4th Q&A with Aleš

[ocnoglittle 760]

Hi everyone! In case you missed the fourth Q&A, here are the links:

Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1002843541

YouTube -

(Subtitles are available for the YouTube version. Please let me know if you need help getting them in your language.)

Summary:

1. From Jarda: Can the players make nests out of hay?

   • If you put 100 objects near each other (such as grass or hay), there is a problem with colliders. This might make the player fall through the terrain. So don’t try that.

   • For crafting the bird nests, yes, we will look into it.

2. From Jarda: Can the players have bullet and arrow containers? And from Bobo: Can the players have any of these new inventory containers: backpacks, lunchbox, something for logs, foraging box for berries, mushrooms, and maybe sticks, bark, resin, and other plants that won’t go in the herb bag?

   • Yes, it should be simple to make new containers. We need to discuss with the designers. We might be able to add them as part of 1.7.

3. From Jarda: Can the players have weapon stands?

   • It is probably too complicated to make it display the weapon automatically. We won’t be doing something like this any time soon.

   • We can add more stands and you can free-place the weapon onto it.

4. From jchobs: For exploration, can we have a "custom window" to pop up for new players with a Welcome message and map rules (something like we would do in Editor)

   • Interesting. We need to discuss it with the team. We want Exploration to be as consistent as possible. We want to be careful and make sure the players will like it.

5. From empeorgame3(2): Can the players and creators have hooks for connecting car chassis, ships, or boats, etc. together? We have had some success with doors or free-placed items holding things in place, but it would be amazing to have an official item that functions a bit better.

   • When ylands improves the physics (swinging logs, etc), we will consider adding hooks but probably not this year. It is difficult to do in multiplayer. It won't work well for cars (due to poor physics and lag from bad connections) but I will discuss if it is possible with ships, at least.

6. From Nico14973: There are shipwrecks that look really similar to Viking ships. Would it be possible to add an actual Viking ship base, not only a Viking shipwreck?

   • It is definitely possible to add new types of ship hulls. Thanks for the idea.

7. From JohnMFSteel: Can the players have a tool like a glue gun for hardening large groups of objects? I'm building a stone driveway for a house and hardening all those stones to get the effect I want is a pain.

   • <lots of confusion about blocks automatically hardening because Ocnog forgot to mention the stones were free-placed>

   • There is the idea for applying glue to objects, but you could hit it and it would loosen. This is on our to do list. A disolvent gun or a gun that can both glue and unglue are both possibilities?

8. From Jarda: When the players plant a seed, can it choose a random variant of the plants/trees? For example there are multiple types of Opuntia but only 1 type grows. Also, can we make sure there aren’t 2 stacks of sakura seeds and coniferous bush seeds?

   • I need to check this. We will make it a task. Naru will make a bug report.

9. From André Wolf on facebook: Will there ever be an offline mode?

   • This is something we wanted but the game is so linked with workshop and everything, so I don't see it happening. We won’t be able to make an offline mode.

10. From Deadeye_Rob: I think books in Ylands is a charming but overlooked feature in the game. Can we expand on it by allowing us to craft, and write books of our own?

    • It is something we want but has been a low priority for a long time. This will be super important when we let players make Custom Scenarios. It will definitely happen, but I can't promise when.

11. From Deadeye_Rob: The energy mechanics regarding Ylandium has been ignored somewhat. What plans do you have to make energy a worthwhile feature to pursue?

    • It hasn't received enough love in the past. We can't fix it by adding 1 or 2 items. It might need its own update (definitely not before 1.8). Energy will become more interesting.

12. From Deadeye_Rob: Could we make crafting coins out of gold/iron/copper a thing?

    • We discussed it but we didn't do this because it would be confusing. We can come up with something but it won't be called coins. It will be called “almost coins.”

13. From jchobs: Exploration: without power barrier, we now have the co-op settings. So, for now I can set the settings for Clan, Friends and NOT friends. Will we ever be able to set up settings only for specific players (our true friends)

    • This was part of the initial design of the new co-op system, but we ran out of time. We didn't want to rush it and do it poorly but it was part of the original plan. It wasn't added to 1.7 but it might be in 1.8. 1.8 will be about polishing a lot of systems and improving them.

14. From Yaourtax: will it be possible to add scripts to blueprints later? Ales talked about monetizing the players blueprint, so would it be possible to be able to add scripts in them? (Of course non cheaty scripts)

    • Naru: It would be hard to check for “cheaty scripts.”

    • Ales: We need more time to work on the changes to the blueprint system. We want the change to work for a long time because it will be such a big change. We are thinking about things exactly like this. We will post a Dev Diary about this as soon as we know the direction we are going.

