Dev Blog #4
Howdy, medics! Troy here with your April Dev Blog update for Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator!
Our dev team is still face-deep in their monitors plugging away at the game for the release later this year, so we had a different idea for this month’s update! We scoured all the major social media platforms for the frequentest (definitely a word, don't look it up, just trust me bro) asked questions and tasked the team with getting you some solid and detailed answers!
Without further ado, let’s jump right in!
[hr][/hr]
Q: The jump from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 must have felt more like a leap. What new tricks did you learn or use with that upgrade.
A: With Ambulance Life, we went "all-in" on Unreal Engine 5 and its entire feature set. So, we had to adjust virtually all our systems and established paradigms to adhere to the new workflows. In terms of new tricks, I would say, there was close to no features that didn't provide us with a major learning experience:
[list ]
Open world building and city generation with a focus on terrain elevation and islands.
Enhanced UI workflows to manage our extremely complex UI framework.
The gameplay ability system, which allows players to interact with the game world.
Mass Crowd and Mass Traffic integration for a living, breathing city simulation.
Destructible elements of the city’s environment.
Stunningly beautiful graphics updates compared to Unreal 4.
Metahumans and Undressing allowed us to build believable patients and NPCs appearances.
We dug deep into rendering "Runtime Virtual Textures" for visualizing the many different symptoms our patients can have.
and so, SO much more!
Q: I imagine there is a tremendous amount of variables when treating patients. Is it actually possible to completely fail shifts in Ambulance Life?
A: If you do not treat your patients properly and deliver them in really bad conditions to the hospital, your score will be impacted significantly. Some instant fail options include running pedestrians over with your vehicle, crashing your ambulance, or you somehow get yourself fatally wounded! Pro tip: Don't stand in fire for long periods of time... ːsteamhappyː
Q: We've caught some moments of our Paramedics being thrust into unusually-hazardous situations. What was the motivation behind the design decision to break that realism barrier?
A: It's about striking the right balance—keeping things realistic yet fun and engaging. That's why we added those high-risk situations to spice up the gameplay and appeal to a wider audience. While real paramedics typically are advised to avoid dangerous or hazardous situations, we wanted to give players a taste of the often unpredictable and perilous nature of the job. These scenarios allow players to experience some of the challenges a first responder might encounter.
Q: Question: San Pelícano is quite beautiful! What was the most interesting or unique task when designing the city?
A: Creating a digital world of that size is always a challenge, technically as well as aesthetically speaking! Even with quickly having a concept for world building and world generation in place, it took a whole lot of iterations for road layouts, building placement, verticality evaluation, district connections, and landscaping as well as many hours of playtesting. We wanted to make sure to settle on the ideal setup, that supports our gameplay and visuals in the best possible way.
One of our core challenges was also to create variety for the different districts, that the players will be able to unlock during the game. We wanted to give each of them a unique and interesting face to explore, while also allowing them to introduce their own driving and navigational challenges.
Q: Since San Pelícano is based in the United States, will we see more U.S.-based ambulance designs in the final game?
A: Yes, absolutely! During the progression of the game the players will be able to unlock multiple different ambulances, which are inspired by both, American and European manufactures seen in paramedic services. We made sure to include some classic looks here!
Q: The Police Simulator: Patrol Officers team used Boston as a model for Brighton City. How did San Francisco become the model for San Pelícano?
A: It was clear from the beginning, that we wanted to create another fictional U.S. setting, so we researched possible American cities to draw inspirations from early during production. Along the way, San Francisco really stood out to us as an interesting choice. Some of its features had eminent potential for our game, both as great target visuals as well as interesting challenges for our driving gameplay and callout variety. We were particularly intrigued by the coastal setting, the strong elevation inside the downtown, the vivid nature surroundings, and this unique Californian charm. We wanted to pick up what we loved most about this and bring it towards our own city creation.
Q: The content we’ve seen so far showcases a Sprinter-style ambulance type. Will we see more United States-focused models in the future?
A: So we wanted to start with something we knew well as a baseline, which is the ambulances one might see right here in Germany. Since the game takes place in the United States, we will definitely feature relevant vehicles for players to choose from. We will have a lot more to share on this later!
Q: Will Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator feature multi-player functionality?
A: Ambulance Life was designed specifically for a robust and complex single-player experience. Now, don’t get us wrong—we LOVE what players have done with the multiplayer features on Police Simulator: Patrol Officers! With how detailed and robust the Callout system is in Ambulance Life, we really wanted to nail the gameplay experience first and foremost.
[hr][/hr]
Thanks for stopping by! Catch us on your favorite social media and be sure to Wishlist Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator if you haven’t already!
Stay safe and stay alert, medics. See you soon!
