Aleš Ulm

Hi, unfortunately, it's now impossible (at least in an easy way) to set the secondary key binding to "nothing" - we'll take a look at that so that it can be done in one of the future updates. Maybe you could try setting one of the unused keys as a secondary binding for all the hotbar slots and assign the keypad keys as the primary or secondary movement bindings?

Hey there, fellow ylanders! Today I want to talk a bit about the feedback we‘re receiving from you, how we are processing it, what is that you complain about the most... and what we are going to do about it. So, what happens if you post something on our forums? Many people from our team keep checking the forum on a semi-regular basis, but it‘s our Community Manager‘s (Ane) duty to make sure no post goes unnoticed. Under normal circumstances (if we‘re not attending something big like E3) you should be able to see some reaction from our side pretty soon - although in general if the issue is not critical and you are asking about simple things, we sometimes wait to give the community the chance to step in. Players helping each other is something that we encourage, that is the community we want to see formed. The suggestions you make are discussed during our daily "design talks." All the issues you report are put in our internal system - even if you don‘t get an update about the state of the issue you‘ve reported after some time, it didn‘t disappear. We still know about it, and if it‘s not fixed in the upcoming update, it can be because of several reasons. Even though more people are coming to our team, there are still hundreds of bugs and design issues to take care of, and that takes time. Also, some of your bugs can be related to systems that we know we‘re going to rework soon(TM), in which case we don‘t fix them - we just wait before the new system is in place and then test if the issue is still there. And, unfortunately, sometimes our QA/programmers are unable to reproduce the issue you reported (even after we ask for logs, etc.) - in that case we just leave it in our system and wait if someone else doesn‘t report it as well, hopefully with some additional information. Issues, questions, suggestions ... we're always listening to what you have to say! So what are the issues that trouble you the most these days? dedicated servers stability - we‘re on it. With MP becoming a big thing for Ylands we take all issues like this very seriously various MP-related issues - the same as above. We‘re putting a lot of effort into fixing MP already, and with new programmers coming to our team in the near future you can expect things to go even faster game allocating a lot of resources even when it has lost focus / pausing your game when you enter the in-game menu (as long as there are no other players active there) - these will be fixed in one of the upcoming updates performance issues - there is still a lot of optimizing to be done. First, we will get rid of the rather sudden big fps drops happening when traveling in some regions of ylands, then we'll move over to optimizing the terrain, water simulation, loading times... you keep asking for features that would make exploration easier and more fun - before we hit Steam, we want you to be able to see the ylands even on the horizon. The map will be improved, and we will give you a compass. Eventually, we want you to have more objects active at once, so when the compass comes, you will be able to use it even while holding a torch, etc. the way the character is controlled (on foot and while riding a horse) isn‘t really good enough and will be improved ...there are obviously more things you‘d like us to change or add (there are dozens of them) but don‘t worry - everything is in our lists, and we‘ll get there. That‘s it for this week‘s Dev Diary so before we meet again - you have a great time, ylanders, and stay classy!

Actually, I'm really glad you brought up those issues - it's always good to see we are focusing on what players find annoying or broken. Also, you are right that this needs to be taken care of before we go to Steam. And as for the ships - we are far from considering this feature finished

Thanks for all those kind words! @Ylanders UK Dedicated You, sir, are a topic stealer! Exploitation, abusing and griefing is actually something I wanted to be the topic of one of the future Dev Diaries! But since you brought it up already let me just tell you that we are aware of these issues (we see that things like these are already happening here and there and some actions need to be taken). Actually, we already have some ideas how to address most of these problems (some of the changes/improvements will be present in 0.6, the update that is coming after "Rainy Roads" 0.5 ). As for bodies remaining in the game even after players log off - we will be adding an option for whoever starts the new game world to decide if the characters should stay in the game or disappear as soon as the players controlling them exit the game. Those who will want to have the game a bit more "realistic" will still have to make sure they are leaving their characters in a safe place, while the others will be able to log off right away knowing nothing bad can happen while they're gone.

Hi, we are going to be adding more music in the upcoming months - we discussed this topic and believe it will be possible to release the soundtrack at some point. We will do it at a later date when there are more songs in the game.

