Lightyear Frontier News

Howdy, exofarmers! Can y’all believe the Making it Home update drops tomorrow?! We’re practically jumping outta our boots with excitement!

[h3]New Additions to Photo Mode[/h3]



Today, for our final devlog before the update, we’re sitting down to chat with Cornelis – Lead Technical UI Designer, Writer, and Co-Founder – about the new features coming to the in-game Photo Mode.

Howdy, Cornelis! What kinda things have you been wrangling with on this project?

I’ve been taking the lead on the design and development of the new updates and additions to Photo Mode! This involves figuring out what settings and features could add the most value, before prototyping these and testing them internally. After seeing what works (and what doesn’t…), I begin the final implementation and involve artists and programmers where needed.



Tell us about all the new updates to Photo Mode, will ya?

Nine new updates and additions are coming to Photo Mode with the Making it Home Update:

1. Stamps: We've upped the ante from just two stamps to a whopping 20!
   
2. Stamp Position: Choose from nine different spots on the screen to place one of those new stamps.
   
3. Frame: What was once "Cinematic Mode" is now "Frame" – with four extra options added. More ways to frame your epic shots!
   
4. Player Signature: Give yourself some well-deserved credit by adding your Player ID to your screenshots.
   
5. Composition Grid: Easily line up those perfect shots with a handy 3x3 grid overlay!
   
6. Camera Path: Save up to 15 camera positions and create a smooth sequence by pressing play. Perfect for capturing the action!
   
7. Mech/Exofarmer Emotes: Strike a pose! Use the new Emotes Feature to activate emotes in Photo Mode and pose your character just right.
   
8. Mech/Exofarmer Emote Position: Emote animations are frozen in Photo Mode to make it easier to get the desired shots. Now you can position them exactly where you want!
   
9. Time Freeze: When entering Photo Mode in single-player – time stands still! Characters and effects freeze in place, making it easier to capture dynamic shots.
   

Wow, that's a lot of new features! Wrangling those into shape must've been quite the task. What's been the biggest challenge?

One of our main goals with the Photo Mode – and also its greatest challenge – is to keep the experience as approachable as possible. Virtual photography can quite easily get convoluted and complicated due to the endless possibilities in the form of ratios, alignments, lights, values… to only name a few. We don’t want to scare any curious newcomers away with too many options! But we also want to give our community as many fun and interesting settings as possible, to allow them to take the most expressive shots! This balancing act is, and will probably continue to be, the biggest challenge to overcome.



Now, how are you hoping to see our community use these new features?

Aside from new cool photos, I’m hoping to see a lot of interesting videos and GIFs due to the new Camera Path and Time Freeze features! I think there are a lot of opportunities here to make really dynamic-looking content in poses and positions we haven’t seen before.

To wrap this up, what can we hope to see in Photo Mode in the future?

There has been some testing on having the exofarmer character’s head follow the camera position, allowing more selfie-style photos – which I think could be very cool! So here’s hoping we get around to it in the near future!



What features are y'all most excited about? Hop on our Discord channel and let us know! And for the love of mechs, do NOT forget to tune in for the new update tomorrow, ya hear?!

Happy farming!


TL;DR

Nine new features are being added to the in-game Photo Mode with the upcoming update, including more stamps and stamp positions, frames, the ability to add your Player ID, composition gridlines, camera path ability with up to 15 camera positions, mech and farmer emotes with emote positioning, and time freeze upon entering Photo Mode.




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[h3]Howdy, exofarmers![/h3]

We’ve got BIG NEWS for y’all. We’ll be Making it Home by June 26th!

That’s right! Our first big update, previously known as Mini Update 1, is landing on your edge of the planet in just 2 days! This update comes with some of YOUR most requested Quality of Life improvements – and a heap of new decorative items to discover and build!

Get excited for:

• Better storage and inventory management
  
• Map markers
  
• Farmer and mech emotes
  
• Plantable bush sprouts
  
• New mech sets
  
• Wall-mounted decorations
  
• And more surprises!
  

We’re also squashing bugs and tweaking some features, including daylight time and Lola’s visiting hours.

Now, mark your calendars and set your alarms. Steer your mech over to our Discord server and let us know which new features you’re most excited about! We can’t wait to see what y’all create with this update.

See you in the Frontier!



[h3]Frequently Asked Questions[/h3]

Q: Will this update add story progression?

A: While we are hard at work continuing the story and bringing y’all more regions to explore, this update is focused on adding QoL improvements and new items.

Q: Will you add interiors to the game?

A: We hear y’all, and we know this has become a popular request! It’s something we’ve definitely been considering. However, due to the complexity in the way we’ve originally designed our game, we’ve decided to prioritize other features for now.

