ocnoglittle

I forgot to mention: If you want to submit a question ahead of time, please reply to this thread! Otherwise, you can ask Aleš questions using the Twitch chat during the next Q&A.

Can we have a tile for changing the alpha value of particle effects? The color alpha tile doesn't seem to work. Thank you!

Hi everyone! In case you missed the 6th Q&A, here are the links: Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1034916049 YouTube - (Subtitles will be available for the YouTube version. Please let me know if you need help getting them in your language.) Summary: Follow up from last time Q: How many Custom Scenarios are there right now? A: There are approximately 5 right now. Q: Anything you now want to answer more than no comment? (Bosses, teleporting, creator’s club, new biomes, larger tech tree, plans for changing blueprints, Exploration tiers, the feeling of exploration, etc) A: The people responsible for these features spent a long time working on them. We should introduce each of them in their own Dev Dairies. You will have to wait. The Changelogs for 1.7 will be out soon. We will reveal everything in the next 3 or 4 Dev Diaries. Q: Can we have an automated smelter? A: Yes. We are looking into it and will implement something for it. It shouldn’t be that difficult. Q: Why were some recipes removed? Like most of the guns? A: I was told they were put in Random Encounters instead. We are making changes to crafting. You will have to find recipes in Random Encounters. We will explain it more in around 2 weeks. <Ocnog disagrees> Ok. Make a list of the ones that are missing. Q: Can we change how the rope ladders are placed on the ship by default? A: I know it can be annoying if the position of the ladder doesn’t fit your plans. We want the player to be able to get on the ship as soon as they place it, so that is why we have ladders by default. This is especially for new players that aren't experts at building. I will look into this for the ship-focused update. Q: Why isn't the machine gun in Exploration? Is it too overpowered? A: Yes, it was too overpowered but maybe we will add it later. We are expanding Exploration and we will give players more incentives to explore. So they will find more recipes, weapons, and armor. So I can see this weapon being part of that. Vendors Q: From Spirit: Can we change it so the vendors can only be killed by the person who placed them (or the map owner)? A: That makes sense. It might be better to set the whole zone to no killing anyone. Q: From Ocnog: When will we get PVE? A: Ask me in 2 weeks. Q: From Spirit: Can I have the gold pebbles back when I kill a vendor? A: Wouldn't that encourage other players to kill the vendors? I don't think that will fit with the game. I like the idea of putting buckets over the vendor’s head in Skyrim so you can steal their items. But killing them is too much. You already spent the money for the vendor to move in. Think of the poor vendor. Do you watch Viva La Dirt League? If you do, you know how difficult a vendor's life can be, so just leave them alone. Q: From Spirit: When can we change the vendor clothing? A: This is a low priority because it is just cosmetic. But we will get to it at some point. Naru: I have seen your stashes of items. I know you can kill one vendor after another and still financially recover. Q: From Spirit: Can the vendors also have the bundles like the traders? A: Why not? Sure. We’ll add it to our list. Exploration Q: From Ocnog: What is going on with the Random Encounters and traders? (I apparently should have been more specific and asked why there were so few.) <lots of confusion about what Ocnog was talking about> Aleš: I didn't know about this. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t working on it. People like Nikki are paid to find your feedback and tell the designers. And some of the designers look for your feedback as well. There are actually many things I don’t know about. Naru: They are working on a fix to make sure the larger Random Encounters are spawning properly in 1.7. The game thinks the island is too small to spawn Random Encounters. Q: From SGT_Shodan: Why can’t you make the starting island a sharegame? A: We don't want new players to be confused or make a sharegame too early. If something goes wrong, you can always go back to your starter island. We want it to be a safe place, not a sharegame. We don't want them to be able to invite people that might damage their island. We might change this in the future. The starter island is more of a tutorial and there will be a proper tutorial in Update 1.8. Sounds Q: From Spirit: Can we make the Ylandium Refinery sound less loud and obnoxious? Spirit likes the second sound (Ocnog hates it more than the first sound). A: We have a sound designer that wants more feedback, so please tell us more. We will get to this in 1.8. Q: From Ocnog: Can we also change the Charging Station noise? It is super irritating. A: Keep sending us everything you think. We don’t get much feedback about this. Other Q: From Spirit: Can you allow the player to use the demolition hammer on ship hulls and car chassis? Currently, it doesn’t work. A: We must have forgotten this by accident. Sure, if there is nothing on them. I think these should be deconstructible. That would be a good thing. Q: From IEuphe: You mentioned this in a Dev Diary, but please confirm: Will we be able to hold a torch and a weapon? A: We might not make the torch show in your hand, but we will make the light still active so you don't have to switch back and forth. We might also have the torch in the backpack slot since we don’t use that enough. Flaming swords are also a good idea. Naru: I miss the wooden helmets with crystals attached that would light the area around the player. It was so amazing but it was removed. Q: From Nikki and Spirit: Is there any way we can extend the duration of time before we get hungry? A: I’m already looking into this. The problem is that there are two groups of people. A lot of players complain that this game isn’t difficult enough and this isn't true survival. Others feel that it should be more casual. I think that is true. I am leaning towards making the players need less food but we need to make sure it is balanced. I am looking into it. Q: From Nico and Ocnog: Can we get a rework for the ladders? They often give an error message about not having enough room or don't behave as expected. Naru: It would be cool if you could drag the ladder upwards as much as you need to. That would be amazing. Aleš: There is already a task for this. We are working on it. Maybe when we make some changes to ships and sailing, we can look into this. Q: From Spirit: Is there any way we could maybe have the default color of the propeller pack a more neutral color? Such as steel or light grey? Orange doesn't exactly match everybody's outfit color choices. A: I need to think about it. It is possible. If we make 2 options, would that be enough for everyone? Or would some players want other color options? We know about the propeller pack color reverting bug. Q: From Spirit: Can we have a "Librarian or stationery vendor" Someone that sells all the books, pens, pencils, quill and ink, paper, leather parchment, etc? A: Yes, that is a really nice idea. Q: From Spirit: Will we be able to control time duration on our personal maps on Exploration in the future? A: That might make the world too unpredictable but I can see the benefit of changing the day duration for some of the maps. Maybe for different biomes, like the arctic. I’ll discuss it with the designers. It might be too confusing for each map to be different. The truth is that once we let creators add maps to Exploration, which I think will be a different zone or biome, we won’t limit the duration for these maps. Q: From yo_has: Why do some items get removed from the game over time? A: It is difficult to answer this because it is for different reasons, including resource distribution, combat changes, etc. I don’t think this happens often. What are the specific items? Please ask Nikki about the specific item. Q: From Spirit: catapults? A: A lot of people on the team hated the catapults. They had a lot of technical issues and they weren't good enough. We won't remove the items from the mini-games if they are already there. We only remove access to placing new copies of that item. Q: From Ocnog: Tell that to the invisible seagulls. A: There were two types of birds: seagulls that land near the players and ones that fly from one island to another. The second one was removed when you could see islands in the distance. There were some technical issues with the AI for the seagulls, similar to the sharks. Sharks will definitely return and should come back in 1.9. Q: From yo_has: What about bones? From Naru: Were they removed due to restrictions for the PEGI rating? A: Bones were seen as something that is bad luck in Asia, so we removed them. But we can bring them back to the main version of the game. In World of Warcraft, they replaced all the bones in the game with loaves of bread. If you entered the dungeon, there was bread lying around. Q: From Ocnog: Can bringing back the wooden helmet with crystals be a task? A: Don't the crystals not emit light? Oh wait, that was just for mobile. I will look into bringing it back. If they still emit light, I don’t see why not. Q: From Ocnog: Can we make the mast into a ladder, too? A: As long as the asset doesn't change, we can make the player teleport into the crow's nest, without an animation, like the ladders. In 1.9 when we are improving the sailing, we can add it. Q for Naru: From Spirit: When are we getting our pots and pans? A: I was working on a Random Encounter with giants stealing pots and pans from each other. I am making it a Custom Scenario instead. But we will lock out Ocnog so she can’t find them. Q: From Ocnog: We want a tombstone or some object as a respawn point for all players on the map so you can die and respawn in Valhalla or a hospital or a graveyard. We mentioned it in Suggestions on the forum. A: It is too easy to abuse and would interfere with the bed respawn system. Maybe only add it as a system for Custom Scenarios. Q: From Ocnog: When will players get to make Custom Scenarios? A: Even before we have the official system for letting creators add Custom Scenarios, you can send the maps to us and we will add them as Custom Scenarios. Take a look at the Custom Scenarios that are already there and if you think you can make something that good, please send them in. It must follow some general rules, but it would be great to add some player-made content. Q: From yo_has: Are there plans on when the first-person camera might come back? A: It will return but I am not sure when. Maybe sometime this year. I already mentioned all the issues with the first-person camera. Q: From Naru: Aleš, will we see you on Friday? (If you want to watch Aleš play last Friday: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1030161365) A: Not this Friday, but the one after. Previous Q&As: https://ylands.com/community/topic/30356-5th-qa-with-aleš/ https://ylands.com/community/topic/30317-dev-diary-174-stream-qa/ https://ylands.com/community/topic/30295-4th-qa-with-aleš/ https://ylands.com/community/topic/30138-3rd-qa-with-aleš/ https://ylands.com/community/topic/30025-2nd-qa-with-aleš/ https://ylands.com/community/topic/29785-qa-with-aleš-next-tuesday/?do=findComment&amp;comment=101186

