tl;dr
- FAQ with our Project Lead
- New Update 1.5 news
- Ask your questions in thread below
Hey there Ylanders!
We have a very special Dev Diary today because Aleš swung by to tell us something more about update 1.5. We collected some frequently asked questions about the update on the forums and asked Aleš to clarify them for us and boy did we find out a lot of interesting and exciting stuff about Update 1.5 🤩
So read on and if you have any follow-up questions, don't hesitate to ask in the thread below and hopefully, Aleš will have time to answer them too 😊
Will travelling from one world to another involve travelling into other player worlds?
Yes, that's exactly what this means - although it doesn't need to be just another player's world. We plan to have dedicated servers for all biomes that players will be able to visit and explore. Our current working name for those ylands is "Sinking worlds" because after some time the original world will disappear and will be replaced by a newly generated one. This way there will always be places to explore and gather resources.
How will your starting world look? Which biome will it have? Will it have enough resources?
The starting world will be only one biome. You will be able to choose from a selection of biomes (not all since some would be too harsh for a newly arriving castaway). It will have resources that, among others, allow you to create a ship. To get resources not available in your world you will have to travel to different worlds with different biomes.
Will strangers be raiding players own personal worlds?
As long as your world has MP enabled and is not protected by a password then yes, this would be possible.
Will building a ship be much harder or will the basics stay the same?
No, it will be the same.
Will these changes (summon-able and temporarily invincible boats) affect all maps or just exploration maps? (Will boats in other mini-games also become invincible?)
No, these changes will be present only in Exploration.
Will ships that players have already built be compatible? Or do players need to wait till 1.5 to build a compatible vessel?
We are still looking into this. Technically it is possible, but it opens a door to certain kinds of exploits that's why we're still analyzing it.
How will the map from the concept art released a few Dev Diaries back be implemented into the new Exploration?
What you're referring to is a world map (please note that the final version you'll get in 1.5 will be visually slightly different) and it serves several purposes - firstly you use it to select in what biome your starting yland will be located. Secondly, you can use it (since it'll be accessible via your ingame menu all the time) to check ylands in other biomes and travel to them - if you are steering a ship and are located at the outer area of your current world.
How will the ship summoning mechanic work?
You will be able to summon your ship (if you have one) via a Radial menu button. It will appear in a nearby empty sea area. Also, you will see your ship's location on your map.
Will the number of players able to play together change?
The maximum will remain the same.
Will you revisit the trading mechanic in 1.5 or later?
This is something we're discussing. Definitely not in 1.5, but we might do some changes in 1.6 based on what we see happen in games.
Will the worlds you travel to be procedurally generated and in a way infinite, or will there be a limit to the number of different explorable worlds?
There will be a certain number of Yland maps per biome region - right now it's 20 in total. But some of them will change from time to time.
Will Update 1.5 be a polished final product?
No. While the core mechanics such as travelling between worlds will be fully functional, this is such a big change that we will need feedback and will very likely make some adjustments. We will be providing a list of features that will be temporary or subject to change. Also in 1.6 we would like to focus on the ylands themselves.
Will we ever see explore on mobile?
Bringing Exploration to mobiles is actually one of my personal priorities for 2021 but never at the expense of the PC experience. Mobile will have to work with PC standards and bypass them if necessary, not the other way round (dumbing down the PC version to facilitate the mobile version is a big No for me).
You mentioned 1.5 will be about "Exploration, Travelling and Socialization". What are the Travel and Socialization aspects of 1.5?
In order to get resources to craft everything, you will be required to travel and explore new places. You will get to meet new people - some of the ylands you discover might be someone's worlds and pay them a friendly (or less friendly) visit, you can meet with other players when gathering resources or exploring worlds that don't belong to anyone.
And that's it from us this week, but definitely leave a question if you have one and your feedback in the thread below and as always, stay classy Ylanders!
A big thank you for the questions goes especially to RedEagle_P1., Murcin, bojo2736, WijkagentAdrie and ocnoglittle. Thanks guys 😊