Stardew Valley Provides a Roadmap for Successful Nostalgic Design

As we slowly move into an era where so-called “indie games” become increasingly indistinguishable from mainstream gaming, it’s almost inevitable to see a backlash against the multitude of games being released each day. In particular, most of the vitriol is directed at the unending stream of pixelated games that lean heavily on nostalgia for their appeal and offer little else. Even I have reached a point of burnout with retro-themed platformers which all blur together in a haze of uninspired, repetitive design. But we as consumers often forget about the gems in the indie rough, games like Rogue Legacy or Undertale which use the retro blueprint as a springboard to novel experiences. It is with that in mind that I recently started playing Stardew Valley, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it uses nostalgia to come up with a compelling new experience.

On its surface, Stardew Valley seems like a carbon copy of the Harvest Moon franchise. Like Natsume’s series you run a farm and make it grow by tending crops and livestock, foraging, fishing, and interacting with local townspeople. It’s a charming formula that’s lasted through the years on many platforms and it’s good to see it back. But Stardew Valley also incorporates crafting elements similar to Terraria and combat and mining that is akin to the Rune Factory series. These interlocking systems add up to more than the sum of their parts. You’ll need to farm for money, but also for ingredients to make dishes to impress townspeople. To improve your farming capabilities, you’ll need to mine and forage for resources to improve your equipment, which also requires you to farm and fish for money. These systems just go on and on until you’re mentally planning the best ways to maximize your time and energy in order to get the best return on your effort. It seriously expands the scope of the game such that the amount of content you get for $17 (CAN) is incredibly generous.

Stardew Valley admittedly starts off a bit slow as you begin the process of revamping your deceased grandfather’s dilapidated farm. You have very little money, your equipment is barely functional, and the townspeople are slow to trust you. This leads to an unengaging first few hours, as you are mostly limited to tending a small crop, clearing out your farm of rocks and overgrowth, and foraging for things to sell. But once you push through all that the game begins to open up. You are given a rod to catch fish, and the crafting menu starts to come into play with useful items such as the field snack or scarecrow. Pretty soon you’ve joined the Adventurers’ Guild and are regularly giving your crush gifts that he or she likes. Like the old Harvest Moon games, Stardew Valley’s charm sneaks up on you and pretty soon you are caught up in the intricate patchwork that makes up life on the farm.

I’m still early on in Stardew Valley (only through the middle of spring!), but I expect to keep going with it for quite some time. Thanks to its clearly delineated day-by-day structure, the game is perfect for both short bursts and extended play sessions. I am hoping to see a portable version of the game for the Vita or 3DS in the future, as the design structure would complement those platforms quite well, but for now the PC version is perfectly fine. The slightly awkward controller support could be better, as I dislike moving a cursor around with the right stick. That being said, the game is being constantly improved upon by its developer, ConcernedApe, so I’m sure that any wrinkles will be ironed out in due time. It’s not too often that a game comes along that you can’t help but cheer for, but Stardew Valley’s awe-shucks charm makes it all the more likeable. Whether you’re a lapsed Harvest Moon or Rune Factory fan or simply a newcomer to the farming RPG genre, there’s lots going for Stardew Valley to make it well worth the price of admission.

I always look at this type of game with bemusement... Maybe it's just because the whole Animal Crossing/Harvest Moon games were not even on my radar in their initial iterations, but I honestly cannot see their appeal whatsoever.

Like I understand the appeal of, like you said, little daily chunks you can do on your way to work or something, but to me it all just seems like busy work. At least with a Spelunky or a BoI or something it is a single one off run with a very clear goal at the end of it, but with this it's just (seemingly) endless. I know it's a real shitty attitude to take in dismissing an entire subset of games without ever having tried them, but I really don't see the appeal.

Other busy-work type games that I cannot see the appeal in include:

Harvest Moon

Animal Crossing

Pikmin

Viva Pinata

The Sims (though I love Sim City)

ANY FACEBOOK GAME

Terraria

Like, what is it that inspires you mad people to play these games? Maybe it's this North American passion for working or something? (;-))

@kmfrob: I wouldn't say that it's entirely a North American driven genre, seeing as how both Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing originate from and enjoy popularity in Japan. I suppose the appeal of open ended games such as these are similar to Lego. It taps into the human desire to simply build and create.

