Devlog: brewing beer on the island

Your survivors work hard. They build the walls, throw rocks at mushrooms all night and get up the next morning to do it again. So the camp has a tavern now, and this post walks through how a round of beer gets made, start to finish.

1. Grow the wheat

Wheat starts with the sickle. Cutting tall grass sometimes drops Wheat Seeds (about one plant in five; the rest is Plant Fiber). Plant them in a crop plot and keep it watered, and the wheat grows through four stages over two in-game days until it turns gold. Each plot gives three or four Wheat when you harvest it.

2. Boil it into Wort

Put five Wheat into the cooking pot, with water in the pot and some wood or planks to burn, and it boils down into a Wort. It's in the Cookbook like any other recipe, and it unlocks the first time you pick up Wheat.

3. Ferment it in a Keg

Kegs unlock once your campfire reaches level 2. Each one holds up to 30 Wort, and every Wort becomes five Beer after two in-game days. The keg runs on the island's clock, so nights you sleep through count too. While it works, the airlock on the lid bubbles away. When the beer is ready, foam spills over the top and drips from the tap.

4. Fill the Bar Tab

The Bar Tab is the camp's little bar, also unlocked at campfire level 2. Put Beer in it and mugs appear on the counter, one for each beer up to four.

5. Drinks on the house

Once there's beer on tap, the people you've hired come over in their free time, between six in the morning and five in the evening. Each job drinks in its own way:

• The Rock Thrower puts his rock down, downs the whole thing in one go, then throws the empty mug away like it's another rock.
• The Archer raises a toast, takes two proper sips and a chug, and tips his hat.
• A survivor without a job yet gets a foam moustache and a hiccup.

Every drink gives that survivor their job's beer buff for a full day, and anyone with a job that levels up gets a good chunk of XP from it too. A well-stocked bar means a stronger camp when the mushrooms come at six.

See it in motion

Short clips of the camp go up on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.