DayCraft · a block survival game

The island
shows no mercy.

Survive · Build · Loot

A whole island, generated just for you. Towns emptied of their people, a stranded cruise ship, a deserted ski resort, zombies that can hear you, survivors watching you. Gather, craft, build your base and hold out until morning, alone or with friends.

Download V2.5.4 alpha Discover the game

🪟 Windows🍎 Apple Silicon Mac🐧 Linux👥 Solo & multiplayer🇬🇧 🇫🇷 English & French

267items

228recipes

30weapons

24kinds of zombies

85places to search

∞islands (one per seed)

The survival loop

Every day counts

You spawn in the forest, empty-handed. A day lasts 35 minutes: 20 minutes of daylight to get ready, 15 minutes of night to survive.

Gather

Wood, stone, fibers, ores. By hand at first, then with real tools.

Craft

No grid to memorize: the game shows you everything you can make, and even what you can take apart.

Loot

Houses, police stations, hospitals, the prison, the secret laboratory… if you make it back.

Build

Walls, armored doors, garage doors, 4 m fences, traps, an automatic turret.

Survive

Hunger, thirst, cold, infection, radiation, wolves… and the full moon.

What awaits you

A world to win back

Dead towns

Towns and villages you can search from drawer to rooftop.

85 places to explore

Cruise ship, lighthouse, amusement park, dam, abbey, refinery…

The night is theirs

They hear you. They see you. They come back.

Nomads

They scavenge, hunt and build their cabin… just like you.

On land and water

Car, truck, helicopter, boats, camper van… and the horse.

Your base, your rules

Nobody gets in without paying for it.

A houseboat on a river, under a footbridge

Rivers and streams

Level all the way to the sea, boats go everywhere. Bridges, pontoons and two-lane roads.

30 weapons

Bullet drop, wind drift, attachments.

Living weather

Rain, thunderstorms, fog, snow, wind and a lunar cycle.

Two ways to play

Survival or Creative

The real challengeSurvival

You start naked, with 8 slots on you and nothing else.
Health, hunger, thirst, stamina, immunity, warmth, radiation.
Zombies, armed survivors, nomads, wolves and bears.
When you die, everything you carry stays on the spot in a bag.
40 game settings to tune the difficulty to your liking.

SandboxCreative

Free flight (F key) and endless blocks.
The full catalog of 267 items, with search.
Invincible: ideal for building or exploring the island.
Perfect to plan a base before switching to Survival.

In pictures

Screenshots

All taken in version 2.5.4 alpha. Click to enlarge.

"Survive — Build — Loot"

The alpha is here to be tested. Play, break everything, and tell us what's wrong: every report counts for the beta.

Download See the roadmap

Overview

The game

DayCraft blends the building freedom of a block game with the tension of a survival game where every noise can cost you your life. Everything in it is original: the world, the items, the models, the sounds, the typeface.

The island

An island all to yourself

Every game starts from a seed: a number or a word. The same seed always gives the same island; another one creates a brand new one. You pick its size: 2, 4 or 6 km.

Beaches, plains, four kinds of forest, fir woods, snowy mountains, lakes, islets offshore. Streams, rivers and big rivers run to the sea, level all the way (boats go everywhere), with their bridges and pontoons. Under your feet, branching caves, sewers under every town, veins of coal, iron and copper, and pockets of oil.

The ground can be dug, water flows into the holes you open, and trees and ores grow back far from you after a few hours of play.

The towns

Towns to loot

On a 4 km island: 4 towns and 8 villages, linked by two-lane roads, bridges and viaducts, some of them collapsed. Police stations, fire stations, supermarkets, gas stations, hospitals, schools, churches, town halls, apartment blocks with reachable rooftops, train stations and their trains, an airport and its planes, a shopping centre and a university.

Every drawer, fridge, cupboard, locker or shelf can be searched. What you find depends on the place and the furniture: a medicine cabinet doesn't hold what an armory locker does. What's taken partly comes back every night, never more than there was at the start.

85 places

The coast, the mountains, the forest

A 120 m cruise ship stranded on a beach, a lighthouse on its cliff, an oil rig offshore, an amusement park, a festival, a zoo whose wolves have escaped, a ski resort and its chairlift, an abbey, a dam that brings power back, a ruined fort and its treasure, a refinery, a collapsed motorway viaduct…

Some are not on the map: the secret laboratory, the psychiatric hospital, the missile silo, the plane crash, the crystal chasm. Clues hidden in the loot add them to your map.

The dangers

Nothing comes free

Zombies sleep where humans used to live: 24 kinds, from the civilian to the lab's test subject, and giants right in the streets of big towns. They don't move… until they hear you. A gunshot carries 40 blocks, an explosion 100. Crouched, you make no noise at all.

Survivors are no heroes: holed up behind their planks, scavengers, ambushers, lookouts on the rooftops, hunters at night, escaped inmates. They aim badly, but they are sneaky. A white flag can calm them down.

