How to Get Money Early in Starsand Island

Why It Matters

Early coin generation accelerates homestead development and keeps players engaged, directly influencing retention in the competitive life‑simulation market.

Key Takeaways

• Main quests reward up to 1,000 coins each
• Bulletin board offers daily, timed coin tasks
• Sell low‑cost crafted items for quick profit
• Aurelis provides free daily coin gifts
• Fishing and bug catching yield 30‑50 coins each

Pulse Analysis

In life‑simulation titles like Starsand Island, the early‑game economy sets the tone for player satisfaction. Unlike narrative‑driven RPGs, Starsand Island relies on open‑ended progression, making coin acquisition a core loop. Main quests act as the primary catalyst, delivering sizable payouts that unlock higher‑tier professions and infrastructure. The daily bulletin board mirrors systems seen in Stardew Valley, encouraging routine play and fostering a sense of community through timed requests that blend affection and financial rewards.

Strategically, new players should prioritize low‑resource crafts that maximize profit margins. Items such as iron ingots (66 coins) and hardwood planks (24 coins) require minimal inputs yet return solid gains, allowing rapid capital buildup for larger projects. Complementing this, Aurelis’s daily free‑coin gifts provide a risk‑free income stream, while fishing and bug catching offer consistent, low‑effort earnings of 30‑50 coins per catch. Balancing quest completion with these micro‑tasks creates a diversified revenue pipeline, reducing reliance on any single activity and smoothing cash flow during the first weeks.

From a business perspective, a robust early‑game monetization framework boosts player retention and encourages cross‑platform adoption. By delivering multiple, accessible coin‑making avenues, Starsand Island reduces friction for casual gamers and incentivizes deeper engagement, which can translate into higher in‑game purchase rates for cosmetic or premium items. As the game expands, developers can layer additional time‑gated challenges or seasonal events onto existing systems, sustaining long‑term interest without overhauling the core economic loop.

How to Get Money Early in Starsand Island

Published Feb 16, 2026, 8:31 PM EST · By Stephanie Watel

Stephanie Watel is a writer for DualShockers. She has over three years of experience writing about all things video games, from news to lists to in‑depth guides in a variety of genres. Her strongest niches start with RPGs and also include platformers, horrors of every variety, cozy builders and sims. She also enjoys a good looter shooter and the occasional gacha adventure.

Games have been her biggest passion since getting a Nintendo 64 for Christmas in the 90’s and she carries that passion into all of her published content. With DualShockers, she specializes in crafting polished, informative, and enjoyable gaming guides that help pave a clear path for players and don’t skimp on the details that matter most.

Once you touch down on Starsand Island, the world (or island) is your oyster in terms of how you want to go about building and expanding your homestead as its newest resident. Whether it’s raising flocks of adorable livestock, growing vast fields of crops, or specializing in crafts of every make and color, you’re free to do quite literally anything and everything.

However, you still need the means to do everything, which in this case is money (Coins). Thankfully, there are a few different clever ways to earn a tidy profit, and knowing those methods early on is the key to success. Here are the best ways to earn money early in Starsand Island.

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Complete Main Quests

The first and perhaps the most obvious method for farming Coins in Starsand Island is completing the game’s main quests. These quests don’t necessarily relate to a preset story like in other games. In this case, since your experience is entirely open‑ended, your main quests relate primarily to rebuilding certain structures around the island, and the five main professions you can “level up” to gain higher tiers of certification.

As you complete each of these quests, you’ll receive various rewards for your efforts. These usually contain Affection boosts for the NPC involved in the quest, along with Coins and other randomized items. Some will give you a few hundred Coins while others can offer up to 1,000, so make sure to stay on top of your main quests while exploring.

Fulfill Bulletin Board Requests

Early on in the game’s main questline, you’ll gain access to the town’s Bulletin Board at the Community Center (located on the east side of the town’s plaza area). Here you can view and pick up various personal requests (or Orders as the StarNote calls them) placed by local NPCs.

These requests usually involve gathering or crafting certain items they need. Once you complete the objective set in that request, you can turn it in by visiting the NPC who placed it. In return, you’ll receive Affection points for that NPC, Starsand, and Coins. These requests refresh daily, so there will always be new ones for you to do. Just remember that they also have set time limits for completing them, so take care not to leave them sitting in lieu of other errands for too long.

Get into the habit of completing at least a couple of these requests a day, and you’ll be building up Coins in no time from this alone.

One particular method that you probably didn’t expect at first is your Islandpedia app. Open it and select the large “Stamp Collection” tab at the bottom of the screen. This will pull up the entire Stamp Collection menu, which lists six categories. Each category pertains to a certain aspect of daily routine, whether it’s crafting, cooking, or discovering new species in the wild.

For example, in the “Gatherables” section, as you find and gather new resources in the wild, you’ll have the opportunity to earn stamps for finding certain amounts of those new resources. You’ll get a stamp once you’ve gathered at least 17 different resources for the first time, followed by 28 different resources, and so on.

Crafting and Growing to Sell

Perhaps the most quintessential way to make money in games like Starsand Island is crafting items, not just for yourself but for selling purposes. Aside from building what you need for your personal journey, funneling your resources into the most lucrative blueprints and recipes should be a priority within your first few days on the island.

Instead, look for those items that require fewer resources (less cost) and less time to make, as the difference in profit is then much higher in your favor. This is especially important early on, when you don’t necessarily have a lot of funds and resources to throw around. Some good examples of early‑game items to sell include:

Crops

Crafted Items

| Item Name | Sell Price | Materials Required |

|----------------|------------|------------------------------------------------------|

| Iron Ingot | 66 Coins | 4 × Iron, 1 × Coal |

| Iron Sheet | 69 Coins | 1 × Iron Ingot |

| Hardwood Plank | 24 Coins | 4 × Hardwood (requires Impact Axe to gather) |

| Glass Brick | 28 Coins | 4 × Quartz, 1 × Charcoal |

Talk to Aurelis For Free Coins

This is one of the more unexpected methods, but definitely not one to ignore, as it’s quite literally the most free money you can get. After you become acquainted with Aurelis at his restaurant (Aureleaf Kitchen) in Starsand Town, he’ll become one of the many local NPCs that offer you daily gifts, no strings attached.

Catching Fish

As you unlock various ways to gather resources around the island, one that especially stands out for its money‑making opportunities is fishing. It becomes accessible very early in the game, and you can start your journey as a professional angler right away, thanks to the river that runs through your homestead area.

Catching Bugs

While catching fish is a method that’s often mentioned in terms of making money in Starsand Island, another gathering activity that’s definitely not without merit is bug catching. While the bugs in question are ironically used to make bait, you can still sell the bugs themselves for a tidy profit, and the numbers are nothing to scoff at (30‑50 Coins each on average).

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Cross‑Platform Play: Yes

Number of Players: Single‑player

Steam Deck Compatibility: Playable

Genre(s): Farming, Life Simulation, RPG, Casual

Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC