Marci Magyar

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Hey there fellow ylanders, The 0.12 update, aka. "Smooth Sailing" is right around the corner (as promised, you'll be running 0.12 by the time you are reading the next Dev Diary;) ) and we thought it would be a good time to look back on all the teasers we've released. This is the perfect opportunity to make sure you are all up to date and aware of what is changing and how. It's been a long ride, but it's closer than ever - we promise. So without further ado, the complete list of teasers you (could) have seen for the 0.12 update: Dev Diaries the one where Ales teased 0.12 features even before 0.11 was released - Dev Diary #54 the one where 0.12 is just a whisper from the future, with unformed ideas - Dev Diary #63 the one where we talk about improvements to the Editor and Visual Scripting - Dev Diary #64 the one where we show you some of the changes coming with the new UI - Dev Diary #67 the one where we talk about fixes and improvements coming to ships - Dev Diary #68 the one where we introduce costumes - Dev Diary #69 the one where we talk about improvements coming to the third person camera - Dev Diary #70 the one where we talk about the changes coming to combat - Dev Diary #71 the one where we talk about the quality of life changes coming with 0.12 - Dev Diary #72 Weekly sneaky WiPs the one where you got a behind the scenes look from a combat update meeting - Weekly sneaky WiP #5 the one where we've shown the first screenshot of an upcoming costume - Weekly sneaky WiP #7 the one where new combat animations are being tested - Weekly sneaky WiP #8 the one where the artists brainstorm upcoming costume ideas while hungry - Weekly sneaky WiP #9 the one where the cast of the upcoming video Dev Diary had a pirate boat party and invited too many horses and sharks - Weekly sneaky WiP #10 Tweets A tweet featuring a costume A tweet with a behind the scenes look at the Dev Diary Ane tweeting about cats that has nothing to do with the update ? As you can see, we have written quite a bit about the update - and these do not even come close to the amount of work, energy and dedication that the rest of the team has poured into the code. We are super excited to get this update into your hands and we sincerely hope you'll like what you see. Until then... stay tuned and stay classy! Have a great weekend everyone. --- Questions: With the implementation for "explorer like maps". Will we be able to import logic, compositions and objects with scripts inside it? Yes. You just start to create your game on a land created similar to explore. Consisting 9-12/13? ylands of different biomes with caves but without random encounters. What are these "random encounters"? Random encounters are interesting places that you can run into when playing Explore. They can be anything from previous settlements to puzzles or weird objects. With all this postponing, is it still imaginable to hit version 1.0 this year? Yes, that is definitely still planned. How's the update coming along? Very nicely, the data has been locked, most of the testing is finished.

Hey there fellow ylanders, it's time for another Dev Diary - this time about: combat! As you might recall, with update 0.11 we have introduced combat 2.0 to the game. This updated combat engine introduced light and heavy attacks, the ability to dodge and parry, and a generally more involved and exciting combat. With update 0.12 we are turning the volume even louder: make way for combat 3.0! Within the latest (and greatest) version of the combat engine, you will find the following changes: Attacks and recovery are now significantly faster than before: we felt that the addition of heavy and light attacks together with your defensive options (parrying or evading) was a huge step in the right direction... yet they didn't feel perfect. We thought the flow of the combat could be better, so we've sped up every action and interaction that can happen during combat. Blocking is the new parrying: while we enjoy the challenge of executing a well timed parry, we have decided (probably because Sekiro ruined (it for) us) to replace parrying with a blocking stance. When in this stance, you can block light attacks indefinitely, but heavy attacks will break through your defenses. We felt this change not only gives you a better defensive tool that you can rely on more often, but also offers a better tactical experience when you weigh your options and decide when to block and when to go for a heavy strike. Super cool new feature: the jump attack. There is really nothing I can / want to tell you about this - you'll have to see it for yourself (just make sure you don't jump from too high). Heavy attacks and jump attacks now stun opponents: again, giving you more options (and rewards for well timed and executed attacks) with the added benefit of tactical advantage. Now you might be wondering how exactly did we manage to make combat even cooler. To answer that, our very own Khan (designer extraordinaire) and Xeniya (of the dev diary 0.11 fame) had the following hot takes: Better speed: transitioning into a heavy attack mid-combo is now much faster and smoother than before Better feel: heavy attacks are now executed on letting go of the left mouse button instead of holding it, which means you can for example hide behind a corner and surprise unsuspecting enemies with a proper punch Better verticality of combat: previously, you had a hard time hitting anything that was too low on the ground, which was now made easier by expanding the vertical range of each attack Better flow: when you attack while running, you don't stop immediately in place, but slide on the terrain for a split second, to avoid that bad feeling of the hard transition Better lumberjacks: trees can be cut down much easier now to avoid unnecessarily long harvest times Better look: we've added visual representation of how "charged" your attack is - the closer you are to the heavy attack, the more visible the particle effect on your weapon is So as you can see, while there is nothing radical in these changes, they truly do alter (for the better) the flow and feel of the combat, and we are super happy with how this aspect of the game is coming along. I hope you've enjoyed this little insider look into something awesome that's coming soon(tm) to an yland near you - and until then, shoot us your questions and stay classy! Have a great weekend everyone! --- Last week's questions: Will future features include more sources of energy generation/storage? In one of the future updates we want to focus on adding more machines that utilize energy. Even though you can already do some nice things with it, we would like to go much further in this direction. So yes, in the future we may indeed include more sources of energy and ways to store it. G'day Dev's, have you thought about adding in a feature where it says what type of server it is in the game search? Locally hosted or dedicated server information would be handy to know Definitely. You will see some changes to the game search in the upcoming update, and more improvements are planned. G'day Dev's, just wondering if you have any plans for players to be able to add water via a bucket or something simular? I know the ocean's have been disabled, but it'd be really cool to be able to add water control to the game like Minecraft has. It's true that the water simulation has been temporarily disabled. When it returns (after 1.0) it will be faster, better looking, and along with it we would like to introduce (among other things) ways of carrying water around and placing it. Will a First person camera that can be used while walking come later? If not for explore it would be a nice feature for custom games. Sure. The removal of the first person camera was just temporary. We would like to put it back in the game when we have time to work on all the things that need reworking, so that the camera feels finished (mostly animations, combat design issues etc.). That however, won't be before Ylands 1.0.

