Dev Diary #163 - Future of the Barrier
tl;dr
- Not happy with the barrier
- Rework of building and map protection
- Removing the barrier
- Adam leaving, Marci filling in
Hey there, fellow ylanders, it's Aleš here!
Today I would like to tell you a bit more about changes you can expect in 1.6's Exploration. We will talk about protecting what's yours and setting the game world rules to fit your idea of the perfect place.
Let's start by saying that we don't really like how the barrier works in the game right now and even though it has served its purpose for a long time we think we could make a better, cleaner, more intuitive solution. Let's first discuss what the barrier is actually good for and how can we make sure these things will still work well when it's gone. The main areas where the barrier came in handy were these:
Not only wasn't the barrier concept very intuitive to new players, but it had several shortcomings (that we always planned to fix, but never got to it). It couldn't be moved when placed. It wasn't big enough. And most importantly, you only had one. This last thing has become a major blocker now with the new Exploration which is actually centred around the idea of travelling among distant locations and even though you can have one home where you return and where you could have the barrier, we feel it's extremely limiting. So we are planning to introduce these features:
The first feature we already covered (see here https://ylands.com/community/topic/29514-dev-diary-160-building-in-exploration/)
We want to give you full control over your games and that's something that isn't possible with the barrier. As a result, the barrier will be removed from the game in 1.6 and in its stead game owners will be able to set up rules on what can different types of visitors do in this particular world. We believe you will find this extremely useful 😊
And then there's another thing I would like to mention. As you probably know, our Community manager Adam is leaving next week. We are currently looking very intensely for a replacement, but before we find one, Marci will try to take care of some of Adam's duties as best as he can. What does this mean? Since Marci has enough work as it is you can experience a bit longer response times on our side. Fortunately, there are already some awesome players who are a great help to us on the forums plus I will ask other devs to keep checking the forum (especially the bug forum). Hopefully, this state won't last too long.
At the same time, if you ever encounter an issue that you consider critical or anything that requires our immediate attention, don't hesitate and PM me directly on our game forums. I will do my best to reply as soon as I can.
That's it for today, we will talk to you again next Thursday and so until then... stay healthy and classy, ylanders!
- Not happy with the barrier
- Rework of building and map protection
- Removing the barrier
- Adam leaving, Marci filling in
Hey there, fellow ylanders, it's Aleš here!
Today I would like to tell you a bit more about changes you can expect in 1.6's Exploration. We will talk about protecting what's yours and setting the game world rules to fit your idea of the perfect place.
Let's start by saying that we don't really like how the barrier works in the game right now and even though it has served its purpose for a long time we think we could make a better, cleaner, more intuitive solution. Let's first discuss what the barrier is actually good for and how can we make sure these things will still work well when it's gone. The main areas where the barrier came in handy were these:
- it allowed players to create buildings they could easily dismantle for whatever the reason was
- it protected your little piece of the world from damage caused by other players, but also it prohibited them from doing things like removing terrain and such
- it protected your avatar against damage
Not only wasn't the barrier concept very intuitive to new players, but it had several shortcomings (that we always planned to fix, but never got to it). It couldn't be moved when placed. It wasn't big enough. And most importantly, you only had one. This last thing has become a major blocker now with the new Exploration which is actually centred around the idea of travelling among distant locations and even though you can have one home where you return and where you could have the barrier, we feel it's extremely limiting. So we are planning to introduce these features:
- improved building via the new workstation (we already covered that here)
- allowing yland owners to set the rules for their maps
The first feature we already covered (see here https://ylands.com/community/topic/29514-dev-diary-160-building-in-exploration/)
We want to give you full control over your games and that's something that isn't possible with the barrier. As a result, the barrier will be removed from the game in 1.6 and in its stead game owners will be able to set up rules on what can different types of visitors do in this particular world. We believe you will find this extremely useful 😊
And then there's another thing I would like to mention. As you probably know, our Community manager Adam is leaving next week. We are currently looking very intensely for a replacement, but before we find one, Marci will try to take care of some of Adam's duties as best as he can. What does this mean? Since Marci has enough work as it is you can experience a bit longer response times on our side. Fortunately, there are already some awesome players who are a great help to us on the forums plus I will ask other devs to keep checking the forum (especially the bug forum). Hopefully, this state won't last too long.
At the same time, if you ever encounter an issue that you consider critical or anything that requires our immediate attention, don't hesitate and PM me directly on our game forums. I will do my best to reply as soon as I can.
That's it for today, we will talk to you again next Thursday and so until then... stay healthy and classy, ylanders!