Dev Diary #105

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

Hey there Ylanders.

So we have three significant pieces of news Ylanders, so strap in and get ready to rumble!

Firstly we are making some changes to how we deal with servers. Before we were quite free-handed with dedicated servers because we wanted you to experiment and there wasn’t a better alternative at the time. But now with the recent changes in monetization and the more demanding multiplayer games, we decided to streamline the server situation, so we can better protect and support them in the future. This way there won’t be any chance of manipulating the server information and scamming players out of their hard-earned Coyns. We also weren’t able to support private dedicated servers to any significant point, and so players using them couldn’t find random pets and encounters, which were available to others. To be able for us to protect all Ylanders and support them all, we have to know they are running the game on certified servers always with the newest version because in the past some players also reported bugs, that were outdated and fixed long before. So this is why we are discontinuing the support of private dedicated servers and in the future players will be able to rent servers directly from us or from our friends at Nitrado and you’ll be able to customise precisely what you need from your server and some of the options are mind-boggling!

In other news, we are constantly thinking, how to better reward our great Creators, that make great and fun games for the rest of the community. In our last big update, we introduced custom monetization for Creators, but we were asked (and quite rightly so) ‘now what do we do with all these Coyns’? Well while we will be adding some really cool premium blueprints and other fancy stuff into the in-game shop, we are also working on a type of ‘cashback’ system, that we’d like to implement next year. This means, that Creators will be able to turn in a specific amount of Coyns for a bit of real-life honest to god money. This will give Creators even more incentive to create some truly remarkable and fun games knowing, that they will be rewarded for their effort. And as you might have noticed, the release is just a few *an unspecified unit of time* away and with this release we are primarily opening the game up to Creators, so you’ll get a head start in creating your…creations and preparing for the cashback feature, when you’ll be able to turn in all your stockpiled Coyns ?

And finally the biggest news: Today we are opening up a beta, that will become in time the final version of 1.0. You won't be able to try out Exploration just yet and it will be just PC, not mobile, but Creators will get to tinker with all the new Editor features and see if their games run in the new environment but also help us make this release the best it can be. We need you to test out everything and tell us, what’s not working, what could be better and what you’re enjoying/not enjoying. You should, before plunging in, back up your files, because anything could happen. You won't be able to upload games to the Workshop, because they would be deleted anyway, but you'll be able to try out the Sandbox mode, Editor, local games and some of our gameplay showcases we created and you'll find an updated Playlands too with two new games bringing the total number to six. So this is really just to test everything out and see, what you think ? Also we wouldn't recommend making any purchases (and we'll disable them wherever possible), because you won't get to keep them after the release. Further down you’ll find the access code with which you’ll be able to activate the beta in the Ylands properties section. Now remember, that this will be a highly unstable environment because it’ll be constantly updating and changing, so have patience on that front ? And please send as much feedback here on the forums as possible, because it will greatly help us, especially with stuff we can still quickly fix and improve.

Steam beta branch access: BackupYourData

So there it is Ylanders, all pretty exciting stuff but still not as exciting as the nearing launch ? We are really looking forward to it, but remember (because we sure do), it wouldn’t have been possible without your help, and for that, we give you our thanks.

So until next time, stay classy Ylanders!

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EDIT

Sorry I haven't mentioned this yesterday, but you won't be able to sign in with your normal account on the Beta and will have to sign in as Guest. This is a security issue because we don't want you real accounts to 'catch' any problems on the Beta and then bring them back to the 'real' game. Hope this helps ?

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

HYPE HYPE HYPE!! made a video

 

Edited November 22, 2019 by RedEagle_P1.

[FavoryPluto 55]

Thank you for the update! Those are some big news! :) 

[Energritz_ 107]

RIP Private server owners, really disappointed with this approach, even though i have been away from the scene in sometime, i did also hope that with time and development things would get better but alas.

As to with the issue at hand, coyns, there are other developers out there that have a solution, only allow such things via official servers, if there not official then turn off the option simple.

The option should never have been available to unofficial servers anyway since not everyone will keep their server alive after a month or so.

The outdated reason is just an excuse, since forever the dedicated servers have been sub par and lacking support, they were never really developed to a real usable level, this seems like a really cant be stuffed attitude and

another way to make money.

Also please note, not everyone has access to money to buy their own "official" servers from a server hosting company, not to mention regional pricing, which then also cuts off more community players,

for example in my region, a basic game server ( from nitrado btw ) with similar game functionality would cost me around $35 per month, also i would be connecting from overseas as they have no regional servers here.

Not everyone lives in US/EU... this mindset needs to stop..

Edited November 22, 2019 by Energritz_

[bojo2736 1016]

We need better admin options on the BI rented servers.  Also are we getting public servers back?

[bojo2736 1016]

Issue number 1. I could not log in as me.  Issue number 3 I could not log out as guest.  I hope the full release goes better.

 

And now I know why y'all were never keen to fix dedicated servers.  I guess I will check in at full release to see if I even still like this game.  Peace out homies. 

Edited November 22, 2019 by bojo2736

[Shadow72 187]

If the only way to make them secure is to host them on your own servers, then you are doing something wrong.

[Deadeye_Rob 905]

I'm very excited for the final release! Here's to a painless and glorious transition!

I do however have reservations on dropping support for private servers. Whilst I understand the reasons why, I think it should be readdressed after 1.0 at least. Otherwise you could risk limiting the customer base of the game.

Is the sharegame feature here to stay?

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

Hi!

just few quick notes  

If any of you decide to try the beta build, please note that it connects to a different environment, so this hugely affects what features data you have access to so not being able to log in with your existing character is to be expected.

As for the dedicated servers - even though they are not in an ideal shape if you take a look at how we started I'd say we've made quite some progress (I know it probably wasn't as much or as fast as you'd have liked but I can honestly say we tried really hard). The private dedicated servers we made available to you in the past are the same dedicated servers you use when you rent a server ingame or from a certified third party. It was in our best interest to make them work as well as possible (that being said the dedicated servers will constantly be improved - the beta has again some improvements over 0.14) so thinking that we somehow put less effort into private dedicated servers than to some other version is not correct - there has always been only one version.  
 

Also the decision to discontinue private dedicated servers is something we were internally discussing literally for months now and it has been a very difficult call to make. 

The reason why we're discontinuing private servers now and not sometime after 1.0 is exactly the same reason why we introduced monetization during the Early Access. We feel people should know what they're getting into. Letting Player to make an attachment to the game and then take something essential from them is always unfortunate (otherwise we obviously wouldn't be here discussing this ?) but we feel that when it happens during the Early Access when we're figuring out how the whole system is supposed to work, it is a step that people can understand. Doing this after EA would be very unfortunate.




 

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

Sharegames are here to stay  

[kimbuck 746]

so i  gather we are being  asked to try something that they know  doesn't  work to  replace  something  we know  doesn't  work ?

If this is  not the case,  well either i am not reading what you are saying correctly. or  what   you are saying  is  not  explained correctly..

I think its  time to  forget  Ylands  until after the  working  1.0 version   is released, and the reviews  say its working and  worth playing.

No idea  when that's  going to happen,  and i suspect  BI is  dangling   promises  to cover delays  until they work out   how to fix  things.

What should have been  done?  ..........Fix the old  before  cluttering   it  up with untested  new  shiny  stuff.

I  so long  for the  original  days  when we would pay on nearly  full servers with  friends...     now, its  just un-occupied  wastelands... with a game changing to be  for  kids sitting  around with i phones.

So  sad. 

No more posts etc from  me ........ i am  tired of  being a  guinea pig  testing  a product that should have been tested and made sure it  worked before  release.

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

14 minutes ago, kimbuck said:

so i  gather we are being  asked to try something that they know  doesn't  work to  replace  something  we know  doesn't  work ?

If this is  not the case,  well either i am not reading what you are saying correctly. or  what   you are saying  is  not  explained correctly..

I think its  time to  forget  Ylands  until after the  working  1.0 version   is released, and the reviews  say its working and  worth playing.

No idea  when that's  going to happen,  and i suspect  BI is  dangling   promises  to cover delays  until they work out   how to fix  things.

What should have been  done?  ..........Fix the old  before  cluttering   it  up with untested  new  shiny  stuff.

I  so long  for the  original  days  when we would pay on nearly  full servers with  friends...     now, its  just un-occupied  wastelands... with a game changing to be  for  kids sitting  around with i phones.

So  sad. 

No more posts etc from  me ........ i am  tired of  being a  guinea pig  testing  a product that should have been tested and made sure it  worked before  release.

I am sorry you feel this way. We asked you guys to help us with this final testing before the release, because you know the game the best and know, what to do and where to go to find bugs that we could've looked over or missed. Otherwise, we are very close to release and this is really the final stretch. For the last couple of months, we were primarily just testing and fixing, that is why there wasn't a big update after 0.14 because we were focusing on fixing issues, which will all now appear fixed in the release, so hopefully, you'll come back then.

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

A new Edit to the Dev Diary concerning signing in as a Guest.

[bojo2736 1016]

So for the brief time I was in the environment, there was nothing to do there other than the little games.  

I don't play those now.  I don't generally use editor.  What is it we are supposed to be testing?

@Aleš Ulm we need more admin controls in the rented BI servers. We need to be able to have more than one person have access to the server for restarts, uploading files etc. 

And in regards to Nitrado being the other supported server option, am I the only one wondering what kind of kickback certain members here are getting from BI and/or Nitrado?

