#thinking about person who came online and IMMEDIATELY OPENED STARDEW

[enkephalin3]

[ukiyoart]

Soooo I wrote a kinda rough draft story based on my stardew character so here it is :D

Starts off with the beginning of Elliot’s story, then there’s the sound of a foghorn and it switches to Elliot, startled out of his focus. He looks out the window, but there is only gray (see what I did there hehe)

Then it’s Anni, sitting on the mountain with Sebastian. She feels happy as she leans against him and watches the twinkling lights of the far of city she used to live in. Sebastian lights a cigarette, which Anni tells him he should quit. He grumbles that she’s probably right, but smiles, puts it out and kisses her. And etc, something like the mountain scene.

Anni is at first only friends with Abigail, Sam and Sebastian who is her boyfriend. She’s also acquainted with Emily, though she’s mostly just friendly.

Elliot is friends with the old fisher living on the docks, and Leah, a fellow artist who likewise came out to the country to focus on her creative works.

Elliot has seen the new resident of Stardew Valley around, but never really spoken to her. But one day they bump into each other at the supermarket, quite literally. Anni apologizes for hitting him and Elliot says he’ll only forgive her if she gets coffee with him.

“I have a boyfriend...” she says deadpan, but he assured her he only needs a break from his writing and someone to share his ideas with. Anni agrees if he’s going to pay the bill.

So he asks her what kind of books she likes and they talk about books for a while.

The next time they run into each other, Elliot finds Anni drinking in the back corner off the bar, and asks if he can sit with her. She agrees. After a few verbal exchanges, he finally asks her what’s wrong. Slightly buzzed, she vents about paying the bills, and Elliot relates that the most he can afford is his shabby cabin on the beach, but it’s charming in its own way and it’s the perfect place for his writing. Anni thinks it seems like a nice place to live, far away from other people. Like her boyfriend, she says, then starts complaining about how he sometimes seems like he could care less about her. Elliot assures her that certainly can’t be true, to which Anni just shrugs and takes another swig of beer. Elliot orders a whiskey, and they both drink and laugh till the bar closes.

The next day Anni appears at Elliot’s door with a basket of Apricots, apologizing for her whining last night, and thanking him for talking with her all night. He smiles and says it’s no big deal, and thanks her for the fruit. He asks her where she got it, she sheepishly replies that she grew them. He smiles and invites her in, she politely refuses saying she’s got plans with her boyfriend

She goes to the fair with Sebastian and Sam and Abigail. They go on the Ferris wheel and several roller coasters. Finally at the end of the night, they all get ice cream and watch the boats light up the river. Everything seems wonderful, but when Anni gives him a little flower, he is unenthusiastic when he takes it, then runs to catch up with Sam and Abigail. Anni rationalizes he just doesn’t like flowers that much, which she already knew, then goes to catch up too. When she gets home she lies on her bed and looks up at the ceiling, her anxious thoughts catching up with her once again. Does he really hate flowers that much? It was only a joke! Or was it her that he was unenthusiastic about?

She asks Abigail about it, who only says that Sebastian is an independent person, and it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking.

Sam says not to worry about it.

Back to Elliot, he is hanging out with Leah at the beach. She’s painting, and he’s writing down ideas for his story. Leah asks him how his story is going, which he enthusiastically says he’s gotten some much needed inspiration. Leah asks where he got it from, and he asks if she knows the new girl from the city. Leah hasn’t really interacted with her either. Elliot tells her about their coffee trip, and mentions that she seemed genuinely interested in his book, and had some great ideas. But mostly, it was her that inspired one of his characters. Leah teases his admiration of her, which Elliot waves off by saying writers tend to romanticize everything. He goes back to writing and periodically staring out at the sea.

Leah, intrigued by Elliot’s description of her, seeks out Anni and introduces herself. They talk as they shop, then She asks what kind of things Anni likes. Anni isn’t sure how to answer, she starts off with staple things like board games, hanging out at the bar with friends, then gets more comfortable and says she enjoys gardening and watching the fog rise from her pond in the early hours of the morning when it’s still dark. Leah says she would love to paint it sometime, and suggests they go apple picking. Right now? Anni is surprised but goes. They talk a lot and start becoming good friends.

