A word about the controls in the game, for starters. If you press the escape key (ESC) it will get you to the game settings. There is a button for options or controls that will show what the default settings are to do everything. I changed the movement keys to the cursor keys because that's my preference. I later thought I should have changed the 'backpack' key to "I" instead of "TAB", because I am more used to checking my inventory. The "B" key opens your journal, which does have information about notes from the bottles, etc., but I guess the letter is used since it is also used for building/crafting. The "journal" that comes up is complex in that there are tabs on the side and more tabs on the top, so getting used to it is a good idea. Once you make a hammer you can access an advanced building menu by pressing the "R" key. This will allow you to make stronger and larger structures if you want.

B - open journal, basic building
Tab - open backpack, inventory
R - advanced building menu (only when hammer is equipped)

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You probably already noticed that the loading screen just kind of sits there for a full minute or so.
It's been pointed out in the discussions that's kind of obnoxious, but I have to grant them they are still writing the game. It's always good to finish the gameplay programming before fixing issues and polishing. It does tend to look like maybe it froze up, but give it time. I'm on a reasonable computer and it takes a minute, it may take longer if you are on an older computer.
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The video version has a lot of excellent information if you need more. It's a long video, whereas this short written version will get you off to a quick start.
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1. The first island you land yourself on has a Komodo Dragon. It's slow, so avoid it for as long as you can. If it bites you, you will die. It's a survival game, so there are also other things that can kill you early on. If you notice something nudging you, look to see what it is and kill it if you can. There are (large) hornets and wolf spiders that will attack you aside from the Komodo Dragon. The bugs won't kill you after just one bite, though.

2. You will need a campfire (with stones) and a bed early on. A shell from a snapping turtle is essential to collect rain water. Build the Water Filter later, and add the turtle shell to it last. Once you have the Water Filter, it never runs out of fresh water, so you'll be fine as long as you have one in range. The bed is needed so you can save your progress. I suggest you save often when you are starting out. The campfire is used to cook on. Once it is created you will see 3 stones you can put things on to cook. Stay up until you have as much done as possible toward getting these.

3. Your first craft you will be led to make a stone axe. It doesn't last long, so use it wisely. You only have one rope when you start. You must find a short stick and a stone. When you pick the stone up you will notice you can press "F" to smash it into shards. Each shard can make one tool. You will get 2-3 shards from a stone, so you can also make a stone knife. The knife can be used to cut trees down as well, but not as efficiently.

4. You can make more rope by finding a Yucca plant. (If you don't know what they look like, I have a short video of one at ).You can also find banana trees and other plants that can be cut down for food. There are some plants you will find, such as a blueberry plant and a strawberry plant, that can be grown in the garden planters. The small planter only takes two logs, which you won't be using elsewhere until you get a little further into the game. For now you need to survive long enough to build the basics - shelter, the Water Filter, the campfire. Planter boxes only seem to be useful to grow one time through. Until you can make something to keep the bugs out of your planters and fertilize better you only slightly less than double the amount of food that you get.

5. To make rope, collect the leaves from the Yucca plant once you cut it down. You will need to gather small sticks and grab a piece of metal (there are a lot laying around, you've probably seen them already) to build a spinning wheel. Once you have the yucca leaves it will be easy to see how to make a rope.

6. The first meat you eat will probably be from the snapping turtle. Start the fire and place meat on one of the 3 stones. If you put your mouse cursor over the meat you will see it's progress. Eating raw meat (or even coconuts) can lead to infections, and you will likely die. Later on, you can cure parasites, but not until you have some other items.

7. If you are killed by anything, your only hope is to load from your last save, so I'll say it again: SAVE Often!

1. Okay, so you should have the basics by now. As you are moving around on the first island you may have noticed there are other plants as well. Many of them can be cut down just like the trees, just swing your axes at them until the come apart. Some will tell you just hold down the "E" key. I can tell you there are lemongrass, banana trees (already mentioned), white mushrooms, blue mushrooms, yucca plants (already mentioned), potato plants, ginger plants, and others. Some will be useful right away, others will not. Examples of some that you can't get yet are the ginger and potato plants. You will need to be able to make a trowel (called a shovel in game) to get those. The basic 'shovel' will work just fine to dig those up.

