Deadeye_Rob 908 Posted April 19, 2021 Hi guys! To those who haven't heard or read my various posts and suggestions regarding the Ylands Exploration Community, I hope you will indulge and support this project as it kicks off. Currently Ylands has a Multiplayer Lobby Map called Playlands. It functions as a charming gateway zone where players can meet up, socialize and access a number of minigame portals. The zone design was created by a collaboration of exceptional talented individuals -many of whom are still playing today! Now since focus has returned to Exploration I would very much like to see a similar thing occur within this element of the game. I have toyed with the idea of creating a Public Harbor to varying degrees. With the help of the recently established Flintlock Trading Company Community, I would like to make this pipe-dream a reality. So without further ado, I would like to publish my manifesto/specifications for a Player-friendly, community supported harbor/port that can be reached by anyone playing Exploration! PROJECT TOPOGRAPHY Name/Title: Port Neptune Trading Post Unconfirmed Biome: Polar or Temperate Unconfirmed Map Size: Small- Minimal Islands Confirmed Setting: Player Vs Environment (PVE) Confirmed Protections: Visitor Access Only Unconfirmed The Port Neptune Project will be sited on a small map ideally with the smallest number of islands. This will reduce potential performance issues and ensure easy navigation to the port itself. Initial discussion and experience suggests that a Polar region would be best suited due to a vastly reduced amount of entity clutter such as Coral, Shells and other debris that could also drain performance. To guarantee the safety of visiting players and to prevent griefing or harassment, PVE will be enabled with all measures taken to reduce death by Polar Bears! Currently, all arriving players will be granted Visitor permissions only in order to protect the site during construction. SPECIFICATIONS & PURPOSE Purpose: Exploration Community Hub Build Style: Victorian-influenced structures Circa 1800s. Features: NPC Vendor shops, Crafting stations, Social Area. Harbor: Large, stone-laid docking zones to accommodate large visiting ships. The primary purpose of Port Neptune is to function as a safe, and neutral focal point for the Exploration Playerbase. Players can rendezvous at Port Neptune in order to trade, form social groups, or to make use of the various facilities available. The overall design of Port Neptune will reflect that of the late Victorian Era with elements of the Steam-punk (Victorian Science Fiction) genre that is already well embedded into the atmosphere of Ylands. The influence of the Flintlock Trading Company will naturally play an important role in this regard! With Exploration 1.6 well established, there will be NPC Vendors located in their own purpose-built stores. These shops and services will ideally overlook a central Square, which will function as the primary social area. Basic Crafting Stations will also be scattered about the area enabling visitors to craft basic objects. In order to receive visitors, the docks will be constructed to accommodate large vessels of traditional shape. To prevent performance issues however, signposts will politely request that visiting players despawn their ship after disembarking or trading goods. ADITIONAL INFORMATION & KNOWN CHALLENGES Performance Issues Future Update Bugs The goal to achieve a Smooth Performance when navigating Port Neptune is one of the highest priority. Therefore every structure must be carefully designed to maximum efficiency. This includes making some building interiors inaccessible. There has been some positive news regarding the development of the Unity Game Engine which could result in better passive performance anyway, but it is wise to continue in the presumption that it will not. Naturally any upcoming features may have an adverse effect on a map designed prior to an update. All that can be done to reduce this effect is with careful monitoring. There will be a Port Administration office in place which will look to fix any issues reported by players. PORT LAYOUT Finally, it's worth noting that this is just an opening brief and is always subject to change. I hope you guys find this interesting and I will keep you update with my progress. I aim to have the structures and blueprints created or close to competition just after the next update is released. That way I can quickly make any adjustments that may be caused with the latest update. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions or leave some feedback. After all, if we want to centralize Exploration around Port Neptune, we all want to be happy about it! Thanks for your support guys! Rob 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
