Hey there, fellow Ylanders! Today we have two important announcements to make.  Some of you have probably noticed that Ylands has been released under the Bohemia Incubator label. Let me explain what does it stand for. Bohemia Incubator was introduced as a label under which experimental projects will be born. In addition to our critically acclaimed franchises, we want to keep trying to find new experiences. Something that may even look and feel miles away from what our other games are like but shares the common vision of all our games. Games that are always about creativity, about learning and exploring.  Some of the projects end up in early stages because they don’t have what we’re looking for, while others make it far enough so that they are first publicly announced and later released. Ylands is one of the Incubator games. It started with just an idea and for many months we were just experimenting, trying to see what would work and what wouldn’t. At some point, the early prototype actually became fun to play and it was getting obvious that it holds a promise of a possibly interesting game. Now here we are, some three years later. A little bit over a year ago we began a specific stage where we made the early version of the game available throughout our store. We were looking for early adopters, players who would help us shape the game, to find the right direction. And you, who are reading this right now, have answered our call. Those who are with us for a long time know that during this stage many things have changed rather dramatically. And most of that based on your very own feedback. Right now we know exactly what kind of a game Ylands is and we’re planning to expand it both as a platform that lets players make their own games and as a game about exploration. We have a Steam launch date, where we will spend several months in Early Access mostly tweaking the multiplayer experience and issues that will arise from a larger number of people playing the game at once. We’ve matured. We’ve graduated from the Incubator and are now leaving the label as an experiment that became a game.   You see that label Project Argo has? We're about to join the club  Even though this is mostly a symbolic moment (which, however, feels very important to us) there will be some things happening that we were already planning to do and for which this moment is very fitting. I’ve already told you we’re working on the Steam version of the game and that the current players will get the Steam keys. The moment when this will happen is quite near now (you will be receiving your keys via email and there will be a specific post about this before it happens). The new information is that in a few days we plan to stop selling the non-Steam Ylands version on our online store, meaning that from that moment till November 2017, when Ylands becomes officially available for purchase on Steam, there will be no way to acquire additional copies of the game (with exception of media). For obvious reasons, it is not an easy decision for us to make, but we feel it’s the right thing to do because of several reasons: * since we’re going to Steam anyway we’d rather stop working on/supporting the non-Steam version sooner than later and concentrate more on polishing the Steam version (which we hope you, the current players - soon to be early Steam adopters - will help us with) * continuing selling the non-Steam version through our store when we know that it will be discontinued soon and players will have to move to Steam anyway seems rather unfair and misleading * we don’t have a huge number of players right now, but more than enough for us to work with for the upcoming months so that we enter Steam in a great shape – which right now is our primary goal So yes,  for some time you will become the exclusive group of people, the only ones with the access to the game who can brag about it to your friends, who will have to wait before the game comes out on Steam :).  Jokes aside though - we value the fact that you are here with us - many of you for a really long time. It’s something we won’t forget. When we get to Steam we will show to every single one of you that we appreciate your help with making Ylands a better game - and we’re talking about way more than just giving you some commemorative ingame item. If you wonder what changes you will experience during this stage (before we come to Steam) – except for you playing the game on Steam pretty much everything will remain the same. You will be getting at least the same amount of support and you will even get a whole new update with NPCs.   Come visit us at Gamescom 2017 held at Cologne, Germany, 22. - 26.08.2017 Speaking of coming to Steam – since we’re now ready to tell the world that Ylands will become publicly available through Steam in November, what better place to do so than a huge gaming event – Gamescom 2017? We’ve been to Unite, to PAX, to E3 – but so far only with just a handful of computers and few individuals. Well, times are changing :). At Gamescom we’ll have a great big booth with lots of computers for you to play the latest game build. To make sure that everything runs as smooth as possible and that all your questions are answered, there will be most of the Ylands team present. And if you want to check what’s going on with other Bohemia games, you will find them there as well! It’s going to be BIG and we’re super excited about it! We’re looking forward to both meeting some of you in person as well as to many discussions with you about game features in the upcoming months, and believe that together we’ll make sure our Steam entry is a success.

And that's all for now. I'll see you in the next Dev Diary and in the meantime - as always - have a great time and stay classy!