Farming and life simulator Starsand Island centers around a philosophy of total player freedom and relaxation. There are no deadlines or stress, and players can design and customize their island home any way they like. To facilitate this, Starsand Island developer Seed Lab implemented an extensive customization and DIY system that allows players to customize everything "down to the magnets on the refrigerator."
At a press event attended by The Best War Games, Starsand Island technical director Golton Gao and creative director Richardo Wang spoke (via translator) about the development of this system. Their goal of total creative freedom for players was a difficult one to fulfill; Gao described it as "a self-inflicted nightmare for coders." The final product, however, turns Starsand Island from a simple farming sim into an expansive sandbox game that lets players embrace their creativity.
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The Team Looked Outside The Farming Sim Genre For Inspiration
When it came to designing Starsand Island's customization system, the team almost immediately encountered difficulty: they weren't sure how to integrate such elaborate customization into a farming simulator. The team expanded their search beyond the farming sim genre and soon found a model for the customization system they wanted in two places: The Sims and Minecraft. As Gao said,
"We tried to integrate the best parts of those two games and combine them into our customization system."
The result is a system where players can do far more than simply arrange furniture and paint the walls of their house. They can customize every square inch of the farm they inherit from their bedroom to the crop fields, animal dwellings, and more. The game also features building options that represent a variety of aesthetics. "Whether you crave minimalism, cottagecore, or cyberpunk," encouraged Gao, "unleash your creativity!"
Starsand Island's DIY System
Seed Lab developed Starsand Island's DIY system from scratch via a custom engine because, as God explained, the team felt only a custom engine could provide the total player freedom and the sheer number of different aesthetic pieces they envisioned for Starsand Island. Gao described the process as difficult and time-consuming, but ultimately rewarding:
"We built the engine from scratch so the terrain, houses, furniture—even winding pathways—are fully customizable. Create Japanese alleys, Nordic villages, Chinese terraces—your imagination is the limit. How free is it? A tester made a 'maze garden.' Our devs got lost and had to teleport out."
Starsand Island features many systems and gameplay options in addition to extensive customization. Players can plant a wide variety of crops, potentially even growing these crops to a giant size. They can raise livestock including cows, sheep, yaks, and bees, and adopt adorable animal companions including cats, dogs, and capybaras. Players can get close to a variety of romanceable NPCs, each with their own unique story, as well as an overarching story involving the mysterious "heart of the island" and what secrets are lurking there.
Ultimately, Starsand Island brings innovation to the farming simulator genre by eliminating deadlines, encouraging stress-free relaxation, and offering extensive Sims and Minecraft- inspired customization both inside and outside. Players can enjoy their time on the titular island without having to worry about the pressure of deadlines or endless quests and tasks building up over time. They can freely experiment with and explore the game's various systems, including near-limitless customization and DIY options, when Starsand Island launches for PC and consoles later in 2025.