Your body lets you down too: hunger, thirst, cold, bleeding, a broken leg, food poisoning, infection, radiation. And in the forest, wolves hunt in packs.

The nomads

They live like you

A few nomad survivors roam the island. Each has a name, a personality (wary, hostile or peaceful), hunger and thirst. By day they scavenge the towns and empty the furniture before you do; they chop wood, break stone, hunt and cook on their campfire.

In the evening they go back to their camp in the forest, and their cabin grows night after night: walls, roof, workbench, door, planter boxes, a fence and traps. A white flag and a little food left near them calm them down; their camp can be raided, but they rebuild.

Together

Alone, or with others

Host your game from the menu or in the middle of a game, join a friend by address, or run a dedicated server that keeps going even when nobody plays. The Multiplayer menu already has its worldwide server list: it lights up with the official servers.

Tick your allies in the player list: they open your doors and chests, build near your flag, see your position on the map and read your team chat. The server checks everything — hits, shots, crafting, inventory — so nobody can cheat. Your belongings follow your player code, not your nickname.

Handmade

3D models, textures, icons, sounds, logo and block typeface: everything was made for DayCraft.

No wear

Your tools and weapons don't wear out, and food doesn't rot. The challenge lies elsewhere.

Built to last

Autosave every 5 minutes, 3 slots, and your world keeps every block placed or broken. Your old games keep their island from one version to the next.

English and French

The whole game is translated; a "Langue / Language" button on the menu switches language in one click.

Even on a small PC

A "Low performance" preset, every processor core put to work, and a map that appears faster than before.

Your way

40 game settings: loot, zombies, giants, survivors, nomads, hunger, day length, weather, vehicles, PvP…

Everything the game does

Features

The complete list, numbers included. The tables come straight from the game's data (version 2.5.4 alpha).

The world The 85 places Survival Gathering & crafting Building Weapons Noise Zombies Survivors & nomads Animals Weather & moon Farming Power Vehicles & boats Game settings Multiplayer

The world

Island generated from a seed, 2, 4 or 6 km, surrounded by sea and islets.
Biomes: beaches, plains, oak woods, birch woods, dark forests, pine woods, fir woods, snowy mountains.
Water: lakes, streams, rivers and big rivers (on an average island: 2 big rivers, 7 rivers, 14 streams), level all the way to the sea, floating pontoons with boats moored to them; from the water, you climb onto a pontoon, a quay or the houseboat.
Roads: a main road with two lanes each way, real junctions, road markings, marker posts and guardrails, steel arch bridges over the big river, viaducts, railway lines.
Towns and villages with random names; a post-apocalyptic mood (holed walls, collapsed bridges, cracked roads).
Underground: caves and caverns, sewers, ores, oil deposits, indestructible bedrock at the very bottom.
GPS map (M key): zoom ×8, colored markers, your buildings, your allies, the secret places you have found.
Resources that grow back after 6 hours of play, never in front of you or against your base.
The sky: clouds pushed by the wind, the sun, the moon with its phase, stars; falling leaves, fireflies at night.

The 85 places

From towns to secret places, every location has its own furniture, loot and inhabitants. The biggest ones only exist once or twice per island; some aren't on the map. Pick a family, then "What you can find there" to see a place's loot.

Survival

Gauges: health, hunger, thirst, stamina, immunity; warmth and radiation show up when they change.
Injuries: falls (from 4 blocks), broken leg, bleeding (you leave blood trails), food poisoning, infection.
Healing: bandage, first aid kit, splint, painkillers, antibiotics, vaccine, adrenaline, iodine pills.
Inventory: 8 slots when naked, pockets in every piece of clothing (jeans +10, cargo pants +12…), up to +54 slots with the military backpack; 6 equipment slots (head, face, top, vest, bottoms, bag).
Sleep (solo): hold E on a bed in the evening and you wake up at 6 am.
Death: a death bag keeps everything you carried; you come back at your last bed (even a camper van's) or in the forest.
Water: fill a bottle in a lake, boil it, purify it, collect it with a rain collector, or at the water treatment plant's tap.

Gathering & crafting

Break by holding the click: wood and dirt by hand, the pickaxe for stone and ores, the axe for wood, the shovel for dirt. Wood < stone < metal.
Chainsaw running on fuel: 1 L = 40 trees.
Plants: tall grass (fibers, seeds), berry bushes that grow back, mushrooms, saplings to replant.
228 recipes, with no grid or pattern: the game offers everything you can make with what you have.
Recycling: 79 recipes to take apart what you find (a weapon gives back its attachments, a bag its cloth, a lamp its components).
Stations: by hand, workbench, workshop, ammo press, campfire, furnace, gas stove; the windmill grinds wheat into flour.
Wrecks to dismantle with the wrench: scrap metal, tires, battery, parts; solar panels to salvage at the solar farm.

See every recipe

Building & defense

What you place is yours: you and your allies can use it, everyone else has to break it with the right tool.
Base flag: nobody else can build within 16 blocks.
Chests from 8 to 20 slots (crate, wooden chest, iron chest, safe).
Doors, trapdoors, 4 m fences and gates in wood, metal or armor; 4 × 4 m garage doors (the car fits through); barricades.
Traps: barbed wire, spike trap, bear trap, can alarm with a tripwire up to 100 m long.
Repair with a hammer or a blowtorch; cracks stay visible to everyone.
Bed, sleeping bag, torches, signs, ladders.

What breaks what

Weapons

Melee: knife, machete, nail bat, baton, spear… power attack by holding right click.
Firearms: pistol, .22 rifle, hunting rifle, pump shotgun, automatic rifle, precision rifle, submachine gun, homemade rifle.
Ballistics: bullets drop, the wind pushes them; head ×3, legs ×0.6; helmets and vests protect.
Attachments: x4, x8 and x16 scopes, red dot, night vision, suppressor, light, extended magazine.
Projectiles: bow, crossbow, slingshot, flare gun, rocket launcher.
Explosives: grenade, smoke grenade, firecracker, Molotov cocktail, dynamite, homemade bomb.

The 30 weapons click a column to sort

Noise & stealth

Every action can be heard up to a certain radius. A wall muffles it by half, being underground even more. At night zombies hear ×1.5 — and ×2.5 on full moon nights. A ten-bar meter under your gauges tells you how far you can be heard. Creature health bars only show for 3 s after a hit: in the dark, nobody gets spotted from afar.

What can be seen

Zombies

Only where there used to be people; never out in the wild. Some wait inside houses and apartment blocks.
At rest they don't move. They hear your noise and see you within 10 blocks (5 when you crouch), never behind them or through walls.
When one sees you, it growls and calls the others.
Their hits lower your immunity: below 20, the infection eats at you until you take antibiotics or a vaccine.
A closed door stops them; the giant smashes wood in a few blows, and now roams big towns too.
Radiation around the reactor and irradiated zombies: suit, gas mask, iodine pills, Geiger counter.
Access cards for the armored doors of the bunker, the reactor, the launch base, the prison, the laboratory and the arms factory.

The 24 kinds of zombies

Survivors & nomads

Armed humans, not pros: 0.8 to 1.5 s before the first shot, 5 s to reload, a 60 % hit rate at 10 blocks. They see you 35 blocks away by day (through windows), heal themselves, warn their group, fight zombies… and their gunshots attract zombies. A white flag in hand, or food left near them, can make them neutral. Truckers and monks are neutral from the start.

Nomads live like players: they search real furniture, chop wood, hunt, cook, craft with the same recipes as you, and build their base in the forest night after night. Killed, they come back 15 s later at their bed; their bag stays where they fell.

Animals, hunting & fishing

Rabbits, does, deer, cows and horses, very sensitive to noise; they smell you when the wind blows from you to them.
Wolves and bears: predators escaped from the zoo (and a few wild ones); the pack hunts together.
Crouched in tall grass you get much closer; a wounded deer charges.
Bow, crossbow or slingshot to hunt silently; meat and leather drop on the ground.
Milk a cow, tame a horse, saddle it and ride it (40 km/h gallop, saddlebags).
Realistic fishing with a rod, faster with earthworms.

Weather, day, night & moon

A 35-minute day: dawn, day, dusk, night (adjustable: 25 or 50 min). The sun crosses the sky, shadows turn.
The weather changes every 4 to 9 minutes: clear, cloudy, rain, thunderstorm, fog; snow in the mountains. The weather station forecasts the next three.
The wind pushes bullets and arrows, sways the grass and drives the clouds; rain covers your noise.
Warmth drops at night, in the rain, at altitude: warm jacket, beanie, campfire.
The moon goes round in 8 nights. On the full moon, zombies are faster, stronger, and giants twice as frequent.

The island's clock

One game day = 35 real minutes.

The moon cycle

The fuller the moon, the brighter the night… and the farther zombies can hear.

Farming

Wheat, tomato, corn, hemp, carrot, potato, and tree saplings.
In a flower pot (1 plant), a planter box (3 plants) or straight in the ground.
One watering is enough (watering can, bottle of water, or rain); 8 growth stages, 3 game days, just 1 with fertilizer.
Indoors, under a plugged-in UV lamp.

Electricity & fuel

A generator powers everything within 16 blocks; a solar panel, only by day; and the dam, once repaired, gives power forever within 300 m. Lamps, floodlights, work light, UV lamp, electric fence, fuel pump, and the automatic turret: give it a firearm and it sweeps 120° and fires up to 150 m. Fuel is found in gas stations, in wrecks, and in large amounts at the refinery.

