Skystead Ranch News

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.
  

Thank you to everyone who has played the game and left valuable feedback! Be that from directly messaging us on Discord or by leaving a game review, we are working to take it all on board and include your suggestions or frustrations into the development plan for Skystead Ranch.

We hope to make Skystead Ranch as enjoyable as possible for all of you and lift any worries or curiosity about the future of our game.

Your bug reporting is taking priority on what we will change first, but additional features and overall gameplay changes are also on the to-do list. We've broken down the updates into weekly updates, check out the breakdown here.



Please Note: Like with all of our games, we like to give players the choice of using new features and changes. So for most of the features and changes listed below, there will be a toggle setting (in the settings menu) to allow you to revert back to the original controls etc.

[h2]This Week:[/h2]
We've already released a Monday patch for some weekend-reported bugs and quick changes, check out the V1.09 Patch notes at the bottom for details.

Bugs or problems we're fixing:

• Buying an item from the shop whilst holding an item causes you to lose both items.
  
• The game feels laggy when playing on uncapped FPS; We're going to add graphical settings to give you better control over the FPS.
  
• Skylet hunger bar drops too quickly.
  
• The controller is not working in the shop.
  
• Getting stuck going in and out of the mine; We will make the game spawn the player further in the mine, preventing being pushed out or accidentally leaving.
  

Features and changes we're making:

• Radial menus and the Field Guide are slow at loading in and out.
• Adding a night-time Skyship to stop progression stagnation when the Ship leaves for the day; this will be a Street Light upgrade on the Skypier, we don't want them crashing into the island after all!

*The Next two changes are big changes so will likely see progressive updates over the coming weeks, but implementation will begin this week.

• Adding Chest Storage; We hear your feedback on needing the ability to hold more than one item at a time as well as the option to clean up your dropped items. We are going to add a global chest storage system (Think Ender-Chests in Minecraft) so you can build chests throughout your Sky Island, any items you put in any chests will be accessible from all of the chests you have built. (Additional features like Storage organisation and Shop-to-Chest linking can be considered and implemented once we get the main storage system released.)
• Camera control rework. This is a big one, both from your feedback and the work needed to address, so thank you for your patience in getting this rolled out. This is two-fold, firstly we are going to look at the fixed camera angles and add a solution to allow players to have more freedom in looking around, including being able to look up and down! Secondly, and more importantly, we're going to redesign the camera controls and feel when using the Crook modes for terraforming, building and destroying/digging. We're thinking of implementing more of a "God-mode" camera when using these spells to make it more intuitive. We'll be grateful for more feedback once it's released.

[h2]Next Week:[/h2]
Bugs
These bugs are penned in for next week as they require more diagnosing from us before being able to be fixed, that being said, if they get fixed earlier, we'll push the fixes earlier too. 🤞

• Building in the cave is glitchy, some built items will be floating when you re-enter the cave and some are deleted altogether.
  
• Can't build the Mountain Path after paying for all the upgrades in the shop.

Features and Changes

• More Tutorial; this was something that fell behind in development due to us underestimating the amount of work needed to add Voice Lines to every stage of the tutorial. We are using this opportunity to add in what you have mentioned you feel is missing from helping you understand what to do next, as well as what we already had planned to add/complete the tutorial.
  
• Being able to cancel out of the petting Skylet animation
• Reworking the Multiuse crops (and carrying system), like Carrots and Candy Corn; We were never 100% on the circular health icons that show in the bottom left when carrying the carrots (or other multiuse crops) so we're planning on changing how the crops are carried. We're going to add the ability to physically stack items in your hands, so if you interact with 5 carrots to pick them up, your character will be running around with a precarious, tall stack of carrots in their hands that can be fed or planted individually.
  
• Adding a warning message to the shop for Large-Buildables that don't unlock new islands (yet).
  
• Adding a setting to allow you to reduce the frequency of how often Skylets say their own name.
  
• Adding a setting to allow you to change "Hold R" to "Toggle R" to open and close the radial menus.

[h2]February:[/h2]
No bugs here! Just new features. That being said, we will still prioritise any bugs that get reported between now at February which will potentially affect the implementation of new features slightly.

Features and Changes

• The House! We're so sorry this wasn't ready in time as it is such a big part of the game progression, This will be fully added in February with all interior upgrades.
  
  • A Bed/Bedroom to pass the time from day to night or night to day (Not on our initial design for Skystead Ranch, but something that is requested and fits the game)
• Working Skylet Feeders; Items with the "Feeder" tag (like the Wooden Troughs) are intended to be able to be filled with food, allowing you to easily feed your island full of Skylets.
  
• Reworking the Tool Sound Effects; we were never fully set on the SFX for the spells, and it's something you've noticed too.
  
• Reworking the Farming, Dig > Grow > Harvest loop; Having to harvest your crops, put them down, re-dig the hole, and then pick up and plant the crop again can be tedious when you have a larger farm (I'm tired just reading that process). Therefore we are going to make it so the holes from harvesting crops remain dug which will significantly reduce the work, and click load of the player. You will be able to harvest and replant in just 2 clicks of the mouse.
  
• Rebindable Keys
• Selling unwanted items; By the start of February you will be able to store items in a chest, use them, or bin them - why not sell them too?
  
• Working Sundials; Another feature we have had on the backburner is sundials to tell when day/night is coming. The way we are going to implement this feature is, if you build a sundial on your island you will get a UI indicator that matches the sundial and shows how long is left until dawn/nighttime (Don't question how sundials work at night). If all goes the plan, the sundial icon will change depending on what Tier of Sundial you have added and might even be more accurate if you build more expensive sundials.
  
