Dev Diary #102

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

Dear Ylanders,

the Ylands offices are buzzing with activity as we are nearing the final release of Ylands 1.0 and we’re all getting excited. But today’s Dev Diary is really something because we have kept this under wraps for some time, but we feel it’s time to show you, what we’ve been working on the past couple of months, but safe to say, Ylands has never looked so beautiful.

Overall, we have overhauled the weather system and at the heart of this upgraded visual style is the new atmosphere simulation. We're using a physically-based atmospheric scattering model that is responsible for the colour of the sky, lighting and reflections. We have made extensive changes to this fairly realistic model to make sure it all fits perfectly to our unique style. Our clouds, for instance, will be polygonal and thus they’ll fit in with the rest of the game’s aesthetic but they’ll also fully dynamic and procedural. Meaning you'll never see the same cloud twice. They’ll dynamically change from small puffy clouds to an overcast sky.

Another feature we upgraded is lightning during night time. We felt, that the nights could get a bit too dark (and full of terrors) and so we moved from the very dark and impractical kind of night to a lot more stylized and bright night. Night scenes are now lit with blueish light. Night is now a lot more atmospheric and you can finally see where you're going during when the night sets. But that’s not all. Every visual part of the game has been reworked or tweaked to work well with everything else including post-processing and particle systems. And best of all, all of this doesn't affect performance ?

And one more notice for creators concerning light. With the recently updated post-processing, we have tweaked the luminosity of glowing objects. Before the update, objects were glowing too much, so we had to adjust the glow range to provide more consistent results across the whole range. We have lowered the maximum luminosity and stretched it across the whole range. So, please notice that after release, you will have to ramp-up the glowing property approximately 4x times to achieve the same luminosity. 

And that’s all for today Ylanders. What do you think about the new sunsets? Will you be able to fight the urge to just watch one sunset after another?

[Fompster 141]

The clouds ?

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

1 hour ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

Dear Ylanders,

the Ylands offices are buzzing with activity as we are nearing the final release of Ylands 1.0 and we’re all getting excited. But today’s Dev Diary is really something because we have kept this under wraps for some time, but we feel it’s time to show you, what we’ve been working on the past couple of months, but safe to say, Ylands has never looked so beautiful.

Overall, we have overhauled the weather system and at the heart of this upgraded visual style is the new atmosphere simulation. We're using a physically-based atmospheric scattering model that is responsible for the colour of the sky, lighting and reflections. We have made extensive changes to this fairly realistic model to make sure it all fits perfectly to our unique style. Our clouds, for instance, will be polygonal and thus they’ll fit in with the rest of the game’s aesthetic but they’ll also fully dynamic and procedural. Meaning you'll never see the same cloud twice. They’ll dynamically change from small puffy clouds to an overcast sky.

Another feature we upgraded is lightning during night time. We felt, that the nights could get a bit too dark (and full of terrors) and so we moved from the very dark and impractical kind of night to a lot more stylized and bright night. Night scenes are now lit with blueish light. Night is now a lot more atmospheric and you can finally see where you're going during when the night sets. But that’s not all. Every visual part of the game has been reworked or tweaked to work well with everything else including post-processing and particle systems. And best of all, all of this doesn't affect performance ?

And one more notice for creators concerning light. With the recently updated post-processing, we have tweaked the luminosity of glowing objects. Before the update, objects were glowing too much, so we had to adjust the glow range to provide more consistent results across the whole range. We have lowered the maximum luminosity and stretched it across the whole range. So, please notice that after release, you will have to ramp-up the glowing property approximately 4x times to achieve the same luminosity. 

And that’s all for today Ylanders. What do you think about the new sunsets? Will you be able to fight the urge to just watch one sunset after another?

I agree with your decision on night, it was too dark for new players and not a fantastic experience when you logged in at night. I like that you're going back to the drawing board with some of the art because it started to feel a little bit hodge-podge where at the start it was spot-on. I think great art is going to draw a lot of people to this game and really emphasize its unique friendly-but-deep quality. 

[Indomitus 388]

Looks fantastic.

