Ylands News

Aleš Ulm, Creative Director of Ylands

Hey there, Ylanders!

It's been some time since we last talked, right? I've been sooo busy with getting 1.0 through the door that I barely have time for anything else.

What later became Dev Diaries had started on 12th July 2016. I've been talking with you about our plans, achievements and fails for quite some time and now, when there's big news to be told, I'm here again to both tell you about it and then discuss with you any potential concerns.

Let's cut right to the chase: with version 1.0 Ylands goes Free to Play, or to be more exact, most of it is. For new players, Exploration will be available in a separate Exploration pack whilst Early Accessers will already have this pack and all that comes with it.


Why are we doing this?

Ylands is predominantly a creators platform. For a platform, it is crucial to be available to as many players (and creators) as possible. Because of this, changing to a Free to Play format is a logical step. With this one "simple" step, suddenly a massive number of players will be able to access Ylands, play it and create new content. There will be more creators resulting in a higher quality of games and more players to play these games (monetized or not). We never wanted the premium model to be what keeps this beautiful platform alive in the future - this can be achieved only by a strong and transparent ecosystem with enough creators and players.

At the same time, we believe strongly that Exploration brings a unique experience and is worth the money. With 1.0 it will get a lot better and we will keep enhancing it for many years to come. However, please note, that currently, Exploration will be available only on the PC, not mobile devices. The reason for this is simple: We don't want to compromise the PC Exploration experience for the sake of the Mobile version.

Also, one thing needs to be clearly said. Even though this is an add-on, this doesn't mean we are planning to add others like this one. We are not in the "DLC" business. It's just a convenient way how to make an already existing specific part of Ylands premium on Steam. We are focusing all our work on making all of the different aspects of the game better, be it Exploration, Sandbox Mode, Playlands or the Editor.



How much will the Exploration pack cost?

We are planning to sell the Exploration pack containing the Exploration mode, a hefty amount of Coyns and some cool cosmetics and pets for 20 USD. Early Accessers, of course, won't have to buy this, as they'll already have the Exploration mode unlocked and they'll get the extra items and Coyns upon release.


What about you, the players who already bought Ylands in Early Access?

You helped us get where we are now and we will not forget. It goes without saying that for you nothing changes - basically you already own Exploration. In addition to that, you'll get every bonus that those who buy Exploration separately get (a truly epic special costume, a great pet and coyns). And on top of that the promised pet that only you, the Early Access supporters will own.

When planning this, the most important thing on our mind was to make sure this doesn't affect you in a negative way. I'm happy to say that you will always be the ones who get the best deal because you stuck with us for all those years.


What will happen to coyns you currently possess and all your purchases?

You will keep all your coyns, purchased costumes, pets etc. as we move into 1.0.


What does this mean for Ylands itself?

If anything, the only change you'll probably notice will be us putting more continuous effort into making the Exploration mode more awesome. Ylands will release as a free game for everyone with the mobile version being also free. This will mean, that anyone will be able to make a game on their PC and jump right on to their mobile device to play it there and share their game with their friends and others in the community.

The mobile platform truly lends a huge new aspect to the game, because for creators it brings a brand new audience to create for and connect with and in the future, once we also release on Android, anyone anywhere will be able to join in the fun of Ylands. We believe this will really help Ylands grow as a platform and it will also serve as a gateway for players to then go and download the game on their computer as well because they'll want to try out the more majestic creations, that only a PC can offer.


We understand that this is a big change and we're ready to discuss all your concerns until there are none.


Thank you for your patience, support and for staying classy!

Hey there Ylanders!

The release is creeping closer and with it more and more exciting news! We are fixing more and more issues and these will be implemented in the coming weeks. But we’re also improving a lot of features, and we’ll talk about these today.

But first a small bit of news. Upon release, we’ll be changing the name of Explore to Exploration. This is because we feel this reflects more on the nature of the game mode. Also, we’ll be changing the name of ‘Create’ to Sandbox, because we’ve had feedback telling us, that people mistake Create for the Editor and thus miss out on a whole world of creativity. Sandbox also fits into the image we want this mode to have and we trust, that it will make the Menu more understandable and clearer.

But that’s just an insignificant little titbit of info, that pales to the news that follows. Because we have some exciting stuff to share with you about Exploration!

First of all, the Map. The map has been for long a staple of the game but we felt it needed a bit of love. That’s why we have put our heads together and came up with a few new features I think you’ll appreciate. For one, the map will not be an item anymore, but rather a basic function available to every player by simply pressing the M key. Furthermore, the player will finally not be lost on his map but will be able to see his own position on it. The map will also be highly customisable with the possibility of dropping markers of different colours and icons, so the player will be able to make the map his own. There will also be a clear edge to the map, so players don’t sail on into the abyss without ever finding Ylands. This doesn’t mean, that players won’t be able to sail to the blue void, but now it’ll be clear, that there is nothing to find there. This map will be available in Exploration and in the Sandbox, but not in Custom Games yet. This is because games made in the Editor are usually very unique and we don’t have a way of reflecting this in the map, but we are working on a way of putting a map into Editor games as well.





