Dev Diary #133 - UI Suggestions

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

Hey there Ylanders! 

Hope you are enjoying the new update and having loads of fun with the new Water features and Animal riding (jumping Ostriches are the best!). But our eyes have already turned to the next challenge and one of those is making the UI better. You had some great suggestions and they really inspired us, so thank you very much. One of the most requested changes was the transparent Inventory and we are going to specifically look into this, how we could solve the issue. We’re not even going to put it to a vote and start working on a solution right away ? The problem is, we have to figure out if different text and pictures will be legible enough in different environments. We will also look into options to make the transparent inventory optional too. 

But now to the crux of today’s Dev Diary, you have come up with some really cool ideas and we wanted to put them to a vote to see, which one we should concentrate on the most (though we’ll probably get to all of them eventually). Use the reactions to this post to vote. So here it is: 

 

More intuitive exporting for beginners + Export Local button (instead of text command) - Downvote  

A favourite category in All Games, where favourited games from the Workshop show up – Upvote 

Short Description of game, when hovered over thumbnail in All Games – Haha 

Summary of Player armour and weapon stats in Inventory – Thanks 

 

We will be asking for more suggestions from you guys very soon, so keep a lookout and whenever you have a suggestion of your own, don’t hesitate to share it with us in the Suggestions section of our Forums. 

And until next time, 

Stay classy Ylanders! 

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

I would like to suggest: 

Different games pinned on mobile and PC. 

Larger text in editor. 

 

If you still have room. 

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

11 hours ago, RedEagle_P1. said:

I would like to suggest: 

Different games pinned on mobile and PC. 

Larger text in editor. 

 

If you still have room. 

Specifically parts of the Editor that you find hard to read?

[Deadeye_Rob 908]

I would like to put forward both a suggestion of feature and of general direction of development.

 

Specifically I would like to see Animal Domestication. There’s a healthy range of creatures to see, but what’s the point of them if all you can do is sit on them or kill them? Bring in the ability to domesticate, breed and farm them for a much better survival experience.

 

My other advice is that development has to direct more attention towards the Exploration Mode. It’s the game’s primary income source and quite frankly it’s losing its appeal because of the limited gameplay possibilities. I was hoping the water update would enable colonisation of the seabed. Instead all we can do is swim around ruins and the odd landmark. It’s a feature, whilst interesting at first, will become boring very quickly.

 

Rest assured, I still have faith that Ylands has potential, but that faith is waining. Please don’t abandon what made the game a survival gem in favour of appeasing the mobile gaming crowd.

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

45 minutes ago, Deadeye_Rob said:

Specifically I would like to see Animal Domestication. There’s a healthy range of creatures to see, but what’s the point of them if all you can do is sit on them or kill them? Bring in the ability to domesticate, breed and farm them for a much better survival experience.

You can shear sheep and milk goats and we are going to expand on these features. 

45 minutes ago, Deadeye_Rob said:

My other advice is that development has to direct more attention towards the Exploration Mode. It’s the game’s primary income source and quite frankly it’s losing its appeal because of the limited gameplay possibilities. I was hoping the water update would enable colonisation of the seabed. Instead all we can do is swim around ruins and the odd landmark. It’s a feature, whilst interesting at first, will become boring very quickly.

We are focusing on Exploration for the rest of the year (doesn't meant there won't be Editor features too though) with the expandable maps being our biggest challenge yet. Hopefully we'll be able to implement that by the end of the year.

[RedEagle_P1. 905]

5 hours ago, Deadeye_Rob said:

My other advice is that development has to direct more attention towards the Exploration Mode. It’s the game’s primary income source and quite frankly it’s losing its appeal because of the limited gameplay possibilities. I was hoping the water update would enable colonisation of the seabed. Instead all we can do is swim around ruins and the odd landmark. It’s a feature, whilst interesting at first, will become boring very quickly.

As someone who joined the game and believed is was about creating something like Ark survival evolved but with low poly graphics and more friendly, it’s clear from the development team that that is not what they had in mind. 

They have let us know that without recreating exploration from the ground-up they cannot sustain significant multiplayer. Something on the scale of Ark, Minecraft or even as a sizable survival game was never the intention or if it was, its not the intention now. 

