Why Early Access?

“straywild is in Early Access because the current build provides a playable foundation, but it does not yet have the content, stability, performance, and overall refinement planned for a full release. Our goals during Early Access are to improve multiplayer reliability and usability, finish and refine existing systems, expand the fish catalog and progression, add more clothing, fishing accessories, customization options, activities, and world content, and improve support across desktop, Android, controllers, dedicated servers, and low-end handheld hardware.

Reaching those goals requires sustained feedback and real-world testing across network conditions, hardware configurations, and play styles that we cannot reproduce internally. We are committed to continuing active development, reviewing player feedback and bug reports, publishing fixes and improvements, and using those results to guide priorities as straywild moves toward a stable full release. Players should expect unfinished systems, bugs, balance changes, limited content, and occasional compatibility-breaking changes while this work continues.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“straywild is expected to remain in Early Access for approximately one year. This estimate may change based on development progress, technical requirements, and feedback received during testing. No fixed date has been established for the stable release.
”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The full version is planned to expand the fish catalog, clothing, fishing accessories, character customization, activities, gathering systems, multiplayer administration tools, and explorable world content. There's obviously still a lot left to do! We also plan to improve progression, balance, interface consistency, controller support, performance, network reliability, and dedicated-server operation. The list goes on and on. The stable release is intended to provide a more complete and reliable version of the existing game structure, with fewer compatibility-breaking changes than the Early Access builds.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The Early Access version is a playable alpha with functional online multiplayer, public and private rooms, and dedicated-server support. Players can catch, collect, and sell fish and crabs, purchase equipment upgrades, complete daily and lifetime jobs, customize their characters, and use the Art Kit to create shared artwork in the game world. Time and weather systems are also implemented.

The current version remains incomplete. Content is limited, some systems and interfaces are still being revised, and bugs may affect networking, performance, controls, presentation, or progression. Updates may change saves, network compatibility, balance, and existing mechanics. All players in a multiplayer session must use the same game version.
”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“No. straywild is and will always be 100% completely free and will never cost anything to play and experience the complete game. ”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We welcome users to join our discord server linked on our Steam page as well as on our website to share their experience and provide valuable feedback. The project is open source so we are also willing to have discussions with people regarding contributions! Finally submitting issues on our git page to help us target fixes is the best way to help development along. This is a game built by the community, for the community, so communication is extremely important to us going forward. <3”