v0.6.1

A focused follow-up to v0.6.0: an experimental macOS build, automatic crash reports, and one-click client downloads from your own server. We'd love help testing the macOS and Linux clients! 🚀

🍎 Experimental macOS build — ⚠️ needs validation, help wanted!

The game now builds a native macOS .app (StandaloneOSX), shipped as a portable zip — so Justus (and you!) can try it on a Mac.

We haven't been able to test it on real hardware yet — it builds and packages cleanly in CI, but that only proves it compiles, not that it runs. If you have a Mac, please help: grab BlocksBeyondTheStars-osx-0.6.1-Portable.zip below and run through the quick checklist in issue #87 — even "it bounced in the dock and quit" is useful. 🙏

• Intel x64 (runs on Apple Silicon via Rosetta 2).
• Unsigned & un-notarized, so macOS quarantines it: right-click → Open, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine BlocksBeyondTheStars.app once.

🐧 Native Linux — still fresh, testers welcome!

The native Linux client (new in v0.6.0) is still young, and this release adds a one-click Linux download from the server portal. If you're on Linux, we'd love a hands-on report — see issue #86.

🛡️ Automatic crash reporting

The server tick is hardened so one bad event can't bring the whole world down, and both server and client now write opt-in crash reports (with a PII scrubber) so we can find and fix problems faster. Nothing is sent unless you opt in.

⬇️ One-click client downloads from your server

The dedicated-server portal now hands out the Windows, Linux (AppImage) and experimental macOS clients directly — players open the server's portal page and click their platform. The container fetches the latest builds from the GitHub Release automatically (best-effort, each platform independent).

👨‍👩‍👦 Made for kids — and for the community

• README, Code of Conduct, in-game Credits and the Codex now clearly state the kid-friendly intent (no inappropriate content; profanity filter + report button as safeguards).
• A friendly "star the repo" invitation and a Let's Play video link.

⚙️ Under the hood

• Faster, cleaner release CI: the version is resolved once and shared across all jobs, the Docker image build no longer waits on the Windows build, and overlapping release runs are serialized.
• A dedicated slim macOS CI workflow for quick platform iteration.
• Removed the last dead arcade HTML/JS; minigame + wiki data moved under data/.
• New Playtest report issue template.

⬇️ Downloads

• Windows: Setup.exe · MSI · Portable.zip
• Linux: AppImage
• macOS (experimental — help us test it!): BlocksBeyondTheStars-osx-0.6.1-Portable.zip (unsigned — see the Gatekeeper note above)
• Dedicated server: self-hostable (Windows / Linux x64 / Linux arm64) + Docker image

---

🐳 Docker (dedicated server)

Run the dedicated server (game server + admin/portal/download UI, optional AI backend) on any OS with Docker:

docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:0.6.1
# or the rolling tag:
docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:latest

Setup & configuration: SELF_HOSTING.md §10.

What's Changed

• feat: serve native Linux client (AppImage) from server portal, drop WebGL stub by @marceld23 in #83
• feat(ci): experimental macOS client build (StandaloneOSX) by @marceld23 in #84
• chore(issues): add Playtest report issue template by @marceld23 in #85
• feat: automatic crash reporting (server + client) by @marceld23 in #103
• chore: remove dead HTML/JS arcade, move catalog+articles into data/ by @marceld23 in #104
• fix(macos): Microphone Usage Description + slim macOS CI workflow by @marceld23 in #105
• chore(release-ci): single version job, decouple docker, add concurrency by @marceld23 in #106
• feat(portal): offer the macOS client download via server portal by @marceld23 in #107
• docs: record v0.6.0 + post-release work in TODO.md and README by @marceld23 in #108
• docs: signal kid-friendly intent (README, CoC, in-game credits & Codex) by @marceld23 in #109
• docs: charmingly invite GitHub stars to grow the community by @marceld23 in #110

Full Changelog: v0.6.0...v0.6.1

Blocks Beyond the Stars v0.6.0

Our biggest update yet: claim your own factory, explore alien ruins — and play natively on Linux. 🚀

🎉 First community contribution!

