Hello Commanders!
Some of you eagle-eyed players may have noticed that Ground of Aces now has a Steam Workshop tab in the game's Community Hub. It's currently visible to people who own Ground of Aces, but not yet to non-owners.
We want to give you a heads-up: our next major update will introduce Steam Workshop support and our first modding features! The Workshop can't be used with the current released version of the game yet, but it will be available in a public test starting next week.
Preview of the Modding Features
We've been working hard on tools that let you create and share your own content for the game, such as missions, quests, maps, custom game data and even the appearance of certain 3D objects (not all of them, not everything will be moddable yet). Soon you'll be able to upload and download mods and maps directly through the Workshop.
We know many of you will ask this first, so we want to mention it early: changing the 3D models of the airplanes won't be possible with the upcoming update. Making the airplane models moddable would be a bigger step that needs more work. This update is the foundation for modding in Ground of Aces. Once you've tried the first modding features, we'd love to hear what you'd like to mod next.
First Exclusive Test Phase Active Now - Wider Access Next Week
The Workshop is visible because we've started a first testing phase. Today, a small group received an early developer preview build: the map creators who submitted a map to the latest round of our Map Jam contest. As a thank-you for their participation, we invited them to test first. We wanted to collect feedback as early as possible, but this build is still too early for a wider audience. Next week, the 2nd test phase will open to everyone.
Their contest maps will be introduced together with the update, so you'll be able to check them out yourself and vote for the winning map of this contest round.
What's next
Dev Livestream on Sunday, September 27, 9 PM CEST / 3 PM EDT / 12 PM PDT: Our co-founder Moritz (aka Dark Zero on our Discord) will show off the new modding features live and discuss them with you. Follow our Twitch channel to get notified when he goes live:[dynamiclink href="https://www.twitch.tv/blindflugstudio"]
Next week: The second testing phase begins. We'll post here how you can access our new test version.
Mid October: We plan to release the major modding update.
Thank you for your patience and support. You will be able to explore the test version properly next week, and we can't wait to see what you'll create!