Our pleasure And good luck to all (still)!

And guys, keep those questions coming for next week's Dev Diary Have an amazing weekend!

Hey there fellow ylanders, As you might recall, in last week's Dev Diary Ales mentioned that there might come a day, when a Dev Diary will be written by someone other than him. That day has come. In case my name does not ring any bells - I'm the marketing person behind Ylands and it's my duty together with the amazing Ane (hi, Ane!) to make sure everyone hear about Ylands and love it! The diaries from now on will differ a bit from previous ones - they will try to explore a specific topic (instead of many general ones) and go a bit more in-depth with it. So with great pleasure, let me welcome you to the latest Dev Diary (written by me) in which we'll talk a little about the UI facelift (User Interface - essentially everything that stands between you, the player and the game, and your way to interact with the game's world) that will land with update 0.12 - arriving shortly, to an yland near you. When we decided to give the UI a facelift we have set two distinct overall goals for ourselves: make everything more intuitive make everything visually more appealing Let's start with the first point - making everything more intuitive. As you know, Ylands is a pretty complex game with many mechanics, interactions and information constantly surrounding the players. A good UI should make sure that any interaction between the player and the game is as logical and straightforward as possible by making sure the relevant information is always at hand so players understand the mechanics thus can interact with them. It's also equally important to make these elements visually appealing, so the players not only want to interact with the mechanics, but that interaction is pleasant and leaves a good aftertaste in your brain's mouth. So with that in mind, let's break down what we did to achieve these goals: Main menu our goal here was to make sure custom games are more emphasized than before so players have an easier time finding the game modes they are looking for (without having to muck around the MP lobby for example) so now it is easier and more streamlined to join to multiplayer games, thanks to the new "autojoin" feature we are introducing Shop we have updated the shop with some colorful new visuals to get you in that sweet "let me get myself a new pet" (new ones coming in update 0.12) mood we are also adding a new "purchased" tab, so you have a quick and easy overview of where all those coyns went Character panel we have spent a lot of time improving this screen, as you'll spend quite a lot of time staring at it the big victory here is that now you have all the information you could possibly need (about selected items for example) on one screen, without having to open other ones Crafting screen we have also updated the crafting screen, added important and relevant information like requirements to start crafting something or whether a workstation is lit or not Dyeing system you can now set custom color presets up in both the editor and the dying stand Blueprint menu you'll now see the ingredients required for a blueprint without having to place it first Of course, these are just some of the changes, we have made numerous other improvements to every UI element out there. We would like to keep some of them a secret for now, for a few different reasons: while some are still being worked on, we also want to make sure that when you get to play with the new UI, you won't actively be on the look out for the specific changes - this way, you can experience it more organically and as such your feedback will also be more natural. And of course, for some...we just want you to see for yourself Smile A usual disclaimer: everything that you see here is "work in progress" and might change / look very different in a week / a month / a year / a decade. We'll also be taking your feedback into consideration and keep working hard to make sure your every interaction with Ylands is a pleasant and memorable one! And now for some sweet interactivity: if you have ANY questions regarding this dev diary, the UI, the update, the game or just us, please let us know and we'll do our best to answer them in next week's diary (and going forward, this weekly "mini Q&A" will be a returning feature)! And now...until next time: stay classy and have an amazing weekend ylanders!

Hey guys, just a quick update - keep those questions coming and we'll do our best to answer them in this weeks dev diary

I love that idea! /starts thinking

Screenshots fixed - should be good to go

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Happy Holidays guys

Alas!

Question: what's Ane's favourite icecream flavour?

I think this weekend has some Path of Exile and Ni No Kuni in store for me...and yes, I did finish Graveyard Keeper, thank you for asking

It is LITERALLY about becoming a cult leader

Hmmm...I'm still building my internal list, but it looks like my very subjective crown this year is going to go to Cultist Simulator!

What is YOUR pick Ane?

IS IT A DINOSAUR ANE?!

That's amazing!!!

That is AMAZING

So I'll have to update those plans...I *might* have purchased the new Smash game...oops /shrug

RimWorld is SOO good! Any cool / quirky stories yet?

Ohhh, which one?

I'll be trying to finish up Graveyard Keeper (...I still think it's better than Stardew Valley) and if I have the time some Red Dead 2!