Later Anni and Abigail Sam and Sebastian are trying to figure out what to do, Anni low key suggests apple picking. Sebastian shuts her down, saying he doesn’t really enjoy being out in the sun. Abigail agrees, saying she doesn’t want to get a sunburn. Anni is a little disappointed, but doesnt show it. They decide to play pool at the bar, which Anni still thinks is fun so it lifts her mood a bit. She has a good time, and Sebastian buys her a drink and tells her he’s sorry if he seemed kind of rude earlier. Anni tell him it’s fine and thanks him for the drink.

The next day, Anni goes with Leah and Elliot to skip stones across the lake. Anni tells them about how her other friends didn’t seem very interested in apple picking. Leah points out that not all people are interested in the same things. Anni expresses that she shares a lot of interests with Sebastian, but she wishes he wasn’t so emo sometimes. She brings up how he barely sets foot in the sun, at least not without a hoodie over his face. Elliot says that it’s great to share interests with someone, but in the end it’s shared values that makes them a precious friend. So even though Sebastian will not always agree with you, as long as you share a view of what’s important, you’ll be okay. Anni smiles and says that’s good advice. They continue skipping stones, until Anni gets a text from Sebastian saying “come immediately it’s important!” She apologizes and says she has to go. After she leaves, Leah says Anni is so cute! And Elliot agrees that she really is a sweet person.

Anni gets to Sebastian’s house and finds him grinning in the wet grass with a frog in his hands. “This is the emergency???” Anni asks, puzzled. “I never said emergency” Sebastian laughs, then shows her to frog, explaining how he found it by a little puddle. Anni thinks it’s cute that he’s so excited, but tells him not to make her worry. Sebastian laughs and tells her if he’s ever in trouble, he’ll use all Caps. Anni shakes her head, but laughs.

Next day Anni is working at the coffee shop, Leah comes in and says she didn’t know Anni worked here. Anni explains that she didn’t, she just applied for part time the other day to help with the bills. Leah asks her what her main job is. Anni doesn’t want to say at first, but after some prodding she admits that she’s a farmer. Leah thinks it’s awesome and asks why she’s shy about it. Anni tells her how Sebastian and Abigail and Sam aren’t really country people, and it rarely comes up. Leah asks if Sebastian knows, Anni says he does, but he’s never really come to the farm. He probably thinks it’s just a family business I help out with. Leah is concerned, but Anni says that she doesn’t plan to be a farmer forever anyway, she’s taking an online course for computer science. She and Sebastian might even open up their own business someday. Leah still isn’t convinced, but leaves it alone.

Some stuff in here, Anni tells the squad she likes farming and they are supportive, she introduces them to Elliot and Leah, they do some fun stuff together and become friends. Elliot helps Anni realize there are some red flags in her relationship with Sebastian, not that he is bad but they just might not be the most compatible for the long term. Meanwhile, Anni starts to catch feelings for Elliot, and battles with her growing love for him and her attachment to Sebastian. With the help of Abigail and Leah, and even Sam, she gathers the courage to work it out with Sebastian, and they decide that they should break up. Things are tense between them for a little bit, they still want to be friends but Sebastian is hurt that Anni doesn’t love him anymore, and Anni wants to reassure him but isn’t sure how to make him understand. Elliot finds her crying and she tells him about their breakup, and how she doesn’t love Sebastian any less, she just has realized they would only be unhappy if they continued a romantic relationship. Elliot comforts and hugs her, reassuring her that he only needs time to come to terms with it, and with enough patience and understanding hopefully they can patch things up properly. Anni hugs him tightly, then looks up at him before kissing him on the cheek. Elliot is surprised, but thinks she’s just emotional because of her situation.

