A lot happened since the release yesterday morning. YORG.io 3 was listed on four major platforms, and we reached a player count of almost 700 concurrent players!
That said, there also have been complaints, and here's how I started addressing them with this first major update.
Improved Desktop Experience
Problem: I received a lot of complaints regarding the UI of the game, especially placing buildings. People found it too complicated, and here's why:
When I initially built YORG.io 3, it was supposed to be a mobile app of the original YORG.io. It quickly evolved, but it was developed mobile first from the beginning.
The controls worked fine on mobile, but were annoying to use on desktop. You had to click through a few menus to actually place a building, and then click another button to place it.
How I fixed it: This update introduces a new building toolbar! It is pretty similar to the old YORG.io and targeted specially for desktop. It should be much easier to use and I'd be happy to hear your feedback!
If you liked the old ui, you can still turn it on under Settings > Mobile Placement. Hope you like it!
Removal of Essence Trading
Problem: A lot of people complained that the current system of trading coins would be pay to win.
Fix: After doing a controversal survey in our Discord (Be sure to join it!), I decided it would make sense to remove them. Even if they were balanced, it would always give you the feel of having to purchase something.
In the steam standalone, you can now **only** purchase Skins. I have decided that it will keep this way, and no further game changing purchases are planned. All new items will be entirely cosmetic or not affect the game in a major way.
Changing your name is now free!
This kinda belongs to the pay to win section, but I thought it would be worth a short mention.
The game tries to generate a username from your public steam username when you start it the first time. If the username is taken, it will try to generate another one, e.g. tobspr#593234.
However, this is kinda unfair. You don't get to choose your playername, but changing it did cost coins.
Fix: Changing your name is now free! Don't overuse it please, though :p
Crash fixes & Further Improvements
Heres a list of further improvements in this patch:
- Fixed a crash when using the actions toolbar. Now there are no crashes that I am aware of left, so if you experience one, please let me know! (Discord or [email protected])
- You can now see the player counts, as well as the amount of players in the multiplayer queue.
- Zombies have been increased by a little on lower levels (20-100), since people were claiming it was too easy.
- The sound in the matchmaking queue has been removed, since it was too annoying.
- Fix crystal storage emitting all crystals at once when placing a building
- Allow partially performing the level up + 10, level up all and equalize levels options (The lower left hotkeys), and also show the crystal cost
- Web Version: Allow logging out without having an E-Mail connected, effectively deleting the account
- Web Version: The map and difficulty selection is now skipped on the first time launch to be able to quickly jump into a game
- Translations have been updated
Whats next?
There are still a few minor issues I want to fix before I start the next great thing: A research tree. I haven't fully finalized the idea, but here's what I discussed with some members in the discord:
- There will be a new building, the Research Lab
- It will enable you to start researching a skill tree
- The skill tree contains skills like "Tower Damage + 10", etc, just like in the original yorg.io
- Skills will cost essence (Finally a good way to spend it!)
- There will be infinite skill upgrades for at least some skills, so you will never get to the point where you have unlocked all skills
- Skils might also unlock special abilities, haven't decided on that yet
Besides of that, i'm also thinking about adding drones. Here's how it would probably work (Idea not finalized!)
- There would be a drone factory building which produces drone parts
- There would be a drone port building which can store like 10 drones and has a radius similar to the shield generator
- There would be different types of drones, e.g. Healing Drone, Reconstruct Drone (Rebuilds destroyed buildings), Attack Drones. Maybe also drones which automatically level up your buildings.
I would love to get your feedback on this!
Lastly, a huge thank you to everybody who has bought the standalone! You are making YORG.io 3 possible!