Q: Will the in-game days be longer?

A: We’ve tweaked the settings to extend daylight time and shorten the nights, giving y’all more time to get your daily tasks done before the dark settles. The overall real-time duration of an in-game day remains unchanged. While we’re exploring the possibility of lengthening the day, we first want to hear what y’all think of this new adjustment. We’re listening to your feedback!



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[h3]1,000,000 Thanks[/h3]

Y’all, we can hardly believe it – we’ve hit the mighty milestone of over one million unique players! That’s a whole lot of exofarmers roaming the Frontier! From the bottom of our rusty ol’ hearts, THANK YOU for playing, sharing, and enjoying Lightyear Frontier!

We’re over the moon excited to continue the journey to full release together with y’all. Stay tuned for more news about our first update, landing on your edge of the planet really soon!

Happy farmin’!

Howdy, exofarmers! As we continue our journey and approach our first major update, we want to address some of your feedback and concerns. Today, our CEO, Joakim Kopriva Hedström, is here to update y’all about our monthly mech sets.

[h3]Available For All, Forever[/h3]

“As of today, we are making the May mech set retroactively available for anyone logging into the game. In addition, we will make both the May and June mech sets available forever going forward.

We hear your feedback loud and clear, and I want to personally apologize for missing the mark with the monthly skins.

Our intent had been to give you a reason to pick up and play the game between our content releases, but instead it had the opposite effect, making people feel discouraged if they missed the first one and anxious about missing future sets even if they had claimed it. I'm truly sorry for creating this negative experience.

Going forward, any future mech sets we had planned for monthly releases will instead be baked into regular game updates. We might still utilize the mailbox functionality to unlock new rewards in the future (like seasonal mech sets and decorations) but they would then be permanently available from that point on.

Thank you to everyone who shared their feedback on the monthly skins. Throughout Early Access we will continue to strive towards the goal of making Lightyear Frontier the best it can be, and that is only possible thanks to the vocal passion of you, the player.

Our next step in improving the game comes with the Making it Home update, which is now in its final stages. We can't share a release date until the build has completed certification, but we are aiming to have it out before the end of June.

Thank you for being ever so patient with us and continue to give us your feedback, we appreciate every word!

Joakim Kopriva Hedström - CEO"





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Howdy, exofarmers! We reckon y'all have been eagerly awaiting us to share more details about the Making it Home update, heading your way soon! Well, today's the day, 'cause we're fixing to do just that with a brand spanking new devlog!

[h3]New Decorations for Your Farm[/h3]



We had the pleasure of chatting with our artists Christina and Jonas about some of the most exciting new content coming with the update – new decorations!

Howdy, Christina and Jonas! Who are y’all, and what do you do?

C: Hellooo, I’m Christina! I'm a combination of a 3D and 2D artist. I primarily make props, but sometimes I get the chance to work on some concept art.

J: Heyo, Jonas here. I'm a bit of a 3D generalist, but most of my time right now is spent making constructs, mech parts, or various shaders (basically materials with nice effects).



We’re throwing in a whopping 57 new decorations to the game, and we're fixing to introduce a whole new category for Wall-Mounted Decorations! What's been your role in bringing these to life?

C: My biggest responsibility has been to create some walls to allow for hanging decorations to be placed and to section off parts of the player's farm if needed. Once I got some basic walls done, I helped make some of the decorations themselves!

J: I've pretty much just pumped out as many decorations as possible within the allotted time frame. I've mostly focused on more techy stuff just to keep the sci-fi element of our game present, but I've also done some more traditionally farmy stuff!



Do y’all have a personal favorite among all these new decorations?

C: I love the aesthetic of the dartboard that Jonas made! I guess they're kind of nostalgic and remind me of summers spent with my family, so I have a soft spot for them. As for one that I made myself, I think it's the set of posters. They're silly and hand-drawn!

J: I think the Fire Extinguisher is my favorite. Can't quite put my finger on why. It looks cute, I guess! Maybe it reminds me a bit of F.L.U.D.D. from Super Mario Sunshine.



Lastly, are there any decorations y’all are hoping to add in the future?

C: Personally, I'm very excited for neon signs. I think they would take our players' farms to the next level!

J: While not a top priority right now (things can change in the future), I hope we can get house interiors into the game at some point. That would open the door (pun intended) for a lot of fun, new decorations!



We’re excited to see what y’all are gonna create with these new decorations! Those farms are gonna look downright dandy. Swing your mech on over to our Discord server and let us know what decorations y’all are most excited about!

Happy decorating, exofarmers!


TL;DR

• A total of 57 new decorations are being added with the new update
  
• Wall-mounted decorations will be a new item category
  

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