Vehicles & boats

Car, forklift, tractor, truck, helicopter, golf cart, and the horse.
Boats: the motor boat, the speedboat, and the houseboat, which you can walk on while it moves and build in like on the ground: blocks, a door, a generator, lamps, a bed, chests, a workbench…
The camper van: get in, build inside like in the houseboat (blocks, a door, a bed, chests…): everything travels with it; its bed becomes your respawn point.
You need fuel AND a charged battery; there's not much around, rarely in good shape.
Headlights, horn (which attracts zombies), locking, trunk, changing seats; passengers shoot through the windows; bullets puncture tires.
Smoke at 25 %, flames at 10 %, explosion at 0. A blowtorch to repair, a jack to put it back on its wheels; a crowbar (noisy) or a wrench (quiet) to force one open.

Game settings

When you create a game, "Game settings…" opens 40 settings in 6 tabs, plus a difficulty (Easy, Normal, Hard) that sets everything at once. The host can change them mid-game; a dedicated server reads them from serveur.cfg, and can even tune loot item by item.

Multiplayer

The server list

The Multiplayer menu shows every server in the world (mode, PvP, island size, players, ping, version), with filters and an OFFICIAL badge. It lights up with the official servers.

Hosting

From the menu (public list or not, password, automatic router port opening, up to 32 players), or in the middle of a solo game (Esc › Open to other players).

Dedicated server

The game started with --serveur: an island that runs on its own, with or without a screen, fully configurable (PvP, destruction, mode, size, game settings…).

Allies

Tick them in the list (Tab): shared doors, chests, flag, map and chat; their name shows above them.

Chat and walkie-talkie

T to talk to nearby players, Y to your allies wherever they are, U on the walkie-talkie on a channel from 1 to 9.

Anti-cheat and identity

The server checks every hit, every shot, every craft and every inventory. A unique, exportable player code: change nickname or PC without losing anything.

How to play

Manual

From your first game to a dedicated server. Keep it open next to the game.

First steps Keys Gauges Inventory Crafting Building Fighting Driving Multiplayer Dedicated server Settings Saves

Guide

Your first minutes

1 · Create your game
Solo › New game: a name, a seed (empty = random), an island size (4 km recommended) and Survival mode. "Game settings…" to tune the difficulty.
2 · Pick up what's lying around
Hold left click on a tree to chop it (4 s by hand). What you break drops on the ground: aim at it and press E. Pull up tall grass for fibers.
3 · Your first tools
Open the inventory (I), Crafting tab: planks, sticks, then a stone axe and pickaxe. Everything you can make is listed.
4 · Water and food
Berries, mushrooms, hunting. An empty bottle, right click in a lake: dirty water, to boil on a campfire.
5 · A shelter before nightfall
Night falls after 20 minutes. A workbench, a campfire, walls, a door, a bed (right click to place it, E on the bed to respawn there, hold E in the evening to sleep).
6 · Then the town
Walk crouched (Ctrl, Option on Mac): no noise at all. Search furniture with E. Avoid shooting: the whole neighborhood would hear you.

Keyboard & mouse

The keys

Movement keys follow their position: WASD on QWERTY, ZQSD on AZERTY, with nothing to set up. Every key can be changed in Settings › Keys; F12 shows the list in game.

Your body

The gauges

Hunger −1 every 30 s, thirst −1 every 20 s (twice as fast when running). At zero, you lose health.
Hunger and thirst above 50: your health regenerates on its own.
Stamina: sprinting empties it in 10 s; once empty, you can't run until it's back up to 30.
Immunity: drops with every zombie hit; below 20, the infection sets in.
Eat, drink, heal: item in hand, right click.

On you

The inventory

Naked: 8 slots, which are also your hotbar (1 to 8 or the mouse wheel).
Every piece of clothing adds pockets (T-shirt +8, jeans +10, cargo pants +12…), the bag most of all: from +9 (cloth bag) to +54 (military backpack).
Only basic resources stack (by 10), and ammo (by 40).
Drag an item to move it, out of the window to drop it; right click: equip, remove, split, drop; Sort button.
G drops the held item in front of you.

Making

Crafting

I › Crafting tab: every recipe you can make with what you carry, plus those of stations within 3 blocks.
Untick "Only what I can craft" to see everything; search by name or by type. The "Recycling (take apart)" type salvages the materials of what you find.
Pick ×1, ×5 or Max, then Craft (or double-click). The required tool must be on you; it isn't used up.
Campfire and furnace: E opens their window (4 ingredients, fuel, result). Light them with a lighter, or by rubbing 2 sticks together for 15 s.
Tearing up a piece of clothing gives 3 bandages or 3 cloths.

Open the crafting book

Building

A block or an item in hand: a preview shows where it will go (green: it fits, red: it doesn't). Right click to place.
Your own blocks come apart quickly by hand; what you placed can be picked up by holding left click for 3 s.
Base flag: a protected zone of 16 blocks. Hold Tab: tick your allies.
Doors, trapdoors, gates and garage doors: E to open. The hammer repairs wood and stone, the blowtorch metal.
Can alarm: E to take the wire, right click to tie it (up to 100 m).

