Castaways - The new Castaways release cycle

The New Release Process

Our new release process is all about putting you, our valued castaways, at the forefront of our development efforts. Here's a breakdown of how it works, and how it benefits you:

Rapid Development Cycles

Our development process now operates on agile sprint cycles that kick off every Wednesday and run for two weeks. This approach allows us to remain nimble, ensuring that we don't end up with massive, unmanageable updates that cause delays.

Code Quality and Testing

We're committed to delivering top-notch quality, which is why we have implemented strict rules and testing practices to minimize the risk of broken code going to production. This commitment to quality ensures a smoother and more reliable experience for you.

Pre-Releases

Here's where the magic happens. At the beginning of each week, on that exciting Monday, we create a dedicated release branch such as release/1.0.6. This branch contains all the latest features and improvements from our development branch. This step allows us to immediately release a pre-release build for you to try out, while our QA also begins evaluating the release branch.

Speedy Release

If the release is relatively small and doesn't require extensive testing, you can expect it to drop as early as Wednesday of the same week. But rest assured, we won't keep you waiting past the following Wednesday for any updates.

This new release process ensures that you, our Castaways, get to enjoy the latest features and enhancements no later than every two weeks. It also allows us to maintain a higher level of quality and stability in our releases, all while preventing those cumbersome issues that used to plague our development process.

Your feedback is always important to us, so please don't hesitate to share your thoughts as you explore the latest releases. Thank you for being part of the Castaways community. We can't wait to embark on this new journey with you, full of exciting new releases and continuous improvements. Stay tuned, and happy exploring!

The new 1.0.6 pre-release is out now

To kick things off, you can play the 1.0.6 pre-release right now! The official 1.0.6 release is expected to drop no later than next Wednesday December 13th, but could come out anytime before then.

Visit our new pre-releases page to download and check out the changelog below.

CHANGELOG

Version

1.0.7

Release Date

December 9, 2023

Added

Added thought bubbles to indicate tools required when trying to break a block without the right tool

Improved

Adjusted tutorial popups to be shorter, addressing player feedback.
Modified block hitboxes for crops.
Composter will now drop the items inside it when destroyed.
Fixed several memory leaks leading to a substantial increase in performance

Fixed

Fixed an issue where destroying the composter while it's spinning during the tutorial would lock the player in the tutorial, preventing them from advancing further.
Fixed an issue where the Bird Feeder was not dropping items as expected.
Fixed an issues where Players get stuck in the tutorial when attempting to plant a carrot.
Fixed a chat parsing error preventing international users from crashing.
Fixed an issue where players got stuck with a "Not Connected" message.
The Windows MSI installer now successfully uninstalls the prior version as intended.
Fixed an issue that prevented users from buying dabloons.
Fixed an issue wheresSeagulls would steal from other players' bird feeders.
Fixed several NREs.
Fixed several issues to related to chunks and blocks
Fixed an issue where the big fish popup would only show to the player who initially hooked the fish.
Fixed several issues related to multiplayer connectivity.
Fixed an issue with third person seeing big fish in the water.
Fixed missing decals for several steps of the tutorial.
Fixed an issue where the starter chest items were grayed out.
Fixed several issues with world and inventory saving.
Fixed an issue where you would get a big fish during tutorial.
Fixed autowelcome messages from arriving too early.
Fixed an issue where the UI could lock player movement.
Fixed an issue preventing players from dropping items out of their hot bar on mobile.
Fixed an issue where Island levels were being calculated incorrectly for players.
Fixed animation-related errors when the island spawns at the beginning.
Fixed several issues when opening crafting.

Removed