This game is a tool for creators to create games imo. As for earnings, this image might be an important thing to take a look at: https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/comscore-hours.png?resize=680,386

Don't get me wrong I love the exploration of this game and I have been very vocal about that. I just think that holding on to a hope that this is gonna be the next Minecraft is not realistic based on what they said, rather, it could be the next roblox. 

I know you've been a passionate supporter of the exploration from the very beginning and I just wanted to let you know because this helped me understand things also. 

Edited June 19, 2020 by RedEagle_P1.

[kwils 1]

I'd like more cross-linking in crafting.  Like clicking on blacksmith forge and needing an anvil or bellows, I'd like to be able to click on the anvil/bellows from the ingredients panel as though I'd clicked on it from the crafting panel for however deep it needs to go (subject to the availability of the station needed to create it -- if it's not been revealed as craft-able yet)

Also, I'd be much happier if the selections 2-9 worked as categories so that I could put tools in 2, food in 3, weapons in 4,  etc. (taken to extremes... 'wood' in 5, 'stone' in 6) now I can click on 2 (or type the number "2") and have the UI extend upwards vertically showing all of the "tools" -- in this example -- currently in inventory allowing me to choose them from there versus having to go into inventory and re-assign.  The icon and the choice for just "2" would be the last one chosen.  There might be an unwanted advantage to have all of the numbers work as categories so maybe just the first 3 or something. Basically I spend a lot of time bouncing between inventory and crafting and find it to be tedious.

Finally, and maybe this exists.  I'd like the ability to wear 'armor' but have it look like something else.  For the purchasable outfits in the store, that's how it works, but not for the craft-able outfits or I've not cracked it yet. It seems a lot of art time was spent on things like the Explorer, Engineer, Cowboy, etc. and it'd be nice if I could have the benefits of armor with a more appropriate role-playing "look".

Cheers,

[Notch-6ea36879a90d6fc4 3]

WOoohoooO!! I was waiting for this, and is it possible to make the inventory scale to our own preference. Like the first UI we had which was smaller yet functional.This fullscreen inventory is bad, cause I have to drag an item across the screen to put it on my hotbar (I know I can press numbers, but still it is tedious while cleaning my inventory). And chest UI fullscreen is mad, wicker basket with 9 spaces in fullscreen is CrAzY!!

Work around the old inventory UI, it was clean and the search functions with item were more organized than current one. I prefer the previous UI, but with transparency.

[Deadeye_Rob 908]

I’m gonna throw my hat in again if that’s okay! ?

 

1) Animal domestication - The ability to breed animals for farming purposes and greater uses for farmable materials.

 

2) More Power Systems - We have small engines.... where’s the large variant? The Ylandium recharger is a great idea rarely used. It’s potential is massive. Maybe powered crafting stations that offer greater yields. Power tools? Maybe generators require some periodical maintenance to ensure continuous running. Programmable logic components (See Stationeers game)

 

3) Better water physics - I hoped this would’ve been solved on the last update. I’d like to see ocean water physics improved upon to allow deep sea construction because who doesn’t want to live under the sea? (Cough! Bioshock Cough!)

4) Enhanced potions - potions and alchemy are great but could use more development. They’re widely unused in normal gameplay but could be expanded. Maybe mixing potions with arrows to create variable ammunition?

 

5) Age rating effecting ideas - Self explanatory. I’m aware this may affect the customer base of Ylands as a product but here they are. Things like beer brewing, a renewed approach to hunting/skinning animals.

 

6) Books and Literature - I’ve suggested this a number of times and sadly it’s not been implemented on the side. I’d love to be able to create and write my own books and scrolls. Minecraft got this one a while ago and it’s a very popular feature. It’s good that we can write notes but we want more! I advise you all to check out The Censored Library project on minecraft. It demonstrates the importance and power of the written word!
 

Thats about it! It is war-and-peace but it’s just a few ideas bouncing around in my head. As a strong advocate for Explore mode, I feel at least a couple of these suggestions would mean so much for us Survival Loyalists and would also benefit the editors too!

 

Thanjs

Rob

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

On 6/21/2020 at 11:06 AM, Deadeye_Rob said:

1) Animal domestication

Yep, working on it ? 

On 6/21/2020 at 11:06 AM, Deadeye_Rob said:

2) More Power Systems

No plans as of yet, but I'll ask about it.

