Stardew Valley News

How Stardew Valley uses theme park design to keep you busy

Stardew Valley packs the appeal of running a farm into an attractive 16-bit package, but there's more to it than planting crops and selling them. Spread across the titular valley's compact map are a number of ways for you to be both a productive farmer and an active member of the village community. There's so much on offer, in fact, that Stardew Valley employs the dynamics of theme park design to quietly encourage you to attend each and every attraction without forcing any of it on you.

Stardew Valley's world isn't very big. You can travel from one end of the map to the other in a couple of minutes. But that fact goes out the window once you get acquainted with the game's 'attractions' - to use theme park vernacular. Rather than aiming for scale, the map is made to be dense, and is being divided into different sections with unique activities to do in each.

While that simple map could be said to reflect the layout of a theme park by itself the similarities go deeper as each of the attractions come with a waiting period. As anyone who has been to a theme park will know, queuing up for rides is a central part of the experience, and so it is an important part of theme park design. As such, park designers count on you equating queue times with attractions that are worth the wait.

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"There isn't currently a Stardew Valley 2", but the sequel could happen after update 1.5

Stardew Valley creator Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone has been offering a substantial series of free updates ever since the game's launch back in 2016, and update 1.5 promises even more new content. So what's next? Update 1.6? Stardew Valley 2? Barone says "I would not be surprised" by either option.

"I'm not willing to commit to Stardew Valley 1.6," Barone tells Game Informer. "I will say that I definitely love Stardew Valley. I love it as a world and a universe. I don't think [1.5] will be the end of Stardew Valley. I would not be surprised if there's another Stardew Valley update, or multiple updates, or a Stardew Valley 2. Who knows? There isn't currently a Stardew Valley 2; after 1.5, I'll decide what the next step for Stardew Valley is. But I would say there will probably be another step for Stardew Valley. In the meantime, I'm also working on a couple of new projects - solo projects - so I have plenty to do."

So whether it's another series of updates or a full sequel, more Stardew Valley is all but assured. (Eventually.)

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This Stardew Valley mod lets you watch The Godfather and Joker in-game

It's not really a great time to head to the movies right now. But luckily, Stardew Valley lets you replicate the experience in a danger-free environment. Now, the world of Stardew Valley mods has added even more to the Pelican Town cinema, including a selection of real-world films to enjoy a few frames at a time.

Legendary Movies is available from Nexus Mods, and it will currently add both Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 classic The Godfather and Todd Phillips' 2019 grim supervillain thriller Joker, presented as all the existing Stardew Valley movies are - a handful of still frames alongside bits of in-game dialog. Further updates to the mod are set to add movies like Star Wars and Finding Nemo for more family-friendly options.

This mod requires Custom Movies, also available from Nexus Mods, to be installed. Custom Movies is a mod tool that was released late last year, but sadly, it seems that this Legendary Movies mod is the first to make use of it for good-natured copyright infringement. Come on, modders, you're letting us down here.

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Stardew Valley's creator used to roleplay Harvest Moon in Minecraft

It's easy to forget that the people who create games are just as keen on them as you are. I imagine it stems from the industry cycle of creating and updating new content, and the detachment between consumer and provider that brings. Sure, every game usually comes with its inspiration, but I still find it endearing discovering just how deep the fandom goes. It's well known that Harvest Moon inspires Stardew Valley, but did you know that its creator used to roleplay as Basil on Minecraft?

Someone on Reddit stumbled across the server and noticed that Barone's 'concernedape' username was on a forum board. Curious, I reached out to Eric Barone to see if it was him, and to find out more about his time there if so.

"Yes, it is true that I played on a Minecraft Harvest Moon roleplaying server during the early years of working on Stardew Valley," Barone tells me. "The server was called 'HarvestCraft', and it was based on Friends Of Mineral Town/Back To Nature. I played Back to Nature as a kid, so it's a really special world for me. The server was created and run by a player called FiddyPercent, who played as the mayor. I roleplayed as Basil, the botanist. I made a lot of friends on that server, and really felt like part of a meaningful community."

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This Stardew Valley mod lets you donate fish to an aquarium, Animal Crossing style

Fishing is one of Stardew Valley's purest joys and one of the more chill things you can spend your time doing while playing Concerned Ape's tranquil farming sim. That's why this Stardew Valley mod immediately caught my eye.

The Stardew Aquarium mod brings a new museum to the valley that you can help restore to its former glory by donating fish. The more fish you give away, the more the appearance of the aquarium changes as it becomes filled with aquatic life. If you've played Animal Crossing, it's very similar to giving the fish you capture to Blathers and watching the aquarium section of his museum grow in return. You can donate fish as part of a long-term quest to restore Stardew Valley's community centre, but you don't get the benefit of seeing an aquarium come to life.

Once you download the mod, you can reach the aquarium by going to the train station. The mod adds other things to do, as well. You can take a trip to a new beach to stock up on fishing supplies or buy ice cream - It's also an excellent place to spend some time fishing.

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