Defending yourself

Fighting

Left click: shoot or hit. Hold right click: aim (or power attack in melee). R: reload.
Middle click: weapon attachments (attach, remove, unload). F: weapon light. N: night vision.
Bow and slingshot: hold the click to draw, release to shoot. Arrows stuck in things can be picked up.
Grenades and Molotovs: left click to throw far, right click gently. Dynamite: right click to place it.
Aim for the head (×3). Mind the wind in the scope: "Wind 5 m/s →".

Getting around

Driving

E to get in or out. W/S accelerate and brake, A/D steer, Space handbrake (ZQSD on AZERTY).
F headlights, H horn, K lock, X change seat, C trunk.
Boats: they only move on water; A/D the helm, Space go astern, H the horn. The motor boat's outboard starts by hand.
Houseboat and camper van: right click with a block or an object to place (bed, chest, door, generator…) while aiming inside; the green preview shows where it will go.
Refueling: jerry can in hand, right click on the vehicle; left click to take its fuel back. The battery recharges while driving.

With friends

Multiplayer

Hosting

Multiplayer › Host tab: public list or not, password, UPnP, max players, port; then pick or create your game.
Or in the middle of a game: Esc › "Open to other players".
The pause menu shows your address and port 27500.
Windows asks for firewall access: accept (private networks).
Over the Internet: your router must let two UDP ports through, 27500 and 27501. The game tries to open them by itself (UPnP).

Joining

Multiplayer › Servers tab (the public list: double-click to join).
Or Join by IP: the host's address and port (on the same PC: 127.0.0.1).
If the game has a password, you'll be asked for it.
Your nickname and player code: Player menu. Export your key (.cubekey) to move to another PC.
Online, everyone needs a compatible version (V2.5.x plays with V2.5.x).

For hosts

Dedicated server

Start the game with the --serveur option: no menu, no player, the island runs on its own. A small window shows the players, the log and the save buttons.
Without a screen (rented server): --headless --serveur, then the stop, save and joueurs commands in the console.
The serveur.cfg file is created on first launch, next to the game, with explanations (in French). The [partie] section holds every game setting (commented out), the [butin_objets] section the loot item by item.

Example serveur.cfg

[serveur]
nom="Island of friends"
port=27500
joueurs_max=16
mode="survie"
graine="daycraft"
taille=4096
sauvegarde="serveur.sav"
sauvegarde_auto_minutes=5
destruction_constructions="oui"
pvp="oui"
mot_de_passe=""
public="oui"
upnp="non"

[partie]
difficulte="Normale"
zombies="Beaucoup"
butin_general=150

The keys and values stay in French: mode: survie (survival) or creatif · taille (size): 2048, 4096 or 6144 (2, 4 or 6 km) · joueurs_max: up to 32 · oui = yes, non = no · upnp: oui on a home PC, non on a rented server. The file created by the game explains every line.

Performance

Settings & if it lags

Quality: Low performance, Low, Medium, High, then each setting by hand (resolution, view distance from 32 m, detail distance, shadows, anti-aliasing, field of view, brightness, interface size, sensitivity, max frame rate…).
Low-end PC: pick "Low" or "Low performance". F4 turns shadows off in game.
On a laptop with a dedicated graphics card: Windows Settings › System › Display › Graphics › add DayCraft.exe › "High performance".
Keys…: click an action, press the new key. Sound volumes…: music, ambience, weapons, vehicles…
Langue / Language (on the menu): English or French.
F3: frame rate, position, biome, seed.

Lose nothing

Saves

3 slots, autosave every 5 minutes, when going back to the menu and when quitting. A game started in an older version reloads with the same island. The folder also holds the settings and the game log (logs/godot.log).

System	Folder
Windows	`%APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\CubeVille` (paste it into File Explorer's address bar)
Mac	`~/Library/Application Support/Godot/app_userdata/CubeVille` (Finder › Go › Go to Folder)
Linux	`~/.local/share/godot/app_userdata/CubeVille`

The big book

Crafting & items

The game's 228 recipes and 267 items. Click an item for its full sheet: how to craft it, what it's for, where to find it, and the raw materials calculator.

Version 2.5.4 alpha

Download

No installation: a single file to run. To uninstall, delete it.

Test version. Bugs are waiting for you, that's normal: that's what it's for. The game isn't signed yet, so your system will warn you on first launch (the steps are under each button).

Requirements

System	Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) · macOS 11 or later on Apple Silicon Mac (M1 to M4) · 64-bit Linux
Processor	2 cores minimum, 4 recommended (the game uses them all)
Graphics card	OpenGL 3.3 compatible (almost all since 2012), 2 GB recommended
Memory	4 GB minimum, 8 GB recommended
Disk	≈ 150 MB, plus saves
Network	Only for multiplayer (UDP ports 27500 and 27501 to host)
Keyboard	QWERTY or AZERTY, detected automatically

Check your file

Each file has a SHA-256 fingerprint (shown under its button). If yours is identical, your file is intact and it's the right one.

Windows	`Get-FileHash .\DayCraft.exe` (PowerShell)
Mac	`shasum -a 256 DayCraft-mac.zip`
Linux	`sha256sum DayCraft.x86_64`

Changelog

V2.5.4 alpha — now

Ready for the official servers: the Multiplayer server list now goes through daycraft-game.com, with the OFFICIAL badge.
Server messages in each player's language (warned before a restart or an update); a server can kick, ban or only accept a list of players.
Build inside the houseboat and the camper van like on the ground: blocks, a door, a generator, lamps, chests, a bed, a workbench, a furnace… Everything travels with them (nothing is placed in advance any more).
Rivers are level, with no waterfalls: boats can go everywhere (on a new island). From the water, you can climb onto a pontoon, the houseboat or a quay.
The jerry can: right-click refuels, left-click takes the fuel back. Returning loot is drawn at random (other items, elsewhere in the furniture); a picked-up item no longer stays visible. On Mac, crouch with Option (you can shoot while crouching).
More clothes to find everywhere: about 2.5 times more often in wardrobes, dressers and cupboards, and in many places that had none (farm, chalet, mountain hut, lighthouse, marina, school, gas station…).
The clock no longer shows the day number; the "Key list (F12)" setting works at once; on Mac, the app is now called DayCraft.app.
It does not play online with earlier versions: everyone takes V2.5.4.

Earlier versions

V2.5.3 — the English version reviewed

The English version fully reviewed: crafting, doors and furniture to open, batteries, connection messages; place names are no longer garbled.

V2.5.2 — new areas faster

Never-seen areas appear about 30 % faster (drawing the map is twice as fast).
The D icon remade, truly transparent; the donation addresses are in place.

V2.5.1 — smoother on a small PC

No more double work, every processor core put to work, the map prepared ahead of you.
Creature health bars only show for 3 s after a hit.

V2.5.0 — roads and water

Wider and more numerous roads, real junctions, road markings, marker posts, guardrails, arch bridges and viaducts.
Twice as many waterways, floating pontoons and moored boats.

V2.4 — the big check-up

Every building reviewed (walkable, sensible loot, furniture and decoration), garage doors.
Graphics pass: corner shading, clouds, moon and stars, water that catches the light, grass in the wind; new logo and new intro.

V2.3 — nomad survivors

Nomads who scavenge, hunt, cook and build their base in the forest.

V2.2 — giants, rivers, boats, camper van

Giants in big towns, streams, rivers, big rivers and waterfalls, motor boat, speedboat, fitted-out houseboat, camper van.

V2.1 — the last places

The coast and the sea, leisure, secret places and their clues, the mountains, the town, industry: 46 new places, wolves, bears, golf cart.

V1.2 — the island grows

2, 4 and 6 km islands; campsite, wind farm, launch base and its rocket, truck stop, toll plaza, scrapyard, sawmill, prison, shooting range, villa, bunkers, lookout towers…
Sleeping, recycling, sensible loot place by place, zombies inside buildings, animated menu.

V1.1 — game settings

40 game settings, walkie-talkie, Multiplayer menu and its server list, English and French.

V1.0 — the first playable version

The full world, survival, crafting, building, weapons, zombies, survivors, animals, weather, electricity, vehicles, multiplayer and dedicated server.

Support the game

Donate

DayCraft is an independent game, made without a publisher or funding. A donation, even a small one, helps pay for the official servers, the worldwide list, testing and what comes next. Thank you!

Before sending: check the currency and network shown, and the first and last characters of the address. A cryptocurrency transaction can't be undone.

Frequently asked questions

FAQ

Can't find your answer? Write to us through the bug form, it works for questions too.

Installing and launching

Is the game free?

The alpha is free: it's there to test the game before the beta. If you'd like to support the project, you can donate.

Which systems can I play on?

Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit), Apple Silicon Mac (M1 to M4, macOS 11 or later) and 64-bit Linux. Intel Macs aren't supported for the alpha.

Do I need to install anything?

No. The game is a single file: you run it, that's all. To uninstall it, delete it (and the saves folder if you want to wipe everything).

Windows says "Windows protected your PC"

The game isn't digitally signed yet. Click More info, then Run anyway. You can check the file is the right one with its SHA-256 fingerprint.

macOS won't open the app

Right click (or Ctrl + click) on DayCraft.app › Open › Open. On macOS 15 and later: System Settings › Privacy & Security › at the very bottom, "Open Anyway". If macOS says the app is "damaged", open Terminal, type xattr -cr (with the space), drag DayCraft.app into the window and press Enter.

Linux: nothing happens on double-click

Make the file executable: right click › Properties › Permissions › "Allow executing", or chmod +x DayCraft.x86_64. You need OpenGL 3.3 drivers (recent Mesa, NVIDIA or AMD).