• Better/New Farming indicators; Right now if you plant a crop or tree too close to something else and it doesn't have room, it will stop growing, we will add some element of UI or indicator to show that a plant can no longer grow in it's current conditions. With enough time we will also add the following:
  
  • Indicators for how long is left for the current crop to grow to the next stage.
    
  • Watering your crops to speed up growth; This will not be a penalising mechanic, crops will not die if they are neglected, they will just grow faster when tended.

[h2]Beach Island Update:[/h2]
Post-Febraury, we will be looking to launch our Beach Island Update, a free addition to the game courtesy of our Kickstarter backers helping us reach a stretch goal!
[h3]Beach Island[/h3]
That mysterious Lift and Waterwheel upgrade will be needed to access the Beach island. This island will be underneath your existing Sky Islands and will be the key to unlocking both Deepwater and Sandy biomes, both of which will be needed to attract up to 10 more elusive Skylets that love to bask in the sun or catch the waves! 😎


With this update, we will be looking to also add the following Features and Changes:

• Upgrades to your spells; Right now once you have a new spell like the meadows spell for example, you can use it to its full capacity. From your feedback, we are re-adding an idea we discussed in early development where you can upgrade all of your spells. This means new spells will only be available in smaller sizes and you will have to unlock and upgrade your spells to be able to cast them in wider areas. This will give you a sense of progression as you become more skilled in your use of growing grass or summoning rock.
  
• Skylet Houses; These can be built and are currently only decorative items that improve the appeal of your island, we want them to function as actual Skylet houses where the linked Skylet will sleep, and maybe even lay eggs or produce materials.
  
• Making untamed (or unwanted) Skylets leave your Island; 🥺 This is a mechanic in Viva Piñata (Which we used as inspiration for Skystead Ranch) that we purposefully left out of Skystead Ranch as we thought it was mean, that being said, your islands can indeed become cluttered with grey Skylets you have no interest in befriending, therefore we will add some buildable items, like Totems or other Scarecrows, that will prevent each type of Skylet from wanting to enter your Ranch.

[h2]Additional Suggested Changes:[/h2]
The following are suggestions from your feedback that we are not adding to Skystead Ranch (yet) and our reasons why. But we are open to discussion regarding these features and want you to know we are listening to everything you say and are happy to work with you to make Skystead Ranch a game we all dream of.

• Quests; This is a great idea, especially for expanding the purpose of the Shops and can be tied to unlocking new items and spells. However, some of the requests for this are to help guide you on what to do next, hopefully, the finished tutorial will help you with this instead. As well as this, a quests system would be a very large addition to the game and require a lot of resources to implement - we need to make smart decisions on what to focus our efforts on as a small Indie Games Studio.
  
• Charatcer Customisation; A highly requested idea that we would love to be able to add. However, similar to Quests, we just don't have the scale at the moment here at ToastieLabs to add customisation. We made the decision early on in development not to add this for this exact reason. We'd not only need to design, model and texture each custom option, but we'd need to fully re-do all of the animations to make sure each custom item doesn't clip or bug. You never know, if we get lucky and see some serious growth in our team, we'd love to revisit this option.
  
• Sprinting or Running; A request in relation to help speed up the gameplay, we made a conscious decision in developing and designing Skystead Ranch not to have a running feature in order to lean more towards the cosy and relaxing feel of the game. Nothing in Skystead Ranch should be pressing or urgent enough to require you to run to it in time. We hope that addressing the night-time issues and storage/carrying abilities will help you agree that running just isn't a needed feature.

I will emphasise though, that we are always open to discussion. We like to be as transparent as possible here at ToastieLabs and love to hear your input. Please comment on this post or join our Discord to chat about your ideas and feedback. Thank you!


Thank you again for playing Skystead Ranch and giving us your valuable feedback.

We, like you, are not 100% happy with the condition of the game on release and want to apologise for the rushed result of the launch. We know we can do better.
As well as fixing the issues reported, we want to offer you a free game update that will add a whole new "thing" to the game for you to enjoy.

Please vote in this Strawpoll to have your say in what we can add to Skystead Ranch to best apologise to you. https://strawpoll.com/X3nkPAXdPgE


From all of the devs here at ToastieLabs, Thank you! 💖



From Monday's update.
[h2]New Features[/h2]

• Happy Bigby now produces honey when interacting with them.
  
• Happy Brie now produces milk when interacting with them.
  
• Cave Gems now animate in when they spawn and have a destruction particle effect.
  
• Skylets favourite items are now tracked in the field guide. Feed a Skylet the correct item to discover this detail.
  

[h2]Bug Fixes and Misc[/h2]

• Fixed a bug where if you were using the Kickstarter cosmetic bags it would cause the player to jump around when building.
  
• Fixed an issue that would sometimes stop Skylets from spawning during long playthroughs.
  
• Mac support is correctly labelled on the store page. (64 bit & Silicon support)
  
• Updated Discord Rich presence text to be more dynamic.
  
• Nomshroom and Glowshroom items now have the Mushroom tag instead of the Vegetable tag.
  
• Money objects vary is scale slightly now.
  
• Skylets favourite items are now set correctly.
  
• Fixed a bug where a Skylets completion percentage would be marginally out.
  
• Added a new Skyship to the main menu screen (a little teaser for an update coming later this week.
  
• Added grass to the main menu.
  
• Added another 6 loading screen Skylet pictures.
  
• Glowshroom plants now have the correct mushroom tag applied.
  
• Brie is now fully tamable.