a publicity sheet from the game development company reads. “Cooperate with your friends to rebuild, paint, decal, and sell (or give away) your trucks.”
A digital download of the Windows PC game costs $19.99 on Steam. No console or Mac versions are available.
Players scour for parts to build unique vehicles with custom paint jobs and decal schemes, following an economic model of purchases and orders, playing in single or multiplayer modes.
Builders then drive their rigs on off-road and test tracks.
Code Horizon, a Polish development studio specializing in simulator games, built the Diesel Brothers offering.
Player reviews so far are mixed on Steam.
Some applaud the game’s concept and execution and its enticement to experimentation.
“There’s something oddly satisfying about going to the junkyard for rusty parts, sandblasting them and painting them flake red,” said one.
Others said the game doesn’t have enough depth, although developers promised in their answers to forum posts that more content patches are coming.
“There’s not enough trucks, not near enough parts, not enough tools,” one player said in the Steam game forum.
Added another, “I did a full build from the frame up, which is a plus. But unless you have 4-5 hours in the game already, you’re going to do a lot of guesswork in trying to figure out what’s needed. This for me ended up resulting in more pain that pleasure.”
Code Horizon and the Diesel Brothers did not respond to interview requests.