Of course, in Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley's case, there's more to it than simply to build like you would in Terraria. It's important to note that these games are farming RPGs, with emphasis on the RPG aspect. You interact with townsfolk, make friends and even go through courtship rituals. Oftentimes you can get married and have children. Sure the overall arc of these games can be seen as open ended, but there are goals the player can set for themselves. In addition to the aforementioned relationships, the player can choose to build their farm into a dairy, a chicken farm, or even a brewery or winery. They can become skilled fishermen, or adventurers in the town's local mine. There's inherent satisfaction in reaching these goals, even if they're not of the save-the-world/defeat-the-boss variety.

I should mention that these games also tend to attract people who aren't traditionally game enthusiasts. I recall one summer when I could not get near my Playstation because my sister, who abhorred the usual violent video games I played, became obsessed with Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. With that game she was able to finally understand the satisfaction of escapist fantasy and accomplishment that drew me to video games in the first place.

All that being said, it's completely valid for you to simply not like these sorts of games. However, if your opinion is only based on secondhand knowledge, I absolutely recommend giving them a try. Stardew Valley is a great entry point, but honestly any of the games you listed should work (excepting Pikmin, which is more of a puzzle/adventure game).

@darth_navster: Haha yeah I meant the North American thing half in jest really. I just mean that those games to me seem to occupy a need in some people to fill their time with work, and given the North American tendency (and obviously Japanese) to work longer hours and, dare I say it, harder than us Europeans, I thought maybe it just matches more your culture than ours.

And yeah you're right about them appealing to some people who might not otherwise engage with games. My partner, although a fan of Zelda and a game enthusiast in a very selective cases, is a fan of Harvest Moon too (and again she is somebody who struggles to enjoy not having anything to do).

Like I said, this is all meant jokingly really, as I know the games do hold a certain charm. It's just none of the activities that make up the games (be it the character interactions or the management side of things) appeal to me personally. It is not even the open ended nature of it, because like I said in previous posts, I enjoy Football Manager and Sim City a hell of a lot.

@kmfrob:

Putting Pikmin in the same category as those other games shows how little you know about it. It's a real-time strategy game. The part you mistook for "busy work" is resource-gathering, which is something you must do in just about every RTS.

@plasticpals: Sure, you're right (and I admitted it was a shitty attitude to take), but I think resource gathering still qualifies as busy work. Probably a reason why I don't get on very well with the RTS genre either...

@kmfrob: No worries, I get that these genres aren't for everyone. I never really thought about cultural differences between North America and Europe contributing to the divergence in appeal with these games, but it's an idea that's worth further consideration, joke or not. In any case, if the genre doesn't appeal to you, no harm no foul. I personally am bored to tears by the Rock Band/Guitar Hero style musical genre and have more or less written those games off, and the older I get the less guilty I feel about taking that position.

Have you played Terraria? Cause saying all you do is build is so unfairly wrong. That game's so much more than building, hell, I don't even think building is really a thing I'd say you could do if I was describing the game to people.

@alexw00d: You're right that I mis-characterized Terraria. There's certainly more to it than just the mine and craft gameplay loop, as the combat plays a central role. What I was trying to do was differentiate Terraria from farming games like Harvest Moon, but used imprecise language to do so. Apologies.

@kmfrob: @darth_navster: It has nothing to do with the difference in work attitudes between the US and Europe. Terraria, Harvest Moon etc. are just as popular with gamers that I know (Irish, English, French, Spanish) as they seem to be every where else.

I really like Terraria because it is an avenue for me to create something. I built a world with 4 friends and we filled it with everything we could imagine. I probably put about 500 hours just making things, much like I still do with Lego.

I find it odd that it's described as busy work, as if that's a bad thing. Nearly all games are busy work, or is there some sort of big pay off that I managed to miss in the last 30 years?

@arabes: I think people are taking my comment (which was a throwaway one) a little too seriously. Like I said, it was meant half in jest. i don't truly believe that there is a direct correlation between being American or Japanese and enjoying those types of games. It was said tongue in cheek.

As for the busy work side of things not being a bad thing, well I guess that depends on your perspective. In a game I prefer either following a narrative through-thread, or for it to be completely free-form. What I don't like is things like watering plants, or gathering materials or ticking off boxes... But that's just my personal opinion. It is not meant as a criticism of those who do.

@kmfrob: I'm from Norway and I love this game, and games like it in general. There is something about games where you start out with minimal resources, then build yourself up to a greater position. It's why I love management games, tycoon games, and any game where you build stuff really. Right now I am jumping between Factorio, Stardew Valley and Rimworld. All games where you build or farm to get more resources to build more, in order to survive better and build even more.

Not sure why I love these kinds of games, or what it is about building stuff that appeals so to me, but if you put crafting or building in a game I am going to be interested in it. Stardew Valley has all of that and more.

Also, if you like building stuff that looks good and want to plan it, this little editor is a great tool to make sure your farm layout can work and looks good. There will be spoilers when it comes to things you can build though.

To me this game is just they designed all the systems of HM and AC in a way that was much more straightforward, friendly, clear, and mechanical in the way a traditional RPG would be or games in the crafting/survival genre like Terraria. They don't do anything like AC where it drags out the time you need to play. It never feels like a struggle to do anything at all and the game never feels like it is fighting you (although occasionally it will smartly surprise you). And in addition, there is just a LOT of content and options. No corners were cut in that way.

Props to the developer. Did a great job with it.

@jaqen_hghar: Yeah that's cool man. I'm not personally into building stuff (in real life or computer games), but I see the attraction and satisfaction some people must feel when their endeavours are rewarded with something tangible!

@kmfrob: lol, you named like... all my favourite games (though you forgot Minecraft, Don't Starve and any Ubi/Beth map cleaning simulator).

I think Busywork might be my favourite genre :P

Also I agree with @alexw00d in regards to Terraria, there's a lot more going on in there than most people realize. There's some straight up Demons' Souls happenin' up in Terraria.

Word.

I feel like I've been begging for a PC based HM for, uh, forever. For it to finally arrive, and be doin' what it's doin' almost brings an over-dramatic tear to my eye.

@professoress: The funny thing is that for a lot of people their introduction to Harvest Moon happened on PC. I remember in the late 90's SNES ROM scene that Harvest Moon was one of the most popular "undiscovered" games. Not that I'd know about such filthy pirate activities. ;-)

I've played one previous Harvest Moon game, I believe it was Back to Nature on the PSX, and I loved everything about it, but didn't feel compelled to continue playing it past the first few seasons. Maybe I've changed in the interim, but Stardew Valley hits the right combination of nostalgia and a crazy-frequent introduction of new elements and events to make me stick with it. At work, our slack instance/team has a #stardew channel where my coworkers are constantly posting hints and tips and screenshots of crazy accomplishments.

It's the first game in a long time that for me has captured the goofy fun of trading rumors and tips at recess about N64 games (though we did have fun with the event-based Sleeper Simulant mission in Destiny, as well.) Also, if someone happens upon the #stardew channel, you know that by default they're an awesome person.

I'm very happy that Stardew Valley transcends just being a nostalgia-grab...I've never played any of the games it's based on and I'm still absolutely loving it. I played 6 hours in one sitting the day I picked it up and I have no interest in playing anything else for the foreseeable future.

Couldn't you say that Shovel Knight kinda does the same thing - a "roadmap" for a successful nostalgia-fueled game? It takes most of its inspiration from Castlevania and Mega Man, but then it also feels modern in a lot of ways - presentation, for one, and the fact that the developers are still expanding the game (for free!), and it has a sort of Dark Souls-ian "die and lose your money instead of lives" mechanic. I think it would be silly to call either game a nostalgia-grab.

I've never played Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing, but have played a ton of Minecraft and a bit of Terraria and I really do want to play this game.

As far as Minecraft goes, I find that game both peaceful and very satisfying. It doesn't really feel like work at all. If you've ever gone grinding in an MMO or JRPG, that feels like busywork just to get numbers to go up. In Minecraft, I get into a routine and I start gathering resources, building things, making things I couldn't make before, etc., and at the end of it all I feel like I have something meaningful. Obviously not really meaningful, but it's an excellent way to end a stressful day for me.

@justin258: You're right that Shovel Knight does something similar to Stardew Valley, although I'd say it feels a bit less novel since there's been several games in recent years that built on the Megametroidvania format (i.e. Shadow Complex, Axiom Verge, etc). Stardew Valley seems to be a hit for reviving a much more niche genre, the farming RPG.