[CdriXX 29]

all players want to test the exploration mode... but impossible with the actual beta ... it's a joke ? @Adam Snellgrove ?

 

I tested the beta in creative mode and ... ok the sky is beautiful but about the water ... ? the water is still not fixed when digging into the ground... ?

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

26 minutes ago, bojo2736 said:

So for the brief time I was in the environment, there was nothing to do there other than the little games.  

I don't play those now.  I don't generally use editor.  What is it we are supposed to be testing?

 

25 minutes ago, CdriXX said:

all players want to test the exploration mode... but impossible with the actual beta ... it's a joke ? @Adam Snellgrove ?

 

I tested the beta in creative mode and ... ok the sky is beautiful but about the water ... ? the water is still not fixed when digging into the ground... ?

As I have mentioned before, we'd love you to try out Exploration, but because of technical reasons, it's not possible. In a nutshell, because the Beta doesn't think you have the Exploration add-on, because that doesn't even exist yet on Steam and while you'll automatically receive it on release, there is no way of you 'simulating' you have it now. 

About water, I have mentioned before, that there is going to be a big 'Water Update' next year, that will focus solely on water, it functioning and stuff you can find underwater (including fish) so look out of that.

Other than that, you can 'test' the Sandbox mode (which is Exploration but on a small scale), the Editor, Playlands and the mini-games. We'd be very grateful for any feedback you may have.

[fiver9 0]

I feel as though what i paid for/invested in long long ago, is not the game i can log into right now and ever enjoy , that being a multiplayer create ,explore and survive game

will the release have official explore servers for us to enjoy?

i tried the beta for 5 minutes, i found it boring

I just want to create in explore mode with friends from around the world, carve my little space out and meet people........not play these cheesy money grab mini games

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

20 minutes ago, fiver9 said:

I feel as though what i paid for/invested in long long ago, is not the game i can log into right now and ever enjoy , that being a multiplayer create ,explore and survive game

will the release have official explore servers for us to enjoy?

i tried the beta for 5 minutes, i found it boring

I just want to create in explore mode with friends from around the world, carve my little space out and meet people........not play these cheesy money grab mini games

Exploration is and always will be a big part of Ylands and a lot of the new features coming into the release are about Exploration. So hopefully you'll like these.

Our mini-games a free and not money-grabbing. Other Creators can decide if they want to make their games free or feature some kind of Monetization but that is up to them to decide (and quite rightly so).

There won't be Exploration servers on release because out of experience Exploration isn't really suitable for public servers, since a lot of people just join in, destroy whatever they see and log out ruining the game for the group of people, that actually want to create something ?

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

@bojo2736 I hear you. Right now we're just doing some final touches and fixes needed for 1.0, but I can promise that once it's out we'll dedicate one Dev Diary to this topic, list everything we'd like to improve and hopefully even give you some rough timeline when these improvements might happen. If you have any more ideas or suggestions, please post them here or send me a PM (that obviously applies to all of you  )

[CdriXX 29]

@Aleš Ulm Suggestion : add the exploration mode inside the actual beta  (after fixing technical problems)

[Ryk_the_Wizard 6]

No more private servers? oh well, guess it's time to put ylands in the "no point in playing" pile... sad, i actually had fun with my friends in this game

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

21 minutes ago, CdriXX said:

@Aleš Ulm Suggestion : add the exploration mode inside the actual beta  (after fixing technical problems)

This won't be possible I'm afraid. It's not a problem we can solve, but you'll be able to play the new and improved Exploration very soon on release ?

[bojo2736 1016]

@Ryk_the_Wizard as I read it, private servers will be supported only with nitrado or the BI rented servers.

Nitrado has it's own issues, but as admin you can switch up and play other games. We are currently using one for our Outlaws of the old west game.

The BI servers are functionally better at handling Ylands, but it has severe lack of admin options. And you can only run Ylands on it.

As things stand, both are reasonably priced, I can get numbers later. On my phone now. 

But I guess the prices could change. 

And sharegames will still exist. Though, in my limited experience with them, they don't really work as advertised.  At least the free ones. Before I would pay anything to expand as sharegame, I would just rent a BI server. 

Edited November 22, 2019 by bojo2736

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

I just want to mention that I believe P1 servers would still require a wipe/total reset every 24 hours if we had the same activity level as we did at launch. This is going to be a major obstacle when the game goes live. I know Adam has been told everything will be fixed by 1.0 (this is what he relates to us) but I worry this might be a miscommunication.  Fixing such a massive problem so quickly without wide testing would be hugely challenging right? 

@Aleš Ulm

[Aleš Ulm 1725]

@RedEagle_P1. As far as I know since 0.14 we've fixed some issues that caused servers to slow down and become unstable (we managed to fix the issues we found in the games that players reported that we checked). I can't promise that we've fixed everything because there could be issues we didn't see/experience but I think that, in the least, you should see a big improvement.