Moonstone Island News

HELLO HELLO TESTING TESTING IS THIS THING ON

Haha, I kid. This is an announcement, not a microphone. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Moonstone Island newsletter! It's just like the newsletter in the actual game, except I am not Ossono, I am Kate. Although I am the writer, so I did write Ossono. So maybe I am Ossono. Woahhh.

In this newsletter, we're mostly going to be talking about how the launch went and the reaction that people have had to the game!

It's our first game launch as a team – can you believe that?! We've been reading every since review, watching as many streams as we can humanly manage, and sharing all the love with each other in DMs. And then crying a lot. In a good way.

So, thank you. We couldn't have done all this – and had such an amazing response – without all of you. Let's get to the reviews and the fan art already!!!



Moonstone Island's reviews came rolling in on launch day and they were so good – lots of 8s, and even a few 9s?! We're currently at Very Positive on Steam, but we're hoping to get up to Overwhelmingly Positive, which means we need more reviews! You can totally help us with that goal if you want to leave a review. I'll just pop the link right here. No pressure.

‘Moonstone Island is an addicting blend of various genres that still maintains its own identity. The monster-collecting, card-battling life sim brings aesthetics and inspiration from beloved games while still offering fresh gameplay. There’s a vast world to explore that’s different with every game file. It’s a gorgeous title that shows off crisp pixel graphics for a wholesome experience.‘ - Hardcore Gamer, 10/10

‘It's the type of game that's really easy to fall into and lose hours… I cannot recommend this enough, especially if you want something different from Pokémon, Slay the Spire, or Stardew Valley.’ - GameGrin, 4/5



It is an unfortunate fact of life that no game releases without a few lil bugs to fix, especially in the indie space! Despite our best efforts (and lots of testing before launch), a few buggies made their way in, and so we're working on squishin' em all ASAP.

If you missed the recent patches and updates, here are some issues we’ve addressed since launch:

• Drawing from the discard pile with an empty discard pile no longer softlocks your game 🙏🎉🙏🎉🙏🎉
  
• Reduced delay between button press and using hoe/scythe/watering can (for speedrun farming% players, obv)
  
• We capped your energy at 99 (sorry if this breaks your OP strats)
  
• Ossono finally learned to count, so her quest now only completes when selling the correct amount of stones
  
• Tobin also finally learned to count, so his sell prices are now consistent with what it says in the fish's description
  
• Holo Spirits will now STAY HOLO when moving them around in the Spirit Barn. Turns out they were just having an identity crisis, sorry
  
• Gifting divided stacks will no longer make the UI invisible
  
• We fixed a bug with Dusty and Lookachoo where their abilities weren't working! The card energy cost now refreshes correctly

If you find anything you need to report, you can do that here!



PEOPLE MADE FAN ART OF OUR GAME?!?!?! AAAAA. LOOK:


@theartistjulian


@smilkyshake

If you want to submit your fan creations to be featured in our weekly updates, join our Discord and drop them in the Fanart channel l!




Meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow. MEOW meow meow meow, meow :)

Okay, that's a wrap for this newsletter! The news is just WE LAUNCHED A GAME CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, we hope you enjoyed this little pile of gooey gushing about how cool this all was. We're gonna go nap all of this excitement off now. Zzzzz.

~ Kate, Community Manager, and V. Tired Studio Supersoft

Good'ay Alchemists!

We have once again been hard at work in the bug mines, focusing on the reporting by you in the community! Here are some sexy new patch notes for all you documentation enjoyers:

• THE MAILBOX AND CRYSTAL NO LONGER COST GEMS TO BUILD! We are very sorry for the heartbreaking lie in the Gem descriptions... but now it's trueeeee!!!!
  
• It costs less to make custom tiles and wallpaper in the loom, so now you have no excuse to not have the cutest decor
  
• The player will no longer get stuck while swimming 🏊‍♂️
  
• If you picked Ankylo as your starter Spirit... he is now vulnerable to poison like all other Earth spirits, RIP
  
• We had some stern words with the Equalize card and now it works properly (reduces card energy to 1 for cards in hand for the rest of the battle)
  
• Gaiana and Ofelia got a raise, and now Seed Seeker quests will pay 5,000 coins instead of 3,000 💰💰💰
  
• Clumsy folks (me) rejoice: We've made major improvements to the targeting of placeable objects with both mouse AND controller!
  
• We fixed a thing where the tool wheel kept closing itself (rude)
  
• Fixed a bug with the fifth Concoction quest – your mother will no longer mark it as complete before you've actually done it. Calm down, mama
  
• And some bug fixes for things that made the game too easy (sorry):
  
• Feeding a boss something with a Vitality debuff will no longer dramatically decrease their HP
  
• Got rid of an infinite money glitch involving buying General Store seeds and selling them to Ofelia and Gaiana for a profit (we taught Rowan the meaning of capitalism, sorry)
  
• Exiting the game while in fast mode no longer puts the game in fast mode
  
• You can't infinitely duplicate Holo Spirits anymore, but I'm honestly impressed that you figured this one out... so, GG. You get to keep your stolen Holos
  
• ...and we also did a couple of boring UI bugs that aren't fun to write about, so don't worry about it, just appreciate that the game works better now :)
  

Don't forget to report any bugs or feedback through our form here as we continue to work on new updates: https://rawfury.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/1

Okay that's it for now LOVE U BYE XX

~ Kate, Community Manager, and Patch Note Writer

Hello, dear Alchemists!

Two things for you today.

THING ONE:

While new players are exploring your 100 sky islands and digging into all it has to offer, some folks are wondering: What is the best way to explore the lore and narrative surrounding Moonstone Island? The answer to many of your questions is simple: Do some quests and chat with NPCs! Your fellow villagers have a lot of hidden lore to pass on, be sure to interact with them and invite them to hang-out sessions!

The most important quests are the ones helping Zed with his research. Through these quests, you'll unlock the ability to see Spirit levels, get the Spirit Barn blueprint, learn a recipe for Spirit stalls, be gifted a handy-dandy tool that will help you find Moonstones, and most importantly, A WAY TO PET YOUR LIL' SPIRITS. He'll also pay you really well for filling out the Spirit Dex!

Other quests will reward you with recipes that allow you to smelt ores, make potions, craft fertilizer, and even... get free Moonstones - a hot commodity in your travels!

We hope this helps those looking to dig into the story :)

THING TWO:

We have received some reports of the game "stuttering", and we are actively working on figuring out a solution... and also, what's causing it!

Unfortunately, so far, we haven't been able to consistently reproduce the problem, and since it appears to be affecting a wide variety of machines and operating systems, we need your help.

If you experience this issue (or any bug), please fill out a support ticket, and include a screen recording if you can – it helps us identify the cause:
https://rawfury.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/1

Thank you and happy exploring!

~ Kate (community manager and do-er of quests)

Hello, wonderful people!

Excellent news: Our first patch is here, ready to patch up a few of the bugs and glitches you may have been experiencing. Thank you for being patient and understanding!

Here are the big changes:

• Drawing from the discard pile with an empty discard pile no longer softlocks your game 🙏🎉🙏🎉🙏🎉
  
• Reduced delay between button press and using hoe/scythe/watering can (for speedrun farming% players, obv)
  
• We capped your energy at 99 (sorry if this breaks your OP strats)
  
• Ossono finally learned to count, so her quest now only completes when selling the correct amount of stones
  
• Tobin finally learned to count, so his sell prices are now consistent with what it says in the fish's description
  
• Holo Spirits will now STAY HOLO when moving them around in the Spirit Barn. Turns out they were just having an identity crisis, sorry
  
• Gifting divided stacks will no longer make the UI invisible
  
• We fixed a bug with Dusty and Lookachoo where their abilities weren't working! The card energy cost now refreshes correctly
  

We're still working on bigger bugs & changes for future patches, but we hope this patch improves your experience! Thank you all so much for your bug reports and suggestions, keep 'em coming (but also please be patient because we're just a lil team trying our best OK)

~ Kate, community manager and SQUISHER OF BUGS

Hello, Alchemists!

Thank you all SO MUCH for your support, your beautiful streams, your thirsty fanart, and your love!! We are so proud of the community that has formed around our game already, and we can't wait for you to get to know Moonstone Island even better throughout the next few weeks... months... years?????

We're going to be making this game even better with updates and patches, and working on a Switch release, so this isn't the last time you'll hear from us! In fact, starting next Thursday, we'll be launching our weekly Newsletter, entitled the "Village Post!", right here on Steam! You'll be able to read all about the new features coming to Moonstone Island, check out the community's amazing fanart and creations, and hear from our developers (and even maybe our cat CEO, Mr. Morris!)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
If you can't play (ugh, work and school, amirite?) you can listen to our entire soundtrack right now on YouTube! Let our chill OST take you away to your own island in the sky
Just in case you missed it, our Coming Soon page is now live to bring a plush Fishbo to life with MakeShip! More on this over the next week, but you can prepare to get your own lil' guy on Thursday, September 28th!

If you've played Moonstone Island, please leave us a review - it'll help us reach more folks and convince them to join the Alchemist journey!

Until next time
~ All our love and kisses, Kate (Community Manager, and very grateful lil guy)