Welcome to the April 2024 Coral Island development update!

This month, it's all about the ocean. Take a look at several new Merfolk and more! PLEASE NOTE: there are mid to late-game spoilers ahead.


Coral Island 1.1 beta will launch on May 20th, 2024. Join our Discord[discord.gg] for more information!

New wallpaper. Visit our Discord[discord.gg] to get access to other sizes, perfect for your PC and or mobile phones!

Merfolk Townies

Meet the latest members of the Merfolk Kingdom: a tattoo artist, a rancher, a tavern owner, and a senior guard.

Rysy runs her own tattoo shop where she designs all the tattoos herself and doesn't take custom orders. Art over custom, she said. Sorry, folks! She dedicates a lot of time to perfecting her art, hoping to find people who appreciate it. Could that someone be you?

Slamet is a rancher who can help you get animals for your underwater ranch. He's trained countless sea horses, mermoos and more. If it were up to him, he'd care for all the animals in the ocean, but alas, he's only got two hands. So, he dedicates himself to serving the kingdom.

Fun fact: Slamet, like Joko, is a common name in Indonesia. It’s also the name of a mountain in Central Java. The word "Slamet" loosely means "safety" or "congratulations."

Jannu owns Sleepy Eel, the local tavern. He's single and not interested in dating; he's content with his life and prefers not to let a relationship complicate things. You'll find him at the tavern all the time, fully devoted to his work.


Tahat, a loyal guard who has served the kingdom for many years. He's married to what he considers the most beautiful sea creature in the world, Etna, and leads a quiet life. They've mostly stayed in the kingdom, only traveling when duty calls. Tahat is a man of loyalty to the kingdom, a trait he shares with his daughter, Denali.

Merfolk Relationships

Once you've advanced far enough in the game, you can start building relationships with the Merfolk. Explore how we're alike and different from our friends beneath the sea.

[The player is in everyone's business, as usual. Bless my heart.]

Discover their likes and dislikes, and they might open up about their stories. Learn about their hobbies, passions, and heck, if you talk to the right person, they might even reveal the advantages and disadvantages of being named after famous mountains.

Merfolk Romance

That's right! Romance with the Merfolk will be available in the 1.1 update. Who's the first choice? Is it Semeru or Semeru?

Remember Erika's tip: everyone loves gifts. Now it's not just the townies, but also the underwater hotties.

[This also means [b]a new wedding location[/b] for all the wedding location collectors out there. Better keep both eyes peeled for this one!]

Ocean Farming

Game progression unlocks underwater farming. Farmers, once you've cleared your underwater farm, dive right into farming. Mix different land crops together and see what underwater seedbags they produce. Plant them to unlock even more varieties of seeds! A whole new world indeed.

[Your newest property: location, location, location!]


[Same tool, different place. Still Hoeing around.]

What crops need underwater is not more water, but light! And that's exactly what the Lumina Wand will provide, a new tool you'll acquire as you progress through the game.

[The Lumina Wand will provide ample light for your underwater crops to thrive.]

Ocean Crops

[Mix up different land crops and see what underwater seedbags they produce—it's all in this cute little three-pocket thingy. You've got one on your land farm too!]

[Fun fact: "labu" means pumpkin in Bahasa Indonesia.]

Ocean Ranching

The ranch has five underwater animals: Mermoo, Inkhog, Shellcluck, Carapoultry, and Seashroud. Just like the land ranch animals, each one of these cuties produces something you can sell.



Seashroud takes inspiration from the leaf slug, a real underwater creature. Cute, isn't it?

Just like your dry cows and sheep, you’ll need to pet these underwater animals and feed them hay, bla bla bla. By the time you gain access to these cuties, you’ll already know the ropes—you'd be a pro rancher yourself!

[This is where you can purchase your underwater animals. And, more importantly, it's where you'll find Slamet. Huehuehue.]

Ocean Decor

New farm, new decor. With you having two separate farms in version 1.1, where would all that money go if we didn't release more decor?