My antivirus blocks the game

That's common with unsigned indie games. Compare your file's SHA-256 fingerprint with the one on the Download page: if they're identical, the file is intact. You can then allow it in your antivirus.

Is the game in English?

Yes: the whole game exists in English and French. The "Langue / Language" button on the main menu switches language in one click. What players type in the chat is never translated.

Playing

The game lags, what can I do?

Settings › Quality "Low", or "Low performance" for low-end PCs (1280 × 720, 32 m view, no shadows). F4 also turns shadows off in game. On a laptop, ask Windows to run DayCraft on the "High performance" graphics card (Settings › System › Display › Graphics).

Which island size should I pick?

4 km to start with: 4 towns, 8 villages and almost every place. A 2 km island is quick to cross but often only has villages and not every place; a 6 km island has twice as much, for long games with others.

Do my old games work with the new version?

Yes: a game always reloads with its island as it was. New places, roads and waterways only appear on a new island; other additions (boats, nomads…) also come to older games.

How do I move to a new version?

Download it from the Download page and replace the old file (or keep both). Your games, settings and identity are stored separately, in the game's data folder: nothing is lost. If a server has moved to a newer version, the game tells you (in the server list, or when you connect).

I have an AZERTY keyboard

Nothing to do: movement keys follow their position on the keyboard (WASD on QWERTY, ZQSD on AZERTY). And every key can be changed in Settings › Keys.

I can't break stone

You need a pickaxe. By hand you can chop wood and break dirt, sand, gravel, snow and leaves — never stone, ores, bricks or metal. Iron and copper need a stone pickaxe.

Items don't get picked up automatically?

No: aim at the item on the ground and press E. A broken resource nobody picks up disappears after 5 minutes; a dropped item stays.

Will my tools wear out?

No. Neither tools nor weapons. And food doesn't rot.

Can I sleep?

In solo, yes: in the evening or at night, hold E on a bed or a sleeping bag. You wake up at 6 am, a little hungry. Not possible if a zombie or a hostile survivor is within 20 m. In multiplayer, nobody sleeps.

What happens when I die?

Everything you carried drops into a death bag next to your body; anyone can search it. You respawn naked at your last bed (if it still exists) or in the forest. Your buildings and chests don't move. The game settings can let you keep your clothes, or everything.

How do I avoid being spotted by zombies?

Crouched (Ctrl, Option on Mac), you make no noise and they see you half as far. Watch the noise meter under your gauges. Avoid firearms without a suppressor, and beware of the full moon.

How do I find the secret places?

By searching… or thanks to the clues hidden in the loot of other places (a researcher's notebook, a patient file, the silo blueprint, the article about flight 714…). Right click with the clue in hand: the place is added to your map.

Where can I find a given item?

In the crafting book: every item sheet lists the places where it can be found, with its rarity. The "Where to find what" tab does the reverse: one place, and everything you can find there.

Multiplayer

How do I play with friends?

One player hosts (Multiplayer › Host, or Esc › Open to other players in the middle of a game), the others join through the server list or with the host's address and port 27500. Over the Internet, the host's router must let UDP ports 27500 and 27501 through (the game tries to open them by itself). Everything is explained in the manual.

Are there official servers?

They're coming: two PvP servers, shown in the server list with the OFFICIAL badge. In Europe, a 4 km island for 16 players; in the United States, a 2 km island for 8 players. See the roadmap.

If I change my nickname, do I lose my things?

No: servers recognize you by your player code, not your nickname. To move to another PC, export your key (Player menu › Export my key…) and import it on the other PC. Never give it to anyone.

Can people cheat?

The server checks everything: the tool held, the time spent breaking, every shot and its trajectory, the ingredients, the inventory. A cheater can't hurt anyone.

Can player-versus-player combat be turned off?

Yes: in the game settings (Rules tab), or on a dedicated server with pvp="non" in serveur.cfg. Likewise, destruction_constructions="non" protects bases.

My friend has another version of the game

To play together you need compatible versions: V2.5.4 only plays with V2.5.4 (V2.5.0 to V2.5.3 played together). The simplest: all take the latest one from the Download page. The game tells you when a server has a different version.

The project

When does the beta come out?

After the official servers go online and the alpha feedback: we fix what you report, then come the finishing touches.

How do I report a bug?

The bug form prepares a complete report to copy and paste. Remember the F3 key (position and seed) and the godot.log file.

What is the game made with?

With the free Godot Engine. Everything else — world, models, textures, sounds, logo, typeface — was created for DayCraft.

Where the game stands

Roadmap

The game is complete and in alpha testing. Next: the servers going online, then the beta. Your feedback shapes what comes next too.

