StarDecoLand

An early-development virtual world social game focused on self-expression, chat, decorating, collections, and more.

A heavily customizable UI with pinned sidebars and tradable themes, a customizable click-menu for full-screen play, item attributes and item suggestion shop systems, integrated feedback prompts and quests, a feed-based shop, group decoration options, multi-item editing, a chance-based fashion creator, personality-type decorating animations, and more. Stay tuned, I’ll be illustrating many of these concepts and revealing them shortly.

There will be more emphasis on designing gameplay around higher involvement of the avatar when decorating, and extra personality options so your avatar feels like an extension of you, not just where your speech bubbles appear from. Many virtual worlds charge a lot for items that offer little beyond appearance. SDL will push for items that have real qualities, value, and customization instead of being purely cosmetic.

Success means StarDecoLand earns long-term player loyalty by staying fun, stable, and financially healthy, while giving the community real tools to offer feedback, influence decisions, and help guide features over time.

StarDecoLand is being developed using Unity.

SmallWorlds used a 2.5D depth-sprite approach that was the right call in 2007 but came with many constraints. StarDecoLand is fully 3D, benefiting from modern tech, better animation and lighting options, fewer limitations, and more flexibility for avatars and decorating.

StarDecoLand will be its own experience with new features, content, lore, and systems. Some SmallWorlds ideas were timeless and may be referenced or expanded, but the goal is to build something new.

Desktop first, with mobile support following.

Unlikely. Most actions will rely on server communication to stay synchronized with other players.

The game is being tuned to run well even on hardware that is roughly five years old.

Revealing the prototype early helps guide design direction, but development is still at an early stage. Realistically, 2026 will focus on internal development and playtesting.

Further prototype development, player surveys, and initial steps toward securing funding.

The aim is to support both grid and free-placement modes, editing of multiple items at once, scalable items, context-aware decorating suggestions, and stronger involvement from your avatar during the decorating process.

Yes. The goal is to let wearable and decor items be modified in position and rotation, as well as scale and active or inactive states, which is not common in most virtual worlds. For example, actively flapping angel wings could cause you to fly, while the same wings could be set to drape downward in a rested state so you can walk instead. This lets the content pipeline focus on producing primary items rather than separate variants of the same item.

Yes. Missions and quests will give players extra goals tied to outfits, decoration skills, and creativity.

Items can have rarity levels, seasonal tags, event labels (such as Xmas or Easter), brands, and series numbers (such as “2 of 6” or “3 of 25”).

Since the game is entirely 3D, avatars should support deeper customization than many other social worlds, including SmallWorlds.

Starting in December and January, player surveys will begin. The long-term plan is to integrate feedback prompts directly in the game at key moments to understand player sentiment.

Player feedback will be a major factor, but feasibility and development timing will still determine when a feature can be added or changed.

This will be a near-future question for the community to help answer. UGC has clear pros, including a larger flow of content from a wider range of artists. But it also brings significant challenges, especially the moderation required to handle inappropriate, copyrighted, or user-copied creations.

Yes. Players will be able to adjust appearance, placement, scale, and behavior of UI panels to suit their preferences.

Yes. Localization is being considered from the beginning. Portuguese support is planned early so MiniMundos players can get involved with SDL.

A dual-currency system is likely, along with a VIP Supporter system and a shop. A battle pass is possible later.

The project is currently self-funded, with a pending application for government-assisted grants.

“Star” refers to players being their own star. “Deco” refers to decorations. “Land” refers to the virtual spaces you’ll explore and build in. The name is concise, describes the core of the game, and supports a simple, recognizable icon which should help in the future.