Hey everyone!

Eric here with a major dev blog update—and this one’s special.

If you’ve been following the monthly updates on our social platforms, you know I’ve spent the past few months deep in the trenches working on one of the most ambitious upgrades in Snow Plow Project: the snow system. This system is the heart and soul of the game. It’s not just about making snow look good—it’s about making it behave like real snow, with all the physical resistance, mass, and complexity you’d expect when pushing thousands of pounds of the stuff in a heavy truck.

Let me take you back to January. At the time, I paused world-building to dive headfirst into rethinking this system. The playtest version already had a decent blend of visuals and physics, and it got great feedback—but it had limits. Snow didn’t pile up properly. It didn’t push back. And let’s face it: Snow Plow Project can’t claim to be the definitive plowing sim unless the snow is right.

So I started rebuilding it. I was prepared with ideas and scripts, but quickly hit the ceiling of what I could achieve solo. I realized that to make a breakthrough, I needed help. Not just anyone—I needed someone who could handle a simulation of this complexity. That’s when Matt joined the project.

Together, we set out to build the most advanced snow simulation ever featured in a video game. No shortcuts. No smoke and mirrors. And let me tell you: we’ve done something incredible.

❄️ Introducing: The Advanced Snow Simulation

At the end of April, Matt delivered the first working prototype of our next-gen snow system. And it’s mind-blowing.

This isn’t just a visual upgrade—it’s a physics-based, fully interactive snow simulation that dynamically calculates how the plow interacts with snow inch by inch. Here’s what it does:

  • It tracks the plow’s position, movement, and orientation frame by frame.

  • It modifies the snow volume ahead, beneath, and behind the blade, simulating realistic redistribution.

  • It supports pile-up mechanics, so snow doesn’t just vanish—it builds up, gets pushed aside, and can create real obstacles.

  • It returns mass and resistance data to the plow and truck, so you’ll feel the weight of a dense snow bank. You may even need to reverse and hit it again to push through.

  • And best of all? It’s highly optimized, so it performs smoothly without tanking your framerate.

Whether you’re clearing a long country road, a residential street, or piling snow in a corner of a massive parking lot, the new system adapts to every situation. It feels real—because it is.

This is a huge step forward for the game and one of the biggest technical achievements yet.

🧊 What’s Different From the Playtest Snow?

Compared to what you saw in the public playtest, here’s how the new system stands out:

✅ Realistic, pileable snow

✅ Smooth and accurate redistribution

✅ Mass and resistance feedback to the plow

✅ More immersive physics

✅ Optimized for large-scale use

✅ Built for future upgrades

This is just the beginning. We now have a solid foundation that we’ll continue to build on. Matt will remain onboard to improve and expand the snow simulation over time—adding layers of realism, features, and polish as development continues.

After extensive testing of the system, we’re now integrating it into the complexe world of Snow Plow. This is not an easy task as the system now has to work in a wide open world environment. The simulation has to be tweaked, including the physics feedback being sent back to the truck. Various visual elements are also being added to complete the simulation… rolling snow, mist, etc.

As I like to say…

"The snow in Snow Plow will not only be gorgeous; it will shape the world and change how you play."

🚜 Meanwhile in Wintervale…

While the snow system took center stage, the rest of the project hasn’t slowed down. Thanks to amazing support from contributors, I was able to outsource asset production to a team of talented artists, Fields—our first open-world region on the outskirts of Wintervale—has expanded significantly.

We’ve also made big progress on props, farm buildings, static vehicles, and other scene-filling details that make the map feel alive. While I’ve been focused on mechanics, world-building has stayed on track thanks to external help.

📷 Screenshot Fridays!

You’ve probably seen the changes if you’ve been following Screenshot Friday, which I launched last month. Every Friday, I post new in-game shots across Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Patreon, and on snowplowproject.com’s supporter’s feed. These shots give you a peek into the evolving world: rural highways, farms, service stations, and soon, snowy scenes powered by the Advanced Snow Simulation. There were even some shots and videos from the Advanced Snow Simulation test bench.

🎵 Don’t Forget the Soundtrack

While I was knee-deep in snow logic, Ian has been busy composing the game’s soundtrack and refining the truck audio. He’s now working on ambient music designed to shift seamlessly with the weather and atmosphere. Whether it’s early morning fog or a mid-storm plowing session, the music will support the mood beautifully—and the title theme is shaping up to be something special.

🙌 Thank You

To our collaborators, supporters, Discord crew and wider community: thank you for your constant support, encouragement, and feedback. We’re building this together.

We’ve been able to keep the pace and maintain a high quality project despite our busy lives and a few development hickups, and to hire artists and experts to help us in doing so.

Stay tuned—because Snow Plow Project is on its way to no longer being just a cool indie sim. It’s about to become a state-of-the-art simulation.

Talk soon,

Eric