15. From Jarda: Are there plans for ranking players so we can see if they are friendly or have a negative score? Like Karma

    • I’m not really sure about this. Why would this be helpful? So you would be able to see if someone was a jerk and act accordingly when he comes to your game? This is dangerous because who would set this karma? Because someone could lower it unfairly. In a way, every game is a fresh start. You already have the ability to ban players and report players. We can make a system to check this for players that just misbehave and take some action. But if someone does something wrong by mistake, we don't want something that stays with that player for a long time. We want to allow the player to have a fresh start periodically.

16. From jchobs: Can the potions last longer?

    • It is possible. It is just a number in our tools. Tell us which ones need to go longer. (see https://ylands.com/community/topic/30293-potion-duration-changes/ )

17. From: Jarda: What do we think of Nikki so far?

    • It depends on if she is watching... just kidding. She is great and has an awesome little dog. She is a good sport and has a great sense of humor. She is weird in a good way because no normal people work in our team.

18. From Zarwil: Can the game itself display updates or important forum posts when the players open the game?

    • This was the first thing Nikki suggested, so it is being added

19. From Ocnog: Are there any plans to add more costumes or pets to the coyn shop? We had an idea about adding some of the modern clothes or Elven clothes as a costume, so players could wear something cool and also have the protection of armor at the same time. Or maybe some sort of ability to display an outfit and get the buffs from another outfit?

    • Like wearing a tuxedo and still having armor. That is a good idea. Yeah, sure. The artists are also working on new pets.

20. From Mello: Can the ESC button close the custom windows? If not, can it bring up the game description like it did in the past, so people can leave the game/invite friends and not be stuck on an intro custom window?

    1. Naru is making a bug report.

21. From Jarda: In Exploration, can the players pick which side of the map to spawn on?

    • There are more things to this. We want the player to have to sail around before they get to the island. I can see it being annoying having to sail across the map though.

22. From Spyler: And to be able to defend yourself from advanced players, instead of avoiding the fight between players, give options to make it enjoyable to fight. For example, the mod to repair the ship is to motivate ship battles, but you can flee without losing your ship.

    • In 1.8 we will add a ship repair system.

    • We don't want to show numbers in Exploration (like how new a player is). It takes away from the immersion. I am a bit allergic to numbers but we might want to give players titles, like achievements. That way you would know that the player has had some experience or another.

23. From Yo_has: It would be nice if we could rename local maps while we are in them. How it works now is, you need to sail to a different local map before you can change the name.

    • Yes, this is a good suggestion.

24. From ComR: Can we have a button to make Exploration only single-player? Maybe a button to delete the multiplayer map and replace it with a single-player map?

    • I am thinking about what this button could do. Just hide multiplayer maps? We will see how many people want this.

25. From Naru: Can we make the doors open both ways (outside of Editor)?

    • We can add more doors (left side/right side) to fix this. Ocnog mentioned using the radial menu (Q) to change which way the door opens, and that is also possible.

26. From Spirit: Is Northern lights, Aurora Borealis planned for arctic biomes in the future?

    • It will take too long to make (a full week of programmer time), but maybe eventually (after 1.8). One designer really wants to add it, so at some point, I will give in.

27. From bobo: Can the players have temporary upgrades to their armor using the crystals?

    • Like a temporary boost? It would require an adjustment to our system. We discussed adding this to our weapons and armor. We could add this as part of an RPG update.

Aleš followed up on some questions he wasn't able to answer in previous Q&As in this Dev Diary:

Previous Q&As:

 

 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by ocnoglittle

[ocnoglittle 760]

Questions for next time:

From Jarda: how far ahead do you plan out the updates? You already know what will happen in 1.7 and 1.8! Do you already know what will happen in 1.9, 2.0, 2.1?

From Spirit: Can we have glass doors, and would it be possible to remove the streaks in the glass windows?

From Spirit: Is it possible to let the players have more control over ladder placement (at least place them symmetrically by default)? And can we have ship ladders and rope ladders allowed in blueprints in the future?

 

Please let me know if you have any questions you want to add here

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by ocnoglittle

[Deadeye_Rob 905]

Thanks guys, and thank you @ocnoglittle for coordinating it.

Its great to know that little features like writable books haven’t been forgotten. I totally understand why it’s been put on the ‘back burner’.

 

As for the energy system, give me a few days and I’ll have an essay of suggestions! ?

[ocnoglittle 760]

More questions:

From Ocnog: What is going on with the workshop? Are there plans to improve it? Can we have a separate set of tags for the compositions? It was easy to search for a ship or a house earlier and now it is a mess.

[spiritchaser28 918]

1 hour ago, ocnoglittle said:

Can we have a separate set of tags for the compositions?

At the very least allow us to see a bigger list of tags in editor. House, ship, pirate, steampunk, medieval, castle, cottage, etc.....I stopped uploading my compositions to workshop because I couldn't give them the proper tags. Workshop used to have a ton of different tags for compositions....now it's extremely limited so that it makes searching for specific styles a task. Tags help people narrow down their search.

