Hey everyone, checking in once again.
I’m still knee-deep in finalizing the “progression” content of Stardew. It’s a pretty loose category of stuff that I’m working on… but my overall aim is to make sure players feel like they have direction and purpose when playing. This is especially important when you start a new game and haven’t yet established a thriving farm. For example, I’ve added a simple quest log:
The word “quest” might convey the wrong idea, though; in Stardew Valley, questing isn’t a big part of the game. The quest log simply serves as an unobtrusive way to remind players of goals they might want to pursue. If you prefer to ignore it, you can certainly do that. However, the local townspeople will ask you to do things for them, and following through with their requests is a good way to make friends. The quest log will help you keep track of this.
I also added the pets. You don’t get them immediately, it’s something to look forward to:
They’ll make your farm and house a little more lively.
Other things I’ve added/improved in the last month:
- A traveling merchant who stops in the valley now and then. She sells a wide variety of items… sometimes it’s junk, other times you’ll find something rare and special. Bad prices, though.
- Private bedrooms. You can only enter someone’s bedroom after getting to know them a little. This gives players more incentive to befriend people.
- “Interactive world“… Added a lot of instances where you can “check” something and get a description of it. For example, you might see a letter sitting on a desk that you can read. This adds to character development and immersion.
- Secrets and big end-game goals for hardcore players.
- Craftable chests to store your stuff in.
- End-of-the-night shipping summary that shows how much money you made that day. (It’s cooler than it sounds)
- A cave on the farm that you’ll be able to utilize after certain conditions are met.
- A new area that connects the farm to the mountains, so you don’t always have to run through town to go mining.
I’m still committed to releasing the game this year. Once I’m done with the “progression” stage the game itself will be essentially finished. My next step will be to work on technical stuff. For example, the options menu, bugs, graphics issues, optimization, etc.
Thanks for reading!
-Ape