STARIO: Haven Tower News

[h3]Hello everyone, the countdown begins - just one day left before Stario: Haven Tower launches in Early Access!👏👏👏[/h3][p][/p][p]👉For anyone who missed the previous post, here’s a quick reminder on pricing: the EA version will launch at $13.99 USD (launch discount $12.59), with a 10% launch discount for two weeks.[/p][p][/p][p]🥳Since the demo first went live at the end of March, more than 51,000 players have tried it out. Thank you all for your incredible support! With the demo having completed its mission, we’ll be taking it offline today.[/p][p][/p][p]📣As mentioned before, Demo save files will not carry over to the EA version. But don’t worry — even if you’ve already built a full 12-layer tower, the new EA build is heavily reworked and won’t feel repetitive. We’ve made big changes to early progression, so the experience will feel fresh and rewarding.[/p][p][/p][p]✨In our last post, we previewed the Miracle Tower system. If you missed it, check it out here: [/p][h3][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/h3][p][/p][h3]🪄Today, let’s dive into three more key features arriving in Early Access: Ritual Platforms, Trade, and the Wishboard system.[/h3][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Perform Rituals, Summon Disasters[/h2][p][/p][p]♟️In EA, players won’t just endure disasters, you can summon them. The key is the Ritual Platform, unlocked through the Tech Tree.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Build one, and you’ll gain access to three categories of rituals:[/p]

• [p]Aether Rituals: Influence climate and environment. Yes, you can deliberately call down endless Blizzards or perpetual Mist. (Of course, not every Aether Ritual is about summoning Disasters, we’ll let you discover the rest in game.)[/p]
• [p]Vita Rituals: Affect your Towertizens directly. For example, the Migrana Ritual expands their working range, while the Ignira Ritual increases cold resistance. But each benefit comes with a cost, it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it.[/p]
• [p]Fabrik Rituals: Temporarily change how your tower functions. For instance, during the Ourophira Ritual, storage between the base and top layer becomes fully connected, allowing automatic transfers.[/p]

[p]Rituals consume resources to stay active. When supplies run out, the Ritual ends. Whether you maintain long-term buffs or opt for short bursts is up to your strategy.[/p][p][/p][h2]Trade with the Skyfaring Turtles[/h2][p][/p][p]🐢Even in this collapsing world, travelers still roam the skies on the backs of giant turtles. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]By building a Turtle Port, you can unlock the Trade system.[/p][p][/p][p]When a turtle arrives, you can barter based on your current inventory. Choose between manual trade, carefully planning each exchange, or automatic trade, letting turtles become long-term partners who always exchange goods upon arrival.[/p][p][/p][h2]The Wishboard: Hear from Your Towertizens[/h2][p][/p][p]🧗Not all Towertizens were born in the tower. Some once lived in the underground cities and remember the vast lands of old. But for many born here, the tower is their only home.[/p][p][/p][p]As their sense of belonging grows, Towertizens will leave requests on the Wishboard. These wishes range from small personal comforts to quirky dreams:[/p][p][/p][p]A quiet hermit longing for solitude.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]A food lover willing to give up everything for better meals.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]An eccentric, who only wants a unique pet...[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Fulfilling these wishes not only shapes your tower into a true home but may also earn you precious gems as thanks.[/p][p][/p][h2]More Difficulty Modes and Achievements[/h2][p][/p][p]🔡EA also introduces three difficulty modes, adjusting material costs, disaster intensity, and resource efficiency. Choose the pace and challenge that suit your playstyle.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]🎪And yes, there’s also a brand-new achievement system. We won’t spoil the details here, but we hope you enjoy discovering them for yourself.[/p][p][/p][h2]See You at TGS![/h2][p]🎆We’re also happy to share that Stario: Haven Tower will be at Tokyo Game Show 2025. From September 25 to 28, players can try out the EA version at our booth: Hall 11, C51. If you’re attending, come by and say hi![/p][p][/p][p]We’ve shared plenty of development details and inspirations in past updates. If you’d like to explore more, here are some links:[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]If you’d like to share your thoughts, feel free to comment below or join our official Discord to chat with fellow Tower Masters![/p]

