Story generation

[tools guy-kun]

I started doing the story and it’s fun but I feel like I’m forced to go into it in one fluid motion since if I free float for a while I’m gonna end up going really far away from the next story island.

Will the game regenerate a story island if I sail far away enough from the next island or will it stay there forever until I get there?

[The Minted Lady]

As long as you have the coordinates punched in, a story island will respawn after you've gotten far enough away from it.

You're free to float as far as you want without going to the story islands, if that's what you choose to do. Upgrades are found on these islands that will help you survive better, but it is still optional if you're comfortable with the technology you have. Enjoy the floating.

[Rio]

Story islands do not generate until you input their corresponding coordinates.
And even then, once you wander too far, they will 'respawn' again somewhere 'nearby'.
The world map is centered upon your raft and when islands, story locations, trash, etc go beyond a certain distance from your raft (a bit over 2 kilometers, I think), they de-spawn and new instances are generated.
It's a rather nice way to go about it, really; the map feels a bit more random this way, it's never really the same playthrough every time, and it saves on processing power.
Also, if you find yourself wanting to visit a certain type of biome (desert, temperate, arctic, etc), you just punch in the coordinates of the story location that uses that type of biome as it's theme and you will start getting those types of islands generated for you (the default is tropical, so if you want tropical islands, just zero out the radar).

[tools guy-kun]

this is such an amazing design choice. very clever, and I love it! makes the game all more fun. comes with a side effect of regret by neglecting this game for so long. thanks peeps!