Hey there fellow ylanders!
Let’s start with the most obvious question on your minds – the state of the update 0.12. The data has been locked, meaning that no further changes are being made and everything is being thoroughly tested. It’s possible that you will get to read one more Dev Diary before the update is released, but this beast of an update is getting so hard to get out that we won’t be able to hold it in any longer. Every update we release is bigger than the preceding one… and this one is definitely no exception :)
Because we’ve already covered most of the large features coming your way, I would l like to use this opportunity to name some smaller ones, that will make your time spent playing Ylands more pleasant.
Let's get into it!
Overall, in this update we're not only adding brand new features, but we’ve also adjusted A LOT of the existing ones, adding many QOL (quality of life) changes to the game. For instance, you can now pick up objects much quicker one after another, fly faster with a propeller pack, and spot and identify resource veins based on resource chunks lying around (no more looking for flint like crazy ;)). We also made a lot of changes based on your feedback, so focused objects are now easier to spot and objects on the ground are harder to miss.
In the past we’ve talked about the changes made to the 3rd person camera. We were able to put in the game a new way how camera works with ships (it even supports zoom) and because of that, the movement feels more fluent. But on top of that, we managed to vastly improve the way characters move over smaller obstacles or walk up or down stairs. We can’t wait for you to let us know what you think!
While sailing, the camera shouldn't get in the way anymore. Sailing exploration realness by [5thSC(A)]Pvt Bushi Neko!
As you know, another aspect of the game that has been largely refined is the GUI. We took your comments into consideration, and based on that, in 0.12 you’ll see that your hotbar gets way less cluttered by useless resources and several buttons have been replaced. Also, with this new system in place, all the annoying issues from the past should be gone.
Due to all of these changes, there are a couple of things that you should take into account when it comes to this update:
- All old non-visual scripts will cease to work, so several official games/compositions will be taken down from the Workshop (bear it in mind also if you have games/compositions of your own)
- In order to play your locally created game outside the Editor, you will first have to export it so that it appears in the main menu
- As part of the optimization process and GUI overhaul, the last three slots in the inventory have been removed. If your character has any objects in those slots, as soon as the updated game starts, the items found in those no longer existing slots will be dropped next to the character (even if your character is offline in a MP game). So make sure you store these soon to be dropped items, to avoid losing them.
In any case, these things will be mentioned in the Changelog as well, but we wanted to give you a heads up :)
Now let's take a look at the questions you've posted during the week!
Are you devoting any real play testing time to discovering methods of griefing so that you avoid as much of it as possible before you "release" the game? In a lot of games this type of testing is fluffed over and left for the players to report and troubleshoot leaving some players frustrated for having to do the game companies job.
No. What we do is that for every feature we put in the game, we try to think of possible scenarios where it could be exploited, and we try to fix those. It is, however, only during the real gaming sessions that most of the harmful behavior is found - we've already fixed a lot of those based on your feedback. We're planning to devote enough time to look specifically for these patterns before the game leaves Early Access.
Will the new, faster combat moves be also a bit preciser, as the moves, we are posessing now? Because my real problem with them was newer the speed, but always their lack of precision. If you only add the speed, i fear, it will make the situation only worse...
We've done some changes to what and how you focus things in combat. Please give it a try and let us know if things got better for you!
I love how much you can do with this game! I recently started learning Coding for C++ after being inspired from making codes inside this game. Are there any recommendations on where to learn? (Im right now doing an intro course on udemy but I'm almost done.
Learning to code in C++ can be somewhat difficult if you don't have any previous experience with "easier" languages like C# or with scripting languages like Lua or Python. If you find that it is too difficult to start with, I suggest you switch to C# and play around a bit with Unity.
With the update to making axes better at cutting trees, what will happen saws? I really like the idea of the saw being a more efficient tool for cutting trees. Maybe they can grant more wood when breaking down logs compared to using an axe? (So it becomes somewhat required for making boats or large structures)
That's a very good point. To be honest we're still thinking about what role should saws play after this update - it's quite likely that we will do something about them, but it will have to wait till 0.13.
Additionally, what is the plan regarding terrain depletion? Currently once you finish mining a vein of iron it's gone forever and as the game gets longer it becomes harder to get. How is this intended to be solved in the future?
Yes. We need to resolve this issue especially since in the future (post 1.0) players will need even more resources like iron in order to build more advanced machinery.
And that is all for today! We will see you again in a week – until then have a great time and stay classy!