Stardew Valley

Hover mouse over screenshots for commentary.

In the game you can raise and harvest slimes. It's mostly pointless but every now and then it's fun to harvest all of the goo at once.

At one point you stumble upon and exclusive casino with rare items for sale, but only with casino coins. I made this video to help out frustrated gamblers.

March 2017

Stardew Valley starts out with your character slowly losing his soul to a tedious corporate job. She was given a letter by her grandfather before he died and was told she would know when to open it. When she does she finds a key and a simple message: she is in a place in life that he himself found himself in, and he decided to return to what is important in life: "real connections with other people and nature." The key is to his old cottage in a place called Stardew Valley, and he invites you to give up your old life and start anew in the Valley.

It's not like it's a particularly gripping starting narrative, but it really resonated with me. There's so much in life to get distracted by and the idea of returning to a simple life is appealing. I liked that someone was willing to make a video game about such a pure and simple concept. Speaking of which, the whole of Stardew Valley was made by a single person - what an accomplishment!

Your character goes to Stardew Valley and is gradually introduced to the game mechanics. In short, you can grow crops and develop relationships with the people in town. You can buy seeds to plant crops and they'll grow if you water them every day. Time passes until nightfall, and if you don't get to bed by 2 A.M. then you'll just pass out wherever you are and will lose some resources. You also have an "energy" meter, which means that you can't just farm all day without resting. You can increase your energy in a few different ways, but ultimately there's only so much farming you can do in a day before you may want to wander around town. In addition to crops you can raise livestock and refine their various products. For example, you can milk a cow and turn the milk into butter, which can then be used to bake cookies. Most crops can be turned into jelly or used to make a drink - like wine or pumpkin juice. You can sell your crops by chucking them in a shipping container.

You develop relationships with town members (there are about 25) primarily by giving them items that they like. If you talk with them you can piece together the types of things they may want. For example, someone might mention that they have a hard time staying awake in the morning and they'll be happy if you give them coffee. The town blacksmith is very appreciative of any gems you give him. As your bond with each person develops more of their story will unfold.

There's a mine in town that's 120 levels deep, and if you venture in you can find unique gems and items. You'll have to develop a decent pickaxe, sword, and armor if you want ot make it far, though. I thought the different activities in the game offered decent variety, and when I got a bit tired of focusing on one aspect of the gameplay I could just switch to another one.

It's refreshing to play this type of game where, well, it's designed like an actual game. What I mean is, most games like this are on phones and have a bunch of very irritating gameplay mechanics, like waiting six real-life hours before you can plant new crops. Stardew Valley is extremely well designed and it's simply a delight to play. It might not be engaging for everybody, but there's just something special about Stardew Valley - just like grandpa said.

	Your character at her soul-crushing job.	The note from Gramps.
Inside a character's house.	Towards the center of town.	You'll get mail sometimes that gives you gameplay hints.
I wouldn't know what to think if someone told this to me. I guess I'd leave?	This lady shows up twice a week and sells random items at a high price. There are reasons you might want specific items and they might take a lot of effort to obtain, but maybe you'll luck out and be able to buy them here.	There's a homeless guy that lives north of town. He's nice.
Battling enemies in the mines.	Every twenty levels or so of the mines have a different environment with different items and monsters.	The scarecrow keeps crops safe from birds, the fence keeps out animals (I later built fences around the animals instead), and on the right I'm trying to figure out the best layout of a sprinkler system.
The first time you find a unique item you can turn it into the museum. Every so often you'll be given a special reward in exchange for your donations.	the bottom of the mines.	The crafting screen. You can craft at any time - you don't need a work bench.
There are dozens of types of fish to catch.	Stardrops are the main way of increasing your energy. They're rare.	Rain.
There's an arcade in the bar with playable games.	Twice a month there is a special event in the town.	Different crops only grow in certain seasons. This is me setting up a new crop. Note the barn and chicken coop.
At the beginning you need to water each plant with a watering can, but things can really get going once you develop sprinklers.	There is a community center in serious need of repair. Each section of the center will be repaired if you get certain items. This is the main motivation for creating a wide variety of crops and other items.	In the mines.
In general I grew lots of cranberries and coffee beans because they produced crops automatically every few days. Other crops produce one plant and then you have to plant more seeds.	This lady likes funky music. But you'd only know this if you really knew her . . .
$2500 for a coffee bean. At that price I'd have 12 million dollars worth of coffee beans!	You can name the baby animals you buy. . .	At the end of the day you get payed for the crops you shipped. This was a good haul.
Setting up a yard for my livestock.	Over time you can pay to have additions put on your house.	The beginnings of my lucrative coffee operation.
	62 grand of cheese and 34 grand of coffee. All in a days work!	I stored my items in color coordinated chests.
If you meet certain requirements you can get a greenhouse, which allows you to grow any plant in any season, including winter.	A special mine with super rare minerals inside.
Nothing grows in the winter.		Digging for items.
This screen shows the summary and the next screen shows the details of where the money came from.	Apparently truffle oil is a lucrative business.	Raising slimes.
		Eventually you can get a cellar and can age products in caskets.
Those silos hold hay for my livestock.	Expanding the farm . . .	Some story lines are pretty somber. This guy is an alcoholic and is contemplating suicide by this cliff.
He's grateful for your friendship.	Apparently farmers are super rich.	You can get married if you play your cards right.
	Those machines on the right are replicating diamonds.	That's . . . a lot of coffee.
	About to harvest the slimes.
You can prepare foods from tons of ingredients.	Half a million buckaroos in one day! Well, it took lots of work for that one sale . . .	An intimidating henchman.
Maxed out cellar.	I decided to raise mostly pigs since they're easy to care for.	Pumpkins make pumpkin juice, which gives a huge return on investment.
Another video game in a video game.	More footage of an arcade game.