Hello to anyone who reads this, Am after some simple feedback and opinions from the players of Stardew Valley, I'm currently a third year student studying computer and video games and I am writing a dissertation piece on what people think/believe culture is and what it might mean to them. With this information I am hoping to convey the results into a small creative project that could help enhance the richness of one of my favourite games, Stardew Valley. How I am proceeding to achieve this is by using simple art modifiers, aka xnb files. so nothing to high tech... so my question is to you: 'What is culture to you?' ('What do you think is missing from the game?') -is it objects, language, clothing, landmarks? etc... (Give bullet point answers with a brief explanation) Thank you for your participation! Feel free to ask me any questions, and have a nice day.
I would say that the game has a lot of culture already but i guess there's not a real religion in the game and almost every culture has one. Not demanding that they add one though, just saying. Hope that helped!
The question what culture is is an interesting one, so I'm glad you asked this. I think it's a combination of many things: Language is, in my opinion, the most important defining characteristic of culture. Just as languages within a language family are similar, so are there cultural similarities in societies which speak the same language/a language of the same language family. Example: German and Swedish are two distinct languages of the same language family (to be precise, the indogermanic linguistic family), and while Sweden and Germany have distinct cultures there are observable similarities. Customs, whether folkloristic or religious, are a very important point as well. Festivities are the most visible aspect of this - after all, we Germans are mostly known for Oktoberfest nowadays - but by far not the only one. Even the habit of taking ones shoes off upon entering ones house makes for a cultural distinction. The environment is a very defining factor. The very word "culture" is related to agriculture, so where, when and what you can farm will directly influence when, how and what you eat. Example: The part of Germany I live in used to be mostly swamps, so my ancestors stuck to grains and livestock with low demands, i.e. potatos and pigs, whereas in the much more fertile Austria calf was - and is - viable. Your neighbours will influence you as well. This is very visible in Europe, because we Europeans spent pretty much every second except for the past ~70 years bashing each others skulls in with constantly shifting alliances. This has led to a) a lot of exchange between cultures, b) a lot of technological progess [humans tend to thrive during hard times], c) the creation of national myths. All of these points can be transferred over to SDV as well. What I would personally like to see more of is the neighbours, because the conflict with the Gotoro Empire seems pretty interesting, especially to me as a former soldier with combat experience. As with language, well, that's hard to implement because most of us will play the game in English anyway as it's the Lingua Franca of the internet, we know most customs already due to festivals and, well, the environment is what we earn our in-game money with. EDIT: Spelling
Couldn't have said it better myself! But for language, that's not hard to implement at all, it's already a thing in game. There are at least three different languages in the game with many more implied. There's english (or whatever else human language you prefer), the Junimo language and the Dwarven language. And then the "elementals" the Wizard keeps talking about, whatever or whoever they are, have their own languages too. And to adress the religion thing, there is absolutely a religion in the Stardew Valley universe. The religion of Yoba. They have a place of worship, a religious symbol (that weird cross thing you see here and there), a creation story and I'm going to guess at least some of the different festivals are related to this religion one way or another. The people just don't seem to be overly religious. Very similar to how it is in Scandinavia.
Yes, but my 10+ years in GMing have taught me that too many language barriers aren't fun. SDV did it alright since it does give an option to decode these languages, but ultimately, it's more of an incentive to go digging in the mines than anything in my opinion. I know, and I'd like to see this expanded as well. Might even go well with the neighbours-question - we don't know what the conflict is about, maybe it's a religious war? We don't know, but I'd sure like to.
There is the creation myth in the library and the shrine to Yoba in Pierre's store, but it does lack a form of worship like a festival to Yoba or church-like services that happen regularly.
