Skystead Ranch News

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• Added a new setting "Always Show Resources UI" (defaulted to off) - When enabled, the resource values in the top left of the screen are always active.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes and Misc[/h2]

• The Skyships no longer restart their enter animation when you exit the cave.
  
• Fixed a bug where some thorn junk objects in the Cave would respawn when you reenter the cave. This may have been related to a bug where objects you build in the cave sometimes would appear floating when you go back in. Please let us know if this still occurs (it is a nightmare to replicate).
  
• Added functionality for using a controller in the shop.
  
• Increased the buying speed in the shop with a controller from 1 second to 0.7 seconds.
  
• When using a controller, we made the settings dropdowns cycle around to the first option when you get to the bottom or top of the list.
  
• Improved the screenshot tool we use to gather images for assets. This should fix three 3 items in the build menu that were missing images as well as fix some light blue artifacting.
  
• Fixed a bug that stopped Skylets spawning where they were at the point of saving the game. This will allow you to make working pens with fences, and more importantly, this will prevent Skylets from being pushed onto the edges and pathways such as staircase down to the lift. (Please Note: If you already have Skylets blocking your stairs etc, then they will still be on the stairs in your save, we intend to add a a new spell that will allow you to carry/move Skylets to clear the blockage).
  

We want to say another massive, heartfelt thank you to all of you for playing, reviewing and enjoying our game! We have been hard at work addressing all of your feedback and hope you've been enjoying the improvements we've been implementing to Skystead Ranch.

From the now usable chests, new camera controls and numerous bug fixes, we are proud of what we have been able to add to Skystead Ranch in a few short weeks! We hope you've enjoyed these changes too and would love to hear your thoughts on what we've implemented as we believe there is always room for improvement! 💖

Here's a breakdown of what else we've been working on and what to expect in the coming weeks.


Something that has been on the roadmap for Skystead Ranch since almost the beginning, is seasons events! With Easter just around the corner, we have begun preparations for the first major in-game event!

Firstly, we need a place for the events to be delivered! Check out the new Event Pier large buildable spot that Laura is working on, it's still a work in progress so check it out in the game when the events begin to see the final product.


[h2]Yolk[/h2]
With the first event being our Easter Eggstravaganza, we of course are adding an Egg-based Skylet! Check our Yolk which Jack created on stream last week! The VOD of this stream is available on our YouTube if you want to see more in-depth behind-the-scenes.


We don't want to give too much away about the event before it goes live, so check back in April to see what magical activities we have in store for you!


A huge thank you once again to our Kickstarter backers who got us over the line for our Beach Island stretch goal! With your help, we are now able to create a whole new island for you all to play on and find even more exotic Skylets!

Coming in the next couple of months is a whole new, free addition to Skystead Ranch. Make sure you have the lift and water wheel built to take the trip down to the beach along with brand new Sand and Deep Water spells! 😎

These new spells will be crucial for you to attract a whole new array of Skylets! Jack is working hard right now to get these cute additions ready! If it loves the hot sands or cool deep water, you can expect to find it with the new additions to your spell book!

This is Nessi, a large, water-based Skylet that you will have to learn how to attract and befriend!



As you can see, they are still a work in progress (hence not having any eyes yet!), but it hopefully gives you an idea of what you can expect with this free addition coming soon!


Another big request from you all is the player house which we are very excited to get working as we planned! Laura has been crafting a variety of in-house furniture for you all to buy and build when the house becomes usable!


You'll notice there are a variety of beds, this is due to the request from players to be able to pass the time quicker when you want day or night to come back around! We didn't originally plan for the ability to skip time in Skystead Ranch but your request for this makes sense to us and so Laura is laying the groundwork for Rob to add this with the rest of the house implementation.

Let us know what you think of the designs!


We're working around the clock to get the roadmap promises implemented along with all of the important bug fixing, so thank you all for your patience in getting this ready! We still have a few bits to do to get up-to-date with the roadmap and these will be getting added in the coming updates.

Rob our programmer is taking a much-needed break over March since he is over 200 hours over his work hours! That's real dedication and we know he needs to take time to fully relax and recuperate. This means there won't be any updates throughout next month, but you can expect to see a whole bunch of big exciting things in April when he's back and ready to go!

Thank you for your understanding and we wish Rob the best break ever to get back to normal! 💖

[h2]Skystead Merch[/h2]
A little treat we've been working on outside of game development is some Skystead Ranch-related merch! From embroidered hats to mugs and posters, we have some exciting things in the pipeline! Keep an eye on our news and website for when these go live to purchase so you can represent your Skylets outside of your Ranch!


[h2]New Features[/h2]

• The Settings Menu now supports controller!
  
• Added press and hold functionality to quickly navigate UI with a controller.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes and Misc[/h2]

• Fixed a bug that stopped Skylet info cards from appearing in the cave.
  
• Skylets can no longer get stuck on any of the Kitchen equipment.
  
• Corrected a typo in the Roadmap screen.
  
• Removed additional engine light from the Sky Island Light object. Now only toon lighting exists as intended.
  
• The cooker now uses toon lighting when activated.
  
• Fixed a bug where when building an object, the forward direction of the object was visible when it shouldn't and vice versa. For example, the Fishing Hole no longer shows this arrow and the Simple Sundial now does.
  
• Fixed a bug where some users got locked into a position where they didn't own the Rock Spell but it was tagged as purchased.
  
• Fixed a bug where purchasing a new buildable item in the shop could sometimes allow you to access an object you shouldn't have access to.
  
• The buildable objects tab in the shop now is split into two sections (purchased and available to purchase). Very much like the Spells tab and the Large Buildable tab, hopefully, this makes the page a lot more satisfying as you can visually see how much you have progressed on this screen.
  
• The Watering Can is now fixed. This is an item that we were using for giveaways for launch. If anyone wants a key for one of these, just message either Toastie_Lee or Toastie_Rob in our Discord 🙂
  
• Minor issue but the default text for which terraforming mode you are in when you first enter the cave now defaults to the intended "Earth".
  
• Fixed a bug where some settings menu items weren't accessible on a controller.
  
• Many controller camera inputs have changed to give better control and to better support the free-look camera setting.
  
• The rail bolts on the cave entrance asset no longer have flipped normals.
  
• Disabled the wind movement effect on the smaller tree asset because the base of the trunk was moving back and forth when it shouldn't.
  
• Fixed an issue with Nomshroom Item causing the player to be pushed around
  
• Fixed the hit box of the Growl Hut so you can walk inside.
  

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• Chests Work! - I know this has been a huge request from the community, so here they are! Chests have an infinite inventory and are linked. So if you have a simple chest on one side of the island, it will magically have the same contents as another simple chest the other side of the Skystead! Each chest type has its own inventory, so wooden and stone chests for example won't be linked. Hopefully this helps you manage some of the vast number of items you will collect.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes and Misc[/h2]

• Flipped the direction the scroll wheel was interacting with tabs the build menu and chest menu.
  
• Fixed a typo of "Crook" in the dig spell description.
  
• Fixed a bug where peoples chosen language was not being re-applied on start up.
  
• Fixed a bug where the popable gems near the cave would stop working if you entered the cave and returned back outside.
  
• Fixed an issue where Mewmew was still set to grayscale when tamed.
  
• Skylets can no longer get stuck ontop of any of the saltbush stages.
  
• Skylets can no longer get stuck ontop of the one stage of the Twister tree that was broken.
  
• Fixed several issues that meant you couldn't destroy some buildables. This includes 7/8 Kitchen objects and all table objects.
  
• Fixed a small bug where when using the new camera settings, the initial state wasn't initialised properly causing a strange camera snap when first loaded.
  
• Fixed an issue where some users save files would break the shaders resulting in everything being rendered as black. We fixed a couple of instances of this bug but if it keeps happening for you, please let us know and send over your save files.
  
• Fixed the Rock Bush stone drop for "Harvested" stage
  
• Fixed Tree HP for Rock, Cheese, Eggshroom and Pine trees
  

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• New Skylet "Cherrish"! - If you read our roadmap post last week, you will already know that we wanted to show our remorse for the state of the game at launch so we made a poll asking the community what they would like as a gift. Unsurprisingly, more than half of you wanted a new Skylet! So meet Cherrish, a Skylet picked by the community, named by the community, and shiny look picked by the community. This won't make an impact on the additional 10 we have committed to for the Beach Island update 🙂 Cherrish won't have any voice lines with this update but we will implement them in future.
  
• New Audio Setting "Skylet Calls" (Default to whatever your SFX slider is set to) - We have split out the Skylet audio into its own subcategory for better control. Previously they were controlled by the SFX slider. We know some of you wanted to dial their voice lines down, but the side effect is that us devs can now turn them up... SHELLY ❤️
  
• New Audio Setting "Skylet Call Chance" (Default to 100%) - Allows you to reduce the chance of Skylets making noises.
  
• New Sensitivity Setting "Zoom Sensitivity" (Default to 1x) - Allows you to control the speed at which you can zoom in and out with the camera.
  
• New Camera Setting "Free Look Camera" (Defaulted to Off) - When enabled, the camera movement changes to a much less restricted 3rd person camera.
  
• New Camera Setting "Hold [Right Click] to look" (Defaulted to On) - When disabled the need to hold the right click to look around is not needed, allowing for a more immersive experience.
  
• New Camera Setting "Camera Shake" (Defaulted to On) - When disabled, the camera will no longer play its shake animation. Like when destroying an object for example.
  
• New Camera Setting "Follow Lag" (Default to On) - When disabled, the camera will always be locked perfectly to the player instead of the slight lag it usually exhibits.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes and Misc[/h2]

• Fixed a bug where occasionally during a lag spike, the camera would spin around the player.
  
• Fixed an error that listed Kitsu's final happiness requirement as 0 Luxury objects which conflicted with an earlier requirement. This has now been swapped to 0 Simple objects which we believe to be the original intention.
  
• Fixed an error that had Faun listed as disliking Nuts twice. Adjusted one of these disliked item tags to be mushroom instead.
  
• "Rock Tree Seed" now is listed as such in the shop instead of "Rock Tree".
  
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't destroy Fire Pits.
  
• Rock Bush now has a hitbox.
  
• Skylets can no longer get stuck on top of a Shiny Bush.
  
• Updated Patreons on the Credits page.
  
• Refreshed Kickstarter Backers on the Credits page. Also broke it down by the tier people backed.
  
• Updated in-game roadmap (we won't be getting much rest in Feb anymore 😢)
  
• Fixed a bug where "Look Sensitivity Y" didn't seem to actually affect anything.
  
• Renamed the "Movement" tab, in the settings window to "Sensitivity" which more accurately represents its purpose.
  
• Renamed the "Visibility" tab in the settings window to "UI" which more accurately represents it's purpose.
  
• Two new Achievements have been added. One for taming the new Cherrish Skylet, and the other for building the nighttime upgrade to the Sky Pier which was added in the last update.
  
• Fixed an issue where Grizzle wouldn't highlight when you tried to interact with it.
  
• Fixed a bug where Skylets would only call when they first spawn and when interacted with. They should no longer call when they first spawn or when you change zones like exiting the cave. They now also randomly call every couple of minutes on their own. Interacting with them still triggers the audio as before.
  
• Loading screen Skylet Icons now features the full 31 Skylet roster.
  
• Adjusted the target point for the camera when using the crook to be 80% between the player and the target point instead of 50%. This will make it much easier to view what you doing.
  

[h2]New Features[/h2]

• New Sky Pier upgrade "Sky Pier Beacons" that allows night time Sky Ships to approach.
  
• Night time only "Observatory" Skyship.
  
• New Daytime Skyship "Minerva"
• Keeper appearances change slightly each time a new Skyship appears.
  
• New "Fast UI Animations" setting (defaulted to off) - When enabled, fading between UI screens is instant.
  
• New "Crook Mode Menu Input" setting (defaulted to Press and Hold) - Can be changed to Toggle which lets you toggle the spell selection UI's visiblity instead of having to hold down a key.
  
• New "Grass Density" Setting (defaulted to 100%) - Allows you to control the amount of grass spawns. Will require a save and load to refresh any currently placed grass but any new grass will respect the setting.
  
• New "High Quality Grass Distance" (defaulted to 10) - Allows you to control how far grass is rendered at full density before reducing for better performance. 10m is the default the game has been operating in so far, this updates in real time so changes should be obvious.
  
• New "Low Quality Grass Distance" (defaulted to 50) - Allows you to control how far the reduced grass extends too, anything after this distance will be ignored. 50m is the defualt the game has been operating with so far and this setting should update in real time.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes and Misc[/h2]

• Fixed the mountain stairs - Some people were reporting that they couldn't complete the build all the way.
  
• Improved Skyship animations
  
• Adjusted the spawn locations for entering and exiting the cave to avoid an infinite loading glitch.
  
• Adjusted the favourite food items for the Spook, Spore, Mewmew, Korgi and Kitsu.
  
• Adjusted the food requirements of Skylets across the board to be more forgiving.
  
• Fixed a bug where Taming a Grizzle will cause the Spook achievement to unlock.
  
• 7 more loading screen Skylet icons.
  
• Made sure the name for the Cat Water Orb is the same in the shop as when held.
  
• Glowshrooms now glow.
  
• Rock Tree Seed item now displays the correct name.
  
• Rock Tree fist stage in the shop now shows the correct plant.
  
• Added missing screenshot assets for the third stage of the mountain path.
  
• Imported new localisations provided by a few incredible community members :heart: you are the best.
  
• New store page assets! Some of you might noticed the AB testing we were doing the past couple of days but today they are hear to stay.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes and Misc[/h2]

• Fixed a bug where the fist stage of the Sky Pier couldn't be built.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes and Misc[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where Skyships would only appear if you waited a full day and night cycle.