Even by right-clicking in building mode? Maybe using the building station if it makes it easier to see ?

Hi everyone! In case you missed the 5th Q&A, here are the links: Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1019064084 YouTube - (Subtitles will be available for the YouTube version. Please let me know if you need help getting them in your language.) Summary: Q: From Ocnog: Did we already ask about a chainsaw? A: Yes Q: From Drago: Can we have an automated smelter (so we can either do 12 at a time or even more stacks of ore at a time)? A: It is a question of balance, but I will ask the designers. Q: From Jarda: How far ahead do you plan out the updates? You already know what will happen in 1.7 and 1.8! Do you already know what will happen in 1.9, 2.0, 2.1? A: Usually we know what will happen roughly 2 updates ahead. For example, we know 1.8 will be about polishing and doing things in the backlog. There are things both for the editor and exploration that have been bothering players for months or years and we want to address them. Usually, we try not to make long-term plans because they become invalid. Every Monday at 1 pm we have a meeting to talk to the leads of each department. We talk about the updates, among other things. This week, we started finalizing what will be in 1.9. We don't want to plan too far ahead because we want to be able to respond quickly to player feedback. With 1.8, Ylands will be fully released in China and we will get even more feedback. Tencent realized that rather than just the min-game platform, they also love Exploration. There are over 1 million players who have Ylands in their wishlist in China. Q: From Mello: When are you going to play Ylands with us on the Friday stream? A: I definitely can play. I am really bad at anything competitive but I have a lot of reasons prepared about why. I am not sure about this Friday but definitely this one or the next one. Q: From Stainless on the official Discord: Will Ylands ever be available to play on Mac? From Lady_whynot and Falkenkopf: Will Ylands be available to play on Linux (with or without a Windows partition?) A: It is not that easy because Ylands uses Unity and supporting these new versions would be a lot of work. It is definitely possible. We aren't sure how many new players this would bring. It might make sense to first have a version for Mac OS because we want to add it for schools. We need more players for PC and mobile first. Q: From Deadeye_Rob: Are there any plans to have more server providers instead of just Nitrado and Bohemia Interactive? A: Not at this time. Q: Follow up from Ocnog: Why not? A: Each server provider has its own issues. It is not as simple to just send it to the other companies. It is a lot of work to support each server provider. Q: From Spirit: Can we have glass doors? A: Definitely. Q: From Spirit: Would it be possible to remove the streaks in the glass windows? A: We don't want to remove everything so you can't see that it is there. Q: From Naru: Why were the clear blocks (glass and ice blocks) removed? A: We optimized how the game renders and lights things but that came at a cost. We needed to remove transparent materials because they were misbehaving. We had to do a lot of hacks to make the water work. It would be a lot of work to add them back, and we have more pressing issues to attend to. We might be able to make the streak more transparent. Q: From Spirit: Can we change the color of the streaks so it isn't the same color as the frame? A: Yes, that can be easily done. Q: From Drago: Can we have rocket launchers? A: Because it is a game for kids as well, we don't want to have tons of modern weaponry, including mines. Both those things didn’t fit with the game. Maybe someone like Naru can make it in the Editor. (Naru: We need more animations, and then it would be possible.) Q: From Jarda: Can we get the propeller hat that explodes (from the Dev Diary) in-game? A: Yes but not an exploding one. Q: From Bobo: Can we get a howitzer that shoots only fish in Ylands? A: Did we run out of normal questions? Please keep sending us inspiration and some of them will make their way into the game. Q: From Ocnog: And/or some other fish gun? Can we have an update just for fish related things? Maybe it can be 1.9: Swimming Sharks where you bring back the sharks and add more sea life (sea turtles, dolphins, giant krakens that spawn instead of an island-based custom scenario) and add more fish to catch using the fishing poles and fish guns and more things like this. A: I would like to make 1.9 about water (sea life, sharks, underwater Random Encounters, storms while you are sailing, etc.) We can definitely upgrade the fishing mechanic. It sucks right now. Q: From Ocnog: Can we get lasers? Maybe in the energy update? A: We want to add new things for the energy update, like lasers, energy streams that can harm players, and if something goes into that stream. Q: From Ocnog: What do you think about the idea of adding a game setting (like making energy lines invisible) to control if the propeller packs have unlimited flight or not? That would be super beneficial for player-made games and Legacy Exploration maps. A: We are already thinking about this, but we are worried about consistency for Exploration maps. You don’t want to make it confusing when you travel between maps. That is technically possible, and I can see it happening