A huge thank-you to @corarona (Cora de la Mouche) — our first external contributor — who built the native Linux support (#69). This is exactly the kind of collaboration we open-sourced the game for. 💚

🏭 Factories, Ruins & Claiming

• Factories — rare industrial halls with animated machine bays (presses, rotors, conveyors) and a production terminal. Factory recipes turn cheaper materials into bulk output, but each factory only makes the few items on its own roster.
• Ruins — collapsed settlements you can freely mine, plus standalone treasure chests with richer loot.
• SPS access codes — a rare item (found in chests or bought from traders) that lets you claim a factory as your own editable base, shared with your allies.

🐧 Native Linux client

• Real StandaloneLinux64 build, shipped as AppImage and a separate Linux Portable.zip — no more Proton/Wine required.
• New cross-platform console launcher, bash build scripts, and Linux CI build + packaging.
• The Windows-only embedded browser (UnityWebBrowser/CEF) was removed; the in-game Codex Wiki and Arcade now run without it.

🛠️ Deeper crafting

• New Transmuter station — turn spare terrain into scarce ore.
• The Refinery is now the full metallurgy station (rare Tier-2 metals, diamond, carbide, reactor fuel).
• Fixed the titanium/carbide progression deadlock.

🌍 World, graphics & performance

• Bigger in-game editors — much larger ships, stations and cities.
• Longer planet view distance and smoother on-foot movement (far-chunk unloading, vertical chunk LOD, per-atmosphere haze tuning).
• Rivers and lava now route downhill into lakes/seas with waterfalls and lavafalls, plus an animated lava surface.
• Brighter, more readable worlds and a clearer attract/menu scene that matches the real in-game space look.
• Trees scan as named per-world species; flora spawn/regrow sources are now visually recognizable.

📚 Docs & internal

• New player docs for factories/ruins in the user manual and in-game Codex (EN/DE).
• Added a canonical source-code URL to the README (AGPL compliance).
• New WORLD_GENERATION and Linux-port references; CI now skips heavy jobs on doc-only PRs.

⬇️ Downloads

• Windows: Setup.exe · MSI · Portable.zip
• Linux: AppImage (one self-contained file — mark it executable and run)
• Dedicated server: self-hostable (Windows / Linux x64 / Linux arm64) + Docker image

---

🐳 Docker (dedicated server)

Run the dedicated server (game server + admin/portal/download UI, optional AI backend) on any OS with Docker:

docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:0.6.0
# or the rolling tag:
docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:latest

Setup & configuration: SELF_HOSTING.md §10.

v0.5.0

🐳 Docker (dedicated server)

Run the dedicated server (game server + admin/portal/download UI, optional AI backend) on any OS with Docker:

docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:0.5.0
# or the rolling tag:
docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:latest

Setup & configuration: SELF_HOSTING.md §10.

What's Changed

• docs: invite contributors in README + released-versions index in TODO by @marceld23 in #48
• feat(client): pro-look graphics quick-win — in-game post + SMAA + SSAO + emissive glow by @marceld23 in #50
• feat(client): WS4 — per-biome cinematic mood LUTs by @marceld23 in #51
• feat(client): WS6 slice — PBR-ish GGX specular + roughness-aware reflection on voxels by @marceld23 in #52
• feat(client): global Brightness control (post-exposure) by @marceld23 in #53
• refactor(client): WS5 — remove the dead Built-in-RP post stack by @marceld23 in #54
• fix(client): soft water reflections + visible sky bodies by @marceld23 in #55
• fix(client): clear water — you can see into / through it again by @marceld23 in #56
• refactor: remove the vestigial "block placer" item by @marceld23 in #57
• Relicense MIT → AGPL-3.0-or-later + Contributor License Agreement by @marceld23 in #59
• Native in-game Arcade + Wiki — remove UnityWebBrowser/CEF, unblock Linux/macOS by @marceld23 in #58
• Runtime-quality: client perf (A) + netcode AoI & interpolation (B) + input remapping (C) by @marceld23 in #60
• docs(todo): mark today's three roadmap PRs (#58/#59/#60) as merged by @marceld23 in #61
• feat: make the ship cargo hold actively usable (manual transfer + capacity + auto-stow) by @marceld23 in #62
• docs: regenerate marketing screenshots against the current engine build by @marceld23 in #63

Full Changelog: v0.4.2...v0.5.0

v0.4.2

🎮 For players

• You no longer starve in the first few minutes. New characters now spawn with starter food — 5 berries + 2 emergency rations pre-loaded into the suit dispenser — so the auto-feed safety net works from minute one. VEGA now actively teaches the food loop: a new "eat" onboarding objective (completed on your first real meal), an earlier hunger warning (fires at 40% instead of 25%) that names your food sources, and a new hint explaining that the ship refills hunger only slowly — so eating is the fast route. Berry/meat descriptions were sharpened, and the "I need seeds to eat" misconception is cleared up: seeds are crafted from plant fibre for re-planting and are never required to eat. (#46)
• A fighting chance against early hostiles. New players had only a melee machete — whose reach was shorter than an enemy's bite aura — and enemies tracked them straight through walls and earth. This release adds a weak ranged starter sidearm, the scrap pistol (10 dmg, range 16, 0.8s cooldown, no energy cost), with icon, fire sound and a kinetic-bolt FX. It also fixes ranged weapons only firing at point-blank: the client capped attack reach at 6 blocks and ignored the held weapon, so gauss/laser/plasma now reach properly too. Finally, a 3D line-of-sight gate: a hostile can no longer damage a target it cannot see — take cover or drop into a cave and the attack breaks off. Applies to wild creatures and planet machines (flying scan-drones and ground robots); machines give up the hunt after ~6s blind, creatures tire roughly twice as fast while blind. (#45)
• Linux/Proton: no more hard 30 fps lock. The Windows client has no native Linux build, so Linux players run it through Proton/Wine — where VSync (implicitly forced on by the Medium+ quality presets) could lock the game to a flat 30 fps when the GPU just missed the display refresh. VSync is now its own graphics setting (default on — unchanged for everyone else), decoupled from the quality preset, with a separate frame-rate cap (Unlimited/30/60/72/90/120/144/240) that appears when VSync is off. Turn VSync off on Proton/Wine to escape the 30 fps cap. The README's system requirements now document the Linux-via-Proton setup with a concrete perf tip. (#47)

🛠️ For contributors & self-hosters

• README intro reworked around the AI-generated, family-and-community project story. (#44)

🐳 Docker (dedicated server)

Run the dedicated server (game server + admin/portal/download UI, optional AI backend) on any OS with Docker:

docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:0.4.2
# or the rolling tag:
docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:latest

Setup & configuration: SELF_HOSTING.md §10.

Full Changelog: v0.4.1...v0.4.2

v0.4.1

🎮 For players

• No more creatures trapped in your ship. A wild creature could end up sealed inside the parked ship if it landed on or over one. The ship now evicts any wild creature when it lands (your tamed companions are left alone — they're allowed to follow you aboard), and keeps ejecting any that end up inside, tick by tick. The same guard now applies to planet enemies. (#43)
• You're truly safe once you're aboard. Fleeing into your ship now also stops the visible attacks — laser drones hold their fire, ground robots stop clawing and wild creatures stop biting at the hull the moment you board. (The server already dealt no damage while aboard; this fixes the misleading on-screen effects.) (#41)
• Cleaner HUD in space. The planet compass and the day/night–temperature–gravity panel are now hidden while you're piloting in space — they're surface-only readouts. The compass stays on during an EVA so you can still find your way back to the ship. (#39)
• Feedback is now simply F1. The bottom-right feedback button was effectively never clickable (the cursor is locked for camera look exactly when it was shown), so it's gone. F1 is now the single, reliable way to open the feedback dialog, and it's listed in the on-foot controls hint. (#42)

🛠️ For contributors & self-hosters

• Automated in-game clip recorder (video + audio). A manifest-driven tool that records short, HUD-free marketing clips with frame-synced audio from the built player — the moving-picture sibling of the screenshot pipeline. (#40)
• Docker Desktop local-test walkthrough. SELF_HOSTING now has a step-by-step "try the dedicated server locally with Docker Desktop" section, linked from the README. (#38)

🐳 Docker (dedicated server)

Run the dedicated server (game server + admin/portal/download UI, optional AI backend) on any OS with Docker:

docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:0.4.1
# or the rolling tag:
docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:latest

Setup & configuration: SELF_HOSTING.md §10.