[p]Hello, everyone! Thank you for waiting![/p][p]At today’s Convergence Showcase, we finally revealed the release date for Stario: Haven Tower:[/p][p]The game will launch in Early Access on September 25 at 8:00 PM PDT, priced at $13.99 (launch price $12.59), with a 10% launch discount for two weeks.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]The Demo is scheduled to close on September 25. If you haven’t tried it yet, there is still a chance to give the game a try:[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]Please note that Demo save files will not carry over to the Early Access version. In our previous post, we explained in detail why we had to drop save transfer support. While we truly wished to preserve your progress, the game has gone through multiple major balance adjustments. After evaluating the compatibility between versions, we ultimately decided to let go of supporting save transfer.[/p][p][/p][p]That said, with all the optimizations and overhauls we’ve made, the Early Access version you’ll soon play is a significantly improved experience. We believe it will be more fun and more polished than the Demo, and we sincerely hope you enjoy exploring this carefully refined world![/p][p][/p][p]The Early Access version will include the entire main storyline, unlocking the full Tech Tree and Tower Construction Progress, along with three difficulty modes and dozens of hours of gameplay.[/p][p][/p][p]But we know many of you may still have questions, such as: What exactly does the full tech tree contain? How high can the tower reach? And aside from the content already teased in the Demo, what brand-new features will the Early Access version bring?[/p][p][/p][p]To answer these, here is an overview summarizing all the new content included in Early Access. We’ll go through each of these points in detail together![/p][p][/p][h2]Miracle Tower: Milestones in the Sky[/h2][p]Disasters may shatter the buildings, but it is often the endless unknown that truly inspires fear. To keep their faith from eroding, people must record distance from the earth, and the achievements along their ascent.[/p][p][/p][p]That’s why we’ve designed the Miracle Tower: a way to build lasting milestones throughout your long journey toward the sky.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Each atmospheric zone features its own unique Miracle Tower. Once completed, it not only strengthens the faith of your Towertizens, but more importantly, an activated Miracle Tower forces disasters to retreat.[/p][p][/p][h2]Cross the Zones, Reach the End of Sky[/h2][p]In the Early Access version, the game will feature six atmospheric zones. Beyond the Sand Zone and Mist Zone already seen in the Demo, players can now ascend into the Rain Zone, the Frost Zone, the Clear Zone, and ultimately reach the journey’s end in the Star Zone.[/p][p][/p][p]Each zone carries its own climate and resources to uncover: mantas will drift through the Rain Zone, while great whales will roam the Clear Zone.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Yet just as the whispers of mist gnaw away at willpower in the Mist Zone, new crises will surface as you climb higher, threatening the lives of the Towertizens. Unlocking new technologies will certainly help, but how you arrange production layouts, manage logistics, and keep Towertizens safe will still depend on optimizing your own strategies.[/p][p][/p][p]At the same time, we’ve made major adjustments to resource production. In the Demo, many resources could only be obtained in specific zones. For example, Quartz could not be harvested from Jellyfish Bay in the Sand Zone, yielding zero efficiency.[/p][p][/p][p]For the Early Access version, we completely overhauled this system to offer players greater freedom and more diverse options. All resource-gathering buildings can now be freely constructed at any altitude. However, each zone still retains its own specialties, with certain resources only reaching peak efficiency in specific atmospheric zones. How to plan and optimize your layouts will once again be left in your hands.[/p][p][/p][h2]Unlock the Tech Tree, Face the Disasters[/h2][p]The tech tree, already introduced in the Demo, will now allow players to ultimately unlock more than seventy buildings. But this isn’t simply a matter of opening every node at once.[/p][p][/p][p]As one of the game’s core mechanics, the tech tree shapes both pacing and strategy, and so in the EA version we have not only expanded its content but also rebalanced its structure.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Unlock orders and prerequisites for each tech have been carefully reconsidered. Nodes in the tech tree have also been adjusted. For instance, during the Demo, Tower Rebuild was locked behind a late-game tech, but after hearing your feedback, we’ve decided to remove it from the tree altogether and make it available from the start. This way, players can freely adjust their production layouts throughout the game and face early decisions with lower cost.[/p][p][/p][p]The disaster system, also previewed in the Demo, has been redesigned based on community feedback. We’ve refreshed the visual design of the four disaster totems, adjusted their stats, and rebalanced their duration and effects on the Toweritizens.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]As the game’s central challenge, disasters should not merely break players’ flow. Rather, they would be woven into the experience itself. From barely surviving them in the beginning, to gradually mastering them, and eventually even learning to summon disasters on purpose.[/p][p][/p][p]As for how exactly you may summon a disaster… we’ll leave that story for next time.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p]Due to space limits, we’ll save many of the brand-new systems and mechanics for the next post. However, we’ve already shared some development previews in earlier updates, and we’ve put them all together here for those who are interested:[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]If you have any thoughts or feedback, feel free to leave a comment below, or join our official Discord server to chat with fellow Tower Masters![/p][p][/p]

[p]Hello everyone,[/p][p]Since the Steam Next Fest, we’ve been hearing the same question again and again across different platforms: “When will the game finally launch?” As a small indie team, we’re truly grateful for all the love and attention you’ve shown Stario: Haven Tower![/p][p]Over the past months we’ve been fully focused on wrapping up development—working day and night on the final stretch of testing and polishing. And now, the moment has finally come to share some exciting news: Stario: Haven Tower will be featured on September 18 at the Convergence Showcase, which will also be streamed on IGN. During the Convergence Showcase, we’ll premiere a brand-new Early Access trailer and announce details on the EA release date and pricing. We’ll save the rest of the surprises for the event itself, so please stay tuned![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]In the meantime, from Sept 15 to Sept 29, Stario: Haven Tower will also be featured in the Steam Publisher Sale by XD. If you haven’t tried our demo yet, this is a great chance to download it and give it a spin before launch: [/p][p] [/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h2]Why Early Access?[/h2][p]We know that in recent years, the tag “Early Access” hasn’t always carried the most positive impression. Honestly, we also had doubts at first about whether choosing Early Access might affect how people see our game.[/p][p]But after much discussion, we decided to stick with this path. Not only because we believe the game has room to grow, but also because we want to shape it together with you, our community. With your feedback and support, we hope to refine and expand the tower into something closer to everyone’s ideal vision.[/p][p]That said, “Early Access” doesn’t mean cutting corners. The EA release already includes the full main storyline, three difficulty modes, and dozens of hours of content. You’ll be able to unlock the complete tech tree and tower progression, and climb all the way to the very top.[/p][p]For us, Early Access represents both our vision and our honesty: Stario: Haven Tower still has a long way to go before it becomes the “perfect version” we imagine (if such a thing even exists for any developer). There are still many possibilities waiting ahead—and we’d love to explore them together with you.[/p][p][/p][h2]Will Demo Saves Carry Over?[/h2][p]Unfortunately, save data from the demo will not be compatible with the EA version. This was a tough call—we really wanted to keep everyone’s progress, but the game has gone through major changes based on both our internal testing and feedback from the community.[/p][p]Sometimes we added new features; other times, we realized that a system simply wasn’t working and had to rebuild it from scratch. Since Next Fest, we’ve also made extensive changes to balance: recipe formulas, resource ratios in each area, buff types and values for different tower sections, and more. As a resource-management and city-building game, these numbers are central to the overall experience. Adjusting them is key to making the game more diverse and giving players more freedom in how they approach the climb.[/p][p]Because of all this, we had to let go of save compatibility—but we hope you’ll find that starting fresh in the EA version makes for an even richer and more rewarding experience.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]What’s Next?[/h2][p]We’ll be sharing more details on what the EA version includes, along with the new features we’ve been working on, in our September 18 update post.[/p][p]If you run into any issues while playing the demo, or if you’d like to chat with other players, feel free to join our official Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/sfXVUFRzP7[/p][p]We also share dev logs and behind-the-scenes updates on our socials—follow along if you’d like to see more ⬇️⬇️⬇️[/p]

[p]Hello, everyone![/p][p]Today, we’d like to share a glimpse into the design of some of the buildings you’ll encounter in the game.[/p][p]From the simplest Hut to the many varieties of Brick Factories, bringing these structures from concept art to what you finally see in-game is never a straightforward copy-and-paste—it’s all about trial, adjustment, and finding balance.[/p][h2]🏚 Refining the Roofs[/h2][p]
[/p][p]The Hut’s roof went through many experiments in concept: fabric, bamboo, even worn bricks. In the end, we settled on a clean, unified tile design—easier on the eyes, and more in line with the game’s overall art style.[/p][p]Its upgraded version—the Brick House—also went through several design passes. We wanted it to have its own character without looking out of place. After multiple iterations, the version you see in-game today was finally chosen.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]🎨 Crafting the Brick [/h2][p][/p][p][/p][p]Brick Factories are one of the key industrial foundations in the Vertical Kingdom. Their colors were fine-tuned across many rounds of testing: How should we bring out the metallic texture of certain parts? How bright should the base tones be so that each type feels distinct yet visually comfortable? After plenty of tweaks, we landed on a palette that felt just right.[/p][p][/p][h2]⚙ Balancing Art and Performance[/h2][p]
One of the biggest challenges in turning concept art into in-game models is ensuring smooth performance. Overly intricate decorations may look stunning on paper, but they also drive up polygon counts and risk slowing things down. Simplify too much, however, and you lose the beauty that gives each building its charm. Finding the right balance meant countless tests and adjustments.[/p][p]Every building you see in the game—each tower segment, and even the strange little creatures drifting in the sky—has gone through its own series of unseen iterations, all in pursuit of harmony between aesthetics and performance.[/p][p]And this is just the beginning! The EA version will bring even more distinctive buildings for you to discover—so stay tuned![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Lastly—don’t forget to wishlist us![/h3][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]Hi folks! The game’s development has now entered its final stages, and we’re really hoping to get it into your hands soon![/p][p]In our last post, we gave you a brief sneak peek at some of the new content coming in the EA version — today, we’d like to share a more detailed look with you.[/p][p][/p][h2]Ritual Platform[/h2][p]The Tower has more secrets to share, and today’s reveal is… the Ritual Platform![/p][p]In our last post, we mentioned that the EA version will unlock the “Ritual Platform,” allowing you to change the gameplay through rituals and Faiths.[/p][p]You’ll be able to unlock the Ritual Platform fairly early in the game. Like the Jellyfish Bay, it’s a special structure converted from your existing tower — but unlike it, the Ritual Platform requires three vertical floors.[/p][p]By unlociking the Platform, you can freely select and combine different types of rituals to match your city-building strategy.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p] Three Ritual Categories:[/p]

• [p]Aether Rituals (e.g., Levia Ritual): Lightens gravity, allowing buildings to extend farther and carriers to work with ease.[/p]
• [p]Vita Rituals (e.g., Migrana Ritual): Enables citizens to work across greater vertical distances.[/p]
• [p]Fabrik Rituals (e.g., Pendara Ritual): Boosts production the farther structures are built from the core.[/p]

[p]Rituals can be combined for layered effects — but watch out! Many come with “reasonable” trade-offs.[/p][p]For example, Levia Ritual weakens gravity, but also slows down pipeline transport efficiency. A blessing for manpower-focused towers, but perhaps not ideal for logistics-heavy builds.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Each ritual consumes a specific amount of Faith and items.[/p]

• [p]Once activated, a ritual runs in cycles:If required resources are available at the start of the next cycle, it will continue automatically.[/p]
• [p]If not, it will pause until supplies are replenished.[/p]

[p]Tower Masters, make the most of these systems and explore all the possibilities this towering vertical world has to offer![/p][p][/p][h2]Vertical Garden[/h2][p]In the haven tower, a Towertizen’s Spirit determines their quality of life—and can even change the home they live in.[/p][p]When a Towertizen’s Spirit reaches the upgrade threshold, their entire home will be transformed from a humble Hut into a sturdy Brick House, increasing its capacity and expanding its Work Range.[/p][p]Spirit is made up of six different needs. While fulfilling any of these needs can raise Spirit, in the early days—when resources are scarce—the most cost-effective approach is to improve the Environment in residential areas.[/p][p]This is where the Green House shines: not only does it quickly raise residents’ Spirit, but with clever placement, multiple Green Houses can stack their Environment bonuses for maximum effect.[/p][p]And as a little EA sneak peek, we’re also revealing the upgraded version of the Green House—check out the in-game model and concept art for the Vertical Garden![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]That’s all for today’s update! We’re heading back to our work, but if you have anything you’d like to discuss — or chat about with other Tower Masters — feel free to leave a comment below, or join our official Discord Server:[/p][p]https://discord.com/invite/sfXVUFRzP7[/p][p][/p][p]Follow us to stay tuned with us！ ⬇️⬇️⬇️[/p]