Dev Diary #92

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

Hello Ylanders, 

Today we’re going to discuss monetization. AH! Wait! Monetization by creators! Phew, that was close. In the new 0.14 update, creators will be able to monetize pretty much anything in their games for Coyns, which they'll then receive from the player. In the editor, a new game logic will appear with monetization options. So, you could, for instance, monetize an item, stats, new locations or new levels of the game. But you can also sell plots of land, building materials or give money to NPCs and so on and so on ?

You can choose any amount from 10 to 2,500 Coyns for your transaction and then it is only up to the player if he likes what you’re offering, or not...oh no. Here he comes again. Ah, Major General, what can I do for you today? 

Major General Archibald Bartholomew of Brenau: Well I have a couple of inquiries actually about this ‘scheme’ of yours. 

Adam: Of course Major General, ask away. 

Major General Archibald Bartholomew of Brenau: Well what happens, and now do try to keep up you nitwit, what happens if I visit a game of an absolute knave, who promises a delightful experience, but then just takes my hard-earned dosh and makes a runner? Answer that and stay fashionable! 

Adam: Well first we’d recommend to contact the creator himself, because it could just be an honest mistake or a bug, but if that doesn’t work, you’d contact us, we’d send our best investigators on the case and if we find, that he truly was a scoundrel, we’d return you your Coyns and ban him. 

Major General Archibald Bartholomew of Brenau: Well...that does sound rather reasonable. But how do I, and now I’ve got you red-handed you incompetent hornswoggler, how do I find out, if a game is any good or complete codswallop?  

Adam: We are working on a system of reviewing these games in the future, but for this update we’re going to make a special section on the Forums, where creators will be encouraged to start threads for their games, thus also promoting them. There players can leave their thoughts and impressions.  

Major General Archibald Bartholomew of Brenau: Hm, I suppose that is a satisfactory answer. And what do you get out of it all? A pound of flesh no doubt.

Adam: We do take a 'cut' as you'd call it, but a very reasonable 30%. So if a player pays 100 Coyns for a feature in a creators game, the creator himself will receive 70 Coyns and we 30. Does that sound reasonable to you Major?

Major General Archibald Bartholomew of Brenau: It is Major General actually, thank you very much, but these terms do sound...acceptable. After all, you also have to put meat on the plate of that infernal abomination of a creature you call a cat. Well okay, you have me sold. I shall peruse some of these ventures and maybe even invest some of my capital in them. See you later alligator! 

The Major General welcoming eager players.

Ugh. Well that was...unbearable. Anyway, one more thing I wanted to impart on you all before I depart. We will make available a detailed instructions manual after the release of 0.14, where creators can really delve into the ins and outs of monetization and how they can implement it into their games because there is still a lot we haven’t talked about. Like the new way of saving games and creations, how to share servers and so on, but at least there’ll be something to look forward to ? It really is an exciting time to be an Ylander  ?

And so, until next time, 

Cheerio and stay classy Ylanders! 

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

Woah big news!

 

Since Dev Diaries are a place where the community is invited to give feedback, I would like to address an important issue: 

 

Edited August 23, 2019 by RedEagle_P1.

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

45 minutes ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

Today we’re going to discuss monetization. AH! Wait! Monetization by creators!

Oof, that was close. 

[zarwil 393]

Can you specify which player should receive the coyns? Like say if lots of people play on a server and want to set up a marketplace where they can sell blueprints/compositions/items to eachother, is that the intent here? 

Also would you consider the possibility to let users sell their blueprints in the in-game blueprint marketplace? What about compositions?

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

1 hour ago, zarwil said:

Can you specify which player should receive the coyns? Like say if lots of people play on a server and want to set up a marketplace where they can sell blueprints/compositions/items to eachother, is that the intent here? 

Also would you consider the possibility to let users sell their blueprints in the in-game blueprint marketplace? What about compositions?

Monetization will work for creators, not players. So if a creator creates a game, he can monetize an aspect of the game, but players in the game won't be able to sell their things for Coyns to each other, only the creator through monetization. 

We are not planning on making it possible for players to sell their blueprints and compositions yet, though we are looking at ways this could be possibly done in the future (but definitely not before 1.0.)

[bojo2736 1016]

Interesting.  Is there a way to have the games flagged or labeled somehow in the multiplayer lobby that a game is monetized?

 

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

*Decided to dive into monitization on week 2, dives into lake after. 

[bojo2736 1016]

Can you tell us what the update name of 0.14 is?

[Igor Q. 519]

Is Scripting basic actions for mobs/humans in 0.14 gonna be available?

What about camera control?

Also, when is the demon costume with wings I have requested gonna be added into the game ?

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

Will we be able to exchange Coyns for funds? 

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

4 hours ago, bojo2736 said:

Interesting.  Is there a way to have the games flagged or labeled somehow in the multiplayer lobby that a game is monetized?

Very good suggestion and we will try and make this happen in update 0.15! Thanks ?

 

4 hours ago, bojo2736 said:

Can you tell us what the update name of 0.14 is?

Not yet, but soon ?

 

1 hour ago, RedEagle_P1. said:

Will we be able to exchange Coyns for funds?

Define funds ? If you mean real life honest dosh and money, then no, at least not yet. 

 

4 hours ago, Igor Q. said:

What about camera control?

Not in 0.14 but we are aware of it and are investigating options for future updates.

 

4 hours ago, Igor Q. said:

Is Scripting basic actions for mobs/humans in 0.14 gonna be available?

YES! But mainly functions for animals available in scripting and to define some basic attributes.

 

4 hours ago, Igor Q. said:

Also, when is the demon costume with wings I have requested gonna be added into the game

That is my personnel #1 priority of course ? But only after I receive my request of a kilt into the game ??

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

41 minutes ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

Define funds ? If you mean real life honest dosh and money, then no, at least not yet. 

Thanks for the quick reply. Is that planned? 

[bojo2736 1016]

I asked for a red seagull pet a long time ago.

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

3 minutes ago, RedEagle_P1. said:

Thanks for the quick reply. Is that planned? 

*absolute silence. crickets chirping. can't talk about this kinda look. Mustn't do a Hagrid.*

And where do I get this mug? https://www.posters.cz/hrnky/harry-potter-hagrid-quote-v31787

6 minutes ago, bojo2736 said:

I asked for a red seagull pet a long time ago.

Yoda: It would just poke at your head. No fun.

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

44 minutes ago, bojo2736 said:

I asked for a red seagull pet a long time ago.

Red EAGLE EAGLE. I am an EAGLE. Also I am not a pet... wild RedEagle. 

 

37 minutes ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

*absolute silence. crickets chirping. can't talk about this kinda look. Mustn't do a Hagrid.*

And where do I get this mug? https://www.posters.cz/hrnky/harry-potter-hagrid-quote-v31787

Yoda: It would just poke at your head. No fun.

I take that as a yes  

 

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

3 minutes ago, RedEagle_P1. said:

I take that as a yes

Take it as you please ?, but really it is a no for now.

[zarwil 393]

1 hour ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

Take it as you please ?, but really it is a no for now.

I mean to be completely honest it seems a little pointless to stock up on mountains of coyns. You could easily imagine a top rated map earning tens of thousands of coins, what are you supposed to buy with that? A bunch of log cabins? Please don't take this like you're supposed to add more expensive stuff to the store btw, cause I quite dislike in-game monetization. Been a bit negative on the forum today so this is maybe a bit much, sorry for that!

[Indomitus 388]

2 hours ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

Yoda: It would just poke at your head. No fun.

Yeah, whatever, you're sorta pitchy.

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

3 hours ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

3 hours ago, bojo2736 said:

I asked for a red seagull pet a long time ago.

Yoda: It would just poke at your head. No fun.

 

14 minutes ago, Indomitus said:

Yeah, whatever, you're sorta pitchy.

 

 

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

10 hours ago, zarwil said:

I mean to be completely honest it seems a little pointless to stock up on mountains of coyns. You could easily imagine a top rated map earning tens of thousands of coins, what are you supposed to buy with that? A bunch of log cabins? Please don't take this like you're supposed to add more expensive stuff to the store btw, cause I quite dislike in-game monetization. Been a bit negative on the forum today so this is maybe a bit much, sorry for that!

I really do understand your concern, but I don't have an official answer for you at this time... 

It is Early Access and we first have to try out, if creator monetization works as a concept and then we'll weigh all our options on how to proceed... 

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

3 hours ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

I really do understand your concern, but I don't have an official answer for you at this time... 

It is Early Access and we first have to try out, if creator monetization works as a concept and then we'll weigh all our options on how to proceed... 

A lot of the players here have watched this game drop from 5500 peak players to 114 and so have felt the exodus of players strongly. This sort of trend really impacts motivation. More than anything creators want to have the ability to share their work but without people to share with, and if there is a sense no one will play it, leave comments and give feedback... people dont seem motivated. 

Lag also plays a role. 

I'll give you an example of something I was doing. I was working on a massive city roleplay but the filesize started to get large and it required a lot of NPCs and timer scripts. However, on servers, the lag impacts the function of scripts. When I realized the filesize was large and would lag the server and therefore triggerzones would not detect players properly, locking them in the spawn, I am not re-doing the map to reduce file-size and solve this issue. 

No one out there makes custom servers due to how lag plays with the scripts, I am not the only one stubborn enough and I have been at it for 2 years. I am still determined to succeed but I sympathize with those who gave up as its really hard to find ways around bugs. I do this by doing double checks: 

Example, if I want to spawn something in a chest every 24 hours, I first check if the chest if full or not, if not then I spawn the stuff, as otherwise stuff will spawn 8-20 times as lag causes the game not to understand what time it is and/or rerun the same second.   

P1 is the only group to make games playable by 8 players (other than BI) by running such checks.