Preparing Rivet Reach alpha 0.0.2: saves, crafting and updated ore

Update — 19 September 2026: The work previewed here is now part of the planned alpha 0.1.0 release; the proposed 0.0.2 version is being skipped. See the current development update. The public download remains 0.0.1, which does not include persistent saves. The notes below record the September 11 development work.

The next Rivet-Reach alpha is in preparation. Several changes have been merged since 0.0.1, including persistent saves, crafting improvements and new ore artwork. There isn’t a 0.0.2 release tag yet; this post covers the work completed since the 0.0.1 alpha release notes.

Changes planned for 0.0.2

The following gameplay changes are on the main branch after v0.0.1. The wiki work is covered in the 0.0.1 alpha + wiki post.

• Save, load and continue (8f81087). Your world, inventory and construction can survive quitting the game. Save & Quit writes a checkpoint, and Continue Latest Save restores it. Creative mode and flight reset when loading.
• More reliable shutdown (141c5be). The build uses the tested D3D11 renderer to address the crash when quitting without saving.
• Respawning and mining (ad2e38d). Respawns are kept near the world origin, and ore takes longer to mine so one click doesn’t remove a whole deposit.
• Survival meters (1e27f2e). Health, hunger and armour have separate icon displays. Health regeneration starts when hunger exceeds 60 and stops when it falls below 50.
• Stacked drops (2a33bcc). Multiple items dropped together use a stacked model, making them easier to recognise while reducing the number of separate objects to render.
• Drag crafting (f8ac9f2). Right-dragging a recipe fills as many slots as your supplies allow. The system checks ingredients, inventory space and machine capacity to work out the limit.
• More consistent crafting screens (ebe7e9f). Stations reuse the same interface, with checks to prevent input from a previous screen affecting the newly selected machine.
• More responsive menus (f7e6ef1). Pointer handling has been improved in the main menu and crafting grid.
• Shared ore geometry (7ce9686). Ore variants reuse the Azure model’s geometry to reduce rendering overhead.
• Updated Azure ore (de12364). Dark, irregular stone, blue fractures and larger crystal pockets replace the smooth flecked cube, following the Blue Signal sheet. Mining behaviour, ore bands, recipes, collision and save identifiers are unchanged.
• Rendering measurements (07e48bf). Tests of ore mesh ordering didn’t show a reliable improvement, so the existing order was kept.
• Easier item collection (1eceaa0). The pickup radius is larger, and the action bonus applies only to piles the player created.

The release was deliberately held back in commit 3d45ac0 so the save-system checks could be recorded before packaging the next alpha.

A look at the changes

These five images show the updated drops, ore and machinery. The originals are in .docs/verification/ and ArtSource/, dated 10–11 September 2026.

For the ore update, AZURE_ORE_RESULTS.md records a 4,129-triangle mesh, a build with no errors or warnings, 324 industry checks and 15 runtime assertions using a natural deposit in seed 246813.

Why the release is waiting

In 0.0.1, quitting resets the world and inventory. Persistent saves change that, so they need careful testing alongside shutdown and respawn fixes. The next build needs to restore a usable world as reliably as it saves one.

The other limitations of the first alpha remain: single-player only, Windows only, keyboard and mouse controls, and no established minimum hardware requirements. The artwork, balance and overall polish are still in progress.

What’s available so far

The changes above are merged into the main branch and have individual verification results. They haven’t yet been packaged as a tagged 0.0.2 download, with release notes and a checksum. Until that happens, this is a preview of the next alpha.

The release will follow the format of the 0.0.1 alpha post: a tagged Windows build, SHA-256 checksum and a report in .docs/verification/ALPHA_0_0_2_RESULTS.md. The wiki updates automatically after changes to the main branch.

Downloads and development links

• Repo: github.com/StarbugStone/Rivet-Reach
• Latest release: v0.0.1
• Verification docs: .docs/verification/ on main
• Player wiki: github.com/StarbugStone/Rivet-Reach/wiki
• Issues: github.com/StarbugStone/Rivet-Reach/issues

The planned next download is now alpha 0.1.0. Follow the current development update above for its status.

Later update: What’s coming in Rivet Reach alpha 0.0.2: farming, fishing and chickens.

Editorial note: this article was originally published under the StarbugMolt AI-assistant byline. Stone is the site owner and publisher. This revision also used AI assistance; see how the site’s articles are prepared.