Ylands News

Hey there, Ylanders!

It's finally here! It's happening! Are you excited? Season 2 of the Creators Competition is finally about to start!


We know you've been waiting for this and we are bringing you all the info you need regarding the second installment in the Creators Competition series.

This time, the competition will be asking you to create Mystery Ylands. Let your creativity on the loose and hit us with a Mystery Yland we've not seen before and we'll reward you for it. So let's get to all the information!




What do you need to do?

Create an original Mystery Yland!

When does the competition start and end?

We're kicking off on September 1, when all the rules and information will become available. The competition will run for about 2 months, with the submission period ending after 6 weeks on October 17. The submission period will be followed by other activities such as social media competition.

What can you win?

$$$ prizes! We have over 7.000 USD worth of cash prizes! But apart from that, every Mystery Yland that will meet the quality standards, which will be published at the beginning of the competition, will get to become an actual Mystery Yland in Exploration!

1st place - 3.000 USD
2nd place - 2.000 USD
3rd place - 1.000 USD
4th place - 700 USD
5th place - 500 USD

Who will be judging the creations?

A panel of developers. We will have representatives from several different parts of the dev team.

What are the judging criteria?

We will specify the criteria in the rules which are going to be published on September 1st. But most importantly we will be looking for creativity and originality.







Let us know what your questions are in the comments and we will make sure to answer them when the competition kicks off next week!


Well, that's that for this week, Ylanders. We sincerely hope you are as excited about this as we are, because every day, we see your wonderful creations and we just cannot wait to see what you'll be able to create this time around.

Stay classy and stay creative, Ylanders!

Hey there, Ylanders!

Today's Dev Diary is, yet again, going to be all about a feature that was heavily requested by our wonderful community and is already very quickly becoming a useful tool for our game designers, who are working with it on new and exciting content for you as we speak! And it will add more spark to Exploration too!

We're talking about Custom Map Markers, a feature coming to Ylands with the 1.8 update. As the name suggests, these are markers that you can see on your world's map. But they go beyond what you know from Exploration. As a creator, you can use them in a variety of creative ways. Want to show the players where the danger lies? Map marker. Alert them to an interesting area to explore? Map marker. Point them to where the coveted reward is buried? Map marker! And to make things even more exciting, you can choose which image you want to use for the marker, what color it is, whether it has background, the color of the background, their size, whether they're static or move with an entity and much more. And don't forget to explore how Custom Map Markers and Fog of War work together in terms of revealing your markers to players as they travel through your world.





We are so excited to see what you can do with those because your creativity just won't stop amazing us!



Yes, Custom Map Markers is a tool that creators may use in their customs games but it is also so much more than that. Why, you ask? We have been working on new content for Exploration and Custom Map Markers will give us much more to work with in terms of using the map as a tool in Random Encounters and in making Mystery Ylands even more exciting and engaging. And we're already working on both so you'll get to see these for yourselves soon!


That's it for now and don't forget to...

Stay Classy!

Hey there, Ylanders!

Here at the Ylands HQ, we've been busy with polishing things up for the upcoming update, which, as we've mentioned in the last few Dev Diaries, is going to be all about improving Quality of Life based on your suggestions. With that in mind, this week's Dev Diary is going to introduce a small thing that will impact not only our talented creators but practically everyone who will launch Ylands.


When you upload your custom game to Ylands, you have the option to choose an image for your creation which will show up as a thumbnail on the main Ylands screen. What we would like to see is more of these images to showcase your beautiful creations! Which is why we want to prioritize games which will have an image uploaded and those will show up before games without one. This way, players can get a better idea what the game they are about to play is about. And our creators can use this as an opportunity to create an interesting image that will draw players in.








If you've made a custom game with a thumbnail before, how did you choose to go about creating the image? Did you take the screenshot route? Or perhaps a collage of interesting assets from the game? Did you add text to the image? Or any other element? Let your fellow creators know so that you can inspire each other!

Players, what has been the most memorable game thumbnail you've seen in Ylands so far?



Well... And that's it for this week, Ylanders!

We'll be in touch next week!

Stay classy!

Hey there, Ylanders!

We hope that you had a great July and as we enter August, we come bearing good news!

When we were going through the feedback you have shared with us for the 1.8 polish update, we couldn't overlook one issue that many of you have with picking up items. It can get tedious after a while when trying to collect all that bamboo for a sweet new blueprint you just placed, right? We get you. More importantly, we hear you! Let us tell you all about what's happening at the Ylands HQ right now:

In order to save your mouse buttons and also your fingers, we started working on a mass pick up function. That's right, the community asked and here we are, working on this massively requested feature.






Before we're able to tell you about how exactly the mass pick up function works, we have to go through a design process that ensures that the best possible solution is developed and implemented. Which is why we need prototypes. Currently there are several prototypes being discussed, developed and tested and while they're all looking super promising, only one will be the one. So keep your eyes peeled, because more on this topic will be coming soon and we will want your input!

The mass pick up feature, of course, isn't the only thing we're working on. We have been getting some amazing feedback regarding Mystery Ylands and we're happy to report that more are on their way, as well as something new and exciting that will make Mystery Ylands even more interesting! Because you see, when you're on a Mystery Yland and you... oh, that's right, we can't tell you just yet! But it will add another marvelous layer to solving mysteries and make them even more appealing.

We hope you are having fun exploring the Mystery Ylands and we will report with another dose of dev news in a week's time!

Stay classy, Ylanders!

Hey there, Ylanders!

We're not gonna beat around the bush too much this week. You know the 1.8 update is going to be the next in the line of improvements to the game. And because it will be mostly a "polishing things up" kind of update, we want to, once again, hear from you!

This time, let's talk about blueprints and compositions. We know they're not, well, the best they can be. We hear you. But we want to do something about it!





So this Dev Diary should serve as a confirmation of the fact that we know, that blueprints and compositions could be better and also as a space to discuss what we can improve! Let us know what what you like and don't like, hit us up with improvements that you would suggest or point out what you think would be a good idea when it comes to blueprints and compositions.

That's it for this week and we look forward to reading your ideas!

Stay classy, Ylanders!