Castaways.gg — a brief introduction

Castaways is a island survival sandbox game created by Branch.gg (twitter link). The game is currently in open alpha, and you can play it immediately in your browser by going to alpha.branch.gg

You start on a raft in the middle of the ocean, with a full health bar and full food bar. As you move around and take actions, your food bar will deplete. If your food bar reaches zero, your health bar will start to decline, and you need to eat fish to restore hearts. Now, how to get your hands on fish?

Scavenging

Sticks and rope; the most basic building blocks in the game

The ocean is full of surprises. For now, it spawns sticks , rope and fish. These spawns are generated fairly consistently, determined by the distance you travel in the game. So the further you travel, the more items and fish circles will spawn. However, they generally spawn behind you, so in order to see them, it is best to move in some sort of back and forth motion (circles, zig zag etc), or in reverse with the camera facing backwards. Sticks and rope you pick up by moving over them. And if you come across a shadow moving in the water under ripples, you have a chance to catch fish! But your hands will not do…

Crafting

In your inventory (press the E button), you will find a bar all the way to the right. This is the crafting bar. As you scavenge items from the sea, you will be able to craft items, and this bar will automatically show what you’re able to craft. The first thing you will want to craft is a fishing rod, which requires 3 sticks and 2 rope. But you can craft a variety of other things as well!

Fishing

The most important tool in the early game — the fishing rod!

Once you have crafted a fishing rod, it is time to put it to use! There are two general drop pools you can go after. Once is the open ocean (throw your hook anywhere in the ocean to fish for junk, and the other is fish spawns (which appear infrequently, again determined by distance traveled). Now, how do you actually fish in practice?

1. Equip your fishing rod. Make sure it is shown on the toolbar at the bottom of your screen. If it is in your back back, then click and drag it (or ctrl+click it) to the toolbar. Once it’s in the toolbar, make sure it is selected (click on it and make sure it has a black border).
2. Right click where you want to throw your hook. If you’re fishing the open ocean it doesn’t matter where you throw in, but if you want to catch fish you need to click in the center of the fish ripples (so where the ripples going in different directions originate). If you hit the right location, the fish will start moving in and out from your hook. If the fish doesn’t move, then cast again.
3. Some seconds after your hook is in the water, a mini-game similar to dance dance revolution will appear on your screen. Press the corresponding arrows (use arrow keys, not WASD) just as the colored arrow overlaps with the grey arrow at the top. If you hit enough of the arrows, after a while the game ends, and your character will hold up your catch.

NB! Note that fishing, whether successful or unsuccessful, depletes some hunger, so you will need to eat along the way. And your fishing rod will lose durability with each cast (so it will break and you need to make new ones).

Once you have fish, in order to eat it you place it in your toolbar, select it and then right-click your character on the raft.

Phat loot

As mentioned above, there are two general loot tables in the game for now; open ocean and fish spawns. So what can you catch from either?

Open ocean

Common loot — boots, kelp and tuna cans

• Boots (common) — currently of little use, and doesn’t stack, so it quickly fills up your inventory. There is an easter egg, where if you place a boot in your 4th toolbar slot, then you can right click your character to throw the boot. Generally, I would advise you get rid of your boots (drag and drop to the ocean and move away before you accidentally pick it back up)
• Kelp (common) — stacks, so won’t fill up your inventory. Kelp has now been made edible, and restores 0.5 hunger.
• Tuna can (common) — used in crafting arrows, knives, and spears. Will also be used to craft buckets which you will need to move lava from vulcanos to create stone in a furnace. Will likely also be used to craft many other things. Does not stack.

Uncommon loot — laser pointer, compass, cutlass and flare gun

• Laser pointer (uncommon) — currently of no use, as the laser function was turned off. Does not stack
• Compass (uncommon)— hang on to this one. Currently has no use, but soon they will implement a compass on your screen, that only shows up if you own the compass. Does not stack
• Cutlass (uncommon) — the only weapon that cannot be crafted. Likely more powerful than e.g. the dagger and the spear. Likely has durability, so might be worth keeping a few. Does not stack
• Flare gun (uncommon) — currently has no use, but they will make it possible to shoot up flares which will be visible from the whole map, so that friends (and enemies?) can find you. Does not stack

Rare loot — rusty old key, gold coin and milo doll

• Key (rare) — rusty old keys will enable you to lock chests once the island release comes out. DYOR, but I am keeping a bunch of these. Does not stack.
• Golden coin (rare) — it is not clear what these will be used for. The have the bitcoin symbol and motto inscribed on the front. These items stack.
• Milo doll (very rare)— item that hails from the original Branch game. Unclear if this will serve a function, but currently it does nothing. Does not stack
• Map (unknown drop rate) — there will be a map that shows the whole game world. I have been fishing for a looooooong time and still not gotten this item, so either it is ultra rare, or not yet in the loot table.
• Message in a bottle (unknown drop rate) — there is an icon for a message in a bottle. Again, I have never caught this, so either ultra rare, or not yet in the loot table.

Fish spawns

Fish spawns comes in 3 (4?) sizes, and you can determine which is which by looking at the size of the shadow under the water.

Shrimp, seahorse and crab

• Small shadow — you can catch shrimp, seahorses, or crabs from these. Each restores 1.5 hunger when eaten.

Clown fish, blowfish and turtle

• Medium shadow — you can catch clown fish, blow fish, or turtles from these. Each restores 3 hunger when eaten.

Squid, shark and dolphin

• Large shadow — you can catch squid, shark or dolphin from these, BUT you need a friend to help you. A message will appear after you cast, saying you need help. When they cast in at the same spot, both players get the mini game, and whoever does best gets the fish. The other players gets nothing. Each restores 5 hunger when eaten.

The elusive whale!

• Giant shadow? — I have never caught a whale, so I don’t know if it is in the large shadow loot table, or a separate fish spawn category all-together. What I do know is that 3 fishers are needed to pull in a whale (so you need two friends). Like before, only ONE of you will actually catch the whale, the others get nothing.

And this great overview by Hamm shows how much hunger each type of food restores!