Hi Ylanders!

This week we are going to talk about the competition you could have noticed on the stream or on our social media. After that we will have a look at the naming process, that takes place in our company, together with some funny inside jokes.


Once upon a time our Designer Prokop asked his teammates for new creatures' names ideas. And we thought: "but wait... we have such a creative community, let's bring this to the players!"



Who is this magnificent creature? Where did it come from and what does its name say about it?
Well that's up to you! Send us your idea how to name this elephant insect and the one we like the best will be included in the game!

Send us your ideas over any social media (https://linktr.ee/Ylandsgame) until 20/9/2022 11:59 PM CET.


As we mentioned above, most of the time the naming process is up to the designers and art department (cause some of them chill in the same room you see). We asked Prokop the Designer what the name game usually looks like in the Ylands team.

Who's behind the process of name development in our team?

Prokop: "Do I know the person making up names of most of the assets in game recently? Of course I know him. He's me."

Can you tell me how the naming goes?

Prokop: "The process of creating and naming a new asset is simple. Designers come with an idea of what they need to have in the game, graphic artists then create a concept, which is discussed and confirmed with the asset designer (still me) and if we don't have a good idea for naming it, we brainstorm."

Do you have any funny stories about the naming work progress?

Prokop: "I don't have any funny stories cause it is quite self-explanatory. I don't mean to sound arrogant but I just sit down, look at the model and write something random. That's how I roll. Honestly, the most fun I have is when I manage to create some silly jokes in descriptions of pets and costumes. 'Cause I'm strong both in terms of wits and mustache." (Hm, where does this game reference come from I wonder)

Please tell us about some funny names you use internally during the development of Ylands.

Prokop: "Pteroprd instead of Terrorbird. The language play is quite obvious. But only the Czechs would understand."



Big thanks to our team for always being so on top of things and fun to work with. And of course the biggest thanks goes to our community for being so active, participating on streams and creating amazing breathtaking structures in our game.
I think the name game is in good hands.

Just remember....

Stay classy!

Hey there, fellow Ylanders! 🌴

With thousands of items and hundreds of recipes, crafting has always been quite a tricky part of Ylands. For a long time, we have been gathering feedback and testing various ways of making the crafting user interface more friendly and intuitive. The result of this process is something you will experience in update 1.11.



For now, let us share with you what you can expect in a few points presented by Michael "Khan" Rezabek, the designer responsible for the crafting UI overhaul.

• New crafting offers a new way of sorting recipes - now shown in a vertical tree instead of tiles, it allows for a better, single-screen orientation in recipe categories.
  
• New indicators show the total amount of recipes in each category and how many you have discovered.
  
• Tired of "NEW" notifications flooding your crafting screen? In the new crafting, these notifications will be automatically hidden after opening a category, no need to hover over every recipe.
  
• More information is shown in the right panel after selecting a recipe, no more clicking the detail view to see weapon stats!
  
• Item grouping has been improved to make more sense, for example, clothes are now grouped by sets, not equipment slots.
  
• Multiple other minor visual improvements allow for better clarity.

We are looking forward to seeing how you feel about these changes!


That's it for this week. We'll talk to you soon and until then ... stay classy, Ylanders!

📘 Major Blueprints bugs fixed
👗Costume previews fixed
🏆 Achievement title change fixed
✅UI issues fixed




Fixed:
[YLD-38622] Fixed: The preview of all costumes in the store is blank in a computer.
[YLD-39502] Fixed: Players cannot see themselves on the exploration map after being invited by someone other than the host.
[YLD-39527] Fixed: Some logs do not get placed in blueprints.
[YLD-39405] Fixed: Pickable and interactable entities in Horned Lion Mythical Animal RE are no longer named "-".
[YLD-39620] Fixed: Blueprints created from the following energy entities: Energy Stove, Energy Heater (both sizes), Electrolytic Station, Force Field Door and Spotlights (both sizes, any color), cannot be built (and have no requirements).
[YLD-39636] Fixed: Rafts in blueprints throw an exception upon completion.
[YLD-39526] Fixed: Depositing specific items into a blueprint table could throw an exception.
[YLD-39534] Fixed: Profile detail popup was not updating after title change because it was using cached player data & avatar settings.
[YLD-39359] Fixed: Editor: Clicking RMB on items in containers deselects the container object.