[The red one is my favorite.]

[Now you're sleeping on seaweed, just like the other merfolk do.]


You can still bring your favorite land decor—do NOT worry! We've added new tags to decor items to clarify whether you can place these items on land, underwater, or both.

Ocean Rank S

Remember these things you saw while diving? If you've advanced through the diving questline, you've likely come across these various "orchestra sites." These will play a key role in your final quest to reach Ocean Rank S.

[This merfolk dances as well as I cook—I don't cook.]

NPC Speech Bubble

We've added a variety of speech bubbles that your spouse might say to you during the day. In testing, we've found this new feature to be super immersive and really helps bring the characters to life.

[Hehe, I'm Sunshine.]

[Alright, boo, thanks. My wife is so nice.]

Decor System Improvements

We've signifincatly improved the decor experience. In addition to UX improvements, flooring and walls are now treated as stackable items. Upon applying a flooring or wall, you'll acquire the items as a floaty so you can easily reuse the patterns you've collected.

[This floaty will help you visualize better what you're currently holding.]

Library Books

For enjoyers of books, the library now slowly gets populated as you increase the towns rank. Bonus: Some books now offer perks when read, such as mastery points. Additionally, two special books provide a permanent buff that boosts the rate you earn relationship points.

[Reading pays off!]

Multiplayer Teaser & Switch Backers

We're making TREMENDOUS progress on adding Multiplayer to Coral Island!

[You and up to 3 other farmers let loose on Starlet Town]

Switch backers: we're still in the game development process and going strong. We don't have any updates to share yet, but we'll keep you informed as soon as we have more to share!

What's Next

In June, we'll showcase the progress of Multiplayer development in Coral Island. We can't wait for you to see the updates and just how enjoyable farming with friends can be!

Speaking of friends, If you're looking to make new gaming buddies, why not join our Discord server? You'll meet some of the coolest, most passionate farmers around.

Coral Island Discord: take me there![discord.gg]
Thanks for reading,
Stairway Team

Hi Farmers,

In this patch, we're implementing a "load save file from backup" feature to handle the very rare case where a save file becomes corrupted. You should now be able to view and load from backup save files.

Bugfixes:

• Load from backup save files: We've added an option in Game Settings called "Show Backup." Once enabled on the Load Game page, this will display all the backup save files available.
  
• Fixed auto chest causing crashes in the shed in some cases.
  
• Fixed the issue where items couldn't be purchased in the Winter Fair store.
  
• Fixed a problem in décor mode where some items couldn't be placed.

Localizations:

• Various translation improvements.

Best regards,
Stairway Team

Hi Farmers,

A very small hotfix for three issues that some players have reported.

Bugfixes:

• Fixed crashes that occurred when talking to NPCs in certain cases.
  
• Fixed the issue where players sometimes couldn't talk to certain NPCs.
  
• Fixed the problem where players couldn't talk to their spouse NPC.

Localizations:

• Various translation improvements.

Thank you for your patience and for reporting these issues, farmers!


Best,
Stairway Team

Welcome to the first Coral Island development update of 2024!

Here’s part 1 of the 2-part series on what’s coming in the 1.1 update. Today, we're talking about new stuff on land. Next time, we'll dive into ocean content.

Since 1.0 launch, we've been closely monitoring all the feedback from our community. Whether it's discussions on Discord, streams, Reddit posts, social media, or the Steam forums, we're grateful to everyone who's shared their thoughts and supported us.

We're committed to fully realizing the vision that we've had for Coral Island from the very beginning, and to making it the best game that we possibly can. There are a number of improvements and features, like the Town Rank S questline, the Merfolk storyline, and much more that we are excited to bring to the game with future updates.

Updated Roadmap

Today, we'd like to share a look at our current development roadmap with you. The future of the game is looking incredibly exciting!

