Dev Diary #71

[Marci Magyar 160]

Hey there fellow ylanders, it's time for another Dev Diary - this time about: combat!

As you might recall, with update 0.11 we have introduced combat 2.0 to the game. This updated combat engine introduced light and heavy attacks, the ability to dodge and parry, and a generally more involved and exciting combat.

With update 0.12 we are turning the volume even louder: make way for combat 3.0!
 

 

Within the latest (and greatest) version of the combat engine, you will find the following changes:

• Attacks and recovery are now significantly faster than before: we felt that the addition of heavy and light attacks together with your defensive options (parrying or evading) was a huge step in the right direction... yet they didn't feel perfect. We thought the flow of the combat could be better, so we've sped up every action and interaction that can happen during combat.
   
• Blocking is the new parrying: while we enjoy the challenge of executing a well timed parry, we have decided (probably because Sekiro ruined (it for) us) to replace parrying with a blocking stance. When in this stance, you can block light attacks indefinitely, but heavy attacks will break through your defenses. We felt this change not only gives you a better defensive tool that you can rely on more often, but also offers a better tactical experience when you weigh your options and decide when to block and when to go for a heavy strike.
   
• Super cool new feature: the jump attack. There is really nothing I can / want to tell you about this - you'll have to see it for yourself (just make sure you don't jump from too high).
   
• Heavy attacks and jump attacks now stun opponents: again, giving you more options (and rewards for well timed and executed attacks) with the added benefit of tactical advantage.
   

Now you might be wondering how exactly did we manage to make combat even cooler. To answer that, our very own Khan (designer extraordinaire) and Xeniya (of the dev diary 0.11 fame) had the following hot takes:

• Better speed: transitioning into a heavy attack mid-combo is now much faster and smoother than before
   
• Better feel: heavy attacks are now executed on letting go of the left mouse button instead of holding it, which means you can for example hide behind a corner and surprise unsuspecting enemies with a proper punch
   
• Better verticality of combat: previously, you had a hard time hitting anything that was too low on the ground, which was now made easier by expanding the vertical range of each attack
   
• Better flow: when you attack while running, you don't stop immediately in place, but slide on the terrain for a split second, to avoid that bad feeling of the hard transition
   
• Better lumberjacks: trees can be cut down much easier now to avoid unnecessarily long harvest times 
   
• Better look: we've added visual representation of how "charged" your attack is - the closer you are to the heavy attack, the more visible the particle effect on your weapon is
   

 

So as you can see, while there is nothing radical in these changes, they truly do alter (for the better) the flow and feel of the combat, and we are super happy with how this aspect of the game is coming along.

I hope you've enjoyed this little insider look into something awesome that's coming soon(tm) to an yland near you - and until then, shoot us your questions and stay classy!

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Last week's questions:

Will future features include more sources of energy generation/storage?

In one of the future updates we want to focus on adding more machines that utilize energy. Even though you can already do some nice things with it, we would like to go much further in this direction. So yes, in the future we may indeed include more sources of energy and ways to store it.

 

G'day Dev's, have you thought about adding in a feature where it says what type of server it is in the game search? Locally hosted or dedicated server information would be handy to know 

Definitely. You will see some changes to the game search in the upcoming update, and more improvements are planned.

 

G'day Dev's, just wondering if you have any plans for players to be able to add water via a bucket or something simular? I know the ocean's have been disabled, but it'd be really cool to be able to add water control to the game like Minecraft has.

It's true that the water simulation has been temporarily disabled. When it returns (after 1.0) it will be faster, better looking, and along with it we would like to introduce (among other things) ways of carrying water around and placing it.

 

Will a First person camera that can be used while walking come later? If not for explore it would be a nice feature for custom games.

Sure. The removal of the first person camera was just temporary. We would like to put it back in the game when we have time to work on all the things that need reworking, so that the camera feels finished (mostly animations, combat design issues etc.). That however, won't be before Ylands 1.0.

[Miguel Preguisa 443]

38 minutes ago, Marci Magyar said:

coming soon(tm)

Beware not to fall into this territory like DayZ  

But I have to say I'm quite excited about how 0.12 looks now. Fighting will look more cartoonish now but that may be even a plus. Anybody ready for a rematch in the Gold Rush?  

[Onedown 28]

One question please.  Are you devoting any real play testing time to discovering methods of griefing so that you avoid as much of it as possible before you "release" the game?   In a lot of games this type of testing is fluffed over and left for the players to report and troubleshoot leaving some players frustrated for having to do the game companies job.  I haven't played in a long time but I plan on coming back once you have a final product and it would help me if I knew if you were expecting customers to ferret out the bulk of this.

[bojo2736 1016]

I just want to be able to chop down a tree without it looking like a scene from Footloose.

[ovring 2]

Will the new, faster combat moves be also a bit preciser, as the moves, we are posessing now? Because my real problem with them was newer the speed, but always their lack of precision. If you only add the speed, i fear, it will make the situation only worse...

 

[Igor Q. 519]

Very awesome to see!!! I'm very excited for this patch not only for its new combat system but hopefully I can create expendable books that create spells when used like a giant meteor!(I will make an awesome combat game if I have the time) ?

I wanna say a big thanks for this game and its scripting depth (Im the main code writer for the P1 games group) I love how much you can do with this game! I recently started learning Coding for C++ after being inspired from making codes inside this game. Are there any recommendations on where to learn? (Im right now doing an intro course on udemy but I'm almost done @Houp@Rudy.cz)

[Igor Q. 519]

Concern:

With the update to making axes better at cutting trees, what will happen saws? I really like the idea of the saw being a more efficient tool for cutting trees. Maybe they can grant more wood when breaking down logs compared to using an axe? (So it becomes somewhat required for making boats or large structures)

Additionally, what is the plan regarding terrain depletion? Currently once you finish mining a vein of iron it's gone forever and as the game gets longer it becomes harder to get. How is this intended to be solved in the future?

[jchob 354]

On 3/30/2019 at 11:32 AM, Igor Q. said:

Concern:

With the update to making axes better at cutting trees, what will happen saws? I really like the idea of the saw being a more efficient tool for cutting trees. Maybe they can grant more wood when breaking down logs compared to using an axe? (So it becomes somewhat required for making boats or large structures)

Additionally, what is the plan regarding terrain depletion? Currently once you finish mining a vein of iron it's gone forever and as the game gets longer it becomes harder to get. How is this intended to be solved in the future?

Yeah, the veins can end quite soon as a new map is launched. some veins have just a few ores and just one player can need it all. I guess I can have the task to replace the P1 server veins with terraformer. Also, MyPa553ng3r usually makes that if it's really needed. 

[bojo2736 1016]

This could potentially be logiced in.