2. I mentioned parasite infections in the first section. Parasites don't kill you right away, but they don't make your life any easier either. Make a stone pickaxe and you can get clay on the first island. With clay you can make a cup. The game tells you the cup can be used to collect water and sterilize water. If you have ginger root, you can make a ginger tea that will clear the parasite infections. Until then, I would recommend you load the last save you made before you got parasites. You will find clay near the little tunnel in that big hill.

3. On one side of that hill, there is a stairway. Climb to the top of the stairs and jump up over the rocks until you reach the tower. You will need to crouch (press "C") to get under the bar. Climb the ladders until you reach the top. You can find several things on the top level. These should include an energy bar (yum, yum, how long has that been sitting there in the sun?), a power supply, an circuit board, and a cassette tape. After you get the first cassette it will lead you to 4 more, and after that it will lead you to an aircraft repair guide. Be sure to avoid the Komodo Dragon until you are ready to kill it.

4. You cut down several palm trees to get palm fronds for a bed. You might have used some to make gardening boxes. You should have more left. Most of what you will want to use them for is making a raft. There are a lot of YouTube videos with suggestions for raft building, so I won't bother to detail anything about it here. It seems some players prefer to build a huge raft and set that up as a mobile home style base camp. You can do that if you prefer, it's personal preference. You will eventually need the raft at least, though, because nothing respawns. The bright side of that is once you kill the wolf spiders, the hornets, and the Komodo Dragon, they don't come back. The down side is that you will run out of palm trees, small trees (used to gather large sticks), and so on. So start using the logs from the palm trees to make a raft. Once you are ready, it will take practice to learn rafting in game. You have to kind of walk into it to get it launched and turned so the front of the raft is heading out to sea each time. Make sure your sails are down so it doesn't take off without you before you get on board.

5. Meantime, it's not easy killing those snapping turtles, seagulls, and those tiny land crabs with an axe. You have instructions in the "journal" for making traps for seagulls and crabs. Make one of each, and make sure that once you collect from them you reset the seagull snares. You'll have plenty of meat from there on out.

6. You should probably make a bow and some arrows (as many as you wish, but I recommend at least a half dozen). Not only can you hunt seaguls with a bow, you can kill the Komodo Dragon. One of the popular tricks in the game is to run into the water when it chases you. It won't follow you into the water. Try to hit it as many times as you can. If that doesn't kill it, you may have to resort to something else. Once it's dead, you will loot more meat and a couple of skins. The skins can be turned into leather on a tanning rack. Your choice as to what to make out of them.

7. Once you have killed the spiders, hornets, and the Komodo Dragon you can roam the island pretty freely. If you hunted down the first snapping turtles, others will start to show up. One of the other islands has a wildcat you will need to kill. Use the same basic principles, but with extra care. Cats can be sneaky, and it may kill you before you ever even know it's there.

8. Farming will be important in the game once it is developed. It doesn't work in a friendly manner just yet as you will have a hard time getting the pieces for pesticides. One you have all that you need you will want to make planters and get everything planted that you can. You will run out of important things if you don't. Remember, the game doesn't (currently) regenerate anything. Kill the things that are attacking you, they don't come back. Likewise, cut down the berry bushes, yucca plants, etc., they're gone! A portion of the game you can at least build early on is the compost bin. To use it properly you need to add to it through the little circle - you can't just drop them in. The circle will turn green if you are adding the right stuff and your aim is good.



The rest of the game is yours to explore. There is more guidance from YouTube than I have experience with so far. I hope this helps someone get this far. The last video is a brief tour of my original base camp on the first island: