Hey there, fellow Ylanders!

In today's Dev Diary we would like to talk about some things that players often comment on in their reviews or forum posts.



REVIEWS
Speaking of reviews - during the last year, we saw the average current game reviews score raise substantially. Seeing the average rating rise some 20 % and keep going is a clear indication that we've managed to turn the ship around and things are improving - and we would like to thank you for your support and the trust many of you put in us when we said things would change.

Apart from us not giving Exploration as much love as it deserved in the past, the main complaint players state in the review is often related to the game being free to play with Exploration being a paid "DLC" and the presence of monetization. So we feel like we should talk about this.



EXPLORATION AND F2P
Even though we're now fully focused on Exploration, Ylands is still a platform as well. We have a very sophisticated Editor and Workshop, where anyone can create, share and play each other's creations for free - with the emphasis put on "for free". We want everyone to be able to do this, it makes absolutely no sense to put these tools behind a paywall. That's the reason why Ylands went F2P, with Exploration remaining a premium segment.

Now you might ask "So why didn't you make it two products instead and didn't keep Ylands Exploration as a premium title?" and that would be a very good question. The answer will become obvious once we release 1.10 later this year. But in a nutshell: our ultimate goal is to continue to create the Exploration world while also giving players the option to create their own "areas" within that world. within these "areas", they wouldn't be bound by materials scarcity or their skill to build something ingame, but to let them create their own Exploration adventures in the Editor. The Exploration and the Editor have a future together. Make no mistake, if you're interested only in the "original" Exploration you won't have to worry about anything else. If, however, you feel like creating an yland in the Editor and have other people visit you, we will give you the option.




(screenshot by spiritchaser28)


MONETIZATION
And that leads us to the other topic, which is monetization. For obvious reasons, this is always a controversial topic but we feel it might be a good idea to summarize what Ylands monetization is about.

Firstly, it's important to say that ever since we introduced monetization, it has remained the same - players can purchase only cosmetic items that have no impact on gameplay.

Monetization was never really a priority for us:

Not only, after years of development, there's still very little content for players to buy (which, funnily enough, we get some complaints about as well :) ), we actually even removed entire categories of objects that players could originally buy (weapon skins, armor skins) and let all the players have them for free (while, obviously, fully refunding everyone who has ever bought one).

We never promoted our in-app purchases, which we believe is, when it comes to games with some sort of in-app purchases, rather rare. You never see a pop-up window urging you to buy a new pet or costume or anything and even when there's was a 50% off of everything in our store, in the game you could tell only by a tiny text over the the Store tab button and a Dev Message. We are doing our best so that players who are not interested in buying anything don't feel pressured in any way.




FUTURE OF MONETIZATION
So this is how it's has been for years now, but what about the future? Are there any ugly surprises waiting for you?

Nope.

We will keep adding costumes and pets. Not in huge amounts and only when we feel like we have some good ideas for those. Just like we've done up until now.

We will be reworking Blueprints (and merging those with Compositions) so that you can create them in the Editor and let you, the creators, sell them to other players for coyns, so that you can buy things you want or pay for rented servers this way. This is why we're keeping monetization in the game - we want a functional ecosystem where those who create nice things are rewarded.



NFTs
And last the last thing - we've seen some people mentioning NFTs. So where do we stand with those?

We don't like them. We don't want them in our game, and as far as we know, neither do you. The way we see it, they don't bring anything that wouldn't be in some way already possible in games and have no plans whatsoever on implementing those.




And that's it for today! Thanks for reading all the way here, thank you for your support... and stay healthy and classy!

Hey there, Ylanders!

We know you like hearing about what's coming to the next update and that you also like to take peeks into the game dev process and the behind-the-scenes of the Ylands HQ. This week's Dev diary is going to combine both! Let's dive right in!




(screenshot by Kaija)


The spirit of Ylands is largely based on community and the feedback from our players, which is why we collect feedback and suggestions from our players across platforms and regularly review it and keep it in mind when developing new features and when improving new ones. One such feedback we have been receiving is talking about not being able to see your friends on the map. This highly requested feature is coming to 1.9, as you probably know from this Dev Diary.

We were very excited to let our players know that this feature that they've been asking for is finally coming to the game. But in reading the feedback on the announcement, we found out that we didn't think about the fact that some of our players play Hide & Seek because they can't see each other on the map. Oversight on our part, but thanks to our players, who talk to us, we found out.




(two of the feedback instances)



Long story short, we're implementing a toggle option for the friend marker feature so that you can continue playing Hide & Seek without having the fun spoiled (smile)

While this might seem like a minor thing to some, for those few players that enjoy playing the game in a specific way will it would be taking away a part of that fun. And that's something we don't want to do.

Well, that's it for this week and we will be back with more info next week!


Stay Classy, Ylanders!

Hey there, Ylanders!

As you probably know, the next update coming to Ylands will be all about adventures on and below the sea. And as such, it would not be complete without additions and edits to how ships work.

