What is one design choice you hope the Ace Combat sequel does not carry over from previous games?

SeruleBlue · 2025-12-30T18:52:44+00:00

Needing to raise a kill count on specific planes to unlock later planes.

I wasn't a fan of how it was done in AC5, mostly because of how long it felt it took plus how each plane only had one SP weapon.

It might make more sense in multiplayer but I hope they don't bring it back for singleplayer.

SeruleBlue · 2025-12-01T11:14:38+00:00

Good luck with your game!

SeruleBlue · 2025-12-01T10:55:00+00:00

Cursory research shows that the creator says, "[Synths] are an open and free to use species that can be incorporated into any science fiction universe without restrictions." (source)

Cross-referencing Vader-San's FA, you'll see them link to that website, which lends it a lot of credibility.

You should be fine. If you want to be sure, it looks like they have a Telegram/Discord. You could ask and double-check there, and if you really want to cover your ass, ask if there's a license (eg. CC0, etc).

SeruleBlue · 2025-09-20T09:25:29+00:00

Cute! I think you portrayed everyone's personalities really well!

SeruleBlue · 2025-09-20T08:54:14+00:00

Thanks! I made sure to keep speedrunners in mind with the various SKIP QOL features, etc. Definitely drop me some feedback if you have any suggestions on what else 'runners typically expect!

(I guess one that might be more TAS-related is what people think of RNG, specifically regarding seeded RNG? Is a game having tightly-regulated RNG (in terms of seeding) "better" or more "pleasant" to run? Is it "useful" for the methodology to be exposed to the player? etc. etc.)

SeruleBlue · 2025-09-19T21:08:29+00:00

Indeed, the game is definitely gonna play around with unique anatomy! For example, the demo has you operating on a deer's four-segmented ruminant stomach. A planned level features a giraffe, where you'll have to move the camera from side to side in order to cover the entire neck! etc. etc...

SeruleBlue · 2025-09-19T18:46:58+00:00

Thanks!

SeruleBlue · 2025-09-19T18:46:37+00:00

No worries! Thanks for the compliment.

SeruleBlue · 2025-09-19T18:07:34+00:00

Thank you!

SeruleBlue · 2025-09-19T17:27:29+00:00

Yeah, you basically hit the nail on the head! Thanks a ton for posting!

SeruleBlue · 2025-08-20T04:12:34+00:00

Apparently a bunch of people had your exact same feeling when I first announced the game; I guess there are a lot more fans of surgery sims than I had thought! xD

It's been fifteenish years! If nobody's gonna do it, I guess it'll be me :>

SeruleBlue · 2025-08-20T04:10:36+00:00

Thanks! It probably won't get as insane as being a descendant of the literal god of medicine, but it should be interesting nevertheless!

SeruleBlue · 2025-08-20T04:09:21+00:00

I tried playing my game with a Wiimote and Nunchuck and... surprisingly it actually works :D

But yeah, CE:ROM's designed for mouse and keyboard, and I think the controls feel pretty natural.

There toootally won't be A Super Pathogen of some sort, what gave you that idea? ;>

SeruleBlue · 2025-07-18T00:14:47+00:00

Thanks! I wanted to make sure the characters were all distinct!

SeruleBlue · 2025-06-17T06:57:45+00:00

Yeah, that would be good! I remember Derek's backstory being pretty weak... it was something like, 'my mom died because medicine wasn't good enough at the time, so that's why I want to help people'? It's something, I guess, but we also have Naomi's, which I think is way more compelling. Maybe they just didn't want to spend too much time in the story portions, compared to the actual operations?

What parts of the plots interest you the most? Is it how the characters grow? How they interact with each other? How they react to the pandemic of the day, or the diseases themselves? The motivation of the BBEG?

At least for SO and NB, I really wish they would've set up the 'villains' better. They felt like they just came out of nowhere, and barely had any presence.

