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Ane

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Posts posted by Ane

  1. Posted

    Hey there, fellow ylanders!

    Today we’ll take a look at two things that Creators will love in the upcoming update 0.13. Even though they have quite sophisticated names, they are actually very easy to describe, and you’ll see that they are very handy.

    So, without further ado, I give you the Advanced object grouping and Dynamic objects!

    Advanced object grouping is a fancy name that describes, well… advanced grouping :) So far you could group objects into simple groups. This was a nice way of putting together objects and then moving them around as one – however, it was obvious that more control was needed.

    Therefore, we’re coming up with groups that support hierarchies. You can now group objects in a way that they reflect their world relations. Door handle can be child of a door. If you move or rotate the door, the handle will follow. At the same time, you can still easily adjust the handle position relative to the parent door. Here we’re talking about two entities, but you can even make one whole group a child of another group.
    This very common and useful feature will help you work better even with very complex scenes.

    Groups.jpg

    Dynamic objects are our way of coming up with a solution to another problem - moving and rotating objects over time. What used to be very time consuming to achieve and had quite a large impact on performance, can now be done easily. You can specify where should an object move with what speed / in what time or do the same for the rotation. You just need to make sure that all objects that are moving are marked as dynamic, and you’re good to go.

    The best thing about this is that it can be combined with the grouping feature, so you no longer need to move all the object parts - you just move their top-most parent.

    Also, the new dynamic objects will work correctly when interacting with players, so by marking Groups/entities as "Platform", you will have the option to create moving platforms that will transport players somewhere in a smooth manner.

    This is just the beginning, though. In the future we will be providing tools that will give you much more control over objects’ position and rotation.

     

    And that’s all for now. Have a great weekend and as always - stay classy!

    • Like 8
    • Haha 1

  3. Posted

    Hey Oliver! Can you tell us what the directory tree looks like? Is it something like this?
    [userdata directory]
    |-SaveGames
    |-Scenarios (the top level one)
    |-|-someOtherFile.yland
    |-|-...
    |-|-Scenarios (the nested one)
    |-|-|-someOtherFile.yland
    |-|-...
    |-...

    When did you notice the nested folders? If the nested folder is removed, does it reappear?

    As a general advice, moving all files from the nested Scenarios folder to the top level Scenarios folder and deleting the nested Scenarios folder (now empty) will do no harm.

  6. Posted

    On 5/13/2019 at 4:10 PM, 1ZombieFan said:

    That worked! Thank you.

    *edit* Nevermind I think it change the name right as I published the composition I wanted to upload. Does it have to be linked to your steam account to change? I can't link it to my steam account because for some reason it says it already been registered. I've played ylands early aplha before steam not sure if that's the reason I cant link my account.

    No, linking accounts is no longer an option.

  11. Posted

    On 5/10/2019 at 2:31 PM, Indian Chief said:

    Hey Dev's,

    just wondering if I'm doing something wrong. I've noticed that when welding my mini castle that afterwards all the doors and cannon's have been removed.

    Thanks :)

    Can you attach the scenario where you're having this issue, please?

  14. Posted

    Hey there fellow ylanders,

    You probably remember that a couple of weeks back we presented one of the new fancy features coming in 0.13 - the friends list. And what's the use of having friends if you can't actually communicate with them? That's why in this update we're also expanding the in-game chat.

    Marci already nicely summarized why we're focusing on the social aspects of Ylands and why we're adding these features to the game. So today let's talk specifically about what the new in-game chat will bring!

    16_Ingame_Chat_V1_Writing.png

    Did someone say... work in progress?

     

    The chat will actually be present not only in-game, but also in the main menu and in the Editor. There will be 3 different channels: Whisper (for private communication), Game (for the current game session) and Clan (connected with the friends list), plus All, that will work as a filter, showing messages from all channels. There will be a list of commands for you to use - /s (say, for people who are close to the player, /w (whisper, for private communication), /c (clan), /all etc., and each channel messages will have their own specific color, so that you don't mix them up. Also, bear in mind that no matter how hard you try, you won't actually be able to send messages to offline players!