Hey there, fellow ylanders! With E3 behind us, we are once again putting all our efforts into the next update 0.5 named "Rainy Roads." Our testers have been driving the cars through various ylands for some time but what remains to be finalized and polished are the motors (currently the cars are propelled with something generic that doesn't consume any fuel :)). If nothing unforeseen happens before the launch of the next update, we'd like to have two types of engines ready to be placed on your cars (yes, car customization works similar to the one for ships - you build a chassis and then you place objects on top of it - if you want it to look like a car, fine - and if not, fine as well). Those will be ylandium and steam engines. The former will be powered by (here comes the surprise) ylandium, while the latter with coal. The good news is that you will be able to put those even on ships, so whenever the treacherous wind changes the direction, you will simply start the engine, lower the sails and here you go, full speed against the wind. It's getting dark and the rain has just put out your torch. One has got to love all the new features, right? Also, with the weather being implemented, we're making sure that rain puts out campfires (stronger rains put out even torches). Also, for things to become more real, even burning objects that you try to "hide" in your inventory won't be spared :). At the same time, in 0.5, after you go swimming, your torch won't be lit automatically after you leave the water, so you better make sure you have some flint with you all the time! So these are just some of the things we're working on right now, and since there's still a lot of new stuff in "Rainy Roads" to be discussed, we'll continue the next week. Until then - you have a great time, ylanders, and stay classy!

Hi, you're right that having an option to color blocks would be really helpful :). We'll look into it and will definitely add something to the editor (either we'll add more colored blocks or find some way to make some of the blocks paintable). Doing this outside the editor would, indeed, be tricky, since the painting process would require some ingredients and it's very unlikely that players would be able to find enough of those for every color they would need at their location. Anyway - nice feedback, keep them coming

Actually, those are things that we're testing right now - we'll let you know as soon as we're sure how is the finalized feature going to work.

@Miguel Preguisa Well, you've been with us for a long time now, so it seems you know what to expect!

@WijkagentAdrie Gosh, you're right! I guess a whole day spent moving to a new office and making sure everything worked again has taken some toll on my mental abilities It's fixed now - thanks!

Hi! Actually, I've just answered a similar question to yours Please look over here:

Hi, it's true that we won't support as many players as Arma does (as for maximum world size - that is too early to say because the game is not yet fully optimized) - but that is not really our intention. As for mods - yes, the support for external models, textures, sounds etc. will be coming in couple of months (also the "visual scripting" in the editor will be improved significantly )..

Hi Orquarius, even though our programmers have looked into your issues several times, we don't have any clue what may be causing this (and logs don't contain anything that might explain it). We think that running the game through Steam launcher will very likely fix that. So if you're trying to play the trial game you can wait for the game to become available on Steam later this year, get it and if the problem persists you can easily ask for a refund. If you already bought the game, we'll be sending out Steam keys to those who have already bought the game within a couple of weeks so you may decide to wait and try again when you get your key or we can refund your game right now. We are sorry for the inconvenience!

This is one awesome looking Monkey Yland! Brilliant, thanks for sharing!

Hi, as for the questions: 1. definitely, we've been adding them regularly with most of the updates and will keep doing so in the future 2. yes, we have really BIG plans for Exploration game 3. I can't really give you any specific number at this moment. Right now we have 10 (which is actually already quite a lot if you take a look at what another sandbox games with this scope of possible destruction, terrain deformation and simulation offer) and although it is possible the number will higher (no promises), we won't really know until we have acquired enough feedback and data (which will very likely be during Steam Early Access phase). 4. not as the part of Exploration, but there will be definitely tools sophisticated enough to let players create quests in their custom games And thanks for the suggestions!

Hi there, fellow ylanders. As some of you already know, we spent most of this week at E3 presenting Ylands. Before the main show started, we had the honor of showing (as the world premiere) our latest Ylands trailer during the prestigious PC Gaming Show where we also talked a bit about the game itself. It was truly a tremendous experience, and although being a part of such a high-profile event can get a bit stressful, things went well, in no small part thanks to one and only Sean "Day[9]" Plott, brilliant moderator (and a great and funny guy in real life). Those of you who missed the segment can watch it the right here Weather and (customizable) cars? Yeah - coming your way in a few weeks as a part of 0.5 "Rainy Roads" But it was just beginning. For the next three days, we got to demonstrate our game as a part of PC Gamer booth at LA Convention Center to hundreds of players. Some came to try the game after seeing the PC Gaming Show; others couldn‘t resist our cheerful visuals and stopped by to find out more. We couldn't be more satisfied with the result - the reactions were overwhelmingly positive, once again we received a ton of useful feedback, and many people decided to buy the game right now, even though it still isn't available on Steam. It was pretty intense and tiring but we had sooo much fun! I'd like to thank everyone who made this possible - especially you, our players, who are helping us every day in making Ylands a better, funnier game to play. That's all and so till we meet again - you take care, ylanders, and stay classy!

Types of engines etc. - that's exactly something we'll be talking about in one of the upcoming Sneak Peeks Stay tuned

Modding: yes! This goes pretty much without saying - we are already taking steps so that the game becomes modifiable in future and I can imagine a lot of things appearing as user created mods.