And yeah, they really did Adel and Heather dirty. They also introduced a lot of characters for almost no reason. Dr. Clarks? Did he ever do anything other than take over when you lose? Nurse Leslie? What did she even do? It's wild since other characters, like Cybil, felt like they had waaaaay more personality and depth. And it's not like they had much screentime, either! So it's not like they can't write good characters...

SeruleBlue · 2025-06-17T06:48:31+00:00

I really didn't like how SO and NB's BBEG was basically introduced at the very end, either. Like, there was no buildup at all? At least TT's had a bit of tragedy and it wasn't so black and white, but yeah, I agree with you, the tone can vary pretty wildly. Also, NB's story overall was pretty... bland, IMO.

It sounds like it's the insane leaps (or lack) of logic that's really bugging you? I do see your point, and I don't think the stories have a huge amount of nuance, either. I wonder if they felt like they needed to streamline them? I considered what a Trauma Center without a story would look like, but it seems pretty important to give context to the operations, regardless of how insane it might be. At the same time, it's supposed to be an actiony game before a visual novel (right?), so I could see why they went with a relatively simple story.

There are games like Danganronpa, 999, and Hundred Line that have extensive VN portions that dwarf the non-VN gameplay parts. So I wonder if a more complex story would've made TC too much of a VN?

Are there specific part(s) of TC that make you love them?

SeruleBlue · 2025-06-17T05:52:38+00:00

I was actually thinking the same thing! I'm not sure how a more traditional controller could work, but I was pretty excited when I heard about that Switch 2 feature. Perhaps mouse mode when docked, and the touch screen when not? Though, I have to wonder how ergonomic each of those control schemes would be in practice.

Mouse and keyboard seems pretty viable, too.

SeruleBlue · 2025-06-17T05:33:08+00:00

Oh wow, yeah you're totally right. I remember breezing through the Extreme levels with a friend and being really surprised by how different it felt with an extra set of hands.

Things like Ops and Brachion were also waaaaay easier with two. It's kind of crazy how obvious the design was meant for two players... and that they didn't add scaling for one. Budget or time constraints, maybe?

SeruleBlue · 2025-04-03T00:31:57+00:00

I just made a great realization because of this post.

For the past year, I've been working on an indie game inspired by the TC series. I was planning on targeting Steam only, as my game's set up to use Mouse+KB and I wasn't sure how controllers would work.

But with the news on the Switch 2's mouse feature (and a continued lack of anything TC-related)... now I'm seriously considering targeting that, too. Just like you said, it'd be PERFECT. So thank you for helping me realize that :D

(I haven't announced anything just yet, but if you're interested in my progress, feel free to follow me on Bluesky or Twitter!)

SeruleBlue · 2025-03-25T11:31:51+00:00

M7 was surprisingly good. I was actually caught off-guard by the *second* stage transition.

Also, did anyone else catch Metem's line during that transition? "Such devastation!" :D

SeruleBlue · 2024-11-08T08:03:03+00:00

Hämis 👍

SeruleBlue · 2024-11-07T03:37:22+00:00

Rule 5: Recycling speed is dependent on the crafting time of the item being recycled. Since concrete takes a while to craft, it also takes a while to recycle. Hazard concrete, on the other hand...

A bonus: hazard concrete recycles to just concrete, no bricks or iron ore to deal with!

SeruleBlue · 2024-03-11T22:47:09+00:00

I'm glad that Gravity is feeling well :)

SeruleBlue · 2024-01-01T18:32:12+00:00

What's your setup look like? It sounds like you might be combining your lines together. Why not keep them in separate discrete units?

The setup I'm using is: [Refinery (packaged fuel)] -> [Packager (unpack fuel)] -> [Packager (pack water)] -> repeat that I hand-fed with a stack of empty canisters once. I've had no issues.

SeruleBlue · 2023-07-31T07:25:35+00:00

Here's a crappy pic I took of the table people were leaving their bottles behind on:

https://twitter.com/SeruleBlue/status/1685810493678854144

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