Hey there, fellow ylanders!
With 0.7 getting closer, I’d like to use this opportunity and tell you more about what is planned beyond that update. But first, as usual, let us discuss some of the issues you’ve reported.
Issues
You might have noticed that a couple of days ago we released a patch containing a fix for the game freezing/crashing when constructing an energy grid in a specific way, an issue that sometimes prevented players from placing objects on ships and a really nasty one that could result in the game not getting saved (and players losing some of their progress because of it). We’ve already fixed other issues as well, but those were not considered critical enough to require an immediate patch. Speaking of patching - you’ve probably also noticed that when we release a patch, our dedicated servers get reset. We understand that this is quite unfortunate (especially if the patches are released more often) and so we’re working on a system that, once finished, will let us deploy patches while retaining the current progress on DS.
Also, we have concluded our analysis of "Host unreachable", one of the high-profile critical issues. Even though there can be many causes behind this that we don't have control over, we indeed found a situation where players can get this message and be unable to connect to an MP game. Good news is that it is something that is fixable, but it may take some time. What is going to happen now is this: in 0.7, if this situation happens, you will see a specific error message. If you see it, you'll know that we're to blame and that it's something that you would be getting no matter what port you have opened etc. It's quite obvious, though, that you're more interested in getting a fix than just an indication. We have already started working on it and chances are that in 0.7 you'll find yourself in this situation less often. The complete fix will be released as soon as possible and we'll keep you posted on the progress. This is a very high priority for us.
Finally, some light has been shed into the dreaded "Host unreachable" issue (Lighthouse courtesy of @SyxtySyx)
Features and changes planned in 0.8 or later
We find the current combat system state unsatisfactory. Firstly, at this moment, it’s not much more than a mouse button mashing. Also, it’s quite imprecise - many times you hit anything but the thing you try to aim at. It’s not our intention to have a sophisticated combat you’re used to from action games, but we feel it should be at least a bit more rewarding for those who show some skill, and that you need to feel more in control when fighting. We hope that some of this you will be able to experience in the update 0.8.
We are also doing major changes to how horse riding works. The controls are getting much better, and so are the animations and transitions. It will once again be possible to shoot while riding a horse like it had been before the character controller was introduced.
With the new character controller and animations first, we focused mainly on third person camera view. It’s high time that the first person view received some love as well. The most important thing is that players need to see what they’re holding in their hands, getting proper visual feedback of what they do.
The last thing I’m going to mention (there’s more than just these) is a whole new world we’re creating for you. It will take a few more months before you get your hands on that, but we believe it will be totally worth it, adding dozens of hours of interesting gameplay. We will be releasing more information as the release gets closer, but right now it’s important to let you know that the reason why we’re (mostly) not releasing new building blocks and items for the game is because we are putting them aside to be released along with that update.
That’s it for this week. Next Friday we’ll return to the upcoming 0.7 and tell you more about some of its features. Until then you have a great time, ylanders, and stay classy!