Since our initial Kickstarter, Coral Island has grown significantly. With the 1.0 launch, we brought you a world with 130 hand-drawn NPCs and over 600,000 words, among numerous other content and features. This game has been a true labor of love by our dedicated developers. Now, with the 1.1 update, we've added even more cool stuff, giving you new things to see and do.

Town Rank S

Become the ultimate farmer by reaching Town Rank S, a new end-game goal that expands and completes existing storylines. Yeah, hitting Rank A is pretty cool, but why stop there? If you're looking for more challenges and achievements, go for Rank S! We've added Town Rank S for anyone who's up for an extra layer of accomplishment. It's there for the taking if you want to push your farming skills to the max!


Attractions is a new Town Rank category that becomes available after you've reached Town Rank A. You'll help the town build new attractions that will benefit townies and attract visitors.

Here's a sneak peek at a couple of the attractions:
[Everyone needs a Decent Gym.]

[Also, everyone needs access to great ramen!]


To get to Rank S in the museum, your task is to bring dinosaurs back to life, sort of. You'll be making animated projections that make these ancient creatures look like they're alive again. So, how are you going to make that happen? Well, you’ll just have to play and see for yourself! Huehuheu.

[RAWRRRR!]


Embark on an epic quest to recover fragments of the Guardian's Mural and unlock the full story of the island's rich history and heritage.

[The Guardian’s Mural]

[The mysterious Guardians!]

Tourists now visit the town

Roll out the welcome mat for tourists visiting the island weekly, (looking at you too, Tourist Backers! Welcome to Coral Island!) offering new opportunities for exploration, interaction, and adventure.

[Meet the Tourist Backers! They’ll be visiting Coral Island two seasons each year, wearing their own unique[b] seasonal outfits[/b]. Plus, you can even chat with them! And just the heads up, before anyone asks: nope, you can’t romance these tourists.]

[You’ll find tourists visiting different parts of town.]

New Mechanic: Hangouts

For the 1.1 update, you can invite your favorite dateable NPCs to hang out and earn friendship points by inviting them for ramen, enjoying a fishing date, or having a movie night, among other fun activities. And that's not all – we're looking to grow this feature in future updates to include more than just the dateable NPCs. So, tell us, which townies are you most excited to hang out with?

[You can invite eligible NPC to [b]hangout[/b] twice a week.]

[Choose from a variety of hangout spots. Unlock more spots through progression.]

[Getting up close and personal - here's a snapshot of me and Alice on our museum date. Alone, no more!]

New Ranch Animals: Buffalo and Ostrich!

Meet the Buffalo and Ostrich, two exciting additions to your farm. You'll be able to acquire these unique farm animals at the Savannah.

[How are you getting out of the coop door?]

[Look at those ears!]

New Outfits and Decor

We’re adding even more outfits and decor options! New look, who dis.

[Looking good.]

[Oh yes, we did!]

Other updates (SPOILER ALERT)

There's loads more to share, but let's not make this blog a novel. Here’s a quick sneak peek:

[Besides the bald hair option (which some of you really dig, so it stays), we've added two more hair choices for hat-wearers.]

[Wildlife will begin repopulating the island as you heal the land and ocean.]

[Say goodbye to those Pufferfish stalls at festivals, Karen's not running them anymore. Phew!]

Localization Update

Our vision for Coral Island has always been to make it accessible to players worldwide. However, at the 1.0 launch, we weren't able to include as many languages as we hoped. When we launched our Kickstarter, we unfortunately underestimated the sheer volume of words the game would have by 1.0, and the localization costs are significant. We're now re-evaluating our roadmap.

The next language we are going to implement will be Thai, and we're beginning work on that this month. Going forward, we plan to expand localization support in the future where possible.

Happy Chinese New Year

What's Next?

Next April, we'll be diving into the ocean-related content of the 1.1 update. It’s a deep dive, so brace yourself for an ocean of info! A bit of an ocean pun for you.


Thanks for reading,
Stairway Team

Hi Farmers,

There were urgent crashing issues for some saves after the last update. This patch should rectify that.
We also include other fixes with this patch, Here are the notes:

Bugfixes:

• Fix crashes if you place torches at your farm. This is the cause of crash experienced by some save files.
  
