Prototype

The Raft Prototype is the collective name for the publicly available prototype versions for Raft, released on Google Drive between October 27, 2016, and November 10, 2016. Despite evidence that version numbers were being used by the developers, no numbers were released to the public which results in the name given here. The prototypes were the first iterations of Raft that were available for download by players.

Summary
The prototype consists of three separate versions of the first prototype released to the public. It was released alongside a Google Docs form (still available as of January 15, 2021) allowing players to give feedback to the developers. Many of the base features persisted until the Steam Release although both graphics and items received massive overhauls before release, as well as gameplay mechanics being tweaked throughout the prototype and itch.io days.

Between the first PreRelease on itch.io and last prototype on drive.google.com, a number of additions were made to Raft, which were not numbered. Most of the additions were made to the building system of Raft, including flooring, pillars, stairs and walls, which would be released with PreRelease V1.00. The Large Crop Plot, floating Barrels, and a number of graphical additions like fog, shaders and effects were also added. Lastly, the Shark would attack the raft and also dropped Raw Shark Meat, which could be cooked.

Features
The prototypes included three named updates, and a few unnumbered additions prior to its itch.io release.

The original three features consisted of only hooking debris in the ocean, expanding the raft, and harvesting plants.

The second update came with two blog updates, the first concerning an inventory system which was added as well as a crafting menu with only two recipes at the time: a campfire and a hook. This update also included added graphics for Potatoes, Crop Plots, which was the original name of the Small Crop Plot, campfire (which has later become the Simple Grill), and the base UI.

In the second blog post for the second update a number of features were implemented :
 * Fishing
 * Cooking fish (the Mackerel was the only fish at the time)
 * Purifying water
 * Basic Hunger and Thirst system
 * Along other craftable Structures.

Graphics were also updated:
 * Cooking station (Simple Grill)
 * Purifier (Simple Purifier)
 * Hammer, which later become the Building Hammer
 * Fishing Rod, which become the Wooden Fishing Rod
 * The Mackerel fish

In the third, and last update prior to moving to the itch.io platform, a few additional changes were made :
 * Rust-inspired pie menu crafting UI added.
 * Stairs, pillars and flooring added
 * Added textures and meshes.
 * Potatoes should now be planted instead of just growing automatically from the crop plot.
 * The idea of the Shark was confirmed.

And lastly, a few unclarified bug-fixes were made.

Trivia

 * The original building menu was a pie menu UI inspired by Rust, but this was later changed to the current model.