Hey there Ylanders,

This week we would like to tell you about news from me and Nikki.

STREAM

Our first stream together was a blast. We played with Mythical Animals, enjoyed fishing together and started a server where all of us can build together. The server's name is SECRET STREAMERWORLD and you are all cordially invited to flex your creativity there. Please check the rules by the gate or mayor's office first. It was decided among the players that the name of our new founded city should be Fraikiville. Based on our beloved pet mascots: Nikkis's pupper Haiki and Anna's cat lady Frana.

Since we had so much fun with you all we decided to be streaming more regularly. For now, we'll be streaming about once every two weeks on a Wednesday, after some time, we'll have a look at what you enjoyed the most and reassess the streaming schedule based on that! Follow us on Twitch to not miss any of the streams: https://www.twitch.tv/ylands





COMMUNITY CORNER

The good news don't end there. We also started a new category of posts on our social media. We call them Community Corner. There, we will collect your input for the game. We will also use it as a platform to answer your questions and comment on your ideas. So look out for the Corner once a week to see which one of your ideas will become (virtual) reality.




Hope you enjoyed last week as much as we did.

Next week's Dev Diary will once again bring news about what we're working on in the game and what you can look forward to in 1.11.

See you on stream and...

...Stay Classy!

Anna

• Disappearing ship parts fixed
  
• Minor Blueprints fixes
  
• Tutorial bugs fixed
  
• Fixed memory leak issues

[YLD-39511] Fixed: Mountain Talongoat bait recipe no longer requires a whole Heliconia plant (unobtainable). Replaced by Heliconia Seeds.
[YLD-39406] Fixed: Placing an item into the blueprint table should now correctly work in instances when the same item is required for both the Materials tab and as a (decorative) Item.
[YLD-39401] Fixed: Blueprint project table should now correctly recognize tools inside containers.
[YLD-39487] Fixed: A regression where older (for instance, created in Early Access) rented server games could not be deleted.
[YLD-33889] Fixed: A memory leak caused by the game screenshot in the upper right corner of the escape menu.
[YLD-39163] Fixed: Some texts were untranslated (in: exploration map, rented server management, video options).
[YLD-39355] Fixed: Loot container position correctly updates when a boat that has it on board sinks'.
[YLD-39362] Fixed: Excluded some EntityPrototypes from being spawnable by SpawnEntityGen.
[YLD-39181] Fixed: Reduced shader memory by variant stripping, cleared up the reference to massive colour arrays after use. On LowMemoryEvent don't run GC and UnloadAssets every time, variable 15s time.
[YLD-37940] Fixed: Search in inventory now correctly uses localized names of items.


[YLD-39362] Fixed: VS: It is possible to Spawn obsolete entities with scripts.
[YLD-39422] Fixed: VS: Right-click won't open the context menu in pivot edit mode.


[YLD-39407] Tweaked: Foliage from blueprints never grows up.
[YLD-39357] Tweaked: Trees from blueprints don't drop items anymore.


Added: new version of Onboarding

Hey there, Ylanders,

first of all we want to thank you for all the feedback we got on Update 1.10: Ymproved Ylands. We love to see that so many of you enjoy the update. You may be wondering why there are two patches and why their release is planned so close to each other. This is important to mention, as it is all thanks to you (that is a good thing!). You reported issues and we got to fixing them right away, got a patch ready so that the most pressing issues, some of which happen to be fairly easy to fix, can be fixed as soon as possible. While we deal with everything that needs to happen for us to be able to release the patch (remember this Dev Diary? ) we continue working on fixing what needs fixing and start preparing the second patch.

While our QA caught many issues that have already been fixed before the update, you, our wonderful players, have helped us catch a few more pesky bugs and we are very grateful for that. The team is already hard at work and almost all of the reported problems are already fixed on our internal version of the game and will be coming to you in two patches very, very soon.

First Patch

As you may have noticed, there are some issues regarding ships. In the first patch, we are going to fix the "disappearing act" of some blocks, which certain players experienced, when disassembling their ship. This patch should be going live at the beginning of next week.

Second Patch

Patch number 2 will focus on issues related to Blueprints, in which we aim to fix two main issues. The first being that some of the Blueprints were not fully built after depositing all the necessary resources required by the Blueprint. The second being related to dropping tools in the middle of the building process.

