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Coral Island News

November 2021 Dev Update

Welcome to the November 2021 Coral Island development update!

This month, we'll go over the highlights of Alpha v0.05.

Alpha v0.05 will launch on November 30 @ 11:59PM PDT.


[h2]We're Grateful[/h2]

Everyone at Stairway has a lot to be thankful for this year. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!




[h2]Cherry Blossom Festival[/h2]

We've completed most of the assets for the Cherry Blossom festival. To avoid spoilers, we'll only be showing the entrance and lake area:



Below, the decorated lake and a sneak peek at the Cherry Blossom festival music!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



[h2]Festival Day Decoration[/h2]

Themed umbul-umbul (penjor) are displayed around Coral Island on festival day. The goal is twofold: communicate that it's festival day and help guide players to the festival area.



Umbul-umbuls will be decorated differently based on what festival is being held:



[hmm, mooncake!]



[an early in-game look what the umbul-umbul will look like]


[h2]Fast Travel[/h2]

Oh, the places you'll go!

Introducing the fast travel system. As you progress through the game, you'll unlock tokens that can be used to activate teleport spots around the map. Here is a look at it in action:



[alpha players, please note that fast travel will be limited to 5 areas for now]



[whoooooosh]


[h2]Farm Building Upgrade[/h2]

More room for farm friends! Alpha players will now be able to upgrade both the coop and barn building. There is a total of one upgrade for each building, giving you a maximum capacity of 8 animals per building.



[the upgrade flow]



[one can never have too many chikins]


[h2]Revamped Buildings[/h2]

This month, we're showing off the interiors for the clinic and school. As for exteriors, we'll be showcasing what the townies call the dump.


[h3]Exteriors[/h3]



[no comment]

[h3]Interiors[/h3]



[the clinic]



[the school]


[h2]Revamped Grass and Mines[/h2]

Progress continues to be made in the mines, and grass. Yes, we finally have grass!

[h3]New Environtment Grass[/h3]



[we're still in the process of applying grass across the map]



[a close up of the new grass]

[h3]Mine Earth Theme[/h3]

A lot of progress was made on the mines this month. An additional 15 levels have been redecorated with improved assets!



[mineeeees!]


[h2]Edited Dialogues[/h2]

More edited dialogues, for this month!




[h2]Other Updates & Behind the Scene[/h2]

- The Q&A system with NPC's has been delayed to next month
- Woodlands is now open to Alpha players
- 'Grass' now drops from scything grass. The mill is required to process `grass` into `fodder`. Fodder can now be dispensed inside coop and barn provided player has a Mill.
- Added music for buildings, including Carpenter, General Store, and more!
- Basic town rank implemented. For now, you can earn points by donating to the museum, planting super coral, and completing sesajen offerings at the temple. As town rank increases, merchants will have more items to sell


[h2]What's next?[/h2]

Next month, for Alpha v0.06, we've got the following planned:

- Giants gameplay
- Town rank fully implemented
- Q&A system with NPC
- HD Wallpaper for backers revealed and delivered
- And more!

Thanks for reading,
Stairway Team

October 2021 Dev Update

Welcome to the October 2021 Coral Island development update!

This month, we'll go over the highlights of Alpha v0.04.

Alpha v0.04 will launch on October 31 @ 11:59PM PDT.


[h2]Happy Halloween![/h2]

Spooky, but then make it *Coral Island*.




[h2]Bug catching[/h2]

Get your Bug net ready! We're releasing an early WIP bug-catching system! Eventually, you will donate bugs and unlock an area for them at the Museum (not ready for Alpha). In the meantime, purchase a bug net at the Beach Shack, and start catching!

P.S. the bug models are placeholder and not final.



[There are different types of bugs depending on the time of day, location, and seasons.



[Not a-sneaking-type of farmer? Don't worry. Find slow bugs. Shown above: caterpillar. Adorable and slow.]



[Careful though! Some bugs are very fast and perceptive of human movement. Sneaking might just be necessary to catch them.]

Thank you to all the backers that made bug-catching a reality in Coral Island. This is one of the first stretch goals we unlocked on Kickstarter.


[h2]Player house upgrade[/h2]

You can now upgrade the house! In the first house upgrade, you will receive a kitchen that allows you to cook various dishes. Pay a visit to the Carpenters and they'll be able to help you with upgrading the house. Make sure to bring enough money!



[the exterior of the first house upgrade]



[look at all that space, plus a built-in kitchen!]


[h2]Coral Shopping[/h2]

Have too much money and don't know where to spend it? Worry not. Introducing Coral Shopping! Here you'll find items to complete your Kitchen. Check out the channel on your TV to find out what's for sale. Then, head to Socket & Pan to make a purchase. New items are available for purchase every Tuesday!



[a look at what the shopping flow looks like... purchased items are installed in your kitchen. Anyone else feel a little nostalgic?]


[h2]Cooking part 1[/h2]

In Coral Island, there are two ways to cook. By recipes and manual. You can simply click on any learned recipe on the recipe tab or do it the old-fashioned way, mix and match. High risk, high return, right?



[there are around 10 utensils to collect... I spy, with my little eye, a Blender, Grill...what else?]



[recipes tab are the easiest way to cook things you've already cooked before]



[the manual tab is for the adventurous; mix and match utensils and ingredients and unlock recipes yourself through trial and error. PS, please don't mind the placeholder art above]

Please note Alpha players, only the recipe section is available in the 0.04 update.


[h2]Revamped Buildings[/h2]

This month, we're showcasing Socket & Pan, Salon, Community Center, and Jim's house. Keep in mind that Salon's, animal shelter's and clothing store's features are NOT ready for Alpha...that said, don't let it stop you from exploring the interiors. There might be interesting notes in there.


[h3]Exteriors[/h3]



[Socket & Pan]



[Jim's House. This is where Jim, Lily and Theo live.]


[h3]Interiors[/h3]

The animal shelter is where you'll go to adopt a pet. For all the Kickstarter backers with the Pet Design tier, this is where you can meet your pet! Also worth noting, the Community Center is one of the largest interiors we've worked on to date.



[The Community Center has 5 rooms inside it: Yoga room, White Flamingo clothing store, town hall, library, and an animal shelter. We're not going to show more due to SPOILERS]




[Salon]



[Socket & Pan. Submit your TV shopping orders here!]


[h2]Cutscenes & dialogue[/h2]

More edited dialogues, more cutscenes, more fun!




[h2]Other updates[/h2]

- Added a WIP Town Rank system, check it out in the community center
- Experimenting with additional simplified daytime music
- Experimenting with cloud shadows in the game
- Display player objective in the Diving UI level selector
- Completed exteriors not listed: Mansion and Clinic
- Unlocked the Look Out area, now accessible to Alpha players
- Added a WIP glossary section to the main UI


[h2]What's next?[/h2]

Next month, for Alpha v0.05, we've got a lot planned:

- Open up the Woodlands area to Alpha players
- Unlock farm building upgrades (for barn and coop) and the Greenhouse
- First version of the Town Rank system that ties the game together
- New Q&A dialogue system with NPC's (unlock questions/topics to discuss with an NPC as you get closer with them)
- More revamped buildings (exteriors and interiors)
- And much more!



Thanks for reading,
Stairway Team

September 2021 Dev Update

Welcome to the September 2021 Coral Island development update!

This month, we'll go over the highlights of Alpha v0.03 and provide an update on Coral Island's release.

[h2]Ranching part 2 (mooo)[/h2]

Ranching sees a big update this month. We release the barn, which allows you to purchase your first Barn animal, baby & adult cow. You'll buy the Barn from the carpenter and the cow itself from the Ranch. While at the Ranch, be sure to purchase a Milk Pail so you can get to milking!


[baby & adult cow, just mooing around the barn]


[over time, baby cows turn into adult cows]

Move or sell farm animals


[please excuse the programmer UI art for the move and sell buttons, lol]

[h2]Fishing Gameplay[/h2]

For all of you fishers out there, your time has finally arrived. You can finally fish in the game! Currently, there are only about 10 fish you can catch. Where you find them depends on where you'll fish: in the ocean, river, or lake.


[purchase a fishing pole at the Beach Shack]

Please be mindful! Cast length in our game impacts the size of fish you are likely to catch. For example, a shorter cast has a higher chance of catching a small fish like the goldfish.


[how long you hold the cast button will determine the cast length]

[h2]Map 2.0 (featuring player tracking!)[/h2]

Player tracking on the map was one of the most requested features we received after launching Alpha. With the new map, you'll be able to do just that!


[check it out, that's you, Player!]

We're working to tie the map tracking experience with the social mastery component of the game. By acquiring the appropriate skill and heart level with an NPC, you'll be able to see an icon of them on the map.


[we are still playing around with the NPC icons for the tracking feature]

[h2]Revamped exteriors[/h2]

More revamped exteriors this month! We want to highlight the Beach Shack, Millie's house, Frank & Erika's house, and last but not least, a new coffee spot. Check it out!


[consider stopping by the Beach Shack!]


[Millie's house]


[Frank & Erika's house]


[new coffee spot, and what's that other thing?]

[h2]Revamped interiors & mines[/h2]

Reworked interiors accompany the new Beach Shack and Barn. In addition, new rooms have been added to already accessible interiors. We also start set dressing the mines in preparation for the game's story. So far, we've decorated the first 5 levels. More to come next month!


[checkout the Beach Shack]


[updated mines, what do those carvings mean...]


[updated barn]

[h2]Other updates[/h2]

> Added the ability to move or destroy farm buildings
> Added a `LookAtFunction`. NPC's turn their head to look at Player when they are near
> Added preliminary assets for the `SuperCoral` questline
> Dormant oil rigs placed in a couple of spots around the island by Pufferfish
> Farm buildings turn translucent when you are behind them
> New, unrevealed NPCs roaming the island
> And much more behind the scenes

Check out some images below of these other updates:


[go to the carpenter and purchase a move or destroy order for your buildings]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[NPC's now look at you when you are near them]


[early assets placed to get a feel for the Super Coral questline]

[h2]Early access launch delayed[/h2]



[h2]What's next?[/h2]

Next month, for Alpha v0.04, we hope to release Bug-catching gameplay, the ability to upgrade your house, additional revamped buildings, tons of heart cutscenes, and much more!



Thanks for reading,

Stairway Team

August 2021 Dev Update

Welcome to the August 2021 Coral Island development update!

Monthly dev updates are back! For this month’s developer update, we will share more details of the Alpha v0.02 update.

[h2]Alpha v0.02 content overview[/h2]

Alpha v0.02 will launch on August 31 @ 8 PM PDT.

Over 20,000 players participated in the Alpha v0.01 of the game. Thank you so much for providing feedback on the game, sharing your impressions, and of course, finding and submitting those pesky bugs.



[h2]Ranching (erm...chicken army)[/h2]

What's a farm sim game without the ability to ranch and raise some chicken? Ranching is now available to test for alpha players. Right now you're limited to raising chickens. We're excited to receive feedback!



[also, a sneak peek at our new grass model]

For now, you'll be able to purchase a Chicklet (a cut surprise awaits you) or Chicken at the Ranch. As you take care of them, you'll gain relationship points that will impact the size of the product an animal produces.

[h2]Mastery skill tree[/h2]

We've reworked the skill system in the game to make the act of mastering aspects of farm life more rewarding. Now, you'll earn specific experience points into different masteries depending on what you do. For example, clearing debris on your farm and harvesting crops will yield Farming experience.



[unlock cool skills like using the scythe to harvest crops!]

After gaining enough experience, you'll level up that mastery and earn points to spend on skills. In addition, as you gain more levels, you'll also unlock crafting recipes!

[h2]Revamped exteriors[/h2]

We continue to revamp and finalize many of the buildings in the game. For this month, we want to highlight the Ranch and Fishensip (the tavern).


[purchase all your ranching needs at the Ranch]


[the go-to hangout spot on Coral Island!]

[h2]Revamped interiors[/h2]

Accompanying the new exteriors are completely reworked interior spaces for the Ranch and Tavern. To coincide with the ranching update, we've also made updates to the level 1 coop interior.


[now featuring cubby holes for your coop animals]


[revamped ranch interior]


[revamped tavern]

[h2]Other updates[/h2]

- Added a WIP news channel
- Added a WIP shopping channel
- Experimenting with a new mouse hover based UI
- Optimized memory usage in the game
- Process fossils and nodes at the Blacksmith and Lab
- and much more behind the scenes!

[h2]Wallpaper anyone?[/h2]

Rafael and seals... enough said



[h2]Bug of the month[/h2]

Our lovely Alpha players have been submitting bugs left and right! For this month, we want to highlight a bug found by Discord user MisterNBD#1103.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[when humans and butterflies collide, it's magical]

[h2]What's next?[/h2]
Our target is to release a content update every month during Alpha. Next month, for Alpha v0.03, we hope to release Fishing gameplay, more revamped buildings, and the ability to care for cows!



Thanks for reading,
Stairway Team

Coral Island Alpha Release Announcement

Hello Coral Islanders,
The Alpha build is now ready to be tested!

Alpha will be launched today, July 31st, 6 PM PDT/ August 1st, 8 AM GMT+7.
Please refer to our previous post for more details about Alpha keys distribution and other information.

We want to reiterate that this Alpha 0.01 will be under NDA and that players cannot share any information about the game in any way. We appreciate your kind understanding and cooperation in this matter.

Additionally, we want to remind you that this Alpha 0.01 build is an early build meant for playtesting, so expect bugs, issues, and crashes. You might have to start the game from the beginning multiple times. However, we will try to fix the issue and keep the build stable.

If you have any bug reports, please let us know! Kindly check our bug report Discord channel (Alpha Channels → #alpha-bug-report) and follow the instructions listed there.

To help you in your new adventure, we have prepared the basic gameplay guide here!

It goes without saying that we are very grateful for your continued support and look forward to your feedback!

OK! Let’s go!