Any proud captain would know how important a ship's name is. The name of a ship can be an indication of what its adventures on the sea are going to be a like and elevates it from an anonymous vesel to a personalized creation.

Now that you've built your own ship named and set sail fro the first time, you should really take care of it! Be careful about sailing in bad weather, because if you get caught in a storm, your ship will get damaged. At the same time, if you steer your ship to shallow waters, the edge of an yland or another ship, your ship will take damage and you will have to fix it up if you wish to continue on your journey without worries.




(screenshot by ilp0tt1)



Fixing a ship is a matter of skill and resources. You will need a special tool to repair your ship and also specific materials to patch up the holes that your ship had sustained. In order to avoid damaging your ship and to help you be a better informed captain, you will be able to monitor the ship's HP, the water depth below, the current speed and much more using special ship devices.


This is just a quick look into what ships will be like in the upcoming update! Speaking of naming things, what do you think the 1.9 update will be named? Let us know what you think and what your tips are and until next time...


Stay classy, Ylanders!

Hey there, Ylanders!

It's high time we parted the watery curtain a bit more and gave you another look at what lies below the surface of the Ylands sea, right under the surface and also deep, like super super deep.


The sea floor is now a barren wasteland. But we said enough, no more, we need to breathe some life into the underwater world. For a while, we've been telling that update 1.9 will be all about water, so there's no better time to introduce underwater biotopes!

We're working on 6-7 (this may still change!) different biotopes such as coral reefs or kelp forests, which will be specific to the relevant biomes. This, in practice, means that you won't find a coral reef in colder climates such as the Arctic Biome, but will have to sail over to the Tropical Biome to discover the wonders that corals have to offer. Coral reefs, naturally, are full of life, which is a topic for another Dev Diary, but for now, can you guess which biotopes we're going to introduce to the underwater world of Ylands?





And to make things even more interesting and more exploration-worthy, we've increased the ocean depth to be 5 times the current depth. That's adding oh-so-much-more space to be explored. How much do you think you can explore before your air runs out? Again, a topic for another Dev Diary (wink)

Well, that's it for this week, Ylanders! Don't forget to...

Stay Classy!

Hey ther... wait, what? The greeting is in the title of this Dev Diary?

I guess there has to be a reason for that. Well, let's explore what that reason might be!


Finding the right friends is the best thing that can possibly happen to you. And being friends as much as we are colleagues here at the Ylands HQ, we only wanna support the sentiment. Right now, finding a fellow Ylander on the map is no easy feat. "The southern part of the map, but a bit to the east next to the tier 1 yland and then turn right at the shipwreck". Sounds familiar? Yep, we know it's a complicated task to guide a friend to you.

But that will be no longer! This is going to be the end of all the verbal navigation because from 1.9 onwards you will be able to see your friends and clanmates on the map! As long as you're on the same map, you'll be able to see each other. That should make your sailing days run a bit more smoothly since you won't have to spend time looking for each other on the map.





And how have you been doing with collecting your Achievements? Sounds like an abrupt change of topic? Nah! This will be another way to flex your shiny Titles that you earn by completing certain Achievements, as these will be visible on the map as well! So better hurry to get that Title that you want to flex with in front of your friends!

Well, Ylanders, this was a quick update on how the work on 1.9 is going. We hope that you're as excited as we are about this watery update!

What are you curious about? If you have questions about 1.9, let us know in the comments!

Till next time, Ylanders!


Stay Classy!

Hey there, fellow Ylanders!

With the first week of the new year, we meet again to talk about all things Ylands! We hope all of you spent the holidays relaxing, playing games and having fun with your loved ones and so you're ready to dive into what 2022 brings (hopefully things that are much better than the last years). We at team Ylands are already at full speed working on the very cool update 1.9. Next week's Dev Diary will get back to talking about what you can expect to find in it, but for now, I would like to take the opportunity and mention what we've managed during the last 12 months.

2021 was a big year for Exploration. Just like we promised in 2020, much less focus goes towards the Editor which we consider powerful enough already (even though when it comes to user-friendliness there's still some way to go) and started changing and expanding Exploration. Now, a year later, we have a lot to show.





We've made the maps much larger. We made literally hundreds of improvements and fixes to the multiplayer experience. We made a list of all the most sought-after features and improvements you suggested and many of them you can either already find implemented or present in the upcoming 1.9. Ylands is already quite a massive game and so even when you add dozens or hundreds of improvements it's very likely that you still see things that need to be fixed or improved.

Speaking of things that we still have uncrossed on our list - we know you want things like the return of the first-person camera. Don't worry, we hear you and 2022 will, just as 2021, show that we are serious about making things right.

As much we've been trying to improve in everything we do, there are still some things we didn't manage to do right. One of the most important probably is communicating how the game has changed to players who come back after months or even years. Especially those who supported us when we were a premium title during the Early Access (or even earlier than that). We're failing at letting them know that even though the game is now Free to play, it's because of the Editor and minigames so that everyone can play with it and have fun and the game core, the Exploration, is still paid, which hasn't changed.