    And don't worry about missing any message, as there will be a visible chat icon for you to easily see your unread messages (from Whisper and Clan channels), and a notification button that will let you know you have new messages (in the main menu and Editor)!

    This should cover the basics of the new chat! What do you think? (sonrisa)

     

    Have a great weekend, ylanders, and stay classy!

    --------------------------------------

    Now let's take a look at the questions you had last week!

    Do you guys still use Photon Unity Networking or did you switch to something custom in 0.12?

    We started with Bolt (which got later acquired by Photon), now we're using code that our programmers wrote.

    Can barriers be made to show who they belong to?

    Yes, there is a plan to show whose barrier you've just entered.

    Another game I play has an ingame mailbox. Inside there are game functions, but you can also "email" other users and also attach items. So you can give gifts, building supplies, etc. Could something like this be implemented?

    This would definitely be a nice feature to have. It is not currently planned, but we will discuss that.

    With AI path finding, will this mean we can finally give "teams" or "labels" to entities so they can either be hostile or friendly to other entities?

    That is our goal. The ability to set up entities this way will come at a later update than 0.13, though.

    I had a question regarding compositions and protective barriers. Will the random structures, such as ruined (brick wall) wall with cannons the lighthouse and others be added to default compositions in the editor? The same question also applies to player protective barriers. I see no way to currently add protective barriers via the editor nor methods to craft them, will this change? 

    The random structures won't be available this way because doing so would take away the element of surprise (smile). Letting players use the protective barrier in the Editor is something we've been discussing quite often in the past weeks, and it will definitely happen.

    Will it ever be possible to place (and use) a barrier on a ship (and still be able to sail)?

    Not at this point. This is yet another thing that we're discussing.

    Why is it impossible to properly repair default structures? Nothing ever seems to line up correctly.

    We are aware of this. In 0.13 we are making some changes to how terrains are generated. Once this is done, we'll look into this - it's related.

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1

  21. Posted

    19 hours ago, JAZZ27 said:

    Is there a way to free place? I found a house, but accidentally broke some of the windows. When I try to replace them, its snapped to the grid, and is not level with the other windows.

    I'm guessing the house was part of a random encounter? If so, you cannot modify it.

  22. Posted

    Hey there, fellow ylanders!

    In this Dev Diary we're going to discuss one issue that has been with us for a long time - and which we're finally getting rid of. I'm talking about pathfinding.

    We are all more than familiar with moments where animals can't get to the player, get stuck in the scene, and more.

    While implementing a nicely working pathfinding in games that have static terrain (in other words, one that can't be modified) or that are made out of uniform blocks is quite easy, with worlds that can dynamically change, this is a non-trivial problem. It took us quite long to get it right, but I'm very excited to let you know that the new pathfinding system will be present in the update 0.13.

    We will also do some adjustments to how caves and terrains are generated so that everything works as it should, and in return we will get encounters with animals both on the surface and underground.

    Now you may be thinking - "well, so animals will be moving around in a better way... and that's it?", but wait, there's MUCH MORE to this.

    Ylands_190422_161859.png.0e86b60d2e61c09b05a966e4ff4a08b9.png

    The calm before the storm, by bb cakes_P1.

    For a loooooong time we had plans to improve the gameplay to be more exciting, engaging, rewarding. Our hands were tied because there's not really much you can do when hostile entities can't get where you need them. Having a nicely working pathfinding opens the door to... proper AI. Yes, the pathfinding in 0.13 will be followed by an improved AI, which we believe will be a true game-changer.

    With a reliable pathfinding system in place, we have already started working on a new AI system that will benefit not only Explore, but also many games that creators will make. With the ability to make units patrol, guard places, set up how aggressive they are and so on, a whole new gaming experience opens. All this (hopefully released as a part of update 0.14) will be based on the new pathfinding introduced in 0.13, so as you see, it's actually a very big and important step forward.

    And speaking of updates - we've learnt our lesson on telling release dates, but I can assure you that for 0.13 you will have to wait much, much less than with 0.12.

    And that's it for now. Have a great weekend, ylanders, and stay classy!

    -----------------------------------

    Now it's time to catch up on your questions!

