TWO WAYS TO SURVIVE
Stable has a new baseline. Unstable is where we build what comes next.
Still Alive has been growing quickly during Closed Alpha.
Until now, active development and the version people were trying to keep long-term survivors on were effectively the same thing.
That made rapid development increasingly awkward.
We have now separated those purposes.
Still Alive: Idle now has two distinct Closed Alpha builds: Stable and Unstable, or Rolling Alpha.
STABLE
Stable is the most tested and dependable Closed Alpha version.
It is the right place for players who want to keep progressing an existing survivor without the ground shifting beneath them every few days.
Stable will remain relatively still between major roadmap milestones. Important fixes can still be made where they are genuinely necessary, but new features, balance experiments and unfinished work will not arrive here first.
The newly completed Stable Baseline Reset is now live here.
UNSTABLE / ROLLING ALPHA
Unstable is the active development version.
New features, locations, balance changes and experiments arrive here first. Work may be unfinished, values can change and things may occasionally break.
That is not an accident. Players on Rolling Alpha are helping shape what eventually reaches Stable.
This is where development towards 0.5 Home now continues.
THE STABLE BASELINE RESET
Before freezing Stable, I wanted the existing game to feel coherent.
There was little value in creating a dependable long-term build while knowingly leaving progression gaps, confusing interfaces and broken connections inside it.
The Stable Baseline Reset was a one-off exception: a final coordinated pass to bring the existing live game onto a coherent, tested foundation before the milestone-based release model begins properly.
It does not mean 0.5 Home is complete.
It means Stable now has a baseline worth staying on while Unstable moves forward.
WORLD & EXPLORATION
Exploration now has more documentary evidence to uncover, with recovered physical documents appearing in the Journal and discoveries tied to activities around Ashwick.
Foraging progression has expanded through Mill Pond Banks, alongside the foundations for reaching Old Mill Farm and Greywood.
The world should feel less like a collection of unlocked buttons and more like somewhere that leaves evidence behind.
COMBAT
Combat and weapon-family progression have been improved, along with protection and proficiency corrections.
Four new infected encounters have joined Ashwick: the Paramedic, Courier, Drainage Worker and Survivalist.
They bring Signature Loot with them, while the primitive Stone Hatchet gives early survivors a way into Axes before finding something built for the job.
SURVIVAL & ITEMS
The Damaged Mobile Phone now dismantles into more useful materials, Field Antibiotics have been rebalanced and medical and cooking information is clearer about what it actually restores.
These are not enormous headline systems. They are the connections that make the existing systems feel like they belong to the same game.
QUALITY OF LIFE
Storage presentation has been improved, Foraging location cards are cleaner, Skill Books are more consistent and the Infirmary communicates its purpose more clearly.
The pass also includes tester-reported progress-bar and interface fixes that are easy to overlook while building, and impossible to ignore once somebody else tries to use them.
The full factual record is available in the Patch Notes.
WHAT CLOSED ALPHA IS FOR
A significant amount of this pass came directly from Closed Alpha feedback.
Players spotted confusing interfaces, progression gaps and balance issues that were difficult to see while I was building the systems themselves.
That is exactly what Closed Alpha is for.
Thank you to everyone who has kept playing, reporting the small things and asking why something works the way it does. The baseline is better because you did.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Stable now stays on this baseline.
Unstable moves forward.
The next major target is 0.5 Home. New work will appear on Rolling Alpha first, change through testing and eventually move to Stable when the milestone is complete and ready.
Stable is where you survive.
Unstable is where you help decide what survival becomes next.