Dev Diary #224 Exploration & Creators: The Ultimate Combo

[Nikki Severin 1148]

Hey there, fellow Ylanders!

We're working hard on update 1.10 and since update 1.5 it's always been about Exploration first. This is not going to change, but we understand that the ones who like to create cool contraptions or worlds in the Editor might feel neglected, which is why the past few updates brought a lot of Editor and scripting improvements as well.

So today we would like to let the Creators know, what the near future holds for them.

We are currently working on something we internally call "Custom Exploration". We've already mentioned it in our Dev Diaries, but let us remind you what it's all about.

We want to let Creators build ylands in the Editor (or in the Sandbox mode) that players will be able to visit with their ships from the Exploration world. This will result in much more than the ability to create a cool "home" for you with the help of cool things that only the Editor offers. We are going to add incentives for Creators to come up with cool experiences for players who want something more than what Exploration currently offers. At the same time, it will be something that is based on the core Exploration gameplay. You can think of it as Mystery Ylands... created by players for players, friends or strangers alike.

We will reward Explorers for sailing to these worlds and leaving notes and ratings for others if what they found is worth experiencing. 

This feature was originally planned for 1.10, but we now see that the first version would be too rough around the edges and missing some of the cool things that make it interesting. So we decided to take more time working on it and will release it in 1.11 in a better shape and with more tools and documentation ready for the Creators. We will also be giving the Creators enough information in advance so that their creations can be available to players as soon as 1.11 is released.

The Editor and content creation will get much more love not just thanks to "Custom Exploration", but also thanks to Ylands EDU version, which is doing surprisingly well and which, in the end, seems to be something that the Ylands game will profit from even more than we expected. But that's a story for a different time :). 

We're looking forward to talking to you the next week. Until then - stay classy!

[Igor Q. 519]

Interesting to hear. Will this negatively impact exploration mode? Building your home with the editor (basically sandbox mode) seems conflicting with the entire "feel" of exploration mode.

 

On the other hands, pretty excited about these changes...I'm already working on a project...

Edited May 20, 2022 by Igor Q.

[Yo HasLEGO 193]

OOhhoohoooo yes! This is the good stuff I wanna see!

I wonder to which point we will be able to put in scripts and stuff. I know next to nothing about scripting but I'm pretty sure this will motivate me to learn it. Albeit a trimmed down collection of the available scripts.

 

And if i could give some feedback, please give us the option to use the editor camera in said islands. The nerf of the freecamera command made in-game building much trickier. For instance, I placed the energy components of my ship into the hull so that they wouldn't be visible. But I couldn't connect them because I couldn't see through the hull anymore with freecamera. Working on something underground brings along the same problem.

I understand it got nerfed because of cheaty reasons but, you know, it was darn handy for building and connecting energy 😅

 

Anyway, I'm so excited as every time with these teasers about what you guys are up to! ❤️

[spiritchaser28 920]

3 hours ago, Yo HasLEGO said:

I understand it got nerfed because of cheaty reasons but, you know, it was darn handy for building and connecting energy 😅

Yeah it's sort of difficult now to connect hidden nodes and such in the walls without the freecamera. Does the building table allow the connection option ? I used it a few times to connect hidden nodes and energy sources. Some changes were good, and I agree we shouldn't be able to use freecamera to look into the dirt.....but I think the distance could use some work . I used to take plenty of screenshots of cities using free camera from an aerial perspective......now I can't even do it without building a tower or some hover platforms. I'm cool with the free camera not seeing through walls or underground, but for people that love to take aerial screenshots the distance could use a bit of work. Now it feels like you have a selfie stick and cannot get any further away than that.

Edited May 21, 2022 by spiritchaser28

[Nikki Severin 1148]

On 5/20/2022 at 5:06 PM, Igor Q. said:

Interesting to hear. Will this negatively impact exploration mode? Building your home with the editor (basically sandbox mode) seems conflicting with the entire "feel" of exploration mode.

 

On the other hands, pretty excited about these changes...I'm already working on a project...

It shouldn't technically impact Exploration at all, if you so choose. Meaning the Custom Exploration will be a "separate world". We'll share more details as we progress in the development for sure  

[jchob 354]

I like that idea because i had it some long time ago. Looking further how dev team will aproach it. Exitment 😁