On 6/21/2020 at 11:06 AM, Deadeye_Rob said:

3) Better water physics

We want to keep working on water, but we are limited by the power of the mobile devices. But underwater building would be really cool ? 

On 6/21/2020 at 11:06 AM, Deadeye_Rob said:

4) Enhanced potions

That's a neat idea. I told the designers about it, so we'll see ?  Edit: Custom projectiles aren't possible, but the designers are cooking up a way of having much more customizable potions (in Editor and in Exploration).

On 6/21/2020 at 11:06 AM, Deadeye_Rob said:

5) Age rating effecting ideas

We want to keep Ylands available to as many people as possible and we don't see the rating as such an obstacle to heighten it.

On 6/21/2020 at 11:06 AM, Deadeye_Rob said:

6) Books and Literature

This is something I pushed for a bit as well and hopefully, we'll get it into the game soon ?

[Deadeye_Rob 908]

Great feedback, thankyou!

[guest-b82ff622bd58c513b72010253e758652755614dcd336c25a7c4236c96dfc81e6 0]

Can you please add an Export button.

I've been trying to send my friend a yland but i can't export it.

I am sure other people may have the same issue.

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

8 minutes ago, guest-b82ff622bd58c513b72010253e758652755614dcd336c25a7c4236c96dfc81e6 said:

Can you please add an Export button.

I've been trying to send my friend a yland but i can't export it.

I am sure other people may have the same issue.

 

On 6/18/2020 at 1:09 PM, Adam Snellgrove said:

More intuitive exporting for beginners + Export Local button (instead of text command) - Downvote  

Yep, it's one if the options and we'll probably do it very soon ?

[zarwil 393]

Is there any awknowledgement internally about laggy ships in multiplayer? I just tried to make a map to test ship battles and you still get 2 fps, like when this was brought up ages ago. 

Here's the map if someone on the team would like to figure out the unbearable lag: https://workshop.ylands.com/asset/6469

[Igor Q. 519]

Just got back into the game but here is a suggestion I'd like to make with the UI (atleast for ingame).

1) Remove the character portrait or make it smaller(it's not really needed and takes up too much space)
2) Remove the shared inventory slots from the "main" inventory with the "equip" inventory. It's too confusing. It should be like minecraft where its in one spot only.
3) This will sound controversial but I would like fewer inventory slots. I feel 42 is a bit too big to the point where it's too easy to carry things from one location to another. Having fewer slows is easier to see visually and makes it more meaningful in which things you want to keep in your inventory.
4) I think it would be nice to also have a "crafting Tree" (that is also customizable), that shows what are the essential structures to build and in what is the order to get them.   Ex:  

5) When hovering over buttons in editor, please show the hotkey associated with it.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Igor Q.

[bojo2736 1016]

@Igor Q.you don't play exploration. We don't need fewer inventory slots. what we need is more with better organization. 

We could possibly get by with what we have if we could get a toolbelt and a saddle with saddlebags for our mounts.

[3dm-Phoenix 7]

2 hours ago, bojo2736 said:

@Igor Q.you don't play exploration. We don't need fewer inventory slots. what we need is more with better organization. 

We could possibly get by with what we have if we could get a toolbelt and a saddle with saddlebags for our mounts.

cool!  I also want to

[3dm-Phoenix 7]

I hope

NPC sit down

 

[Adam Snellgrove 1451]

On 6/23/2020 at 5:46 PM, zarwil said:

Is there any awknowledgement internally about laggy ships in multiplayer? I just tried to make a map to test ship battles and you still get 2 fps, like when this was brought up ages ago. 

Here's the map if someone on the team would like to figure out the unbearable lag: https://workshop.ylands.com/asset/6469

Well I thought we fixed it, but I re-opened the issue ?

15 hours ago, Igor Q. said:

4) I think it would be nice to also have a "crafting Tree" (that is also customizable), that shows what are the essential structures to build and in what is the order to get them. 

I'll ask about this. Though by this point it might be just too complex ?

3 hours ago, 3dm-Phoenix said:

NPC sit down

We are working on this ? 

[bojo2736 1016]

Not the topic at hand, but it would be nice to have a sit mechanic that you could actually sit near tables and things.  If you place chairs wrong now, they are either unusable, or you get stuck, or you have to sit 12 feet from the desk/table. 

See how Sims handle chairs, they snap to the table grid, and the animation handles sitting down and getting up.