    I love the logic template that we have available. However to improve performance issues, can we have the ability to despawn/remove logics generated from templates?

    That is some good feedback - I'll pass it to our programmers!

    Additionally, when will we get the option to have manual cinematic cameras? It would he helpful for a game that is fixed to a region and I want to provide a specific perspective.

    Yes! Actually we're already working on something that is a prerequisite for this.

    Are there any plans for more feminine clothing options like dresses and high heels?

    High heels are not currently planned. We are currently doing some tests with more feminine clothing, but the main problem are skirts. Since there is no cloth simulation present, especially skirts are a problem with a lot of character animations.

    Could glass blocks be a thing? In all the shapes and sizes we have in other blocks?

    We would like to have them as well, but right now there are some performance issues related to them, so they are not supported.

    Regarding the friend list, will we also have the option to not appear online?

    That is a good point. Probably not when it comes out, but definitely in a later update.

    Will we be able to use our (perfectly adequate) Steam friends list?

    No. This friend list is not connected with the Steam friends list in any way (we need it to work on much more than just the PC platform).

    Will we be able to view other peoples' friendlists?

    No, this is not currently planned.

    Is the "friendship" going to be approved from both sides (like Facebook) or one sided (follow on a non-secured Instagram account)? 

    You will be able to offer a friendship to anyone. They may decide to accept or deny. If you get harrassed by anyone this way, you can always block them.

    Is there any plan/possibility for the chat to include voice?

    Not at this point.

    How about global and local/yland chat channel?

    There will be several chat channels to use - I think you will find them to your liking (smile)

    With all this social stuff gearing up, is there plans for Official Explore servers coming back to use said friends with? With separate PVP and PVE servers? Will we be able to have many clans or sub clans?

    Yes. While we still don't have any ETA, we would definitely like to run some official Explore servers. 

    Do you have plans for 16, 24, 48 player servers?

    We do have plans to support more players than the current maximum, but the exact number will depend on the type of game, it won't be a single number available everywhere.

    Do you guys plan on making sea voyages more dangerous? Maybe pirates or sea monsters?

    Yes, we would really like to do that.

    Any news on new costumes? (I still want a demon costume)

    We will be bringing many more costumes in the future (demon could definitely be one of them - we would even like players to vote on those (smile)).

    Does Ylands plan to ever implement 3D model imports?

    Once Ylands 1.0 is released, we would like to address the topic of modding in general - we will have more info at that point.

    How about lightning being dangerous if caught outside on a high area?

    We really love how the lighting works in Zelda and would like to have something like this, but it is not planned at this moment.

    Is there an estimated time for when the water terrain tool will come back?

    We want to add better water simulation after version 1.0 is released, but are also discussing releasing some basic Editor tool that would allow simple addition/removal of water in specified areas before that.

    I have the idea that I've read somewhere about this friend list coming along with the possibility to share our protection barrier with friends? Anything about it?

    Yes, that is still planned. First we'll release the friends list and then we'll keep adding more cool features on top of it.

    Will there be an easier way to collaborate with other people on the Editor - maybe even being able to do real time building in the Editor?

    This is something we are discussing quite often. It is not something we plan before 1.0 but we would at least like to discuss with you what the possibilities and priorities are in this regard before that.

    • Like 6
    • Thanks 2

  23. Posted

    Update: 02/05/2019

    Version: 0.12.2.69650

    • [YLD-16397] Camera is inverted while controlling ships, cars, boats and horses
    • [YLD-16295] Crash to desktop when mining drill is selected in inventory
    • [YLD-16371] If you escape in a password protected game in the MP lobby, you cannot join any game
    • [YLD-16284] [Forum] Cannot deconstruct things in Barrier
    • [YLD-16321] [Multiplayer] Clients are stuck on "Recalling buildings 100%" if they reconnect after wearing a skin of an item
    • [YLD-16198] [Steam Forum] Invert mouse not working
    • [YLD-16418] [Visual Scripting] Editing parameter name problem
    • [YLD-16294] [Visual Scripting] Rotation of impassable barrier stops other scripts
    • Thanks 3
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