Edited April 29, 2021 by spiritchaser28

[spiritchaser28 918]

On a side note....you used to be able to go to the workshop and fave compositions, follow the creators....and be able to edit the pictures of all the compositions you upload.....now you can only see your last 10 uploads to edit any pics, tags, etc (can't edit the description anymore on the website) .....Compositions are all gone on the web page for searching (except your own last 10)....its very limited now as to what you can actually do in the workshop webpage. You can fave some of the mini games, edit your last 10 compositions....and that's about all you can do

 

Edited April 29, 2021 by spiritchaser28

[ocnoglittle 760]

1 minute ago, spiritchaser28 said:

ow you can only see your last 10 uploads to edit any pics

I have a button called "load more" at the bottom. ?

[spiritchaser28 918]

yeah that doesn't work.....maybe it's chrome?....but we all need a "something more" button

Edited April 29, 2021 by spiritchaser28

[spiritchaser28 918]

I got a new question to ask Ales. We covered the needs of people wanting to craft plastic blocks and the shapes blocks before, and I know they are working on it.....can we add totem blocks to the list of craftable items in explore? I have found a few totems but have not tried to use the demo hammer to see if I get the totem in my inventory......It would seem an easier item to craft though than the stone statues....if that makes any sense.

 

Edited April 29, 2021 by spiritchaser28

[ocnoglittle 760]

41 minutes ago, spiritchaser28 said:

yeah that doesn't work.....maybe it's chrome?....but we all need a "something more" button

Odd. It works on Chrome for me.

[ocnoglittle 760]

30 minutes ago, spiritchaser28 said:

people wanting to craft plastic blocks and the shapes blocks before, and I know they are working on it.....can we add totem blocks to the list of craftable items in explore?

They are totally redoing the crafting for 1.7, remember? But we can make sure the totems are included. ?

[ocnoglittle 760]

@spiritchaser28 these are the buttons I was talking about. Your browser doesn't have them? If so, we can make a bug report and have the Ylands IT guys look at it ?

[spiritchaser28 918]

Yeah the last time I was in workshop, clicking those buttons only showed my last 10 creations...I sort of got fed up and removed all my compositions because of this. If it has changed in the last few months I may think about uploading them again....but I think we should have better tags, better editing options in the workshop itself. For example....I can only make a description of my composition in editor.....if I decide I want to change a few words, I cannot do that in workshop

 

Edited April 29, 2021 by spiritchaser28

[SandyT 128]

On 4/27/2021 at 11:39 PM, ocnoglittle said:

Questions for next time:

From Spirit: Can we have glass doors, and would it be possible to remove the streaks in the glass windows?

Please let me know if you have any questions you want to add here

 

I second Spirit's suggestion for the glass doors and removing the streaks in the glass windows. Great idea!

[JonathanHunt 46]

Can players have the option to disable explosion damage globally for their exploration worlds? Also is it possible to allow living entites to take damage but without terrain or blocks being effected?

Edited May 8, 2021 by JonathanHunt
unnecessary topic extention

[lady_whynot 71]

I need a glass door too
 

[ocnoglittle 760]

From Drago: Can we have rocket launchers? 

[ocnoglittle 760]

From Jacky Joy: Can we have a button to copy the orientation (like store rotation in Editor) for Building Mode?

[ocnoglittle 760]

On 4/29/2021 at 12:37 AM, spiritchaser28 said:

I have found a few totems but have not tried to use the demo hammer to see if I get the totem in my inventory

I guess I forgot to mention that I tried this and it definitely works. I also found a trader that sells all of them (in the Arid Biome). I should have that map saved, but it might take a few tries to find it ?

There is a set of them in the Locust 1 cellar btw.

[spiritchaser28 918]

Cool no worries then.  Actually going to harden the ones in that cellar because jrock spent a lot of time in there placing them and they look good there. I didn't know there was a trader that sold the totems. Wished I would have known that before they did away with them. Which trader sells the totems? I think I have all of them saved on my maps.

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by spiritchaser28

[spiritchaser28 918]

On 4/29/2021 at 9:55 PM, SandyT said:

I second Spirit's suggestion for the glass doors and removing the streaks in the glass windows.

The streaks would be fine with me if they were a lot more transparent and didn't change color when you are just trying to colorize the window frame.

[ocnoglittle 760]

19 hours ago, spiritchaser28 said:

Actually going to harden the ones in that cellar because jrock spent a lot of time in there placing them and they look good there.

No no, I meant the ones in the cupboard near the ores in the cellar with resources. 

The placed ones in the entry to the map room don't need to be hardened -- they are blocks, so automatically harden.

 

19 hours ago, spiritchaser28 said:

Which trader sells the totems?

Naiubu (https://ylands.fandom.com/wiki/Traders)

[spiritchaser28 918]

Naiubu is the one trader I never found anywhere

 

[ocnoglittle 760]

Arid map in front of a teepee... at least before 1.6 ?