I think only one of these ideas is inspired by a mod but is in no way a rip-off of that creator (I hope). More Community events at 10-hearts (non-marriage only). Once you get 10 hearts with someone, like Robin or Clint, they should offer some kind of special service. Robin could offer to expand the greenhouse, Clint could offer use of a hidden foundry for auto-smelting then delivers the bars for a fee at the beginning of each day. And you can only get 10 hearts IF you complete the Community Center and kick Joja out. This would also be the perfect excuse, after you get married, to offer a way for Marnie and Lewis to tie the knot as well. Hydroponics for the Greenhouse. The idea here is you buy the panels (lay them down like pathways) and add geodes to a box to get special effects. Normal geodes give a small boost to the quality and slight decrease to grow time (like the basic fertilizers); frozen geodes cause a longer growing time but are guaranteed to be silver quality or higher, including iridium quality; red geodes have shorter grow times but lower quality in addition to giving some single-yield crops (like pumpkins) a chance to become multi-yield. Omni geodes (after a hefty upgrade fee) would give you a huge yield like giant crops, but also destroy the panel. You could fill the box with one geode type at a time and it would pull one or more per day. 10 heart gifts. Once you get certain NPCs up to 10 hearts they would give you a special item under certain circumstances. Robin, after buying all the house upgrades, would give you a book of carpentry secrets that allows a greater yield of wood and hardwood from chopping trees/stumps; Marnie, after getting at least 3 of each animal to 5 hearts, would give you a necklace that increases animal product yield; Willy gives you a custom rod that casts further by default (meaning better quality fish) and can hold 2 lures; Pierre gives you a seed spreader that can spit out seeds in a 3-block grid. You get the idea. A workhorse for faster farming. This was inspired by the Tractor mod. You would at a certain point get a visit from Marnie saying that she's offering some new farm equipment but you will need a workhorse (which she also sells). Robin builds the Stable (separate from the riding horse) and you can then get the horse and tools from Marnie. Same set-up as your other tools in that they can be upgrades at Clint's. One tool for tilling, one for spreading seeds/fertilizer, another for watering. You still have to harvest by hand. The horse has its own Stamina bar affected by your relationship with it and the quality of tools. Copper/Gold decreases tool weight, Iron increases work area, Iridium does both. Bathhouse and Winery. When the train station is opened up you should have to get Robin to do repairs to the bathhouse. Some wood, some stone, some cash and it reopens after a few days. But also throw in some events to change it up. Have townspeople actually GO to the bathhouse. Make it a pool during spring/summer, a sauna for fall/winter. Also, throw in a dilapidated winery that can be restored for a lot of wood/stone/hardwood and a huge investment with Robin. Once done you can load it up with one fruit at a time (eg. only cranberries, not cranberries+blueberries). Works faster than a keg and can age wine made there faster than a cask. Would also create another place to have events after so much wine is made. Make vinegar and rice makeable/farmable. Because why not. Have a farm tool, similar to a keg, to make vinegar. Just add any wine and it turns to the same kind of vinegar. Have an artisan version for Balsamic vinegar. Using the water on every farm you can set up rice paddies to grow white rice and wild rice. These would allow you to make all the cooking ingredients Pierre sells as well as more options for cooked food/gifts. More interesting end-game sequence. Rather than the ghost of your dead grandpa showing up, we should get to see how your actions affect Stardew Valley over the years. Different sequences for the different professions, interactions with the townspeople, seeing your kids leave for the city for college, seeing new interactions at festivals with your kids/spouse, etc. Of course, you still get to continue playing after but this would make the ending a little more gratifying. As you can tell I have put absolutely no thought into these. Would love to hear any thoughts on these.
I was actually disappointed that the children don't grow up, that you can't raise them up well enough to have them come help with the chores. It is actually one of the many things about the game that has lead me to believe that Stardew Valley is stuck in a soft, about 2 year long groundhog day scenario, but the characters don't know/remember it. Stuff happens, and it becomes part of the day. I like suggestions 1 and 7 best.