just for legacy and player-made games. I know this will be unpopular, but eventually, we will have to stop supporting and remove Legacy Exploration. Q: From Jchobs: Is it really needed to remove Legacy Exploration from the game itself? A: Eventually we will add a feature that might break it unless we do a lot of work to add a version of the feature just for the Legacy Exploration, so instead we will just remove it at that point. We will definitely wait until after we change how the players make blueprints. Q: From Spirit: Is it possible to let the players have more control over ladder placement (at least place them symmetrically by default)? And can we have ship ladders and rope ladders allowed in blueprints in the future? A: Blueprints definitely need to change. For the rope ladders, we might already have a task. There are hundreds of tasks, so it is coming eventually. I remember that the placement is painful. I will discuss it with the designers. Exploration will be more about sailing in the future, so this is a priority. I hope you will be pleasantly surprised about how many things we add based on your feedback as part of Update 1.8. Q: From Spirit: Will totem blocks be craftable in 1.7? A: We just need to set a recipe. I am assigning it to Naru. Tell Naru when you want something changed. Q: From Naru: Why isn't the machine gun in Exploration? Is it too overpowered? A: I will have to discuss this with the designers. Q: From Jacky Joy: Can we have a button to copy the orientation (like store rotation in Editor) for Building Mode? A: Building is already very complicated. We don't want to add more keys you have to press, etc. We definitely want to make building better. Q: From Ocnog: Why were some recipes removed? Like the guns? A: I had no idea this happened. I will ask about this. Q: From Ocnog: What is going on with the Workshop? Are there plans to improve it? A: We definitely have plans and there are definitely issues. The workshop isn't made by the Ylands Team directly. It is done by a different part of Bohemia Interactive (front-end developers). We have done the first round of improvements, but there are still issues. We plan on doing a second round of improvements and hopefully, the front-end developers can work on it soon. Q: From Ocnog: Can we have a separate set of tags for the compositions? It was easy to search for a ship or a house earlier and now it is a mess. A: Please make a forum post about the complaints. There are always emotions when there are new things, but we didn’t want to make it work worse. Tell us what you hate or like about the old or new workshop and we will make changes. Q: From Spirit: Can you add the ability to change the descriptions within the Workshop website, instead of only in Editor? A: Add this to the forum post. The workshop got the least amount of love because it isn’t just done by Team Ylands. I will do my best to make sure it works better in the future. Q: From JonathanHunt: Can players have the option to disable explosion damage globally for their exploration worlds? Also is it possible to allow living entities to take damage but without terrain or blocks being affected? A: We don't want to have it for every single map, but for maps you own, maybe. We can change the default Co-op settings for all your maps (non-friends wouldn’t have the ability to modify terrain, including explosions). Q: From Jchobs: Can we get a custom list (not friends/clan) for Co-op Settings? A: It might be addressed in 1.8. Q: From Sandy: Can you increase the default number of mutants (especially ones that drop ylandium dust) in Legacy Exploration maps? A: We definitely can, but I need to discuss it with designers. We need to make sure all players want this before we make a big change. We get contradicting posts about the game being too easy or too hard. Q: From Ocnog: How many Custom Scenarios are currently in the game? More than 5? A: I will ask. I know some are unfinished and we will continue to add them. Q: From Ocnog/Jchobs: Nikki told us to ask again about making the scuba helmet brighter. We were thinking maybe a small radius with brighter light, so it is still scary, but you can see the random encounters. A: If it is not a task already, I will create it. I don’t want to make the oceans brighter, but making the helmet functional is needed, so players can see the underwater Random Encounters. Q: From Ocnog: Who is Pypse-bis‎? A: A new member of the Ylands team. He is part of the Editor Designers and he is a great guy. Q: From Ocnog: What about adding leaves/debris on the ground? And fallen trees? A: Maybe far in the future. We can't do additional new assets for the next couple of updates because the graphics department is very busy already. Q: From John_Steel: Which department is the least busy so we can fill them up with work? A: Every department would say it is not them. When it gets closer to a “data lock” when you should have all the features finished so testing can commence, we are all super busy. QA has it easier in the beginning, but at the end, they have the most work to do. Q: From John_Steel: Can we have a rotation randomization button in Building Mode? A: We have talked about it a lot and will add it. Q: From Mello: Do you want us to be able to make sounds during the Q&A? A: Sure, as long as it isn't distracting. Maybe add booing sounds for answers that aren’t good enough. Previous Q&As:

We were joking that when you die on our Locust map, you should wake up in Valhalla. And it made us realize that being able to set the default spawn point for the map would be a really cool feature. I am not sure how you could mark it (maybe with an item like one of the tombstones). Players could also make graveyards, hospitals, or other cool places to respawn.

Ok @NaruTheHuman, now make this scene a Random Encounter ?

It isn't smooth enough or something. I will have to listen to it again, so I can complain about it accurately. ?

I actually really hate the second noise... lol I will also add something about the charging station noise.

I personally really hate the workshop. My complaints: https://play.ylands.com/ and https://create.ylands.com/ make me login every time I visit and then forget I am logged in and give me error messages I am not logged in and make me login several more times. ? Sometimes the errors will go away if I log out and log back in, but sometimes it won't. The workshop is "down" a lot of the time and won't let us update or publish new mini-games. Or even look at our list of published compositions or games. Approximately half the time I try, I am unable to use it, usually for several days at a time. I would like to be able to edit the thumbnail from within the game. This has been fixed already, but for a long period of time, the workshop website wouldn't let you update the thumbnail. The workshop website won't let you edit the description either. I have no idea how to make it generate Official Dedicated Servers without adding a transaction. And I am pretty decent at editor. New players wouldn't have a chance. There should be an explanation about how the game will be for the players (local servers, official dedicated servers, or none) when you set up the server, instead of an outdated Bohemia Wiki page that I had to edit because it was false. And that page still needs a lot of work. With the former workshop, I loved being able to look at the compositions through the website. I could see the compositions made by my favorite builders. With the former workshop, I loved being able to sort the compositions by tag (house, ship, weapon, steampunk, etc.). Can we either get the compositions in an entirely different system or get these tags back? The new game categories need a description, so everyone is defining the category the same way. Why can't there be more than one tag? For people that aren't experts in Editor, the workshop is basically inaccessible. There is no way for them to get inspired by the wonderful builds there or easily download the amazing ships for use in Sandbox, Exploration, or games made by other players. The majority of people ignore the Editor entirely and they are missing out on one of the biggest community-building aspects -- the ability to share builds. To end on a good note, I do love the idea of the workshop. It is a place where everyone can share their creativity and it definitely enriches the game tremendously... when it works correctly. To all Ylanders, please add your complaints/compliments about the workshop!

Yes, but Spirit should use QWERTY lol

I thought it was the Home button ?

From Nico and Ocnog: Can we get a rework for the ladders? They often give an error message about not enough room or don't behave as expected. (Also in the Q&A to discuss more with Aleš)

From Nico and Ocnog: Can we get a rework for the ladders? They often give an error message about not enough room or don't behave as expected.

Using a Dialogue Game Logic, you can have an NPC or sign ask the player if they want to go to a different minigame (within a game set) and then send them to the minigame depending on their answer. Naru did a tutorial about it: I don't think it is a good idea to link to anything because it is too easy to abuse and link to dangerous websites.

Spirit: Why can't we make the starter island in Exploration into a Sharegame? I just realized this was on the list twice ?

It is available on every multiplayer map, not just servers. https://ylands.fandom.com/wiki/Co-op_Mode tl;dr: it is the second tab in the multiplayer settings.

You have to raise it above the ground by quite a lot (press Alt U by default) in order to place it above terrain.

? ? I really hope the marketing efforts start way before this. One of the biggest complaints is that there aren't enough players.

Well, you have a week and a half to remember your questions. I would forget all of them if I didn't write them here ?

Somehow this just showed up in my feed. The answer is: Naru can do anything in Editor. He did a 3D map here: And he uploaded a composition for converting images into pixel art (the tutorial got deleted by Twitch because it was old):

We actually already asked for something similar. Aleš said he didn't want players to be able to carry around too much. He was worried it will break the gameplay.

Question for Aleš in 2 weeks: What is going on with the traders? ...unless @Nikki Severin wants to answer earlier

I hope PVE settings would include non-killable vendors. But maybe that could just count as a "placed entity" and be part of the Co-op Settings. Stop trying to steal gold from the vendors. You paid them to show up, so don't be greedy ? I agree about the other traders. I miss them a lot. Naru is making Random Encounters with pots and pans, but they haven't been added to the game yet. I would love these to just be craftable instead. You only sound like a broken record because Spirit says it every day ? For the scarcity of Random Encounters, I believe it is a bug they are working on. @Nikki Severin can you check on it? Naru said something about an issue spawning the "bigger" REs.

This isn't very reproducible (the same type of item will harden on that map and on other maps). Multiple players get the same bug and can't harden that item. I can pick it up though. Placing it again does not let us harden it. This is on a multiplayer map (server-type) in new Exploration. I have not run into this problem with Sandbox at all. It is happening for some diamonds, some clothing, and some weapons.