Ylands News

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!