What is this game becoming?

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

A lot of games like Ylands just start up and do their thing and then die soon after. However, With Ylands we have an active community that is still here after 2 years. 

This shows there's something tremendously right with the game. There's something about this core concept that sparked the imagination of the people here. 

As with all Early Access games we had the idea the game is a work in progress and needs to be repaired. 

Watching this trailer back in 2017 sparked our imagination: 

 

The adventure of landing on an island and making it a home, and maybe even building a community on that island filled us with excitement. 

However, that dream slowly faded as more and more effort was put into everything but that dream. 

The editor was incredibly advanced but the reason its popular is the other stuff does not work. Fundamentally speaking, very few people play this game for the editor. We are here for the original dream, the adventure. 

However, it's been 2 years since steam release and not only have the major bugs not been fixed but the direction of the game has totally changed. It’s not longer the game we fell in love with but you seem to be shooting for some sort of mobile game similar to roblox. 

You had something going here that was so beautiful, brimming with potential but due to your desire to go after this new idea you have failed to achieve either (at least at this point). This would be fine but you're launching this year and when people see you are trying to make a mobile social game with monetization, they will be out faster than they came in. 

Why not do explore really well, see if people like it and then build on that? This way you include the community on your journey, get feedback and keep the big ideas grounded to people’s likes and expectations? 

You can’t write off the negative reviews this game has been getting solely on bugs, there is a massive and widening disconnect between the community and the developers.

The power of early access and games like Minecraft that pulled it off is that the process was a step by step, hand-in-hand process which depended on the community. Now, you are going off without us into the unknown and I do personally wish you well but is this a wise decision? Only time will tell. 

 

Edited September 8, 2019 by RedEagle_P1.

[bojo2736 1016]

I agree.  As you and I have talked about many times, I feel a bit of a "bait and switch" with this game.  The trailer video you posted, which incidentally is still linked at Steam the last time I checked, is for a chill little survival game.   I came to the game from Keralis, and his let's play showed me the building potential and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  I downloaded the free one hour play demo from BI and then waited impatiently for the steam release.  I bought it the first day.  I was hooked.    I played SP for a long time before I decided to venture out to MP. 

I love the community feel.  Connecting up with other players.  

While I do see why BI is concentrating on the editor, and I do like that the editor exists for us. It is not the game that is advertised.  It's like the game play is secondary to the editor, yet they hide the editor capabilities in their advertising.  And yes, I am aware that they really haven't started to push that.

Most people come for the game.  They move into the editor later. Usually, as @RedEagle_P1. mentioned it is to fix the inherent problems with the game.  A few script jockeys like @Igor Q. really love the editor and can do amazing things with it.  

Being totally honest here, I feel abandoned and let down by the dev team with this latest update.  @Aleš Ulm promised us more transparency and communication.  That hasn't happened.  I appreciate the effort that @Adam Snellgrove is putting in to try to fix that.  But it just feels broken beyond fixing.  And I don't have many more fvcks to give for this game. 

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

Hieee,

I decided to address some of the issues regarding scripting and explore brought up here in a separate topic: https://ylands.com/community/topic/25478-scripting-in-standard-explore/

Might answer some of your questions and worries.

[Indomitus 388]

My perspective on the Editor vs Explore is probably a bit different, given that one of my previous gaming obsessions was Little Big Planet.  In that game, there was fun to be had in the standard play modes, but that was limited (to me, anyway).  There was a little replay value in my opinion, but not much.  The thriving community of LBP creators at the time, however, meant there was always some new challenge to be tried.  Most of the players might not want to work in the Editor themselves, but those that do can create interesting games and challenges to keep the rest playing the game.

I, for one, hope to eventually see advanced controls for the animals and terrain.  I'd love to some day try to build a "Hardcore PVE Mode" where the predators are harder to kill, get much more aggressive at night instead of sleeping, spawn and respawn more rapidly, and where crafting progression is more difficult and limited in its scope.  If we had an Editor-Only type of terrain that can't be modified at all outside the Editor (without affecting terrain modification in general) that would be pretty cool too.

Glad to see they've reconsidered allowing scripting additions to explore maps.  Those are very useful for the regular PVE servers, as they said above.

[NoNoNumGum 55]

Finally someone who realizes what their doing to their game, they made poop, literally, they are mixing minecraft, ark, and roblox, and when you mix too many colors together....you get brown....how bout you take out that roblox part? Or atleast decrease how much of that roblox part your putting into it...Listen to your community and maybe your future for the game will be better.