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Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley (2020)

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Re: Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley (2020)

#51

Post by [deleted] »

aethe wrote: post #17
DC1350 wrote: post #15

I didn’t like Stardew Valley because I thought it was one of the most stressful games I’ve ever played. It gets a reputation for being relaxing, but I felt like the timer plus the variety put a lot of pressure on me to play efficiently and maximize each day. Was I just playing the game wrong?

The game doesn't do a good job of explaining this, but, there is almost no benefit to min-maxing it. Absolutely nothing is gated off by taking your time to do it. If it takes you seven in-game years to finish the community center, there's no downside. It's a common misconception that you need to complete everything as quickly as possible. I think this stems from the fact that after your second year you get a kind of…

[deleted]

Re: Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley (2020)

#52

Post by gnaman »

willemlabu wrote: post #47

> farming, fishing, foraging, fighting, and _fmining_ This little easter egg really got me. Well done. I've never played, but having seen some of the community interaction [1] that goes on with the developer (@ConcernedApe)[2], it occupies a strange little heartwarming place in my head. [1] https://twitter.com/ConcernedApe/status/1341187588082683905 [2] https://twitter.com/ConcernedApe

I didn't get it. Can you please explain?

Re: Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley (2020)

#53

Post by pubby »

None of the Harvest Moon games did things 100% right - even Eric Barone said so. The core idea was great, but it always felt as though Natsumi didn't fully appreciate what they had on their hands. It was as if businessmen were directing the games, rather than true fans who were in love with the Harvest Moon concept.

And then Eric came along - a true fan - and knew how to make everything right.

Re: Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley (2020)

#54

Post by paulryanrogers »

MrLeap wrote: post #43
fbarred wrote: post #41

I really like the story of how Stardew Valley was created. Programming, music, writing and art was all created by a single person. It started as a project by an unemployed man to improve his programming skills. The game is just so warm and heartfelt and it feels like the author's personality and vision really shines through. I wonder if it's possible to make a game of this quality by a team of people or if it some as…

This is cool to read. I'm about 6 months in making a game 99% myself, full time. Writing all the code / making all the 3d models / sfx / marketing etc. A friend has recently been helping me with music. Reading what you just said is heartening, I've received some shade about how inefficient it is to do it this way. I chose to do that so my vision would shine through (and so the art style would have some core consisten…

You are braver than I. After some experimenting decades ago I became disillusioned with the industry as a whole. And these days it seems like a very expensive lottery, whether indie or mainstream.

Re: Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley (2020)

#55

Post by doppp »

madrox wrote: post #19

I used to be really into strategy games. When Starcraft 2 came out, I went hard on the competitive ladder. Then I got my first management job, and overnight I felt like I had no energy to play strategy games anymore. I found I needed to play FPS games to relax, which I had never done before. It was comical how immediate the switch was. In the past year, I've taken a sabbatical from work in a conscious attempt to slow…

That's a very unique take that I agree with. It would also explain why I just couldn't get into management games (I played them to death when I was a kid), Zachtronics games (reminds me of my day job) etc. What games would you suggest playing aside from FPS? I don't usually have a lot of time to sink in front of a PC anymore and have just been playing mobile games during my commute. I essentially went from hardcore gamer to a casual one as I got older.

Re: Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley (2020)

#56

Post by kuang_eleven »

mysterydip wrote: post #45
kuang_eleven wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wanted to get into Rimworld, but it mostly felt like a stripped down Dwarf Fortress... Even so, the base building was fun, the endless raids less so...

I think for some people that's the appeal: they want Dwarf Fortress style storytelling but the game's UI/graphics/etc are too difficult to learn/understand. So they are willing to give up some complexity of interactivity and world for a game they can play.

I wonder how much the Steam release for Dwarf Fortress will help that? Tarn is explicitly focusing on a default iconset and better UI, although the release date is set as "time is subjective"...

Re: Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley (2020)

#57

Post by MrLeap »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #54
MrLeap wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is cool to read. I'm about 6 months in making a game 99% myself, full time. Writing all the code / making all the 3d models / sfx / marketing etc. A friend has recently been helping me with music. Reading what you just said is heartening, I've received some shade about how inefficient it is to do it this way. I chose to do that so my vision would shine through (and so the art style would have some core consisten…

You are braver than I. After some experimenting decades ago I became disillusioned with the industry as a whole. And these days it seems like a very expensive lottery, whether indie or mainstream.

I'm brave or stupid ;)

I'm doing my best the move the goalposts on success. Should help derisk things as much as can be done.

Re: Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley (2020)

#58

Post by willemlabu »

gnaman wrote: post #52
willemlabu wrote: post #47

> farming, fishing, foraging, fighting, and _fmining_ This little easter egg really got me. Well done. I've never played, but having seen some of the community interaction [1] that goes on with the developer (@ConcernedApe)[2], it occupies a strange little heartwarming place in my head. [1] https://twitter.com/ConcernedApe/status/1341187588082683905 [2] https://twitter.com/ConcernedApe

I didn't get it. Can you please explain?

Adding an 'f' in front of the word 'mining', just to make all the words in the list alliterate. :) It's pretty funny to me, and shows the author is just ever so slightly making fun of the compulsiveness and repetitiveness in the game.

Re: Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley (2020)

#59

Post by SaaSdom »

In my opinion, gaming is a very niche industry. I mean not everyone takes gaming as serious as they would consider E-commerce or Fintech industries. However, I think that in an undying quest to create games that make a mark, developers/creators forget to focus on the gamer engagement bit of it.

Don't worry, I made the same mistake and now when I am working on correcting it, I discovered a goldmine, that is helping me to strategize the management aspect of my real money games to a great extent.

I'd like to share it with you guys as well. So, that no one misses out on the goodness you can do by just improving your got-to-market strategy tad bit.

Here's the goldmine to gamers'/players' engagement: https://webengage.com/resource/ebook/the-gaming-master-pack/

I really hope this makes the difference to you in the way it made to me.

Re: Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley (2020)

#60

Post by pm90 »

madrox wrote: post #19

I used to be really into strategy games. When Starcraft 2 came out, I went hard on the competitive ladder. Then I got my first management job, and overnight I felt like I had no energy to play strategy games anymore. I found I needed to play FPS games to relax, which I had never done before. It was comical how immediate the switch was. In the past year, I've taken a sabbatical from work in a conscious attempt to slow…

I think its the duality between macro and micro.

In strategy games, you're often concerned with the macro game. Yes there's "micro" in strategy games, but you can't ever take control of a single pawn and play as them (I think the one game that tried to do this was Dungeon Keeper 2, where you could "possess" a minion and play a limited fps-style game in your dungeon).

FPS gives you a quick, short term escape from reality as you're transformed into a different, perhaps more controlled reality with very well defined and measurable objectives.

Strategy and open world games like Factorio, Stardew Valley, Minecraft etc. let you go nuts, with no real objectives except those that you make yourself.

I'm guessing human brains like variety. So if you have to strategize too much at work, you're likely to want a mindless romp through zombies with a machine gun. If you're doing mindless enterprise coding, maybe you're likely to want to plan, build and optimize a gigafactory in factorio to feel more in control of your world.

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