Dev Diary #75
Hey there fellow ylanders,
This week, let's talk about friends with benefits.
In the next update (before you ask: we don't have a fancy name yet, and yes, it's coming soon(tm)) we will be focusing on the social aspects of Ylands, trying to make sure your adventures are a bit less lonely and it's easier to find like minded individuals to explore with.
One of the coolest and most useful tools in your arsenal for this will be the fancy new "friends list" feature, so let's get to know this piece of code a bit better. Disclaimer: Mr. Friends List is still young - and will probably grow / change / surprise us before he is ready to go public - so please take everything here as "work in progress".
First of all, let's see WHY we are adding this feature to the game:
Now let's dig into the crunchy details! Within and with the friends list, you'll be able to:
Some extra juicy bits for last
So there you have it - a first look at the new friends list feature coming to Ylands. Hopefully you like the direction we are going with this, if yes - let us know how you'll be using it (maybe it will trigger some new ideas), if not - let us know how and what you'd change / add / remove!
That's all folks - for now - stay classy and have a great weekend!
This week, let's talk about friends with benefits.
In the next update (before you ask: we don't have a fancy name yet, and yes, it's coming soon(tm)) we will be focusing on the social aspects of Ylands, trying to make sure your adventures are a bit less lonely and it's easier to find like minded individuals to explore with.
One of the coolest and most useful tools in your arsenal for this will be the fancy new "friends list" feature, so let's get to know this piece of code a bit better. Disclaimer: Mr. Friends List is still young - and will probably grow / change / surprise us before he is ready to go public - so please take everything here as "work in progress".
First of all, let's see WHY we are adding this feature to the game:
- We always wanted Ylands to be a highly social game, where you explore, build and play together with others. And while those things are certainly possible even now, we feel there is room for improvement - and that is the main reason for the friends list, to make it easier and faster to find people to play with
- Amongst other things, the feature will revolutionize the way you communicate with others within the game - gone are the days when you have to use an external solution for this, the friends list will let you chat with whoever and whenever
- An extension of this will be the more streamlined way of meeting others within the game. Since you'll be able to communicate with any of your friends, regardless of their current activity - you will be able to easily set up a game or jump into an exiting one, even from the main menu - with your friends
- At the end of the day, this is just a step (an important one) towards making sure you have to spend less time trying to get into a game and more time playing with your friends
Now let's dig into the crunchy details! Within and with the friends list, you'll be able to:
- search for friends and add them to your friendslist,
- see if any of your friends are online and what games they are currently playing,
- (if possible) directly jump into their game,
- invite them to a game you are currently playing,
- block people you don't want to receive any messages from
- create a “clan”, which is a group of players that play with each other often and can have a special group chat window,
Some extra juicy bits for last
- all invites and requests will be handled through our new notification system
- within the notification you'll be able to accept or reject any invitation / request
- the clan feature will be expanded in the future, to make it more robust
So there you have it - a first look at the new friends list feature coming to Ylands. Hopefully you like the direction we are going with this, if yes - let us know how you'll be using it (maybe it will trigger some new ideas), if not - let us know how and what you'd change / add / remove!
That's all folks - for now - stay classy and have a great weekend!