-Troy
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1926520/
[hr][/hr]
[h3]Follow our socials for more:[/h3]
Discord Twitter Instagram Facebook
Our dev team is still face-deep in their monitors plugging away at the game for the release later this year, so we had a different idea for this month’s update! We scoured all the major social media platforms for the frequentest (definitely a word, don't look it up, just trust me bro) asked questions and tasked the team with getting you some solid and detailed answers!
Without further ado, let’s jump right in!
[hr][/hr]
Q: The jump from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 must have felt more like a leap. What new tricks did you learn or use with that upgrade.
A: With Ambulance Life, we went "all-in" on Unreal Engine 5 and its entire feature set. So, we had to adjust virtually all our systems and established paradigms to adhere to the new workflows. In terms of new tricks, I would say, there was close to no features that didn't provide us with a major learning experience:
[list ]
Open world building and city generation with a focus on terrain elevation and islands.
Enhanced UI workflows to manage our extremely complex UI framework.
The gameplay ability system, which allows players to interact with the game world.
Mass Crowd and Mass Traffic integration for a living, breathing city simulation.
Destructible elements of the city’s environment.
Stunningly beautiful graphics updates compared to Unreal 4.
Metahumans and Undressing allowed us to build believable patients and NPCs appearances.
We dug deep into rendering "Runtime Virtual Textures" for visualizing the many different symptoms our patients can have.
and so, SO much more!
Q: I imagine there is a tremendous amount of variables when treating patients. Is it actually possible to completely fail shifts in Ambulance Life?
A: If you do not treat your patients properly and deliver them in really bad conditions to the hospital, your score will be impacted significantly. Some instant fail options include running pedestrians over with your vehicle, crashing your ambulance, or you somehow get yourself fatally wounded! Pro tip: Don't stand in fire for long periods of time... ːsteamhappyː
Q: We've caught some moments of our Paramedics being thrust into unusually-hazardous situations. What was the motivation behind the design decision to break that realism barrier?
A: It's about striking the right balance—keeping things realistic yet fun and engaging. That's why we added those high-risk situations to spice up the gameplay and appeal to a wider audience. While real paramedics typically are advised to avoid dangerous or hazardous situations, we wanted to give players a taste of the often unpredictable and perilous nature of the job. These scenarios allow players to experience some of the challenges a first responder might encounter.
Q: Question: San Pelícano is quite beautiful! What was the most interesting or unique task when designing the city?
A: Creating a digital world of that size is always a challenge, technically as well as aesthetically speaking! Even with quickly having a concept for world building and world generation in place, it took a whole lot of iterations for road layouts, building placement, verticality evaluation, district connections, and landscaping as well as many hours of playtesting. We wanted to make sure to settle on the ideal setup, that supports our gameplay and visuals in the best possible way.
One of our core challenges was also to create variety for the different districts, that the players will be able to unlock during the game. We wanted to give each of them a unique and interesting face to explore, while also allowing them to introduce their own driving and navigational challenges.
Q: Since San Pelícano is based in the United States, will we see more U.S.-based ambulance designs in the final game?
A: Yes, absolutely! During the progression of the game the players will be able to unlock multiple different ambulances, which are inspired by both, American and European manufactures seen in paramedic services. We made sure to include some classic looks here!
Q: The Police Simulator: Patrol Officers team used Boston as a model for Brighton City. How did San Francisco become the model for San Pelícano?
A: It was clear from the beginning, that we wanted to create another fictional U.S. setting, so we researched possible American cities to draw inspirations from early during production. Along the way, San Francisco really stood out to us as an interesting choice. Some of its features had eminent potential for our game, both as great target visuals as well as interesting challenges for our driving gameplay and callout variety. We were particularly intrigued by the coastal setting, the strong elevation inside the downtown, the vivid nature surroundings, and this unique Californian charm. We wanted to pick up what we loved most about this and bring it towards our own city creation.
Q: The content we’ve seen so far showcases a Sprinter-style ambulance type. Will we see more United States-focused models in the future?
A: So we wanted to start with something we knew well as a baseline, which is the ambulances one might see right here in Germany. Since the game takes place in the United States, we will definitely feature relevant vehicles for players to choose from. We will have a lot more to share on this later!
Q: Will Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator feature multi-player functionality?
A: Ambulance Life was designed specifically for a robust and complex single-player experience. Now, don’t get us wrong—we LOVE what players have done with the multiplayer features on Police Simulator: Patrol Officers! With how detailed and robust the Callout system is in Ambulance Life, we really wanted to nail the gameplay experience first and foremost.
[hr][/hr]
Thanks for stopping by! Catch us on your favorite social media and be sure to Wishlist Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator if you haven’t already!
Stay safe and stay alert, medics. See you soon!
-Troy
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1926520/
[hr][/hr]
[h3]Follow our socials for more:[/h3]
Discord Twitter Instagram Facebook