Ground of Aces News

Our team finished the Alpha 4 version of Ground of Aces and we updated the demo with its new features.

Here is the list of the major changes of the Alpha 4:

HQ relationship & airbase rank system

• Different types of airfield ranks and requirements.
  
• Weekly goals of started and successful missions.
  
• Get served more missions as your base levels up.
  

Victory Points system

• Earn victory points after completing missions.
  
• Purchase new, more powerful planes with victory points.
  
• You can decommission unwanted plane crews in the plane management screen.
  

Weekly resource delivery system

• Get weekly shipment of resources from HQ.
  
• A truck delivers exclusive military grade resources.
  
• Resource amount is tied to HQ goals success.
  

Game Over scenario: it’s possible to fully lose the game.

• Brand new Game Over screen animation.
  
• Lose the game by low base morale.
  
• Lose the game by not fulfilling HQ expectations for three weeks in a row.
  

New wall and floor decorations

• Posters, Flags and other wall decorations.
  
• Carpets, rugs and other ground decorations.
  
• Posters are custom designed, inspired by historic war posters.
  

Improvements to plane taxi

• Planes now take more realistic paths according to their sizes.
  
• Planes can use multiple runways at the same time.
  
• Smarter scheduling on which runways to use by distance and occupation.
  

Balancing updates

• Missions majorly affect base morale, depending on their success.
  
• Missions are more dangerous, potentially inflicting damage on successes.
  
• Higher fuel consumptions across all missions.
  
• More realistic, larger fuel tanks for large bombers.
  
• Fuel is more scarce and harder to get. Shipments are important.
  
• More range in food production, the 4 seeds feel majorly different from each other.
  
• More punishing effects from work and war. Harder to keep up base morale.
  
• More severe punishment from not sleeping on proper beds.
  
• Workbenches now either need to be built inside or outside by type.
  
• Size of parking spots have been slightly reduced.
  
• Several resources now don't degrade anymore when stored properly.
  

Improved UX & UI

• New particle effects for workbenches and tasks
  
• Ability to build several assets in the same rotation while holding shift.
  
• The current time of day is visible in the schedule window.
  
• New shipment truck UI showing your upcoming shipments.
  
• More historic plane details in the plane order detail window.
  
• Building projects now have different placeholder box sizes.
  
• There are depleted versions of wild seed plants.
  
• Gardening uses the proper tools like hoes and watering cans.
  

Improvement of game performance

• Less lag when upgrading runways and parking spots
  
• Better optimisation in task handling
  
• (under construction) Quality Settings in the Options Menu
  

Bugfixes

• Fixed issues with existing roofs not being able to be deconstructed.
  
• NPCs now face each other when talking and fighting.
  
• Fixed several issues with plane previews in the plane order window.
  

Why was this update released faster than the previous Alphas?

Because we wanted to give the community something special for Christmas! And during the Christmas break, many have more time to play and test the latest features.

Send us your feedback and shape the game during development!

How do you like the new progression system and the feel of it? What do you think about the missions? What do you think about the balancing?

Use the survey link and feedback button inside the game to send us your new feedback. With your input, we will know what improved, what we overlooked and on what we need to keep focusing. Together with you, we can make the game better for everyone.

We hope you have time to try out the new Alpha / new demo over the Christmas break.

Happy holidays from the whole Blindflug Studios team!

We are excited to report that our game is featured in the "Deutsche Indie Showcase", hosted by the German Twitch streamers Gronkh and PhunkRoyal.

For this, we made an exclusive new Alpha 3 showcase video with special cinematic recordings.
Here is the English version:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Check out the whole Deutsche Indie Showcase with the German version of our video and discover more indie games from Germany, Austria and Switzerland:

Thank you so much to the Deutsche Indie Showcase team for giving a showcase slot to Ground of Aces!

[h2]PLAY THE DEMO & TELL US YOUR FEEDBACK[/h2]
We are looking forward to the feedback from fresh demo players! Play the demo and use the in-game feedback tool and survey link to tell us your thoughts, suggestions and wishes for the game directly. You can shape the game and its development with your input!

[h2]JOIN THE COMMUNITY[/h2]
Get the invite to our Discord server by enlisting on our website:

Watch the devs play, ask them anything, and let’s discuss the Alpha 3 feedback!

[h2]Livestream starts at 7pm CET on TWITCH
[/h2]

The Alpha 3 update for all alpha supporters is here. And that means, we have updated the free demo of GROUND OF ACES as well!