All of these issues are connected and overlap. We are working on fixing all the issues reported by you, so please, continue giving us your feedback, continue reporting anything that doesn't seem right and we will keep in touch!

Thank you for your contribution, help and patience.
We love our community.

Stay classy!

Join us on stream!

We will have a little Q'n'A, look at some new features from the update but most importantly play together with you!

https://www.twitch.tv/ylands

Hey there, fellow Ylanders!

So something has happened to Blueprints in 1.10. Former Blueprints are now called Game Blueprints and former Compositions are now Creator Blueprints. Why? Because we felt Compositions and Blueprints had a lot of common functionality and when we added more variety to the former Blueprints it became obvious that merging those two together would make a lot of sense.


Long story short - Game Blueprints are simpler (as in no scripting etc.) and can be used in Adventure, Sandbox and Editor. Creator Blueprints allow capturing more sophisticated things and can be placed in the Editor only.



So what else has changed?





Players are now able to capture Blueprints in the Editor (without all of the previous workarounds...)! Just make a selection and open the "Save As Blueprint" wizard.


A LOT more things are now available for capture in a Blueprint (weapons, tools, items...trees!) and it takes a lot out of the guesswork about which assets you can utilize. For those who want to be really sure, there is a filter in the Entity Catalogue in the Editor.


And as for building the Blueprint in the game - you may notice that there are now two tabs in an active project table. Deposit material in one to build the walls, ship hulls, and car chassis (basically the parts that you can't pick up afterwards) and the other tab collects Items - all the things that you CAN carry around and might want to use as a decoration, for example. If you don't know a recipe for a part of the blueprint or you don't have the right tools to craft it, the project table will tell you and indicate which parts you can't build at the time. PC players can even Stop Building the Blueprint and keep what they built until that point.



Right now you can create just local Blueprints for your own use. In 1.11 you'll be able to share them with others and monetize them.



That's it for this week and we'll talk to you again soon. Until then - Stay Classy, Ylanders!

Hey there, Ylanders! 🌴

The new update is finally here! 🤩

For a while we were wondering what to call it. We knew we needed alliteration, that is what we do, but what should it be? Balanced Balance? Better Balance? First Fperson? None of the names really quite captured all the tweaks, changes and additions. What everything had in common, however, was improvement. And it is improvement done in the way that is uniquely Ylands. Hence Ymproved Ylands. 

So what's happening in 1.10? 

• Mythical Animal taming
  
• Exploration balancing
  
• Beta version of FPS camera
  
• New Blueprints functionality
  
• Actions while mounted on an animal
  
• Main game modes renamed
  
• And many more fixes, tweaks, changes and additions!

⭐ Mythical Animal taming
We added new animal companions that are only for those of you who dare to complete special Random Encounters and follow a famous zoologist on an adventure! The reward is a Mythical animal for you to tame and have as a unique companion in Ylands!



⭐ Main game modes renamed
This change is one that will be obvious right from the start. When you launch Ylands, you will see that the Main Menu artwork is the same but the game mode name tags have changed. We realized that new players might not get much out of the current names, so we decided to change them up a bit to be more descriptive of the fun that is hidden behind them. The main change is that Exploration is now called Adventure - because this is our focus, not just showing you what is it like to travel somewhere, but to experience something more. We haven't changed our focus, it's still a game for all of the adventurers out there - explorers, fighters, and builders.



⭐ Exploration balancing
Since 1.5 we have been focusing on the adventure side of our game. For the last few updates, we've been working on a lot of the pieces that were missing, and now is the time to start putting all the pieces, especially the bigger ones, together. For example, crafting is now an even more rounded and complex feature, as everything crafted or manufactured in workstations takes a different amount of time to be finished. We have changed a lot of other details, like the map legend, weather, temperature system, and resource distribution system, so you will want to travel through all kinds of ylands, craft better tools to get everything done faster with greater efficiency, and be prepared for danger of all kinds - wild animals, monsters, and sunburn. Balancing for 1.10 took the longest time of preparation for this update, but it doesn't mean that it cannot be even better. Please share your thoughts about it with us!




⭐ Beta version of FPS camera
You asked for it, we sat down and worked to make it happen and here it is! We call it a beta because there are still small bugs that you may run into. But it works and fights in caves are now much more enjoyable! Go check it out! 



