Dev Diary #202 New Beginnings

[Nikki Severin 1148]

Hey there, fellow Ylanders!

This Dev Diary comes out on Friday. Not because we would be resting after we released the update 1.8, but quite the opposite. We‘ve been busy talking to you, listening to your feedback, checking your bug reports and working on a patch, which will come out next week and will fix some minor issues and imbalances.

So far we‘ve been extremely happy with how this update turned out. We are getting some really nice messages about the progress Exploration has made and once again we are seeing the return of players who left because Exploration felt abandoned.

Right now we KNOW that we are on the right track and we‘re going to keep walking it. We‘ve just finalized our update goals for the next year and yes, every single update planned is going to improve Exploration in a major way or fix what doesn‘t work as intended.


 

So what can you expect to come first?

First quarter of 2022 will see us improving many things related to ships and sailing. We will take you to dangerous places below the sea surface and bring, once again, a large number of improvements based on things you‘ve been asking for.

Welcome to the new era of Exploration - we‘re glad you‘re here with us to witness it

Stay classy and healthy, Ylanders!

[Miguel Preguisa 443]

Thank you for the update ? Glad to see Explore getting love! 

Edited November 19, 2021 by Miguel Preguisa

[KennyClan01 9]

I had the game for so long that I really got my feet wet into Ylands, but this past week or two I am very glad I did watching Ylands grow with community and progress is a beautiful sight to see on any video game, keep up the great work.

[Igor Q. 519]

Wonderful to hear the sea is getting more dangerous. Would love to make thunderstorms a more dangerous threat to players while on ships.

[WijkagentAdrie 384]

I'll use this as my wish list for ships. I think the exact ship in the screenshot is my biggest issue with ships: 99% of ships in Ylands look like this. Currently ships don't allow for enough creativity. I've come up with solutions and ideas many times before, but I'm pretty sure that's been a few years ago, so I'll put it down again:

Modular hulls, so we can have different length ships. Also different styles and different widths. They would have a bow, stern and (multiple) middle pieces.

Different sail types, basically square vs fore-and-aft sails. They should have different sailing characteristics.

Make the wind not change every 2 seconds. Currently wind doesn't achieve anything, there's no purpose on changing the heading of the ship to be more efficient as it will change again soon. There should also be some form of weather prediction.

Make hulls displace water, i.e. make it so we can have useful interior space in hulls. 

 

Overall the idea is that it will allow us to be more creative. Also for more advanced players they can optimize both their ships and their sailing. 

 

[Deadeye_Rob 908]

Adding on to @WijkagentAdrie’s post, there are some terrific ship builders within the Ylands community who have made some incredible designs that are so unique that they don’t resemble any template whatsoever.

 

A major drawback that we discovered however was that complex designs are unplayable on multiplayer maps and create a crippling drop in framerate. Could this be looked into with more urgency?

Great progress so far however! I’m enjoying the new improvements thus far!

[SandyT 129]

My favorite things in this update are the ability to pick up more items at once and being able to craft so much at one time is amazing. Great job on the upgrades!!!

[spiritchaser28 920]

I like being able to summon and transport animals. One step closer to transporting cars.

 

Edited November 21, 2021 by spiritchaser28

[zarwil 393]

Regarding ships, I have a problem with the steam engines. They simply run dry waaayy too quickly. With the new map size, I'm not even sure if you can traverse the diagonal of a single map without running empty on coal. If you want to keep the game balance the same, keep the same fuel burn, but increase the fuel capacity of the engines (something like 30 coal instead of 7). I also think there should be a quality of life improvement when refueling the engines. Right now, with 4 engines, you need 28 clicks (with a charging bar) as well as having to leave your helm to reach the engines. It's just a drag to travel with steam ships at the moment. 

Edited November 21, 2021 by zarwil

[spiritchaser28 920]

5 hours ago, zarwil said:

Regarding ships, I have a problem with the steam engines. They simply run dry waaayy too quickly. With the new map size, I'm not even sure if you can traverse the diagonal of a single map without running empty on coal. If you want to keep the game balance the same, keep the same fuel burn, but increase the fuel capacity of the engines (something like 30 coal instead of 7). I also think there should be a quality of life improvement when refueling the engines. Right now, with 4 engines, you need 28 clicks (with a charging bar) as well as having to leave your helm to reach the engines. It's just a drag to travel with steam ships at the moment. 

What's a charging bar? You mean the ylandium power cell?

[zarwil 393]

Just now, spiritchaser28 said:

What's a charging bar? You mean the ylandium power cell?

Didn't know how to word it. You know when you have to hold left click and watch a loading bar fill up for each piece of coal you're charging the engine with?

[spiritchaser28 920]

4 hours ago, zarwil said:

Didn't know how to word it. You know when you have to hold left click and watch a loading bar fill up for each piece of coal you're charging the engine with?

Hmmm I hold a coal basket and one dump fills each engine. 6 coal. I never saw a bar like that with coal engines or maybe I did not notice the bar because it was pretty fast. With Ylandium engines I use a charging station and it does take a minute for it to power up and yeah a few seconds to pull it when it's charged. I usually have it close to the engines so I don't have to worry about using power cells with it...but I can't stand the static sound it makes so I usually have it connected to a switch to power on and off.

 

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by spiritchaser28

[spiritchaser28 920]

@zarwil I guess there is a bar, but yeah pretty fast to fill up with coal basket. One shot and your done. 

 

[spiritchaser28 920]

13 hours ago, zarwil said:

keep the same fuel burn, but increase the fuel capacity of the engines

Since we have bigger maps yeah a longer duration with increased fuel capacity would be better. As long as the coal basket does the same thing and fills it with one shot. I wouldn't mind dumping 30 coal for longer burn time.

[zarwil 393]

Just now, spiritchaser28 said:

@zarwil I guess there is a bar, but yeah pretty fast to fill up with coal basket. One shot and your done. 

 

Woah I didn't even know about this! I guess that part of my complaint isn't really valid then.

[spiritchaser28 920]

6 hours ago, zarwil said:

Woah I didn't even know about this!

There is always things to learn in Ylands  

 

[6Cowa6Bunga6 55]

On 11/22/2021 at 6:00 PM, spiritchaser28 said:

There is always things to learn in Ylands  

 

Now im a little curious what you used as a foundation for a flying vehicle in explorer. I assumed it was stuck in place until it moved. Thats insane!!!

[Mello1223 591]

3 hours ago, 6Cowa6Bunga6 said:

Now im a little curious what you used as a foundation for a flying vehicle in explorer. I assumed it was stuck in place until it moved. Thats insane!!!

it's a car. I created a "qudrocopter" outside the car's chassis and then I just stuck it to the base of the car and pulled it far up. Of course it's created in the editor, and transferred to the discovery using blueprint. the engines are at the top, so I can move the car under the water.  the basic idea was brought by yohas or ocnog, I don't remember. I just changed the design of their idea.but its rly funny and fast!!!

 

[spiritchaser28 920]

Driving it can be fun but the camera only focuses on the chassis or you can use C to drive in first person view....which is crazy because you can't see wht the chassis is crashing into below LOL

The best part though? It's faster than the fastest  ship  if used to cross the ocean.

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by spiritchaser28