Tideward has been in beta for a while by every measure that matters. Today we are saying so out loud.
The game is built. Every trade, every zone, every mode, the six platforms, the one-time unlock, the pre-order on the App Store, the launch date. What is left before 1.0 is the short and specific list on the roadmap: the accessibility options, the score, an audit of every icon, bug fixing, and the legal and region work. Nothing new is being added to reach 1.0, and every build from here to February 11, 2027 is a beta build.
If you are already playing, nothing changes for you today. Same TestFlight, same Discord, same free unlock while testing runs. The word on the tin is different, and that is all.
The question everyone asks first
Will my keeper be wiped?
No. Not at beta, not at 1.0, not after.
Your save lives in your own iCloud private database. There is no Tideward server holding a copy that could be reset, and there is no launch-day migration that rewrites it. The App Store build reads the same iCloud save your TestFlight build does, so the keeper you are levelling tonight is the keeper you will open on launch morning. Your bank, your Hearth, your Completion Log, your achievements, your Vow, your mode: all of it carries over, untouched.
We did not want that to be a promise in a blog post. So it is a rule in the code, and it is deliberately narrow.
The one thing that changes at launch
Game Center leaderboards.
When 1.0 ships, keepers made before launch stop posting to the leaderboards, and keepers made on launch day or later compete on fresh boards. That is the whole change.
Why draw the line there. A pre-launch keeper was levelled against balance that has moved many times since, sometimes a lot, so its scores are not comparable with a keeper made at 1.0. Suppressing them is what keeps the launch boards honest for everyone who arrives on day one. Achievements are different: they are your own profile’s progress, they were always earning through the alpha, and they stay earned.
What it looks like in the app: keepers made before launch wear a small brass Legacy mark on their card on the character select screen. Everything about that keeper still works. It still trains, still fights, still fills the Completion Log, still unlocks achievements, still syncs across every device. It simply does not appear on the boards. If you want a place on the launch boards, make a new keeper on launch day; your Legacy keepers stay right beside it.
The line is one constant in the code, set to the launch instant and nothing else. It gates the two doors that submit scores, and no other code path reads it. Not the save, not the purchase, not a single rule of play.
What beta means for testers
The same thing alpha meant, with better odds. Reports still come in through Discord and the in-app form and go back out in the next build. The unlock is still free for every tester while testing runs. The Crew roll still credits the people whose reports shape a build, and it now carries something more: anyone who helps enough to earn a spot on that page gets a code for a free copy of the full game at launch. The bar is two reports that each led to a change in the game, and it is the same bar for everyone.
Install the beta at tideward.app/install/, and if you are already in, thank you. The first hour of every launch-day player is going to be better because of the hours you put in.