• Fix Abandoned Villa collision issue.
  
• Various typos fixes.
  
• Fix player house interior tile system activated when loading saves from underwater barrack.
  
• Remove founder hall coming soon message.
  
• Fix floating lotus around deep forest blocker.
  
• Fix tree planting only giving basic tools.
  
• Fix shed décor mode causing crashes.
  
• Fix crash if dialogue list of NPC is empty.
  
• Fix Enchantment UI sometimes losing focus.
  
• Fix caterpillar not included in Caterpillar Peyek ingredients.
  
• Prevent General Store resupply cutscene being triggered in fall 14-28.
  
• Fix double NPC when playing Don't Drop the Balloon mini-game.
  
• Fix some Mark marriage dialogue missing.
  
• Fix poisoned/rotten apple not changing in Apple Bobbing mini-game.
  
• Fix move farm building cost 0 gold.

Improvements:

• Sturdy Computer can now be placed indoors.
  
• Update Trivia minigame text.
  
• Remove some unused monsters from Bestiary journal.

Balancing:

• Increase player cow speed in Cow Competition mini-game.

Localizations:

• Implemented various translation improvements.

Thank you for your patience, Farmers!

Best,
Stairway Team

Hi Farmers,

Here are the fixes we made for February 2024:

Bugfixes:

• Fixed the issue with sturdy computer not showing online shopping.
  
• Corrected various missing sound effects throughout the game.
  
• Addressed several UI glitches.
  
• Resolved the problem of players being able to walk through the front wall of the baby room.
  
• Fixed the bug where hitting Poplar and Mahogany seeds would drop the wrong seed.
  
• Rectified inaccurate descriptions for ranch building upgrades.
  
• Ensured that meteors/satellites no longer crash into mythical seed crops.
  
• Fixed the bug where purchasing a fish kite didn't unlock the crafting recipe.
  
• Corrected the inaccurate forecast stating that the following day would be a festival day on Winter 4th in the Weather channel.
  
• Adjusted descriptions for solar panels to be accurate.
  
• Fixed the issue where lip color would not remain consistent after changing outfit presets in the character customizer.
  
• Fixed portrait display in the house upgrade panel choice UI.
  
• Addressed inaccuracies with Connor Heart 8 setup.
  
• Resolved the issue where players would teleport to their spouse's room when upgrading the house.
  
• Fixed the crash that occurred after clicking on Leah's profile thumbnail in the People/Relationship tab.
  
• Ensured that the super coral in the aquarium is now properly displayed.
  
• Fixed the inability to catch/break sea creatures/insects, trees, and rocks after loading the game from Barracks.
  
• Eliminated the mini popup that appeared when moving items with the mouse in the Enchantment UI.
  
• Fixed the inability to adopt a pet after harvesting Sawee.
  
• Addressed the issue where Scott Heart 10 couldn't be triggered.
  
• Fixed issues with Gothic metal pants & Gothic brown boots.
  
• Ensured that satellite debris drops at multiple coordinates.
  
• Rectified the missing mesh for cabin hanging plants.
  
• Fixed the incorrect icon for pets on the map.
  
• Resolved the silo max capacity issue after moving the building.
  
• Fixed the inability to click "finish" on the architect desk using a controller.
  
• Corrected various typos.
  
• Replaced the basic wall icon and updated the Gothic outfit icons.
  
• Fixed the wrong fox sound.

Improvements:

• Implemented a tool retrieval logic, allowing players to locate any missing tools at the blacksmith for free.
  
• Added a box to submit errands in case Jio Dan is away on Saturday and Sunday.

Balancing:

• Increased the chance of NPCs asking for a child by twice the existing chance.

Localizations:

• Implemented various translation improvements.

Thanks to everyone for reporting bugs to our team. We'll keep working on them.