Full Changelog: v0.4.0...v0.4.1

v0.4.0

🐳 Docker (dedicated server)

Run the dedicated server (game server + admin/portal/download UI, optional AI backend) on any OS with Docker:

docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:0.4.0
# or the rolling tag:
docker pull ghcr.io/marceld23/blocks-beyond-the-stars-server:latest

Setup & configuration: SELF_HOSTING.md §10.

What's Changed

• docs: drop Raspberry Pi references in favor of generic Linux ARM64 by @marceld23 in #17
• ci: PR build/test gate (warnings-as-errors, docs-only skip) + drop Raspberry Pi doc references by @marceld23 in #16
• ci: make docs-only skip safe for a required status check by @marceld23 in #18
• feat(multiplayer): raise default player cap from 4 to 12 by @marceld23 in #19
• docs: mandate local test/warning/Unity-build verification after changes by @marceld23 in #20
• test(multiplayer): 12-player smoke test for the raised cap by @marceld23 in #21
• ci: add format/lint/CodeQL checks; fix editorconfig LF mismatch by @marceld23 in #22
• style: reformat with dotnet format; enable Format CI gate by @marceld23 in #23
• docs: reflect format/lint/CodeQL as required status checks by @marceld23 in #24
• ci: fix docs-only skip detection (paths-filter never actually skipped) by @marceld23 in #25
• feat(server): optional Docker image for the dedicated server by @marceld23 in #26
• docs: add Windows security notice (unsigned build + firewall) to README by @marceld23 in #27
• ci(security): pin Actions to SHAs, harden wiki esc, CodeQL -> security-extended by @marceld23 in #28
• ci: bump first-party Actions to Node 24 majors by @marceld23 in #29
• docs(ai-tools): warn that AI asset generation is non-deterministic by @marceld23 in #31
• feat(comms): tiered radio reach + live voice chat by @marceld23 in #30
• ci: re-pin 3rd-party Actions to Node 24 majors by @marceld23 in #32
• ci: bump game-ci/unity-builder v4 -> v5 (Node 24) by @marceld23 in #33
• fix(ui): split in-game menu top bar into two rows so Close no longer overlaps tabs by @marceld23 in #35
• ci(codeql): compile C# (manual build mode) to fix low analysis quality by @marceld23 in #36
• ci(release): prepend the Docker pull command to release notes by @marceld23 in #37

Full Changelog: v0.3.2...v0.4.0

v0.3.2

What's Changed

• fix(ci): correct butler download host (broth.itch.zone) by @marceld23 in #5
• docs(readme): add Project Status (in-development / as-is) section by @marceld23 in #6
• feat(screenshots): one surface shot per planet type for variety by @marceld23 in #8
• docs(screenshots): per-planet surface shots (variety gallery) by @marceld23 in #9
• feat(space): explosion stays, no landing animation after ship destruction by @marceld23 in #10
• fix(space): rear hatch shows a blue energy door in flight, not an open hole by @marceld23 in #11
• fix(landing): fly the descent to the chosen planet, not the launch body by @marceld23 in #12
• feat(enemies): floating scan-drones fire a ranged laser by @marceld23 in #13
• fix(screenshots): terrain-aware capture placement (no fall-through / interior) by @marceld23 in #14
• docs(readme): add table of contents and itch.io/releases links by @marceld23 in #15

Full Changelog: v0.3.1...v0.3.2

v0.3.1

What's Changed

• ci(release): strip Burst _DoNotShip folder + mirror installers to itch.io by @marceld23 in #4

Full Changelog: v0.3.0...v0.3.1

v0.3.0

What's Changed

• docs(agents): require pull-request workflow (repo public, main protected) by @marceld23 in #1
• fix(ai-backend): patch langchain/langsmith/starlette security alerts by @marceld23 in #2
• fix: clear analyzer warnings (nullable, async, dispose) by @marceld23 in #3

New Contributors

• @marceld23 made their first contribution in #1

Full Changelog: v0.2.0...v0.3.0

v0.2.0

Full Changelog: v0.1.0...v0.2.0