Dev Diary #44

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

Hey there, fellow Ylanders!

The 0.10 update is still being tested (the fact that it will be presented at Gamescom next week obviously plays some role in the delay as well), so let me talk about something different. I meant to address this topic later, but since someone already asked, I posted a rather lengthy explanation in the discussion below last week’s Dev Diary. Because I feel it’s really important, I will (quite shamelessly :)) paste it here so that more people see it and it can be easily linked to if needed.  

Before I do that, I would like to mention two things:
 

* If you get the chance, visit us at Gamescom. @Ane and I will be there the first two days and will gladly meet you - but even if you come later, there will be people from our QA team and you will be able to get something special (watch our social channels to find out more).

* Very important note to those who made some scripted games up until now (to be more precise - if they used the old scripting system). Once 0.10 gets released, you won’t be able to see and edit your old script anymore - your game logic might still work, but you won’t be able to edit/check them anymore. When you open them in 0.10, they will seem empty, and once you close them, they will be saved that way. So if you have something precious, make sure that you at least take screenshots, so that you can easily reconstruct your code. Whatever gets created with the new scripting system will be supported till 1.0 and beyond.

Some dream of having a small shed in the woods, others dream... bigger (Home complex courtesy of @bobolink111)

 

And now that aforementioned text. You asked us to comment on the player count getting lower over time, with almost no new players coming in. This is what we told you.

 

It's true that we're not getting new players (or in amount to speak of) and many people have left. It would be rather arrogant to say we understand all the reasons behind this, but I'd say there's a pretty obvious explanation to most of what's happening. I will be completely honest with you - even though what I'll say may not be what you'd like to hear

The main reason why no new people are coming is pretty simple - we are doing absolutely nothing to bring them in. People are not talking about Ylands, it doesn't get promoted in any way.  Unless your game is already a massively known IP, without active marketing support things just don't happen.  While it would be great for the community to bring in some "fresh blood", the naked truth is that we've moved to the polishing/bug fixing stage, and we want to release Ylands with a big bang when it's ready. Then (actually some time before that) we will put a lot of effort in making sure people know we exist and have to be counted with. You can trust me that you will notice when that stage begins. We believe it will be very big, but we're not there yet.

 

The reasons why people leave are several:
 

* Some expect new content to be delivered more often. This group, however, is not large - most are more interested in seeing what there already is working better

* People leave because it's taking us too long to address some of the annoying issues and performance problems, and we can't really blame them. This is already changing though - you will already find fixes to many issues in 0.10, and much more in 0.11. It's difficult to say if some of the more general optimization adjustments will show in 0.11, but we're doing our best so that they do, and if they do, you'll feel that.

* When you look at some other games, then you'll realize that they did a much better job at getting players together, to form communities, working with friends etc. It's really simple - everything is much more fun when you can easily share it with your friends or family, and people who form communities stick with the game longer. This is something we're working on.

* For many there simply isn't anything in the game that would drive them forward, no storyline to follow, no secrets to uncover etc. That is also something we're doing something about.
 

Long story short - we don't have any new players because we don't look for any at this moment, and we're losing the ones we have because, while the game is good, it's not yet awesome  

 

That was just describing how things are now (which is not a secret and you probably guessed most of it anyway). Now the part that may be a bit difficult to hear. Right now, we focus absolutely on the game release. I know we've mentioned the release date, but the truth is that if the game is not ready, we will wait with the release and keep working until it's just perfect. For the current players it doesn't mean that much - for you the game will get better and more solid with every single update. What probably is, however, is that you can't expect (unless something unexpected happens - like a big youtuber playing Ylands all of a sudden, which is quite unlikely ) many new players coming into the game before we leave EA. It would be just counterproductive to actively try to bring large numbers of people into a game that we know is getting better every single month. There's really no secret there - we will bring them in when we know a lot of them will stay.

The good thing is that you will see what the current state of the game is, we will hold nothing back, and you'll get all the improvements and fixes as soon as possible and we will always talk to you about what's going on.   