Best,
Stairway Team

Hi farmers,

This is our second hotfix of the year. The highlights are NPC dialog issues fixes and improvement for pet behavior. Here are the notes:

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed some typos in some status buffs.
  
• Fixed mermaid armor color not changing.
  
• Fixed auto chest sometimes not working after loading a game.
  
• Fixed festival pamphlet missing.
  
• Fixed scavenger hunt UI not updating properly.
  
• Fixed crash when player creates new saves after returning to title menu.
  
• Fixed inability to talk to some NPCs in Harvest Festivals.
  
• Fixed Suki saying the wrong dialogue when gifting coconut.
  
• Fixed some decor item collision issues.
  
• Fixed issues causing town folks to not congratulate the player after the wedding.
  
• Fixed sound issues causing end-of-day songs to be played at the farm.
  
• Fixed bug causing treasure chest to not be able to rotate upfront.
  
• Fixed inability to use winter bed and cupboard.
  
• Fixed game freeze when accessing storage access on sturdy computer.
  
• Fixed Nina heart 8 not progressing if the player is already at year 2.
  
• Fixed crash when moving farm building with conflicting object in building space.
  
• Fixed NPC navigation issues because of some objects.
  
• Fixed possible crash causing my incorrectly shut down audio objects.
  
• Fixed solar orb appearing floating and being unable to be picked up in 20m depth.
  
• Fixed baby disappearing after festival.
  
• Fixed various dialogue issues.

Improvements:

• Adjusted 50m diving puzzle solar orb.
  
• Set up holding 3d models when pet house is selected as inventory.
  
• Changed trigger time for Noah heart 8 to night time.
  
• You can no longer talk to Merfolk Guards.
  
• Added baby gender when born.
  
• Updated Maharaja Putput portrait.
  
• Hid enable storage in auto chest.
  
• Allowed pet to go outdoors during clear weather.
  
• Improved pet AI.
  
• Pet will come to you and show a sad emoji if it has not been petted today. Will show happy emoji otherwise.
  
• Added Lily and Jim to stop watering after a certain time.

Localization:

• Various localization updates.

Hi Farmers,

Happy New Year 2024! Our development team had a much-needed rest and is now ready with another release:

Bugfixes:

• Fixed incorrect loading of save backup, causing backup save to not load when the save is corrupted.
  
• Prevented some cases of corrupted save data.
  
• Fixed an issue preventing game entry if any save files were corrupted.
  
• Resolved backup files appearing in the main list but not loading.
  
• Solved a problem where nothing could be placed in house storage when the panel was first opened.
  
• Updated to address hairstyle clipping issues.
  
• Added safety checks for cooking to prevent further crashes.
  
• Fixed an issue where fruit tart and seaweed ingredients were not inserted after canceling ingredients.
  
• Corrected incorrect flower textures.
  
• Fixed an issue where Zarah, Luke, and Wakuu's heart 10 cutscenes were not triggering in some cases.
  
• Resolved incorrect player skin in Mark's Heart 10.
  
• Fixed the wrong 3D mesh for decoy objects.
  
• Addressed the issue of time freezing while fishing.
  
• Fixed a crash when using traps.
  
• Resolved an issue with spike traps not dealing damage.
  
• Corrected a tool action exploit using vault animations.
  
• Disabled the ability to move fruit plants to floor tiles.
  
• Fixed a crash when changing mine levels while being attacked by certain monsters.
  
• Addressed placement issues for some curtains.
  
• Resolved a potential random crash due to a rare logic timing issue.
  
• Fixed crashes occurring when skipping dialogues in baby cutscenes.
  
• Corrected the issue of not being able to find Olan on the map.
  
• Fixed Amalo's attack behavior.
  
• Resolved the issue of Theo wearing a swimsuit in the Community Center on Spring Day 1.
  
• Fixed schedules for Kenny, Mark, and Pablo during the Winter Fair.
  
• Resolved an issue preventing the opening of decor mode after entering the winter festival.
  
• Fixed an issue where an NPC spouse would get stuck in the starting position after decor mode.
  
• Corrected an issue where Leah and Millie's heart 10 events were not triggering in some cases.
  
• Fixed problems with the aging barrel and item refinement.
  
• Addressed an issue where Surya's heart 10 event was not triggering in some cases.
  
• Resolved some instances where Scott would drop the baby while carrying them.
  
• Fixed various dialogue typos.
  
• Fixed issues with cutscene logic requirements.
  
• Fixed issues and zoom behavior in decor mode UX.
  
• Fixed dynamic dialogue issues for Zarah after having a kid.
  
• Fixed the hedgehog seahorse issue.
  
• Fixed the issue of hay disappearing from the silo when moving the silo building.
  
• Fixed a stair collision issue in the forest area.
  
• Fixed the tutorial panel making the pickstarter cutscene stuck.
  
• Fixed the wrong race track for the pet race minigame.
  
• Fixed crashing when opening the Cow Competition Panel UI [Xbox only].
  
• Fixed a crash when starting the Cow and Chicken competition [Xbox only].
  
• Attempted to avoid crashes by limiting the number of spawned slime projectiles at a time in combat.
  
• Fixed the Trivia Interactible Choice Panel by adding a function to change the list options instead of re-showing the choice panel.
  
• Fixed a crash in the main event harvest when opening the panel.
  
• Fixed certain heart events that couldn't be triggered.
  
• Fixed crashes caused by an older fix to farm tiles.
  
• Fixed the absence of SFX in some cutscenes.

Improvements:

• Implemented Sort Priority Player points to match NPC points on all Leaderboard Mini Games.
  
• Updated minigame leaderboard points & NPC Participants to ensure the player still wins if they tie the top leaderboard points.
  
• Hidden turtles from the map.

Balancing:

• Removed tags for deleted items so they won't appear in the journal.
  
• Enabled Arame to show in the Journal.

Localizations:

• Fixed problematic font setup for the Korean language.
  
• Implemented various translation improvements.

Once again, thank you so much to everyone for reporting bugs to our team; we really appreciate it.

Best,
Stairway Team

Welcome to the December 2023 Coral Island development update!

Coral Island 1.0 is now available on Steam/Win10, Gamepass, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.

Official wiki announcement

We're proud to announce the official launch of our ad-free Coral Island wiki. This comprehensive resource is your go-to guide for all things related to the game. Explore it here: https://coralisland.wiki/wiki/Main_Page


Experience the romance of Coral Island! Coral Island offers you a magical journey to find “the one” and celebrate your union in a setting as unique as the NPC you choose to marry. Each character brings their own special touch to the wedding location, vow, and appearance, making your big day an unforgettable, personalized experience.


[Pictured here is the lake wedding!]

Spouse rooms

In Coral Island, saying 'I do' means your partner packs up their life and moves into your farmhouse, bringing a whole lot of personality with them! So, make sure your place is roomy enough to fit all their stuff. Each spouse gets their own special room. And hey, giving each other some space might just make those heartstrings tug a bit harder. Let them chill in their own cool spot, and who knows? They might start missing you even more!


[A room for each spouse!]



Since the launch of Coral Island 1.0, our team has made significant strides in fixing numerous critical bugs. Fixing any and all remaining bugs remains our top priority.



The results are in! Thanks to your votes, Mark has been crowned the winner of our popularity contest. Checkout the artwork below:


[MARKKKKKK.]

Studio holiday

Heads up, Coral Island enjoyers. Our studio will be taking a holiday break from December 18th, 2023, to January 2nd, 2024. During this time, we'll be recharging and gearing up for an exciting new year. See you all in 2024!



As we step into 2024, get ready for a bi-monthly treat from us! Starting in February, we'll be rolling out a development blog every two months. These posts will be your window into our world, offering sneak peeks and exciting updates, including all the latest on the upcoming 1.1 update. Stay tuned!


Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm. We can't wait for you to experience everything Coral Island offers.


Thanks for reading,
Stairway Team