Attaching engines to ships is something we are already discussing. Having trailers sounds like fun - something like this won't make it to 0.5 for sure, but I can see this as a nice expansion to cars in future Thanks for the idea.

@WijkagentAdrie Cars on boats: that is, indeed, planned. @A3_Melle It's possible that we will be showing Ylands there as well. We'll be able to tell you more at a later date. @massivelyindie Much appreciated! "More to come?"... I wouldn't worry about that - our Big Picture to-do list has enough features and ideas for at least a few more years of intense development

Hi there, fellow ylanders. This post is going to be a tiny bit longer than usual, but it‘s quite important that you read it. First, let me tell you what is it that we've been working on so hard for the last several weeks. There are two awesome new features that will be coming out in 0.5, but we actually had to have them in the presentable state way sooner than that. Why? Well... because we need to show them in a video. In a very special video. In a really cool new Ylands trailer. With the trailer being finished the only question is when do we show it to the general public. What about E3? No, wait - what about one of the most important PC gaming events of the year, the famous E3 PC Gaming Show? Yes, exactly, that one! We are SO excited about being part of this show; about having the privilege of talking about the game and showing the trailer to around 1 million live viewers! If you get the chance to watch that (for more information see http://www.pcgamingshow.com) you will get to see the two new 0.5 features in the trailer, and then let us know in here how you liked them! PC Gaming Show & Ylands. Monday, June 12 @ 10 AM PDT. Soooo excited! Now let's move to another pressing topic at hand. Some of you have asked, "when does Ylands enter Steam", so let me tell you what we‘re going to tell anyone at E3: Ylands is coming to Steam later this year. We used to say "summer" - so why now, instead of giving you a solid date, we're coming up with an even more vague time frame? Because we‘ll be coming to Steam a couple of months later than expected. The truth is that right now our team is growing real fast and we have enough resources to address most of what you were asking for/unhappy about in our forums before we get there. Some might say that since we‘ll be entering Steam Early Access things don‘t have to be perfect - and they would be right. But Early Access or not, we want to get there all shiny - and that we will Now you may think "I was looking forward to playing Ylands on Steam soon and now I get to discover that my favorite devs have promised something they can't deliver. What a shame..." Come on, it‘s still us, your Team Ylands! Ok, you know what? Since you are our favorite players and because we like to keep our word, we‘ll do our best so that you can play the game on Steam even before it‘s officially released there. How about that? Seriously though - I don‘t want this to sound like we‘re doing you a favor because it does come at a cost and it‘s only fair to say it as loud and clear as possible. Not only we‘ll let you play the game on Steam; we NEED you to do that... because in the end, we decided to keep only one version alive - the Steam version. The launcher will cease to exist, and playing Ylands outside Steam won‘t be possible. Hm. Did we want to have Ylands on Steam or Steam in Ylands? Not really sure right now... So what happens next? In the upcoming weeks, we‘ll start sending out Ylands Steam keys to our players (if you bought the game you don‘t need to do anything to get it). As soon as you get one you will be able to play the game on Steam regardless of whether it has been released (yes, that does make you special in a way). You will still be able to play the game outside Steam through our launcher until we terminate it, which will happen in less than two moths (we will provide you with the exact date later). From that moment you will be able to play via Steam only. We understand that you bought the game outside of Steam. So far we haven‘t met anyone who would have a major problem with moving over to Steam, but it‘s possible there are some among you. We are sorry, but we can‘t fully support the game both on and out of Steam (I won‘t explain into detail why here, but I can discuss that elsewhere if anyone‘s interested). So if you‘re one of those who‘d rather not use Steam at all contact us and you will have the full price of the game refunded. We will be announcing it on others occasions, and at some point, you will get to see it mentioned in the game as well. Please feel free to ask about anything that is not clear or needs to be explained in detail... or just tell us what you think, because we want to know. That's all and so till we meet again - you take care, ylanders, and stay classy!

Hi, map sizes (and giving players more controls over their generation in general) is something we are already discussing and which will very likely be enhanced in the future. Unfortunately, right now I can't tell you any specifics because there are several factors in play that we need to figure out first (how much more the game be optimized etc.).

Well, thanks for watching! I'm pretty sure we'll write a Sneak Peek about that the next week (after we return home) - this week there will be only a short Dev Diary about E3 with some photos.

Hi, in game options under Controls you can set (instead of the default "Autodetect" mode) that you want the game to be controlled via mouse and keyboard only. Can you try to enable that and see if it helps?

And as for animations - yes, the animation system is getting completely reworked (along with the camera controls - but we'll talk about these things at a later date) so that all animations are more fluid and natural. Nothing in the trailer is fake - it was captured by using the real assets and data available in the game (although some, like the animation of the character pushing the lever, are not currently activated).