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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

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.

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