Some Stardew Valley ideas...

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by onthevergeoftears, Jul 23, 2017.

  1. onthevergeoftears

    onthevergeoftears Space Hobo

    So, I've been playing Stardew Valley for quite a while now and I love it to death. As a kid, I was obsessed with games like Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons etc., and the fact that this game has come to where it is now is amazing. With that, I would like to add some of my suggestions for a future update! (There are a lot of ideas here, so bear with me)

    First, I need to bring up marriage. I have seen a couple of other posts on here about this, and I thought i would address it as well. To start, the candidates in this game are amazing. They really, truly are. However, they tend to give up a lot of things when they move in with the farmer. For example, Sam gives up his dream of music, and Alex gives up his dream to be an all-star athlete. One could argue that each bachelor/ette has a separate section by the house as well as a separate room, but I feel that that is not enough. I think that the candidates should have more than just a small section near the house. They should have a different piece of the farm for their character. Shane should have a mini coop, Sebastian should have a garage attachment for his motorcycle, Leah should have an art studio, etc. I think it would be great to see each bachelor/ette keep living and even live their dreams once they move in with the farmer.

    To expand on spouses, I think that the spouses' families should have more of a role after marriage. For example, I married Abigail in the game. As many of you know, her family owns the general store, so I basically went in there all the time. But now that Abigail is gone from their house, it's like she never existed. The parents should ask the farmer questions about the home life, or warn them about 'hurting' their kid. The family dynamics feel a bit stale in this sense, so i think those conversations need to occur. Maybe even if there are cutscenes where Pierre sells the farmer seeds but slyly mentions a 'threat'. Or if a person is married to Shane, Jas could ask about where he is, or what he does, etc. I think that'd be really neat.

    Families/ friends should be able to visit the farm. This would expand more on the relationships, and for the families, it would show how the farmer 'treats' their spouse. One event could take place where your spouse invites their family over for dinner. In the event, the food cooked plays a role, and the conversation during the mealtime does as well. Then, before or after the meal, the farmer can give family/friends a tour of the farm. Each character can comment on a certain part, and depending on what you have on your farm, certain characters will appreciate it or judge it.

    The family dynamic is one of my favorite parts of the game, and I love that you get to have two children if you want to. But what does make me a little disappointed is the fact that these children don't grow older than toddlers. It's hard to believe that some people play over 40 years in Stardew Valley, yet their kids and everyone around them stays the same. I think that the people and children should grow older, or have different events happen later in their lives. The kids should grow too - Jas should follow Marnie's footsteps, and Vincent could maybe try to follow his father's. As for the Farmer's children, they should grow up depending on how the farmer interacts with them when they are children. The children should be able to get influence from different townspeople based on what direction the farmer points them in; for example, Leah could mentor for art, Elliot for writing, sam for music, farmer for farming, etc. Controlling your kids' future as well as your own would surely add a beautiful theme to the game, one that would leave an impact on anyone playing.

    Birthdays are also a big part of the game, being that they effect the townspeople tremendously. But why doesn't the farmer have a birthday? The farmer's birthday is one of the most important, and I think that they should have a special day for themselves. Maybe after the farmer gets acquainted with everybody, the town could give the farmer a birthday party. Or spouses could give presents, and there could be cutscenes with partners and children for that day. Maybe the spouses take care of the chores and the farmer gets a nice cutscene, where the family visits the beach or the mountains or whatnot. I think that'd be really sweet and cute. But this should also be done for the farmer's spouse and children, where the farmer takes the kids out for the day, or the spouse and farmer get a babysitter on the spouses birthday so they can have a nice date.

    Speaking of a nice date, anniversaries should be a huge thing! When i was married with Abigail for a year, i was expecting a huge cutscene with cute moments and lots of presents. Instead, there was no recognition for it, not even a small amount of dialogue. This would be really cute, and would be a good change; maybe there could be a penalty for not remembering your anniversary, or not getting your spouse a present.

    Dialogue in the game should also be expanded. I would love to see more of the character's traits being put into their words! Also, I really love the aspect of the dialogue where characters ask the farmer questions. That should be more prevalent in the dialogue, and could even be repeated back to the farmer later! Plus, if the change is made where kids grow up and speak to their parents, questions and answers should effect what they like to do/believe in!

    I would love to see the ability to send/respond to the villager's mail! I want to send Shane some fresh eggs, or send Leah some truffles. This would be a cool addition and could help expand on character dialogue. After someone is sent a gift from the farmer, they could thank them for it in person and/or give something in return!

    In addition to that, there could be the ability to 'set up a shop' in the middle of the towns square. Then, the player can sell some goods to the townspeople and depending on what they sell, the townspeople could gain friendship from them (kind of like the traveling cart but for the farmer).

    One final idea is that there should be rival marriages. As i said before, I think the townspeople should grow as well as the farmers family, and this would be a great way to show it! If the rival couples that are already hinted at actually had the chance to get together, it would be awesome and also could bring up some other ideas as well. Like, the farmer can maybe try to split up certain couples that they don't like; For example, Clint and Emily. During certain cutscenes, they could sabotage the relationship by giving false information or advice. The power would be in the farmer's hand at whose relationship succeeds (it's kind of messed up, but would be super fun and interesting).

    In lighter additions, I think more furniture should be added, including a jukebox for the player's house, and more expansions of the house/ sheds. Farmers should be able to purchase a face/style changer for their house, where they can get dressed, change their hair, etc. There is a mod for this, but i think it should be apart for the actual game (the wizard could be apart of this maybe?) There could also be more TV channels, including a shopping network and soap opera-y show. There could also be a task of creating a living space for Linus, like teaming up with Robin to build him a house (maybe Linus gets teary eyed and says "I thought all of you hated me...I guess I was wrong") My heart would melt if this happened, and I'm sure others would enjoy it as well.

    So, that's all of my ideas! I hope no one gets offended or angry at my suggestions, i really just wanted to put them out there for others to see and think about. I have been thinking a lot about this game and about different things that could be added, and I think that some of these would actually be really helpful and interesting for the gamer experience. Thank you again to ConcernedApe and anyone else who helped make this game possible, it really is a dream come true!

    Alright, well I'm off to plant some seeds and milk some cows!
     
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