Updates to the Game

Alpha 59 was released April 22nd, 2022 and featured a map expansion on the western side of the map. This expansion opened up access to a large new lake, streams, ponds, waterfalls, forested regions and beachfront.

This update also implemented a new system for trees. The new trees support wind simulation, seasonal changes, large-scale instance meshing, etc. The new area of the map is mostly populated with these new trees and eventually the developer hopes to transition the old trees on the rest of the map as new species are introduced.

With the expansion new underwater space with deep water was added, there are plans for new caves here however were not implemented in this update.

For building, new triangular building pieces were added.

Fruits and Vegetables now perish overtime. To assist in food preservation Vegetable Chutney was added which requires a boiling pan on the oven and does not require refrigeration to be kept indefinitely.

Dropped kits after death now last for 4 minutes longer on normal, and 5 minutes longer on easy. Hardcore does not have dropped kits unless it is a dedicated server which has a 2 minute timer.

Also added was new rock geometry, increased shadow distance and new steam store cosmetic purchases.

Notable fixes include: increased FOV, added culling to distant landscape, increased beehives during the summer months, greatly reduced noticeable texture seams for snowy terrain, attempted to resolve reported bug of river sounds cutting out audio, changed campfire repair recipe to only include sticks and fixed compass showing during loading screen.

### Alpha 58 - December 18th, 2021

**Eagles and Glider Update**

Eagles now nest in the high mountainous rocky areas. They leave their nests to scout for fish and small game (rabbits and chickens). They will snatch a hooked fish or steal a small game kill from players. If the player shoots at an eagle it will drop the prey and the player can take it.

Eagle nests are added on rock formations and players will need climbing axes to gain access to the nests. Looting these nests yields Pristine Eagle Feathers. Eagles will become aggressive if they spot you tampering with their nests, so be careful. Note: Killing an eagle will damage it's feathers, so looting from its nest is the only way to acquire pristine feathers. Eagle kills are also now tracked in player stats.

Hang gliders can now be crafted from the workbench. The glider does take damage over time and requires Pristine Eagle Feathers to craft and maintain.

New hunter bases were also added which takes advantage of newer building pieces and base items previously unavailable. Also added a system which tracks which bases get destroyed so hunter squads can alternate through different designs when respawning.

New items: glass wall half, Christmas tree, animated models for dropped fish, weapon/clothing/item cosmetics,in-game tip for chopping ice holes, and cave entrances now show on the map.

Notable fixes include: Performance/lag improvements at scale, increased mountain rock geometric detail, increase to server build cap, dedicated server remote API, physics based butcher animations, fixed animal corpses disappearing in MP games, bases go dormant on servers when the members are offline, firearm handling sounds have been increased in volume and expanded, passwords save when joining a server, fixed incorrect curved window snapping, fixed scrollbars in all menus not scaling correctly to length of content, full alpha version now shows in top left of menu, error message for trying to join server running different version now shows which version differences exist, fixed bug where flashlight would continue to drain batter if removed from weapon while turned on, fixed bug where movement controls could remain active while in map view, replaced unfocalized loading screen with simple icon instead, fixed bug where fire/generator, etc. sounds would not play in heavily populated worlds, fixed bug where hunter woodburners would not decay with base after destroyed with a BCU cracker, fixed animals playing idle animations while walking, fixed mining drill progress meter not updating in real-time, fixed sandstone ore nodes not aligning correctly to the surface spawned on, attempted to fix random crash while accessing wind turbines and solar panels, fixed server name not showing in server stats HUD, fixed certain sounds not playing while in freecam mode, fixed smoke from breaching charge not rendering, added many low poly LOD meshes for player models and clothing, existing hunter bases now have rugs, floodlights and switches, fixed bug where rugs protected floor from explosive damage, fixed river sounds still playing after frozen.

### Alpha 57 - July 28th, 2021

**Deep Cave and Rock Climbing Update**

The game was migrated to 64 bit as the 32 bit was experiencing memory limitations.

Also included in this update was the deep cave system. This system is far deeper than the existing system and reaches veins of volcanic lava pools and streams. Temperatures are extremely high and will deplete hydration quickly. The cave system now connects the two existing systems allowing the player to travel from one lake to the other all underground.

Players can also craft new climbing axes which can be used to ascend or descend any rock face in the world, including frozen waterfalls. High mountain terrain is on the roadmap for the game and larger plans are in the works for the new rock climbing mechanics. To access the new deep caves the climbing axes will be required to scale the large vertical drops separating the old caves from the new ones. While exploring the new caves you'll find mining supply crates left around that require players to break them and they'll contain higher tier items.

In the deep caves are new hunter groups. They have gas masks and grimy bodies from all the fumes in the caves. They typically form in smaller squads than the mining hunters and they are slightly less armored. The gas mask is not craftable however it is possible to find them in the world.

The server build cap was also doubled in size and there will be future increases planned.

Overheating has been updated so when the hydration level hits zero the player will start taking actual damage.

Mixed Berry Jam has been added...