See what is new in our Alpha 3 overview video:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

KEY UPDATES:

• Four new aircraft
  
• - Bristol Beaufighter
  
• - Gloster Gladiator
  
• - Avro Lancaster
  
• - Bristol Blenheim
  
  
• New missions and mission types
  
• - fighter missions
  
• - surveillance missions
  
• - bombing runs
  
• - skill missions
  
• - transport missions
  
• - stealth missions
  
  
• Expanded mission systems
  
• - stats and modifiers logic
  
• - mission consequences logic
  
  
• Plane maintenance system
  
• - manage fuel, integrity, health of plane
  
• - multi seat plane logic
  
• - pilot class and task system
  
• - fuel as new resource
  
  
• New building blocks and assets:
  
• - hangar floor, walls and roofs
  
• - fences
  
• - metal shelves
  
• - water pumps
  
• - fuel tanks
  
• - two new sizes of parking spots
  
  
• Gardening system
  
• - gather seeds from wild plants on map: tomato, potato, grain and beans
  
• - assign gardening zones
  
• - grow plants and harvest your own food and seeds
  
  
• 3D preview of aircraft when ordering a plane
  

Other improvements:

• more metal wrecks on maps
  
• parking spot no longer needs to be adjacent to runway
  
• improved path finding of planes from runway to parking spot
  
• particle effects for workbenches and work animations
  
• particle effects for damaged planes
  
• trash now degrades in storage zones and disappears
  
• easier way to select zones via left click
  
• new category of airplane maintenance tasks
  
• cheaper costs for metal projects
  
• tweaks to UI window management
  
• mission timers stop once every pilot is seated
  
• faster runway building
  
• faster destruction rocks
  
• runways keep their previous tier when being upgraded to larger sizes
  
• adjustments to the game's credits
  
• and more bug fixes and balancing adjustments
  

NEXT STEPS

Our team is working on the next alpha update right now. Here is what you can expect as the main features for Alpha 4:

• relationship system with HQ & victory points
  
• weekly resource delivery system
  
• wall and floor decorations
  
• improvements to airplane takeoff, taxi & overall game performance
  

THANK YOU & TELL US YOUR FEEDBACK

Thank you so much for playing the Ground of Aces demo! Your feedback as fresh players is critical for the ongoing development of this game.

And a special thank you to all our alpha supporters! Your support and input helps us so much and together with you, we can make the game better for everyone.

We want to know from all of you what you think of the new features. Use the survey link in the options menu and the feedback button in the game to send your feedback directly to us. With your input, we know what is most important to the playerbase, and we can keep improving the game.

And we also want to know: What will your new airbases look like? What does your dream WWII airbase look like? Share your best screenshots of your airbases with the community here on Steam so we can see what you built.

LIVESTREAM ON THE 4TH OF DECEMBER

We want to play and discuss the new alpha with you! For this, we are planning a livestream on our Twitch channel for the 4th of December, 7pm CET. Get game design insights, ask questions and learn more about what’s to come.

Follow our channel here and get notified when we go live.

- The Blindflug Studios Team

Ground of Aces is featured in the «Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Fest» on Steam! Discover other games for aircraft aficionados and play first demo if you haven't already!



[h2]PLAY THE DEMO
[/h2]

To all the alpha and demo players who already participated: Thank you so much for playing and for all the phenomenal feedback we’ve received from you! We are very happy with how many people we were able to reach with our first demo and the input we collected.

We also want to take this chance and tell you a bit more about the upcoming alpha phase of Ground of Aces - which fittingly involves more plane-related features.

[h2]WHAT IS NEXT FOR GROUND OF ACES[/h2]

Two weeks ago, our whole team got together in Zurich for a team retreat, during which we held several workshops about the further development of Ground of Aces. We discussed the Alpha 2 feedback that we gathered from our Alpha backers and the fresh demo players, and the roadmap towards Early Access. Our dev team is now working on Alpha 3, and we want to share with you what we intend to achieve in that phase:

The Alpha 3 update will focus more on the tactical management aspects of the game, especially the management of planes and the mission system.

Our goal is to bring more meaning and complexity to missions and make them more rewarding to players. Factors like the state of your pilot, the type of plane and its condition will have a bigger impact on mission success. We are planning to introduce different types of specialized planes for different kinds of missions, including planes that will need more than one crew member, and the maintenance and repair of your aircraft.

More mission complexity and adding more plane types means there will be new logistical demands for your airbase. You will need more workers and pilots on your base, which in turn means you will need more food for the inhabitants. Here, we plan to implement a farming system, so your crew can feed themselves more efficiently and stay self-sufficient. The expansion of the mission and aircraft management also means that a system that lets you build more runways will be needed.

The question of how we will incorporate fuel management into the base life and how exactly missions can give you rewards will also be part of the Alpha 3 development process.

To look even further ahead, we can also give a quick preview of what we have planned for Alpha 4: focusing on enemy attacks and making them more impactful on the gameplay. This includes adding defence features that you can set up for your base. Furthermore, we plan to implement the relationship system between your base and HQ.

All of this is subject to change and adjustments to the plan of these alpha phases can still happen.
We are looking forward to sharing more of our progress in the coming months, testing the new features and getting your input along the way!

If you haven’t already, you can join our community on Discord for more discussions about Ground of Aces, similar games, WWII and aircraft topics: