Starsand Island is an upcoming cozy life/farming simulation game from developer Seed Lab that’s focused on creating a utopia for players to relax in, and we got to hear a bit about the development process.
Technical Director Golton Gao and Creative Director Richardo Wang answered questions about design and development choices for Starsand Island. The game has a lot of unique and interesting ideas that don’t really have a solid competitor in the market — the closest games would probably be the My Time series, though Starsand Island shines with its own features.
Starsand Island launched its Kickstarter campaign in May, where it raised nearly 300% of its funding goal.
Brittany Alva: Starsand Island stands out among life sims, with a cute animation style and a pretty deep gameplay system from the start. What was the inspiration for combining these elements into a life sim?
Golton Gao: Starsand Island is a project designed to provide players with a “spiritual utopia” that aims to deliver a heartwarming and healing emotional experience. To better convey this soothing and comforting tone, we have chosen an anime-inspired art style. We hope to create a world where everyone can live freely in an idyllic rural life, following their own wishes and ideas. Both the chosen art style and the way the content is structured are intended to offer players the best possible spiritual utopia gaming experience.
Brittany: What inspired the island setting?
Richardo Wong: Our studio is nestled in Zhuhai, a city of a thousand islands. From the windows of our office building, we can gaze upon a sea dotted with islands like scattered stars. When facing the boundless ocean, worries often dissolve like sea foam melting into the waves. It’s this vision that inspired our choice of an island setting.
The name “Starsand Island” carries a deeper meaning: Just as stars guide lost travelers through the night sky, this island offers a haven for those who have lost their way in the rush of urban life.
Brittany: From a farming sim standpoint, rabbits are a unique (and absolutely adorable) place to start – what was the thought process for introducing husbandry with rabbits?
Golton: In our rural life back then, rabbits were the most adorable small domestic animals. With their fluffy white fur, long ears, and docile nature, they captured our hearts. That’s why, when we wanted to recreate the animal husbandry gameplay, rabbits were the first animal we thought of as the starting choice.
Brittany: How did the team choose what creatures to include around the island? Particularly the magical/fantasy-esque creatures.
Richardo: When designing the creatures on the island, we followed a key principle: 80% of the creatures would be realistic in nature, allowing players to quickly immerse themselves in the world. At the same time, to provide enough novelty, we added 20% fantastical creatures in the island’s ruins and other key scenes.
These fantasy creatures are designed to motivate players to collect them while maintaining the game’s soothing tone. For example, at the end of the ruins, players can encounter a divine stag that they can tame and ride. The stag also features customizable parts—such as different hoofprints, antlers, and special effects—allowing players to assemble their own unique fantasy mount.
Brittany: Starsand Island is full of details. Whether it’s the constant flow of tourists and NPCs, animals, or decorations, it feels alive. What were the things that the team focused on to create such a vibrant community/environment? Were there any specific goals for how the team wanted the island to feel from a player’s perspective?
Golton: We aimed to create an immersive template of idealized island pastoral life.
For every distinct area across the island’s scenes, we designed micro-themes, like a vibrant, dense forest or a lakeside isle infused with Eastern lifestyle elements. Each themed zone embodies our vision of a particular idyllic rural fantasy. To deepen these themes, we carefully curated matching flora and fauna, cultural activities, and interactive objects, ensuring the atmosphere feels rich while offering tangible gameplay.
From a player-experience perspective, our goal was to let every visitor discover elements that resonate with their personal pastoral aspirations, while continuously surprising them throughout the journey.
Brittany: The characters around Starsand Island are full of life from the very start, and the introductions seen for a few of them are great at showing them off. How did the team put together a range of different, unique characters that stand out as soon as you meet them?
Richardo: We believe one of the core desires for players is to experience a diverse and heartwarming community atmosphere on the island. That’s why we strived to make every major NPC embody a distinct philosophy of pastoral living, each designed to resonate deeply with specific player archetypes.
During initial design, we went through multiple iterations until these characters’ underlying lifestyles and values could genuinely move us. This was the crucial process of breathing a soul into them. Only after achieving this foundation did we proceed to enrich their details, personalities, and story arcs.
The narrative progression is intentionally designed as a journey where players accompany NPCs through emotional growth – a process that naturally reveals their personalities and charms. We refined these elements through several rounds of polishing until every detail met our highest standards of satisfaction.
Brittany: How did Kickstarter push the development of Starsand Island? Do you think the end result of Starsand Island would look very different if Kickstarter hadn’t been used?
Golton: As a new game IP, the overwhelming welcome we received for Starsand Island on Kickstarter far exceeded our expectations. We were deeply moved by the passion of players worldwide and collected invaluable feedback, which helped confirm the appeal of key elements like the art style, houseboats, and vehicles.
This validation significantly boosted our investment in these features. Without the affirmation and encouragement from Kickstarter backers, our content might have ended up more conservative. The Kickstarter campaign was truly a successful journey of co-creation between the game and its players.
Brittany: Are there any ideas for multiplayer on the horizon? Whether that’s something like showing off your island to the community in-game or joining up with a friend to explore.
Richardo: Yes, multiplayer will definitely feature in the game! We’ll reveal more details in the coming months, but what I can say is that Starsand Island’s multiplayer experience is about sharing joyful moments with friends. In fact, it’s right at the heart of design philosophy for the game!
Brittany: Were there any features, jobs, or locations that the team thought about adding for the future?
Golton: Absolutely, we have plans for post-launch support! We’ll share details closer to the time, but we can say that the map will be expanding after Starsand Island is released. There’ll be additional offshore islands to explore, which will be added as new DLC.
Brittany: Is there anything you want to tell players before they get their hands on Starsand Island?
Richardo: We hope players can truly experience an idyllic pastoral life when they play our game, and make it a haven for their souls to rest and recharge. Life inevitably has its hardships. That’s when we hope Starsand Island can accompany every player through warm, comforting moments of pastoral living, to recharge and return to life’s journey, knowing every choice in life matters.
Starsand Island is set to release on PC in Q4 of 2025. You can read our preview of the game here, where we discuss the stellar foundation it’s set up for itself.