 

And that’s it for this week. Thanks again, let us know what you think, and, until we talk again, have a great time and stay classy!

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

Maybe talking about your plans to attract players when the game releases would be an idea that would encourage people hanging in there

[Indomitus 388]

I'm just eagerly awaiting the big Editor update like a kid waiting for Christmas morning.

[A3_Melle 150]

I think what you are doing might be a good choice to take focus on development now and make sure to come back with a "bang", especially after polishing up some nasty bugs, and I know for sure some big content creators will be coming back as soon as the hype goes rolling again and they want to see what the missed out since the early days of steam release (and they actualy missed out a few nice updates). 

 

I'll miss you on gamescom but I will have a chat with some of the Q&A ☺ 

 

Ps: good to see @Ane active again on Ylands instagram ? 

[Brbrmensch 32]

what people look at when deciding whether or not but the game is how frequent updates are, that's the detail that should not be overlooked. why? here's quick example: last patch was on second week of summer and you screwed the "take all button", so players would forced not only to spam clicks to craft stuff, but also pick it one by one, it becomes way worse in multiplayer because of lags, and how fast did you fix it? you did not.

i'll bring a bunch of friends to play with me and will find more games to play inside this game after it becomes playable, but now i specifically tell them to stay away from it

[BigBoss87 68]

Thanks for the Dev Diary

Have a great Gamescom guys.

Edited August 18, 2018 by BigBoss87

[WijkagentAdrie 384]

Thanks Ales, this quite sums up the story for me and a few of my friends. It's good you guys seem aware and indeed, after the release is there we'll see some improvement. Ylands is not the only game with this "problem", especially not in this genre. As a follow up to RedEagle's question, what do you think Ylands' unique selling point is compared to the competition, as there's a lot of early access sandbox survival games out there?

Also, could you guys please post far more WIP material? This could be models, concept art, temporary improvement to physics/mechanics, renderer/performance upgrades etc. I think we all know (as is perfectly normal with early access) that there's gonna be waiting involved until the next patch, those WIP's are what's gonna keep us interested and looking forward to more content  I suggest that every dev could take 5-10 mins at the end of the week to quickly write/show what they've been up to this week and somebody collates this and posts this every Friday?

On gamescom, unfortunately I've got work all week+weekend during gamescom, I would've loved to be there and who knows convince some other visitors/friends about Ylands  Despite the current "problems" there's a lot to show and impress new players with  I hope next year I'll be there again!

Adrie

Edited August 20, 2018 by WijkagentAdrie

[bojo2736 1016]

On 8/18/2018 at 2:32 AM, Brbrmensch said:

what people look at when deciding whether or not but the game is how frequent updates are, that's the detail that should not be overlooked. why? here's quick example: last patch was on second week of summer and you screwed the "take all button", so players would forced not only to spam clicks to craft stuff, but also pick it one by one, it becomes way worse in multiplayer because of lags, and how fast did you fix it? you did not.

i'll bring a bunch of friends to play with me and will find more games to play inside this game after it becomes playable, but now i specifically tell them to stay away from it

I had hoped for a hotfix to that and the ship compass issue. As it is sailing has been pretty much off the table due to the lack of compass and map eating. I don't want to get stuck sailing for days waiting to catch sight of a bird.

[Ane 1213]

Reporting from Gamescom! A little sneak peek of 0.10 (we're showcasing it here already, so soon you'll be able to play it too!)

 

[A3_Melle 150]

24 minutes ago, Ane said:

Reporting from Gamescom! A little sneak peek of 0.10 (we're showcasing it here already, so soon you'll be able to play it too!)

 

Maybe we need a new topic for the gamescom 2018 screenshots and pictures ? 

[ESP_Miguel 192]

Good luck for the Gamecome.
Ylands is a game with a lot of potential. I'm hooked with many hours, especially in the editor. I hope the update with high hopes
Thanks for your work guys.

[Ane 1213]

3 hours ago, A3_Melle said:

Maybe we need a new topic for the gamescom 2018 screenshots and pictures ? 

Yeah, we'll probably create some summary once it's over