A world that survives a restart

A persistent world must preserve more than positions and inventories. A server restart should not quietly erase an unfinished action, change an NPC's state or lose the relationships between players.

This first development update documents the Server Snapshot v18 milestone completed on 4 November 2026. It is a record of that verified step in the server core, rather than a claim that the online game is ready.

What changed

The v18 snapshot includes the simulation state needed to restore the server precisely:

  • Player command sequences, movement, routes and actions in progress.
  • Approaching, gathering, crafting and automatic attacks.
  • NPC state and facing.
  • Open trades, parties and pending party invitations.
  • Guild invitations and deterministic identifier counters.

The server restoration path requires this simulation block. Restoring a snapshot and replaying its command journal can then be checked against the uninterrupted simulation.

Verified at this milestone

86 test suites passed. The Core checks included complete snapshot restoration and the server host lifecycle.

17 of 17 targeted mutations were detected. Deliberate faults were caught by the tests. This supports the specific behaviors tested; it is not proof that every possible defect has been eliminated.

Simulation identity was checked after restoration. The checks compare the restored simulation with its uninterrupted counterpart. CompleteSnapshotChecks also exercises 41 corrupted-state cases.

Server Snapshot v18 closes a gap found in the previous format: a snapshot taken during active play could omit in-progress simulation state and diverge after recovery.

The server lifecycle

The server core restores from a snapshot and command journal, takes scheduled snapshots with a new journal, and writes a snapshot on shutdown. Previous snapshots and journals are retained.

This work runs in the independent C# Game Core. Unity presents the world; the server simulation is responsible for its state.

Known limitations

Server transport is deferred. This milestone does not include a completed online multiplayer service, a public server, or a claim about player capacity.

Passing server-core tests is not the same as validating real clients over a network. Connection handling, network behavior and operational load remain separate work.

The images below are genuine development captures from the Unity prototype. They illustrate prototype work and do not demonstrate snapshot tests or networked multiplayer. Art, interface and gameplay remain in development.

Next steps

When transport work resumes, a separate stage will define and integrate it around the verified simulation boundary, then test client-to-server behavior and failure recovery under real connection conditions. Transport work remains deferred.

Future journal entries will report those results when verified. No release date or multiplayer availability is announced here.

The TAIIAT team
A world in the making.