Voices of AC3 Development Staff Part 8 (final)"'Make it sell!'?"Graphics Team

Map Designer: Manabu Okano

■Aims and goals of map production

Hello! This is Okano, I was in charge of creating maps.
I love creating miniature gardens where I can roam around freely and I am very happy to be have been part of this work.

[Fusion of the ideal future image of the 1970s and modern design]

One of the most difficult aspects of creating the backgrounds was, of course, the design of the buildings.
At first, when I was creating the map images, I had a lot of ideas for natural objects, but I couldn't quite come up with the images of cities, airports, etc.
When I think of images from the 70s, I see huge buildings with a lot of streamlining, but designing cities and military facilities in those shapes is so far-fetched that it causes problems such as lack of scale and realistic detail, and the limitations of polygon display.
There is a difference between the streamlined shape of the Neucom and the linear shape of General Resource, but they could not be built without including modern reality as a premise.

[Changes in the look of the cities and nature by time of day]
In this work, the same map may appear several times, depending on the scenario.
For example, Megafloat has a variety of light source settings, such as morning, noon, evening, and night, and there are maps where things that didn't exist when you first went there are now there after time has passed, so we're more aware of the passage of time within the same world than in previous games. I hope you enjoy the world of changing looks.

[If I ever get a chance to make my next installment]

First of all, I would like to pursue the reality of the atmosphere and the look of the sea even more.
Secondly, I want to walk around the miniature world from the perspective of a resident of the world. For example, when I was young, I witnessed Dision's plane taking off from a General airport while looking at the sky. And that would make me want to join General.

Voices of AC3 Development Staff Part 7"Experience the organization branching not only in the story, but also in the game."Planning Team

"Experience the organization branching not only in the story, but also in the game."

Planner: Atsushi Shiozawa

In particular, the mission featuring the docking aircraft Mobura is a must-see. This mission, which you must go through regardless of whether you are in UPEO/Neucom/General or any other organization, is designed to give you a sense of zapping: "What if I were in a Mobura's parasite Remora," "What if I were to chase down a high-altitude Mobura with an ordinary fighter," "What if I were to chase down a high-altitude Mobura with an airplane that could fly higher than the high-altitude Mobura."

I hope you'll experience this White Valley trilogy by playing through all the organizations' storylines.

It's a small detail, but the disciplined General Resource often attacks in formation, while the Neucom side is configured to make tricky, multi-directional attacks. The story branching is noteworthy, but I hope you can feel the subtle changes that are hinted at in the missions.

Voices of AC3 Development Staff Part 6"Oh, I was drunk..."Programming Team

Hi. My name is Nakano and I'm an assistant programmer.
How did I get involved with AC3? As I recall, it all started when I talked to Koike at a bar about hit checks (object collisions).
There was something I was working on for my next work, and they wanted me to make it for AC3. Then, in a drunken rush, I said, "OK! I'll do it!"
Before I realized it, I really had to play AC3.

I was also tasked with a routine where the map data was cut out by sight, but I had trouble extending the display area even a little. I spent two months poking and prodding at the hardware, trying to keep the processing speed up and get a bigger field of view.
And a hit check with polygons.
But when I write it like this, I make it sound simple.
I didn't think, "Oh, that one word of drunken stupor..." as I continued to speed up. I worked hard on it.

Voices of AC3 Development Staff Part 5"We wanted to make the flowing air a 'sound'"Sound Team

Hello everyone, Nakani here.
I hope you enjoyed Ace Combat 3. This time, our plan was not to make a sequel to Ace Combat 2, but to make an Ace Combat in a completely different world. (originally the developers weren't going to put a "3" in Ace Combat 3 at all.) The hot, strong, cool, righteous images of "1" and "2." We started the development of "3" by breaking it all down.

Now let's see how we cooked up the sound.
When I saw the keywords "anime" and "focus on story" and the game screen during development, I thought, "It's a cool future that's also a bit strange. I thought, I'll go with a melodious and not-so-melodious Namco fusion type." Slap bass, synth lead, synth brass... For example, I made some tracks with an image of Galaxian 3 + Cyber Sled (my personal taste is very much in the mix). "This sounds pretty good, I'm gonna to keep going like this!" I thought to myself.

Then, one day, a huge number of scenarios came up. I read it...
"Damn, it's dark, heavy..." This world is expanding...
The planning side said that we should review the sound concept...

...
...
Press the reset button to restart...
The new concept now is to express the world with a "sense of atmosphere."
While the BGM for Ace "1" and "2" were tracks that made people listen to the whole track, with "3," I aimed to make the air that was flowing in the track a sound.

Voices of AC3 Development Staff Part 4 “I'm obsessed with fighters that can only be seen in a split-second.” Graphic Director / Takumi Kudō

My name is Kudō and I was in charge of graphic direction.
Are you all having fun, flying in the sky?
I'll be talking about graphics, but I can't talk just about graphics this time because there are many new challenges in various aspects.
Anyway, this time I'll talk mainly about the fighters, the stars of this game.
The shape and operational philosophy of fighters vary greatly depending on the time period and circumstances. So, shouldn't there be some change in the fighters that fly in this world of the electrosphere？ From that point, development started.
And as the world setting gradually materialized, so did the fundamental objectives for the fighter planes of each organization.

"I Want My AC3!" Progress Report, Help Wanted

It's been a year since the last SotP and Team NEMO, or at least what's left of it, has been hard at work. A lot has been accomplished since then, thanks in no small part to help that I got from the community. This post is exclusively about the fan-translation for the game itself, things such as translations efforts for the AppenDisc, guidebooks and other merchandise will be covered in another post. With that said, find all info on v3.0 after the jump!

Voices of AC3 Development Staff Part 3 "ACECOMBAT3≠ACECOMBAT2+1" Chief Programmer Toshiyuki Koike

Everyone, have you seen all the endings already?
Programmer Toshiyuki Koike here.

Since programming lasted a long time, let's take a look back on Ace Combat 3.

The first thing I'm gonna talk about is the "line-of-sight control".
Often in 3D games, you feel like looking around you, right?
Your neck was fixed until now, but I wished to make it free ever since the making of Ace Combat 2.
I'm very happy that I was able to reflect that wish in the game this time.

A Beginner's Guide to Ripping VHS to PC

In this article, I'll touch upon the more important aspects of ripping VHS tapes, from picking the right hardware, to doing maintenance, to the VHS-to-digital process and archiving. All without breaking the bank.

New AC website + Interview with Team NEMO

Introducing "Ace Combat Lighthouse" the new website dedicated to the Ace Combat series!

Its aim is to be the new hub for the Ace Combat community and create all kinds of new content about AC games as well as its community, be it images, videos, articles and events!

Among their first content is an interview conducted by Ribbon-Blue where I and iceman-uk, co-founders of Project NEMO, answered questions by him (Part 1) and other members of the AC community (Part 2). (thank you to Ribbon-Blue for this opportunity and to all who sent in their questions)

It is, in a way, the evolution and spiritual successor of the now-defunct Electrosphere.info, which was the de-facto home of the AC community in the West until it was shut down two years ago.

If you want to know more, I suggest reading the in-depth statements by the founders and administrations about their new endeavor. You can also follow them on Twitter here.

20200517 edit: Interview 1 and Interview 2