Chinese developer Seed Lab has unveiled a comprehensive suite of construction and customization modes for its upcoming life sim, Starsand Island. Players can unleash their creativity and build the home of their dreams when the game launches in early 2026.
“From the beginning, we aspired to create a beautiful life sim that would enable players to create their ideal home. We created a bespoke game engine for Starsand Island that would give them the creative tools to do just that, as well as share them with friends and the wider community,” said Goltan Gao, Technical Director at Seed Lab, in a press release. “Even as we’re developing the game, our in-house teams have been crafting a magnificent variety of homes and styles, and we are excited to see what our players will come up with once Starsand Island launches.”
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What is Starsand Island?
As revealed at Gamescom, Starsand Island will feature three different construction modes, allowing you to design and decorate your home both inside and out. The free-view building mode includes a range of tools and differently shaped objects to create grand manors, Tudor-style homes, or stylish bungalows. You can also landscape the surroundings with decking, fencing, and more.
As revealed at gamescom 2025, three different construction modes will be available in Starsand Island from launch:
- Free-view building: This mode gives players the ability to intricately design and construct their dream home on their Starsand Island plot.
- Character perspective: This mode enables players to decorate and furnish the interior and exterior of their homestead.
- Local view: This mode allows players to decorate smaller spaces, such as fishtanks.
Free-view Building Mode is Starsand Island’s unique mode
The free-view building mode is a highlight of the studio’s release to the media. They explain the Free-view building mode as a suite of construction tools, including a range of differently shaped objects, to empower players to create everything from grand manors, Tudor-style houses, to stylish mid-century bungalows and cottagecore dwellings.
Options to landscape the building’s surroundings will also be available, with decking, fencing, banners, and more helping to provide maximum ‘curb appeal’ on the island.
Watch the Trailer
Starsand Island | Debut Trailer at XBOX Showcase: Gamescom Edition! Unwind with Serene Farming Life
【Gamescom First Look! Live-aboard Houseboats + Pet DIY + Secret Aquarium Zones – Your All-in-One Immersive Rural Paradise!】 STEAM：https://store.steampowered.com/app/2966320/_/ X：https://x.com/IslandStarsand DISCORD：https://discord.com/invite/HHnJvsspk4 The long-awaited Starsands Island made a creative splash at Gamescom in Germany! Live aboard a customizable houseboat-not just farming! Break free from land limits, decorate your unique floating home, and enjoy a soothing life sparkling on the waves.
Share Your Builds
Players will be able to save and share their creations through Starsand Island’s ‘Blueprints Library’; these construction plans include everything from the building’s structure, together with object placements, decoration styles, and more.
This enables others to download and add them into their own idyllic, pastoral paradise. Pre-designed ‘Official Blueprints’ will also be acquirable from NPCs in the game, giving players strong foundations to tweak their look or provide inspiration for their own grand designs.
Essentially, if you’re a builder like me, this one showcases all it can allow platers to do. Starsand Island’s free-view construction mode features:
- Building texture: Players can ‘paint’ buildings to create different period houses and styles, with eight different textures, including wood grain, brick, stone, paint (including gloss, matte, and metallic), as well as rough or micro cement, and ceramics.
- Day/Night cycle: Adjust the time of day in construction mode to see how your build looks at any hour of the day, from the break of dawn to the final rays of sunlight.
- Blueprints: Pre-designed homes can be acquired from NPCs in the game as blueprints, while players can also save their own creations and share them in a Blueprints Library for others to download, edit, and use for themselves.
- Batch editing: Gives players the ability to select or demolish large portions of their construction, saving time before taking the building’s design in a different direction… or starting again from scratch.
What Starsand Idland’s release date?
Seed Lab has not currently shared a specific release date. However, the developers did share a release window with ayduences, letting us know that Starsand Island will release in early 2026.