As I have mentioned before, the number of Ylands will be smaller in Exploration, but that doesn’t mean, that there will be less to do. In fact, the exact opposite! That is why we’ll be applying Tiers to Ylands. Different Ylands will have different Tiers and to successfully thrive in a higher tiered Yland, a player should first master the lower-tiered Yland. This will make a greater sense of progression in Exploration while also differentiating Ylands from each other in difficulty and content. The Ylands will also be all unique and full of different things to do, enemies to fight and lairs to destroy and loot.

Another new improvement a bit connected to the one mentioned above will be the change we’re bringing to spawn points in Exploration. While at the beginning of the game you will spawn at an easy-going and player-friendly Yland, you can, later on, build a bed. And this bed will become the players' new spawn point, so once the player logs out and returns, he’ll spawn in his comfy bed 😊 Now this will only work with beds and not with sleeping mats, so be careful of that. Also, a bed can be destroyed by another player, though you can protect it in a protective barrier. But if your bed gets destroyed while you are still in the game, you will get a notification of this and you’ll thus have time to make another bed. If your bed does get destroyed while you’re outside of the game, you will then spawn upon return back at the ‘beginners Yland’.



And that’s it for now Ylanders. It is all exciting and we are really gearing up for the upcoming release. But let me stress, that we are also hard at work fixing all the issues, that have been posted here, and others that we found ourselves, so this is in no way the only items we’re concentrating on 😁

Look out for more news here and on our other platforms and most importantly,

stay classy Ylanders!

Hey there Ylanders!

I am a bit indisposed this week, but why should you suffer?! In fact, you'll be better off, because I'm not going to blab too much and images will do the talking.

There has been some talk in the past, that there aren't any new objects and blocks in the game. Well, we've been working on some new items for you and decided to show you some of these. Most of them are modern-day objects but we're also unveiling the new Alpha mutants! So beware of those 😊 Of course these aren't all the things we're adding in, there are many more, but just a little taste 😉

And that's all from me for now and you Ylanders enjoy the images and most importantly: stay classy Ylanders!

Hey there Ylanders!

I have to say, preparations for 1.0 are ramping up and everybody here is looking forward to the next few months of hard, but exciting work. And with that, I thought I’d share with you a few updates on future features and what is the situation with certain aspects of the game.

So as I promised last week, let’s talk about the water. As you know, water isn’t what it used to be for some time now. The trouble is, that water right now is hardcoded to be at level zero and once it’s put somewhere else, it starts breaking other things in the game. But our team is working on an improved simulation for water, but it won’t get into the game until after the release of 1.0. But that will be one of our top priorities post 1.0.

On the other hand, Explore is the talk of the day, since that will be getting the greatest of facelifts. As I mentioned before, there will be fewer Islands in a map, but that doesn’t mean there will be less to find. We are doing this because we want to make every Island unique and fun to explore rather than finding a third Taiga Island and floating away in disgust and boredom 😁 In this “improved” Explore every Island will be worth discovering. That is another thing coming to Explore: DANGER. You won’t be able to go to sleep at night safe in knowing, that all the animals are also going to sleep. No. Mutated bears and wolves will be coming out of their caves to hunt! And you are the prey 😱 Now you’ll be able to get rid of this danger on every Island, but you’ll have to ‘conquer’ the cave responsible for the beasts. And the lair will always be guarded by an alpha-monster protecting its home. But if you defeat this powerful enemy, you’ll be able to stop the spawning of dangerous animals on that Island 😊



In other news for Explore, while there won’t be regenerating resources (yet), we are working on it. In the meantime though there will be more resources on the map as a whole and you might even be able to look to the sea to provide 😉 And some resources should be on every Island, so you’re not hampered early game by having bad luck and not having a specific resource at hand. And for those worried about the smaller number of Islands, do not fret, because we are also working on the concept of ‘Connected Worlds’. We have talked about this in the past, but in short, this should give you the possibility to jump to another game through a portal and keep playing, giving creators countless possibilities 😁 We are doing our best to bring this feature to you as soon as possible.

And that’s it for now, so have fun and stay classy Ylanders!

P.S. I’ll be on holiday 🏄‍♂️ next week, so expect less of my presence on the forums and also less content throughout the week (no Ynterview for example). But I will be preparing a Dev Diary (albeit probably not as ‘meaty’) so there’s that to look forward to 😊

The 0.14 update Playful Platform is out and it's a Big One! Many new features have found their way Ylands and while it is fun to explore and find them for yourself, we also made a handy video with Aleš, Tomáš and Daniel talking about all the different aspects of the update.

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In our second video, we take a closer look at the monetization feature more closely. Creators will be able to monetize their creations for the in-game currency Coyns, thus encouraging them to make even bigger and better games for all of us!

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And that's it, so enjoy the videos, the update and the game and most importantly...

stay classy Ylanders!