Coral Island News

Welcome to the April 2021 Coral Island development update!


In April 2021, we worked on many, many things. We’ll focus on character customization, jogging animation 2.0, revamped exterior buildings, and more for this update. Check it out!


[h2]Character Customization Showcase Part 1[/h2]

Here's a sneak peek at the character customization UI in Coral Island. Please note that this is a WIP. We're excited to share that for Alpha, there will be 3 body types available for players.


[3 body types to choose from + plenty of color options]


[there will be many hair options to choose from]


[custom honorifics are working in-game, huzzah!]


For part 2 next month, we will do a deep dive into the character customization system. This will come in the form of a video showcase that will be uploaded to Youtube - stay tuned!



[h2]Jogging Animations Revisited[/h2]

We've received a ton of feedback on our animations. This month, we've tried to improve the jogging animation. We plan to let players choose their animation style eventually.




[4 styles of animation for the early access release!]



For alpha, there will be several more animation types for you to check out. We hope you can help us narrow the 4 to ship Early Access with. Please let us know what you think!


[h2]Revamped Buildings[/h2]

Much like interiors, many buildings in our game are also getting a make-over for better storytelling. This month, we tackled a fair amount of locations already! Please have a look at just one of the buildings being improved: the carpenter shop.




[Carpenter: OLD. This is what the carpenter building originally looked like]




[Carpenter: This is the NEW concept art for the carpenter building]




[Carpenter: NEW in-game. This is what it currently looks like in-game, still a WIP]


Fun fact, the carpenter building is inspired by Indonesia's traditional Joglo architecture, known for its distinct roof work. A very fitting home for our carpenters!


[h2]Earth Day Art[/h2]

Earth day, every day.




[h2]Bug of the month[/h2]

No one wants to admit it, but something tells me this was done on purpose... #sus





Thanks for reading,

Stairway Team

Welcome to the March 2021 Coral Island development update!


In March 2021, we hired more devs, set a new benchmark for NPC 3D models, got the ball rolling on interior improvements, worked on alpha content, and managed the pre-order store!
Let's take a closer look:


[h2]We hired more devs![/h2]




[h2]NPC 3D models, new and improved… Now with fingers![/h2]

We are working on the new benchmark for Coral Island's NPC model. With the current timeline, we expect to have all NPC's in their Spring outfits ready for the early access release. We've updated the scale, body proportion and tweaked lots of details.

During alpha, all NPC's will be released with old models, as the new ones are not yet ready. Check it out!













[Alice and Theo Status: Work-in-progress. 3D modelling, emotional growth and otherwise.]


[h2]Brand new interior designs[/h2]

We are improving the interiors by making them feel lived in. To do this, we look into each NPC’s unique characteristics and fuse them into the design of their bedroom, kitchen, and even the whole house… This means we'll be creating over 1000+ unique props to accommodate this major change (on top of the current available common props!).



[Archie's room concept art. Spot the guling!]




[Archie's room in-game. Status: WIP]


For the Coral Island Alpha Access, most rooms will only have placeholder assets. Each room is a work in progress and we will use common props for a lot of the interiors. Bear in mind that some rooms, and even buildings, will be inaccessible for Players during Alpha.



[Alice's room concept art]


[h2]Public Roadmap[/h2]

The alpha release is delayed to July 2021. We are asking for an extra month to polish the experience. Going into Kickstarter, we did not expect to receive this level of support. There are over 20k alpha farmers! While this is amazing and we are very grateful for it, to be candid, it also feels daunting.

To make the most out of your feedback, we will be releasing content and features in 3 tranches for Alpha. Please take a look at the roadmap below:




[h2]Pre-Order Store[/h2]

The exclusive reward (Premium outfits, Crowns, and Mythical pets) ended at 10 pm EST (GMT-4) on March 31st, 2021.

Starting April 1st, 2021, the Coral Island pre-order store only has:

1. Alpha pack (steam only)
2. Double-double pack (steam only)
3. Coral Island game key (steam only)
4. Digital Art Book + OST
5. Pre-order exclusive Pack (Alpha access + steam game key + artbook + ost)

March pre-order Double-Double, Deluxe Farmers, and Pioneers backers will receive the survey by next week. If you do not receive/ fill in the survey, please do not worry. It does not cancel your order.


[h2]Language[/h2]

Coral Island is adding Dutch and Italian to our list of localization. Here is the list of language that Coral Island will support:



[h2]Bug of the Month[/h2]

Spinning Giants for the win!





Thanks for reading,
Stairway Team

Not even two weeks in, you all have helped us reached most of our goals! Thank you so much!

Support us below:

Kickstarter linked here.


Bug Catching - UNLOCKED



In Bug Catching, you will be able to catch colorful bugs around the island and document them. There are more than 30 kinds of bugs in Coral Island, from Firefly, Leaf Beetle to Blue Morpho butterfly. Pop your net in your backpack and get ready to catch some bugs!


Expanded Museum - UNLOCKED



Now, we can display our bugs and fish! It will have 2 different wings; 1 section will house bug catches and the other, exclusively, for the aquarium. In Coral Island, we have more than 60 fish to catch.


NPC Seasonal Outfits - UNLOCKED


Lily shown in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.


Rafael shown in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

In this update, you will see all islanders change outfits every season, totaling more than 170 outfit designs. We assign a color theme for every islander, play around with the design and color combination around it. This approach allows each NPC to be identifiable in-game throughout the year. At the same time, we are also making sure that each outfit design is still true to their character. This change in the outfit will bring the NPC and the overall game more alive! We can’t wait to share them with you.



Console and Switch port - UNLOCKED

• Q: When?
  A: It depends on the platform holders, as they all have different policies. But our plan is to have Coral Island ported around 6 months after the early access release.
  
  
  
• Q: Can I get a console/ Switch key instead of a Steam key?
  A: Yes, absolutely! You will be able to choose between a console/Switch or Steam key.
  

Merfolk Underwater Village - UNLOCKED



This is your ticket to explore the underwater village. There are many merfolk villages around the world and this pass will allow you to traverse the one located by the coast of Coral Island. Decipher their language and develop relationships with them!



Kids Grow Up - UNLOCKED


Left to right. Current Zoe, Goat, Teenage Zoe

This feature will include additional stories and relationship development. There will be new schedules, dialogues, and many more! For the Player's children (you can have up to 2), there will be a variety of children's designs. The children will have their own personality and interest; you can influence this as they grow up, or let them discover it on their own. Worth noting that the children's characters/traits are not exactly tied to the spouse you marry.


Mod Support - UNLOCKED



In order for us to create modding tools that will best serve the community, we will start by first figuring out what parts of the game people want to mod the most. From there, a full-time developer will be assigned to continually expand moddable parts of the game. We’re extremely excited to see what the modding community will create for Coral Island!


What's next?

Multiplayer is next!!! Play with friends, spouse, whomever! We'll hire two additional full-time devs to implement co-op and up to 4 players online farm in Coral Island.

Kickstarter linked here.


Thank you for reading!

Stairway scavengers.

We just hit our first stretch goal of 125k! We’re so grateful for the amazing support. Now, let’s dive into the Minigames!

Support us below:

Kickstarter linked here.





Here are several of the minigames that we are adding for the full-release:


Available all year round, on the world map:

• Mini-golf; Head to Pufferfish Corp. office and receive a token for 20c. Take a swing, get 3 strikes, and beat the high score! PS: Suki is the current Coral Island’s mini-golf champ.
  
• High stake darts at the tavern, challenge yourself, and collect as many bullseyes as other Farmers. Do you dare?
  
• An arcade game made exclusively by our in-house designer; it involves surviving an attack masterminded by giant forks. “Donut Survival by M.B.”
  
• Dungeon cart-race; ride the questionably old cart inside the cavern. Get in and see how far it will take you. Watch for the turbulence ahead!
  
• Home console; find the elusive home console and collect all of its game cartridges.
  

Featured in a festival:

• Pet race!
  
• Color-throw for a festival; let loose and test your aim. Grab colorful ammo and stain as many islanders as possible.
  

We are open to more ideas! Leave a comment to let us know what minigames might be cool to have. We will add at least 2 additional minigame ideas from the community.


So, what’s next?

Our next goal is at 175k for Bug Catching. You will be able to catch colorful bugs around the island and document them.


Thank you for reading!

Stairway folks.

Coral Island has reached its funding goal in less than 2 days! From everyone at Stairway, thank you so much for the support. You’ve helped us bring this project to life.

Now that things are official, all of you will be able to get involved and help us shape the game in the months to come. We’re excited to hear about your ideas, suggestions, and feedback.

[h2]Stretch goals![/h2]

Support us below:

Kickstarter linked here.

With the funding goal met, we’re finally able to share with you all the stretch goals we’ve planned for Coral Island. There’s so much more we’d like to add to the game, and we’re excited for you to check out what we have in mind!








Thanks for reading, Stairway Team