To name a specific case where we failed - we just found out about a player who has bought the game way back to support us and when they returned, due to a technical issue on our side the game indicated that they need to buy the Exploration DLC. At that point, they had all the right to be angry at us. And this is something that we must make sure never happens again.

If 2022 shows us anything, it's that we remember you guys and we will do a much better job at appreciating you. Thanks for staying with us.

So much for today's Dev Diary and the next week, we'll get back to discussing cool new features. Until then...


Stay classy and healthy, Ylanders!

Hey there, Ylanders! 

The holidays are approaching fast and it is time to for us to spread the words of thanks. 

First, we would like to thank you, our players, for your support, creativity, kindness, loyalty, and all the good vibes you've been sending our way. It is the source of energy that continues to motivate us and push us forward. Your feedback gives us valuable information and helps us improve Ylands. So thank you for that and please keep doing what you've been doing, we appreciate it very very much!

Secondly, I'd like to give a big thanks to the developer team. If it wasn't for your hard work, persistence, creativity, positive outlook, and team spirit, the game would not be the same. We are incredibly excited to work together in the upcoming year and bring our players new and improved features and big doses of awesomeness. 




The holiday season is a time of peace and rest, so don't forget to stop for a moment and take a break from your day-to-day life and enjoy the little things in life. We wish you all a wonderful holiday season filled with joy and love. 

We also wish you, Ylanders, to stay healthy, happy and classy! 

Hey there, Ylanders!


We are now fully focusing on bringing you adventures set below the waves and we're already seeing some pretty cool stuff that we'll be showing you in the upcoming weeks. This is how it always is quite early in the development of an update - things are being designed, a detailed document made, prototypes created... so not quite something that can be presented to the player base (especially since some of these things often end up being removed from the update).


But what we're working on are not only things that you players will experience first hand. Today we would like to mention a tool/system that our programmers have been working on for some months now - Automated Testing. Ylands is already an incredibly complex project and adding any new feature, regardless of how carefully done, many times ends with something breaking someplace else in the code. Regardless of the hundreds of hours that QA puts in testing before every update is released, it is not humanly possible to test all the situations which may arise. And this is where Automated Testing comes in. Even though the system still needs a few months to be fully ready, it's already possible to create various tests and run them regularly to see if something didn't break.


Imagine this very simple test - a few objects are placed in the level and the character is told to pick them up and then we test if they are all in the character's inventory. This could be one of hundreds of tests that run automatically and report only when the test outcome isn't as expected. It could be anything - a problem with reaching the objects due to pathfinding, objects disappearing, problems with picking up objects, or with the inventory. If a problem is found, it is reported and QA can check it (for example see a recorded session to find what went wrong). This will hugely (probably starting somewhere before 1.10 is released) improve the game stability and the number of issues present.



(screenshot by YoHasLEGO)


Automated tests or not, the most important thing we have apart from our internal QA is ... you. You have reported hundreds of bugs and the absolute majority of these have been fixed. Your feedback matters and the game is now so much better because of all the time you have spent talking to us. For that, we are extremely grateful.


So this is it for today and we'll see you next week when we're gonna start talking about some juicy Exploration stuff.


Stay safe and classy!

Hey there, Ylanders!

We’re thrilled to announce that we’re celebrating our second birthday this week!





It's been a long and crazy ride over the last two years, and while it hasn’t always been easy, your feedback provided us with the energy and determination we needed to keep going.

The same people who brought you the Ylands you knew and loved returned to take charge of the game about a year or so ago. Since then, we’ve released three major updates, with every one of them focused on improving Exploration, as well as offering larger maps, making improvements to multiplayer, and several hundred other enhancements and fixes – all of which culminated with recently released update 1.8.
We’re really happy with how the last update turned out and even happier with all the positive messages we’ve been receiving about the progress Exploration has made. We’re even seeing a number of players return after leaving Exploration because they felt it had been abandoned.

Well, we’re finally on the right track and we fully intend to stay there. For example, we just finalized our update goals for the upcoming new year and every single update is aimed at improving Exploration in a major way.

In honor of our second anniversary and to thank you for all your help, we’re offering a 50% discount on the Exploration pack and on most items in our shop for a limited time. An exclusive shark costume is also available, so you definitely won’t want to miss this unique opportunity!




Finally, our birthday simply wouldn’t be the same without you, so we’d love to invite you to a special birthday stream on https://www.twitch.tv/ylands. We can’t wait to share a virtual birthday toast with all of you!



Until next time, stay classy!

The Ylands Team

Hey there, Ylanders!

It's me! Your patch notes!





What's new

• New birthday-themed main menu
  
• Added Strong Shark costume asset

Assets
Strong Shark costume asset



Fixes
Fixed: Titles in player settings could not be set.
Fixed: Some collectibles cannot be equipped (e.g. Strong Shark)
[YLD-34808] Fixed: Locked entities on ship cannot be unlocked after travel
[YLD-34418][YLD-20905] Fixed: Water sometimes has holes in the distance when the terrain is loading
[YLD-34602] Fixed: rhododendron can be planted in pots