Will it be possible for us to make our custom games completely dark at night if the game calls for it?

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

6 minutes ago, Indomitus said:

Looks fantastic.

Will it be possible for us to make our custom games completely dark at night if the game calls for it?

Not sure. I'll ask tomorrow in the office.

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

42 minutes ago, Indomitus said:

Looks fantastic.

Will it be possible for us to make our custom games completely dark at night if the game calls for it?

I think using the lighting logic. 

[Indomitus 388]

1 hour ago, RedEagle_P1. said:

I think using the lighting logic.  

Using the Interior game logic could be a problem if we want it over an entire island.  Or multiple islands and the water between them.  For larger effects, it would be better implemented as a "weather" option or something like along those lines.

[Oliver Hope 261]

beautiful?

I was wondering the same thing as @Indomitus, how much control over the lighting we will have?

[bojo2736 1016]

Beautiful. ?

[Indian Chief 239]

Looking good guys, my only suggestion is can we get a beautiful sunrise as well? I feel only having a sunset we're missing out. I always rush to find the best spot on a west side of the island, but if say if you woke up and it was sunrise now that would make the east more attractable. Pretty please?

[zarwil 393]

Amazing!!! Love it!

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

12 hours ago, Indian Chief said:

Looking good guys, my only suggestion is can we get a beautiful sunrise as well? I feel only having a sunset we're missing out. I always rush to find the best spot on a west side of the island, but if say if you woke up and it was sunrise now that would make the east more attractable. Pretty please?

Yep, sunrises are also included ?

16 hours ago, Indomitus said:

Will it be possible for us to make our custom games completely dark at night if the game calls for it?

Not at the moment but we are working on advanced tools to give you more control over the games visuals, so look out for that after the release ?

[Brbrmensch 32]

where's this picture and why haven't i seen it in game? also, where are water physics screenshots? no waterfalls, no sinkholes

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

5 hours ago, Brbrmensch said:

where's this picture and why haven't i seen it in game? also, where are water physics screenshots? no waterfalls, no sinkholes

It is not yet in-game, these are previews of what the game will look like on release ? Water Physics are still in the works and will be part of a big update coming next year.

[bojo2736 1016]

Does the mean you are not turning water back on until after full release? 

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

2 hours ago, bojo2736 said:

Does the mean you are not turning water back on until after full release? 

Yep, there is going to be a big water update after release and it will be one of our biggest focuses in the weeks and months after release (that and farm animals, breeding etc. ?).

[Indian Chief 239]

@Adam Snellgrove how did you go with adding in the item's that I asked for? The items from the editor to in game explore? Or will this be an paid extra? 

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

14 minutes ago, Indian Chief said:

@Adam Snellgrove how did you go with adding in the item's that I asked for? The items from the editor to in game explore? Or will this be an paid extra? 

Definitely not a paid extra, but some of these items are really meant just for the editor and Sandbox ? But I'll show this selection to @Aleš Ulm and we'll see, what could be added to Exploration.

[Indian Chief 239]

Can i request that you add in paid extra's that are from the editor? I would pay to have that comfy chair,stepping stones,banner's,golden items and wooden wheel. You could make them each a sperate pack. 

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

43 minutes ago, Indian Chief said:

Can i request that you add in paid extra's that are from the editor? I would pay to have that comfy chair,stepping stones,banner's,golden items and wooden wheel. You could make them each a sperate pack. 

Could you maybe start a thread (or is there one? I can't find it ?) with a list of items you'd like to see in Exploration, please?

[Indian Chief 239]

Thanks Adam, I'll get onto it today/tonight. I had 2 of them up, one with Ane and also added a message onto another thread but it's been taken down. Cheers for looking into it.

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

22 minutes ago, Indian Chief said:

Thanks Adam, I'll get onto it today/tonight. I had 2 of them up, one with Ane and also added a message onto another thread but it's been taken down. Cheers for looking into it.

A seperate forum thread in suggestions would be perfect for this ?

[Indian Chief 239]

23 minutes ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

A seperate forum thread in suggestions would be perfect for this ?

Done.