Hey there, fellow ylanders.
It’s time to start talking about what 2019 holds for Ylands. Let me start with what to expect before we get to Ylands 1.0. Once we cover this, we’ll move on to what comes after 1.0.
Today we start with features that Players may find interesting - later we’ll discuss what Creators can look forward to.
Update 0.12
Based on your feedback, we have made many changes to the Main menu (and some minor improvements are still planned). Along with this, we are reworking the ingame UI, taking into account both the feedback from new players (“I’m not sure how to do this / where to find this”) as well as those familiar with the game (making some actions easier or more accessible, adding features like auto-arrange etc.). Also, since the UI has been completely rewritten, this will get rid of some of the remaining ugly issues.
The new Main menu is not only about updated visuals, but many actions are now more intuitive and easier to find.
Several months ago we mentioned Costumes, which will also be added into the game. You can think of those as a way of completely changing the visual of your character to something cute or quirky (or both). You will be able to obtain them from the Store and as special rewards.
Additionally, the new 3rd person camera system we’re working on will make quite a difference, both when it comes to the general feel and handling problematic situations.
What goes without saying is that there will be further fixing and polishing. 0.12 will fix a lot of issues related to using ships and performance issues they caused, along with tons of other fixes and cool improvements.
0.12+
As we've hinted before, the team is already working on things that are planned to be added after 0.12.
We will be doing improvements to the Explore Mode, which are possible because of the improved AI and, especially, pathfinding. While we’re still experimenting a lot with the AI (and combat to some extent), the current results from the updated pathfinding look very promising, and even though it still needs a bit more testing and won’t be present in 0.12, we are positive that it will make the survival element much more fun.
Caves present on ylands will become much more interesting (and dangerous) places with great rewards, and it will pay to seek them out on all of the ylands. We plan to add “mini-bosses” - somewhat stronger, visually different enemies, that guard some places of interest - especially those found in the caves.
Many enjoy the game when playing with friends. To make this easier for those, we are working on a Friends list that will let you manage your buddies, have instant information about what game they’re playing, and join them or ask them to join you. Eventually, this would be linked to various game features (such as the protection barrier). Plus to be able to communicate with your friends better, we will be introducing a much more powerful chat system.
These are some of the major improvements we’re planning to add. Please note that I'm using the words “some” because these are not all of the improvements planned, but some are not yet ready to be announced. And “major” because, along with every update, come dozens of small to medium improvements which are too many to be mentioned here.
That’s it for today. Have a great weekend, ylanders, and as always - stay classy!