I keep seeing how Stardew is great here so I tried it yesterday. First I read an interview with ConcernedApe and love how he’s a solo dev, which is inspiring to me for my own solo project. So I really wanted to love stardew, become attached to it, and view ConcernedApe as a romodel.
Did not happen. Loved the music and gentle nice vibes of the intro, and the different starting choices were cool. First negative tho is something I remember from the article where he said he didn’t really like majora’s mask cuz the time aspect then laughed at the irony since he made Stardew. Well I agree. The time aspect doesn’t make it more fun for me.
I love how different the people are instead of all slight variations of the same model.
thing 2 tho that basically prevents me from getting farther is the ‘work’. Right now I’m loading back in to my Rimworld game. Comparatively, when I stepped out on to that Stardew field with no crops yet planted, my thought was, '“oh am i going to have to do all this myself?” Idk why I would want to spend my time and effort doing what someone in Rimworld does without needing micromanagement.
Tried to get farther this morning and could not.
So I guess it isn’t for everyone, and for me, this is why. Definitely admire ConcernedApe tho and his success and community he creates as a solo dev.
I got into Stardew Valley literally by accident. As in, I twisted my ankle during a winter vacation and got stuck indoors for a week while my family was having fun outside. All I had to entertain myself was my laptop and this farming game I recently bought on a whim.
I didn’t see the fun in it at first, but I liked the music and eventually the grind kind of clicked for me. Wake up, water plants, sell stuff, explore a bit, go to bed, repeat. It helped that my other choices for entertainment were a bit limited at the time :) But once the daily tasks become routine, you kind of zone out during that part and think ahead of what you want to do for the rest of the day. Maybe explore that cave a little more, or go fishing for that fish you need for the community center, etc.
But I can totally understand if it’s not your thing. I might not have enjoyed it so much if I wasn’t chair bound for an entire week with nothing else to do…
Erm…
That’s not the most glowing of endorsements when I write it out loud :)What I’m trying to say is, for me it was a bit of a barrier to get through, but after that it’s such a cozy game to spend some time in. And it kind of has this nice reward cycle that makes me go “just one more day” a LOT of days :)
It’s a Dating Sim. Farming and Mining is just minigames. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ) /s
Also, I am a full blown Factorio, Oxygen Not Included and Shapez player. TBH, I also never like game like Stardew Valley but after playing it for a month or so loved it. So, I can understand you and I also want to automate Stardew Valley to shit to overthrow the Capitalist Joja company.
Also feel free to come on !stardewvalley@lemm.ee if you ever try it again and liked it.
I had a hard time with Stardew at first, but I realized that you don’t have to eat to survive, crops are just for profit, gifts, ingredients, and collections. That got me out of the survival game mentality. I also learned to relax about the daily time cycle. Once I got automatic sprinklers working that was a lot easier.
Thats fair enough if it’s not for you. The thing about Stardew is that things build up and its up to you how you do it. Like you don’t have to farm crops if you don’t like it manually; you can fish or scavenge or raise animals etc. And as you progress you can automate some things and explore new areas.
But the core gameplay loop is you doing the stuff, rather than managing others. It’s not micromanagement as you’re not managing anyone, you are doing.
I actually didn’t think it was for me at first to be honest, but I got into it in a few hours. As you upgrade tools and can do more and more for less effort, it has its own satisfaction as you build your farm up. But if you’re not feeling that after a couple of sessions then it’s probably not for you and that’s fine.
You could play the whole game fighting monsters in the caves if you wanted. Just get really good at swords.
That would probably get incredibly monotonous. Combat is one of Stardew Valley’s weak points, and the cave system is rather limited.
Yeah, but if they’re complaining about everything else, that might be their avenue into the game itself.
It’s the worst part of the game for myself, honestly. Feels unnecessary in a game like Stardew Valley, the part of having monsters and combat.
I could understand a mechanic of having to explore mines deeper in order to find large quantities of metals for making items and making such exploration dangerous (gas, cave ins, narrow passages, hard labirynths, exhaustion, etc) but monsters doesn’t cut it for me.
I’m old. I got into stardew valley for the same reason that ape made stardew valley. A love of Harvest Moon from Super Nintendo. He took that game and fleshed it out, then kept going, and he did it in a way that stayed true to the original Harvest Moon, which is something that just got lost along the way in actual Harvest Moon sequels.
You always seem to have to micromanage your time and energy though in Stardew Valley which makes it incredibly stressful for me, no matter how much or how little I do.
That’s the thing: You don’t have to micromanage either, really. The only actual timer in the daily one. Other than making it to your bed in time, you’re not on any other kind of time crunch on a macro scale. You don’t need to make the most of every day. Waste those fuckers. Wake up, water your crops, go back to bed.
The only event that doesn’t repeat, afaik, is Grandpa’s ghost judging you at the end of year 3, and honestly you might be able to repeat that too somehow. Otherwise, pretty much every time triggered event will just happen again next year.
The way the game is structured seems to inspire a need to be extremely efficient with their time in people. Never wasting time or energy.
I feel like I took the direct opposite route and promptly didn’t care even slightly. I regularly just water crops and skip days cuz I wanna sell them or get started making wine out of them or whatever else.
You can bribe the ghost with a diamond (placed on the shrine, if memory serves me well) and have it come back to reappraise your accomplishments.
thank you. good advice
Honestly, I just absolutely hate passing out when I just found something on that confusing map of a town and then having to trot there again the next day at that incredibly slow pace. It just feels like someone is spawn-camping me in a PvP game, absolutely unpleasant experience to get interrupted in my chosen task again and again like that.
That’s fair- I’m not trying to say the game is for everyone. I’ve just never understood the people that seem to ruin the game for themselves by trying to be efficient to the point of making the game stressful.
Also, I definitely feel the slow walking speed sometimes. I absolutely hate having to go talk to Clint before you get the minecarts going cuz it feels like it takes forever to walk all the way across town.
That reminds me of the earlier versions where the Grandpa would judge you harshly if you didn’t get enough points and in the worse case scenerio would wonder if he should have given the farm to some other relative at the end of year 3.
But Concerned Ape removed that as it went against the spirit of the game - there is only one time sensitive event in the game and is a friendship event with one of the characters that should be done before the end of year one
spoiler
It’s Sam - talking to his younger brother about their father who comes back in year 2
I missed it for the longest time, but it does help flesh out that character but besides that, the valley is in a proverbial time bubble where everything can be done at your leisure within the time frame - which is usually dedicating a day for something.
I would say that that the desert dungeon requires planning and being efficient with your time to get to the 100th floor in a day though
I get stressed out by the fact that missing one seasonal item in the community center means you have to repeat an entire year again just to complete it and move on to new content. I’ve still never managed to get to any of the content on Ginger Island because of that.
That is fair in the case of fishing, foraging and to a lesser degree farming
If one wants to finish it as soon as possible then there is a pressure to not miss something - a bit of a heresy - but Joja Mart route can ignore that pressure, but it does feel better getting the community center up and running though.
I know the T.V. channel that Pam provides is helpful for fishing and for me I try to set up a schedule where I dedicate a day to get a particular item or to improve a skill to make it easier to get a item I am looking for.
My first two years are usually very busy as my farmer is on a “sigma grindset” and approached as a game getting everything sorted.
I do feel that it plays better when I tried to compromise a bit and try to roleplay like start the day, sort out my fields and animals, have regular meals, visit the town, greet everyone, maybe look at the message board - doing something like fishing, foraging, mining or cave diving for a bit, head to the bar at night for a night cap and then make my way home for the night - especially Friday nights.
I break that habit a bit when it is a really lucky day but I can write that off as a day that my character felt like some “me” time or they are focussed on getting resources for an upgrade to the farm or an item for center
One starts to learn everyone’s schedule and you start to feel part of the Valley as familiarity helps build the “community” feel
Here’s the thing about SV: There’s no “losing”. No a right way, or a wrong way to play.
You have the time limit of the day, but there’s no time limit of the game. If you don’t plant a lot or make much cash for an entire in game year, it doesn’t matter. Just go fight in the caves, or fish, or go around talking to people and getting relationships or whatever. The day is in a hurry, but you don’t have to be in one.
That said; your direct complaint is “I have to do it myself?” Well, yes. There is a somewhat driving factor in the game, and that is that just like in real life, you’re trying to do work now, so you can do less work later. The driving factor of the game is completing the stories and also upgrading your stuff so the work is easier.
But again, there isn’t much of a time limit.
Also, it’s a farming game. Did you not expect to farm?
“Also, it’s a farming game. Did you not expect to farm?”
Correct. I had no expectations at all. I literally saw news repeatedly about “concerned ape” for months with trillions of comments of people loving stardew. I then read an article and viewed him as a solo dev who would be a good romodel on my personal journey. I then got the game to try it with no idea how it was structured. Were I to make a farming game I enjoy, all the repetitive minor stuff would be automated, as inspired by rimworld, and because it isn’t, the sheer time lost is too much a barrier for me. By the way you say the last sentence, you are apparently a hostile person? So you believe there is no possibility of a farming game with the little tedious things taken care of? I can easily envision one.
For info when you progress in the game there is better automation, for instance with devices watering your field automatically everyday. But I agree there are still a lot of manual repetitive actions.
It’s “role model”, by the way.
oh ya lol haha
Game progression leads to lots of automation. But like I said, you can “beat” the game doing almost no farming at all if you’d like.
First negative tho is something I remember from the article where he said he didn’t really like majora’s mask cuz the time aspect then laughed at the irony since he made Stardew.
I won’t tell you to like or dislike Stardew Valley, as that’s your choice alone. Now that’s said, I profoundry disagree with this assertion that ConcernedApe is a hypocrite. In Majora’s Mask you’re stuck in a time loop where you have to complete the entire game within the limit. That is far from the case with Stardew. You aren’t expected to complete much in a day, maybe a single task per day in the early game.
As for people accusing others of gaslighting, that’s wrong. The game doesn’t really open up until you get through the first season. Sure, you’re free to drop the game before that, but you then miss the parts that people love about the game. I don’t think it’s fair to call the gameplay loop poorly designed when you haven’t even seen half of it.
That being said, a season in game is about 10 hours of play time. Though I personally think the onboarding process is fairly good, it would be valid to argue that 10 hours is too much of a commitment to find out whether you like the game or not. I don’t personally think that for SDV, but I can respect it
I tried picking it up a few times and tried playing conventionally and felt like it was basically a snoozefest, break down a handful of rocks and stumps and faint in the field lol. Similar kind of road block. The time and the energy stirs up a little anxiety in me, trying to be efficient and stuff.
But then, I tried playing again, ignored the crops, and just went off fishing and exploring the caves, and fell into a hole.
it might still not be the game for you, but if you pick it up again, a no-crop playthrough might be far more engaging
Also, you lose less stamina as you level up. Better tools and food make energy irrelevant. Early game, you start from scratch and it gets easier over time. You get sprinklers etc. No more watering.
Same experience. Having a dungeon you can explore makes the game so much better.
Yeah. A dungeon you can explore so you can get the sprinklers for your crops! Lol
As a fellow management sim and automation game enjoyer, I understand your love for Rimworld and why Stardew does not scratch that itch. But the appeal of Stardew is I think just what you’ve figured out for yourself, it’s the anti-management, anti-automation game. The part of the brain that Stardew taps into is the one that likes to make things with your hands. It’s a bit more tangible feeling of involvement which is its own allure that is wholly distinct from the one where you watch a bunch of cogs turn in a machine.
I love playing Satisfactory and Factorio and Rimworld, and at work I spend a lot of time automating and analyzing and alerting. Stardew is the game I play when I’m burnt the hell out and I don’t want to diagnose why the automation I’ve written isn’t doing x thing or giving me Y result. I just buy seed, plant seed, water, and harvest. There’s very little planning and virtually no troubleshooting. You just put X effort in and get X benefit back. It’s why so many IT guys retire and become goat farmers.
Just my opinion - but Stardew Valley, for me, is best enjoyed in the same vein like something like Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing.
It is like Sims: Rural. I liked the idea of someone being sick of the corporate drone lifestyle and being given the opportunity to start a new life in the country-side.
While I agree, especially in the beginning that the timers do feel restrictive, farming can be a chore when you are starting out and the stamina can be annoying but it has been built towards an idea that
“This is your character’s life and just enjoy a new start in the countryside”
It does get easier, more streamlined and opens up more options when one starts getting into the specialisations in leveling and gain benefits from progress which brings with it more “set and forget” tasks (like ancient fruit in a green house with sprinklers) which are profitable and if farming isn’t your thing I was going to say to try animal husbandry - which starts out with just giving the animals you buy some attention and food everyday ( buy hay or use a scythe on long grass), open the barn hatch in the morning (when not raining) and close it at night and collect the resource either by picking it up or having the right tool for the animal.
Animal husbandry is a lot of initial setup and then animal maintainence to get a resource, which leaves more time to explore other aspects of the game
I guess it is a game best enjoyed to roleplay as one learns about everybody in the valley and make your mark as someone of important as you can either make your fortune, have a family, make friends or just check off the list of collectables
I do feel it is a bit unfair to compare it to something like Rimworld as it is a great colony simulator in its own right with it having the focus of developing a “blank slate” community of random people in a harsh and cruel world where the player is the “architect” as you create the plan and the pawns enact it.
Comparatively, I do feel Rimworld farming is more involved than in Stardew Valley as there is a lot of external factors to consider like fertility, effective crop placement to avoid disease ruining all your crops if your pawns are too slow to contain it, raiders burning it, weather and events that ruin the crops, etc)
While Stardew it is a cycle of seasonal preparation, planting, watering, scarecrows placement to avoid crows stealing crops and harvesting - it is quite simple although more hands-on in practice and some of these steps can eventually be automated.
I guess Stardew Valley is predictable and consistent without much risk and can come across as a chore whereas Rimworld has a lot of external variables that keeps one needing to have a plan in the back of one’s mind when things go wrong.
Fair enough if you do not find it interesting, it might just not be your style of gameplay. Give credit where credit is due that you gave it an honest go at it and if you do not refund it it, maybe you will enjoy it one day
<3
my thought was, '“oh am i going to have to do all this myself?” Idk why I would want to spend my time and effort doing what someone in Rimworld does without needing micromanagement.
Not really my cup of tea either.
I don’t think that Stardew Valley is really all that similar to Rimworld. Maybe Oxygen Not Included, Satisfactory/Factorio, Kenshi, or Dwarf Fortress if you’re looking for something similar.
Kenshi, yes absolutely. Also check out Going Medieval for a nice colony builder similar to Rimworld.
Thank you I just looked up all those and none call to me. i wanted to like stardew because of the ‘cool solo dev’. Anyway, time to think of exactly what I want after this experience and let it shape my own project.
Look into the Dwarf fortress devs
Stardew Valley is basically a love letter to/greatest hits compilation of the Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons franchises. It’s kind of the opposite of a management game. There is a little bit of automation later on, but most productivity gains come in upgrading your tools which can either plow more soil in one whack, cut down a tree faster, water large patches of fields, etc.
I definitely see where you fell off because at first it feels like you don’t have time for everything, the clock runs no matter what, there’s only so many minutes in a day etc. Here’s the thing though: There’s no failure state, and the game repeats forever. Each day is short, but days never stop coming. So plant and water a little patch of crops, then look around the town, talk to people, explore. More gameplay styles open up as you play; it’s possible to focus on exploring the various mines or fishing or whatnot rather than farming.
Definitely do give it up for Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone. It’s amazing what the man built single-handedly.
It’s a farming game. Farming is a big part of it. Expecting not to farm in a farming game is a little misplaced as an expectation.
I love Rimworld and Stardew, but they’re different. Rimworld is a strategy game in which you strategically plan and the NPCs run their lives until you take control of them.
You can respect a game and not enjoy it. Games are art and taste is important. I hate first person shooters for example. Don’t force yourself if you don’t want to, but expectation and comparison are thief’s of joy. If you want to enjoy something, don’t expect, just play and let it guide you and choose which parts of the mechanics you enjoy interacting with more.
Yeah I think a lot of “gamers”/programming type people actually would look down on most of what farming really is and it is the reason there are so few genuine farming games.
Stardew valley is actually a farming game in both mechanics and spirit. If you think the puzzle of growing your factorio farming machine bigger and bigger is the only interesting or desirable experience of running a farm you categorically don’t understand.
Personally I haven’t managed to get into stardew valley myself but I respect the hell out of it.
Yes and no. I love growing plants irl, especially perennials, and have my own style which requires minimal constant maintenance. But in Programming, if someone has to do something manually repeatedly, it basically means they are too inept to code a function to do it for them. Essentially, in coding, one’s aversion to manual repeated tasks determines how powerful one ultimately becomes. A good coder makes it so one line is equivalent to a noob typing 100. So, while I do not agree with you about looking down on ‘farming’ as in agriculture and raising plants… Yes there is an aspect of the ideal coding mentality that is directly opposite ‘repeated manual actions’.
You can respect a game and not enjoy it.
Yes! I really want this to be more widely accepted. There are games that I absolutely hate playing, but I still respect a lot and view as excellent games. Just not a game for me.
interesting the people that think farming has to be boring (You)
I’m not sure I understand. I don’t think farming is boring.
Its about long term effort investment. The game really gets fun as you start making lots of profits, upgrading tools, and automating the farm, although it can be tiring. There is also probably over 1000 ways to play. Some focus on mining, some more on social, some rarely leave the farm.
I can usually play it for about and in game year then have to put it down. Then I have a hard time picking it back up cause im worried ill mess up my planting plans even though my character is already fairly rich.
It took a few tries to get into it. Once you play for a while you realize how much freedom you really have at the start and can make cash and advance pretty easily. I fell in love with the mines. Worked really well since the more you mine the more materials you get to automate farming.
Also if you have someone to coop with do it. Having multiple players makes things fun and easier.
The wiki for the game is amazing and helps a lot starting out.
It actually took me multiple trues to get into Stardew. The whole “track down everyone” quest is intimidating for a lot of people.
Up to you if you think it’s worth keeping at it, for the possibility of getting hooked later.
That quest certainly contributed to the stress level for me but it was especially annoying since everyone I did track down was incredibly generic and I was lead to believe the NPCs in that game were half of what people liked about it.