Every Sunday they hold a small service to Yoba at the shrine in Pierre's. Jodi, Kent (if he has returned), and George all attend. Culture is an interesting word, but it isn't something you are going to be able to fix with some .xnb edits, it would require significantly more invasive modding using SMAPI. And it really isn't something that is missing, either, so I may be misunderstanding the question. Culture is the societal interaction of a group. In this case, we have a fairly solid small-town culture. Everyone knows everyone else, people interact fairly regularly, and while there's definitely some dysfunctional aspects of the town's lifestyle, that's what makes it all the more realistic.
I guess am not trying to 'fix' the game. Im just exploring the definition of what culture is, and what others think of it. The only reason why Stardew Valley is the choice of game im exploring with is simply because I love it and that I am specialising within pixel art. So to me and my peers it was a perfect opportunity to explore. ^^ I have also looked in SMAPI so i guess it isnt just using .xnb edits. I am just starting out so I still need to solidify my method of creation yet.
Just throwing my two cents out there, but I grew up in a very small town and I have to say there is a sever lack of gossip! With the war going on across the sea, Robin getting a divorce and remarried, Pam being a drunken mess, Linus creeping into town and stealing people's garbage, Shane thinking about offing himself, and the Mayor-Marnie-Marlon love triangle, you would think these people would have an endless supply of things to talk about. I think it would also be more culturally correct if the festivals were connected to something, or had some historical significance. Just having a party about eggs for the sake of eggs doesn't really scream world building to me. Lastly, I would expand on the lore that has already been established and show how it effects the town. There used to be a dwarf civilization in the valley, does that affect anything? Does anyone believe it? Why are there monsters in the cave? Why is the bathhouse there? Is there any history to it? What about the train station? There are 8 official races (and more if you count every monster class) in the valley (humans, dwarves, shadow people, fairies, elves-who are extinct, goblins, and merpeople), do any of them interact? Do the villagers know about them/believe in them? What about all the different towns and kingdoms? There's the tundra dwellers beyond the frozen sea, the Fern Islands, Castle Village, Zuzu city and the rest of the Ferngill Republic, and the Gotoro Empire. Surely each of these would have their own histories and cultures that would effect Pelican Town. Good luck on your project! I can't wait to see what you do with all of these suggestions!
You pointed out some really good points! Thank you so much Yeah, I understand that stardew valley is already filled with culture, to an extent. But there is so much missing in the world lore wise. I am definitely going to reference and use your points and explore the world building aspect.
Yeah, SDV has a whole lot of potential in this regard and I'd like to see more of it. I have a couple of theories on a couple of aspects, but I'm not sure this is the correct thread for them.
I will have to agree that the festivals could be... adjusted. The spring dance... okay, I can see that. It makes a lot of cultural sense, actually. Now that the winter is over, get all the marriageable boys and girls together and see what kind of chemistry comes out of it, from there the parents can start working on the long road to marriage. The Egg Festival, on the other hand, needs to be re-written. There's no reason or purpose behind it. Modern Easter celebration is from the legend of Astarte, although the Catholic Church filed off the serial numbers before including it. Which makes even LESS sense in this even-more-sanitized and politically correct version. Honestly, you've sanitized out any reason for the holiday to exist, which is annoying. This whole holiday needs to get major overhaul. Maybe rip off the Jewish 'mana from heaven' shtick with the names changed to preserve the guilty and say something like 'When the people were starving from a drought that threatened to wipe out everyone, Yoba sent little packets of food from above to save us all, and hid them for the children to find. And so now we carry on the tradition in remembrance of how our people were saved by a miracle'. Done. Just have Lewis spout some of this off as you talk to him before signing up, and you change the entire dynamic of the holiday. The Luau is another really good holiday from a culture perspective. It's a town get-together, with symbolic blending of the stew being everyone getting together and mixing. It's another socially approved time for the young adults to socialize and dance, seeing if any of the sparks from the spring dance have developed, but also under public supervision so things can't progress *too* far. The fact that the Mayor is in town is also a key item of note, it indicates that there is a larger gubernatorial polity they are an at least somewhat active part, and even if the Mayor is here mostly for the soup, you've got a Mayor who actually takes time out of his schedule to go visit a place as obscure as Pelican Town. Think of how many county or state officials would do that these days. You don't see anything from higher-level government officials, but you really wouldn't expect to unless some natural disaster befalls. The Dance of the Moonlight Jellyfish is actually from oriental mythology. IF you understand the mythology, this makes perfect sense. This also gives several characters to espouse their opinion on sustainable ecology, because this is a politically correct game and you have to include some kind of message like that somewhere 'for the kids'. On a more serious note, however, this gives the young couples a chance to spend time together in the evening, in partial obscurity but not completely obscured. It's a blend of privacy and public space, and romantic enough that it might encourage a declaration or proposal for a socially acceptable relationship to flourish. And it is simple observation and wonder at an annual natural phenomenon which has breathtaking beauty, which is probably how it actually started years ago, people gathering to watch the jellies, and everything else grew up around it. The fall fair is pretty typical. You got your harvest in, celebrate before we get snowed in. Original festivals of this nature sprung up in celebration of finishing the harvest in time. The larders were stocked, silos were full, time to relax and celebrate before we get into the harsh winter. Everything about this makes sense. Spirit's Eve, on the other hand, is pretty lousy as a holiday. It's supposed to be Halloween with serial numbers filed off, but Halloween is a conglomeration of practices that the Catholic church steamrolled with their serial numbers filed off, and you've gone too far from the original intent and meaning to be worthwhile. Re-introduce concepts of letting the spirits of the deceased go to their final rest, with final farewells. You have no need for superstitious 'warding off goblins' and Jack O' The Lantern, when you have actual real monsters. Perhaps swap out the symbolism with a sparring match against various monsters, with rewards for how far you get in the challenge. Start off with something like green slimes and end up with a pair of Flying Eels or something. Gladiator style, only without rigging it in the monster's favor. Festival of Ice kind of makes sense, I suppose. They're a coastal town, they've got a port, so I'm assuming a decent portion of the town's total income come from the sea. Granted, this kind of combines a lot of different winter activities, but the need to keep people's morale up during the winter makes a lot of sense. However, it's too soon, you've only just had Spirit's Eve last week. You need to bump this a week out. Feast of the Winter Star is absolute rubbish. It's a blatant copy of Christmas with the serial numbers filed off, and, much like the previous two Christian holidays that had the same thing done, you no longer have any reason or purpose behind it. They didn't even do any kind of religious Yoba-based shtick, they just have this bland holiday for no reason other than to fill out the two festivals per season shtick. Bump it to the end of the year and make it a New Year festival instead, celebrating another year of success, a leaving of the bad and embracing the good and new. Maybe toss in a few Chinese New Years concepts while you are at it.
EDIT: I just realized that Surenu talked about it a little already but under the point: neighbors. I'm just expanding on it a bit more if you're still interested in reading my comment. Surenu made some very good points on culture and I would add to that another part which is very important: History. We are heavily influenced by what has happened in the last few centuries of the place we have lived in for a while. It's what builds customs but also what will influence our likes and dislikes, our trust and mistrust. For example, there's a war going on with the Gotoro Empire. I believe that the villagers from the Republic would be really mistrustful towards a Gotoro citizen coming to visit or live in the village. Is he a spy? Do they plan to invade us next? As a real example, I live in a country which has been at war several times over the two last thousand years over another. And in the region that's just next to the antagonistic country, there's still a lingering prejudice towards the ancient 'enemy' even though we perfectly know that the people from today had nothing to do with it and cannot be held responsible. Those are just examples with wars but history is really a great part of our culture, sometimes even if we do not realize it. It would be great to expand a little bit on the story of Stardew valley, its origins, how it came to be and was founded, what strifes and abundance periods happened there and all. In fact, I think I'm just crazy about lore and roots.
