Our Development Roadmap

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.

This Week:

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.

Next Week:

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.

February:

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.

Beach Island Update:

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!

Beach Island

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 Piata (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.

Additional Suggested Changes:

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!

An Apology Gift from the Devs

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!

Skystead Ranch V1.0.09 Patch Notes

From Monday's update.

New Features

• 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.

Bug Fixes and Misc

• 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.

[ 2025-01-21 16:38:00 CET ] [ Original post ]