⭐ Actions while mounted on an animal
We know there are a lot of things that you should be able to do while mounted. So we decided to kick it off with the most requested ones: eating, drinking, reading, and holding certain items. While you enjoy these, we will continue working on the rest of the actions from the list. 



⭐ Fishing Rework
The previous update brought underwater and sea life into the game. Since then we knew that we needed to step it up with the way fishing works. Now you can experiment with different types of rods, biomes, and weather in order to get a more varied haul. Go fishing and catch what others need to dive for!




⭐ Editor enhancements
Apart from the new Blueprints, we have also further improved placing and transformation of objects. The Constraints setting have been simplified and new dedicated "Toggle grid mode" button was added, so there is now more control over the object movement directly from the main toolbar.



⭐ Visual Scripting improvements
As a basis for a larger scale improvement of the user interface and functionality of Visual Scripting, 1.10 brings its first pieces. Multi selection of script tiles, which allows you to move, delete and copy (even between canvases) large pieces of code effortlessly. Also no more whole stack movement, you can now "pop out" single pieces without holding shift. However, to comply with this change, we had to swap the buttons for panning the canvas, which is now moved by holding right mouse button (instead of left). Second addition - Context menu, works in same manner as in the Scene editor and allows you to perform all the script actions without remembering all the key bindings (copy, paste, duplicate, delete etc.).




As always, the new update brings many fixes, changes, tweaks and additions that we implemented to give our players a better experience. We would love to know what you have to say! From our point of view, the effort to bring this update to life was summed up by our Producer, Libor: "Once we decided to focus on the balancing of the Exploration gameplay, we knew that there were two possible catastrophic scenarios. We will change just a few details and nobody will notice it or we break the whole game and it will be disastrous. But, as always, our designers found the right way and we are impressed with all those small details which Ymproved Ylands."



Well, that's that. The update is out, now all that's left for you is to go and play it! And for us to wait for your feedback! And for us all, the biggest task is to...

Stay Classy! ✨


Find the detailed changelog HERE!

Hey there, fellow Ylanders!

We're very excited to let you know that update 1.10 "Ymproved Ylands" has left our doors and after it goes through some external checks, you will get your hands on all the cool stuff it brings (*cough* FPS camera *cough *).

I realized that it might be interesting to explain what is going on with the game build now, and what it has to go through before it gets to you. So let's do it.

At some point, when we feel confident enough about the current state of the game version we're planning to release, we do what is called a "submit".

At that point, the version of the game exists in a specific development "branch" called RC - Release Candidate. This branch is created from the current game code branch that is generally called "trunk" when the data lock happens - when we reached a planned moment when we say "from now on, no new features will be added to the planned update and we just focus on testing and fixing bugs". At that moment, we copy the whole game source code and create the RC branch. It is necessary because some devs are already working on features meant for future updates and the last thing we need is them changing the game parts that have already been tested and approved for the release.

So once we're happy with the state of the RC branch build, we say that it's ready to be released. "Happy" as in "there are known issues, but they are not critical and there are about a million things we would have liked to squeeze into this update as well, but it's too late", not as in "there are zero bugs we're aware of and the update contains absolutely everything we wanted it to contain".





Next, we do what's called a "submission". All platforms have some rules you have to follow and an automatic process that checks your build before it lets you make it public, so we first need to send the game update for approval. On one side of the spectrum is Steam, where you can send pretty much anything and players can access it almost instantly. On the other side is Apple, where the guidelines are very strict and they change quite often and it can take days to find out if there's some issue, so every submission is, for the lack of a better word, fun.

Once we've been approved by all the platforms, we can do the actual release. We let you know that there will be maintenance beforehand and when the time comes, we prevent you from running the game. Every major update requires that we upload it to the backend (pretty much the game servers) and run it there. If we didn't do it, you would download version 1.10 which would try to communicate with the servers running version 1.9 and the game wouldn't work that way.

The actual update process is quite fast so the most of the two hours the game is unavailable to you we test if the connection with servers is working correctly and everything runs as expected. If we find a problem we fix it and if it takes a longer time than expected, the maintenance window is made longer.

So now, when you (hopefully) see the maintenance message sometime next week when you run Ylands, you'll know that somewhere in Prague, in a large glass building we are frantically trying to make things work so that you can enjoy "Ymproved Ylands" (the update, which, by the way, was originally named "Balanced Balance" :D ).

That's it for this week and we'll talk to you again soon. Until then - stay classy, Ylanders!