The world and survival
The island, its biomes, its towns, caves and sewers; gauges, injuries, gathering, crafting.
Loot, building, weapons, creatures
Bases and traps, 30 weapons, zombies, survivors, animals, hunting and fishing.
Weather, electricity, vehicles, multiplayer
Day, night, moon, farming, turret, car, helicopter, horse, dedicated server.
V1.0 – V1.1 alpha
The first playable version, then game settings, the walkie-talkie, the Multiplayer menu, English and French.
V1.2 – V2.1 alpha: 85 places
2, 4 and 6 km islands, the road, law and order, the coast, leisure, secrets, the mountains, the town, industry.
V2.2 – V2.4 alpha
Rivers and big rivers, boats, camper van, giants in town, nomads, buildings reviewed, graphics pass.
V2.5 alpha
Roads and waterways remade, a smoother game on small PCs, the English version reviewed.
Now: V2.5.4 alpha
Testing with friends on Windows, Mac and Linux. Report bugs!
Servers online
The worldwide server list and the official servers (Europe and United States), the site on daycraft-game.com.
Fixes and finishing touches
Everything you've found, balancing, music.
Public beta
The version open to everyone, in English and French.

Help the game grow

Report a bug

Fill in what you can: the report builds itself, ready to copy and send.

Your report

If you can, attach a screenshot and the godot.log file, in the logs subfolder of your saves.

For media and creators

Press kit

Everything you need to talk about DayCraft: texts, numbers, logos and screenshots.

At a glance

Name	DayCraft
Genre	Survival, building, sandbox, first-person view
Platforms	Windows, Mac (Apple Silicon), Linux
Players	Solo, multiplayer, dedicated server
Status	Version 2.5.4 alpha
Content	267 items, 228 recipes, 30 weapons, 24 kinds of zombies, 85 places
Engine	Godot Engine
Languages	English, French

Short description

DayCraft is a block survival game on a generated island: gather, craft, loot abandoned towns and 85 places to explore, and build your base against zombies, survivors and full moon nights, alone or with friends.

Long description

In DayCraft, every game starts on a different island, born from a seed. You spawn in the forest, empty-handed, with 8 inventory slots and a night that falls in twenty minutes. Chop wood, carve tools, search houses, police stations, a stranded cruise ship, a ski resort or a secret laboratory, farm, hunt, fish, sail the rivers, and build a base protected by fences, traps and an automatic turret. Zombies sleep where humans used to live and wake at the slightest noise; survivors pick their moment, and nomads build their own base in the forest. Weather, a lunar cycle, vehicles and boats, electricity, 267 items and 228 recipes: everything is handmade, in English and French, and everything can be played with others too.

Logos and images

Transparent backgrounds (PNG). Click to open the full-size file, then save it.

Logo · transparent PNG

Compact logo · transparent PNG

D icon · transparent PNG 1024 px

Poster · transparent PNG

French logo · transparent PNG

Screenshots

Information

Legal notice & credits

Site publisher

To be completed.

Contact

To be completed.

Hosting

To be completed.

Personal data

This site sets no cookies, doesn't measure traffic and collects no data. The bug form works entirely in your browser: nothing is sent unless you copy the report yourself. Only a small note stays in your browser if you close the language suggestion.

The Barlow fonts are loaded from Google Fonts, and the QR code tool from cdnjs: they therefore receive the visitor's IP address.

Credits

Game, universe, models, textures, sounds, logo and "DayCraft Blocs" typeface: DayCraft.
Engine: Godot Engine, MIT license.
Site fonts: Barlow and Barlow Condensed, SIL Open Font License.
QR codes: qrcode.js, MIT license.

Error 404

Uncharted zone

This page isn't on the map. Maybe someone looted it… Head back to safety.

Back to home

The islandshows no mercy.

Every day counts

Gather

Craft

Loot

Build

Survive

A world to win back

Dead towns

85 places to explore

The night is theirs

Nomads

On land and water

Your base, your rules

Rivers and streams

30 weapons

Living weather

Survival or Creative

Screenshots

The game

An island all to yourself

Towns to loot

The coast, the mountains, the forest

Nothing comes free

They live like you

Alone, or with others

Handmade

No wear

Built to last

English and French

Even on a small PC

Your way

Features

The world

The 85 places

Survival

Gathering & crafting

Building & defense

What breaks what

Weapons

The 30 weapons click a column to sort

Noise & stealth

What can be seen

Zombies

The 24 kinds of zombies

Survivors & nomads

Animals, hunting & fishing

Weather, day, night & moon

The island's clock

The moon cycle

Farming

Electricity & fuel

Vehicles & boats

Game settings

Multiplayer

The server list

Hosting

Dedicated server

Allies

Chat and walkie-talkie

Anti-cheat and identity

Manual

Your first minutes

1 · Create your game

2 · Pick up what's lying around

3 · Your first tools

4 · Water and food

5 · A shelter before nightfall

6 · Then the town

The keys

The gauges

The inventory

Crafting

Building

Fighting

Driving

Multiplayer

Hosting

Joining

Dedicated server

The island
shows no mercy.