Blue Sky Aces: Time Based Unlocks
- Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza
- 15 minutes ago
- 4 min read
A Distinctive Way of Unlocking Aircraft
Variety of aircraft is often a core element of flight games. The larger the catalog of aircraft the more appealing a title is. Whether it is a dozen decent representations of fighter jets or a small selection of almost perfectly modeled wide body airliners, the big question is always: how does someone get access to all those aircraft?
Is it expansive tech trees like in War Thunder or using in-game credits to purchase aircraft after they're unlocked during campaign progress like in Project Wingman? No matter the quantity or quality of the aircraft, if the method of gaining access to them is not done well, unlocking them all may be a short-term headache but a long-lasting detraction against the game's identity (looking at you, Ace Combat 5).
Having put in a lot of time with these types of games, the aircraft unlock system in the demo for Blue Sky Aces by Curious Dog games continues to stand out in my mind.
I enjoy the concept behind it and wanted to go into detail. Though, I had a bit of difficulty trying to double check some things as I had already cleared the demo long ago and wiping save data to start over again is a bit of a complicated process. So instead, I reached out to developer Brent with Curious Dog games to double check the details.
Blue Sky Aces uses a mix of point-based progression and time-based progression to unlock aircraft. Each aircraft from The Great War uses the historical date they entered service as the date they become available in game. This technological limit is in place for all countries the players can fly with: Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany and Russia. The score for each mission is calculated at the end of the mission. Victories in a mission give more points, but losses still contribute points towards moving time forward as well. As the in-game date moves forward aircraft are unlocked as they became available during the actual war.
The developer mentioned that in the full game there are ideas on how to adjust this progression system for the single player experience:
"I can see the campaign and career game modes working a bit like this too, which would allow you to reset back to the beginning of the war, or start from whatever date and time you wanted to. I think the thing about a single player game is that people are going to play it for different reasons, and that's okay as they're not impacting other players. If someone wants to fly a Fokker DVII against a Airco DH2 then we should let them, but we should also cater for those that want a more authentic experience." -Brent, Curious Dog Games, February 3rd, 2026
In the demo the starting year is 1915. There are a handful of game modes that players fly short missions in. The time progression system is accelerated for the sake of demonstrating the game's concepts, but it still sets the framework for scenarios where the player can find themselves at a technological advantage or disadvantage for certain periods of time. The same way the real pilots of World War I had to fly and fight no matter how advanced or aged their aircraft were.
While this can be experienced in the demo, the prospect of it being shown in a full campaign potentially for each country is rather appealing. While not ideal in a real war, perhaps frequently flying less capable aircraft against more capable enemies would be a refreshing type of challenge.
In the demo each aircraft does have a limited set of upgrades that can be unlocked with frequent use of an aircraft. Like engine upgrades or machine gun upgrades. While helpful in extending the usefulness of an aircraft, it does not replace the value of getting an all-around better built aircraft.
Extending how long it takes for a new aircraft to be unlocked also makes obtaining new, more capable aircraft much more impactful. A stark contrast to the common patterns in flight action games where something like unlocking a F-15C in one mission then unlocking a Eurofighter Typhoon just one mission later happens frequently.
Normally in flight action games like these the aircraft and weapon capabilities of players and their computer enemies and allies are somewhat balanced. Except for any big story driven battles, of course. Normally it is in flight simulators where the impact of technology is more tangible. Having this experience in a game like Blue Sky Aces is somewhat refreshing.
My thanks to Brent with Curious Dog games for answering my quick question and for continuing work on the game.
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About the Writer
Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. [Read Profile]
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