The next day Anni apologizes, slightly embarrassed. Elliot tells her it’s alright, that she’s going through a lot and he understands. Anni can’t tell if she’s grateful he didn’t think anything of it, that’s one less thing to worry about right now, but she’s also kind of disappointed he doesn’t think of her that way. She moves on and asks Sebastian if they can talk. He agrees, and she lets him know that she never fell out of love with him, she just realized they wouldn’t be very happy in a long term relationship. Sebastian expresses that he thought he just hadn’t done enough for her, and that was why she didn’t want to be with him anymore. He’s relieved that’s not the case. They seem to get along better after that.

After that Anni continues talking to Elliot a lot, but now their conversations are much more relaxed and not about drama, many are about books and places they would love to travel, etc. Elliot finishes his book, and everyone comes to listen to his reading. He thanks everyone for their support, and thanks Anni for agreeing to have coffee with him one day, without her he would never have thought to write what he did. Soon after, Elliot invites Anni to go with him on his rowboat after he fixed it. Anni agrees, and they talk about his book for a while. Elliot starts to thank her again, then starts acting a little flustered and confused. For once I don’t have the right words.. he says... for the way I feel about you. He ends up kissing her on the cheek to convey his affections, asking her if she feels the same way. Anni happily agrees, and they share a kiss.

Soon after they start dating, making it publicly known. Abigail, Leah and Sam are supportive. Sebastian tried hard to be okay with it, but he resents Elliot.

They all go for a picnic by the lake. Sebastian acts defensive and rude around Elliot, and Anni is upset. She goes to talk to him, worried that she’s hurting him and sad that he can’t get along with Elliot. Elliot stops her, and says to let him talk to Sebastian. Anni is reluctant, but Elliot says that she doesn’t need to fix everything herself, and he wants to help. He goes and talks to Sebastian. Sebastian is annoyed at first, but after realizing Elliot truly loves Anni, he admits that he wants Anni to be happy, even if it means she isn’t by his side. Elliot suggests he let Anni know, so that she can be free of worry and released from her romantic ties to him. Sebastian ponders this for a moment, then frustratedly says he doesn’t want to let her go yet and storms off. Abigail walks up next to Elliot and says she’ll talk to Sebastian. She goes off, then returns with him, motioning him over too Anni. He pulls her away privately and tells her that he still loves her, but he can see that she’ll be a lot happier with Elliot. Anni hugs him and thanks him for understanding. Sebastian hesitates, then embraces her back for a moment, before she pulls away and takes his hand, beckoning him back to the rest of the group. Sebastian tells Elliot to treat her better than he could have. Elliot laughs and agrees, then goes over to Anni and hugs her from behind. Sebastian watches wistfully, but smiles and looks towards Abigail, who nods approvingly.

And so on and so forth, a happy ending :)

[raven-wraith]

StarVIEW Valley (get it?)

I am a gamer of many passions. Most of these passions extend mostly into games that offer numerous ways to brutalize and maim your adversaries (such as Mortal Kombat or The Witcher) or games that have adversaries that brutalize and maim me (such as Bloodborne or Outlast). So when I was finally finished with acquiring every achievement in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice(1), I needed a break from it all. The killing. The being killed. So in an effort to flip the script, I went to the otherside of the spectrum of gaming. That’s where I found one of my new biggest passions to date. That passion is called Stardew Valley.

The game begins with a simple soundtrack and a main menu. A background of green hills, flying birds, and blue skies as the title comes from the top of the screen. There are four buttons. New, Load, Co-op, and Exit. While it’s a small pick of things to do, most main menus are on the first boot. But, immediately, the care to detail is noticed. 

Not on my first pickup or even my fifth did I notice that there is a counter at the bottom of the screen that notifies you on how many times you have logged in. Clicking on things in this screen reveals secret easter eggs, all of which are adorable to look at. I knew I would enjoy this game even since then.

Stardew Valley has surpassed the perception of wholesomeness and has ascended, wait, transcended to a volume equivalent to a playable Bob Ross painting where everyone you meet is a form of Fred Rogers’ mind. I think the most important pieces that make up and come from Stardew Valley is it’s development and the message it sends while you play it. The game handles lots of things impressively well, but the three mentioned topics are the driving factors of gameplay for me.

“The title is made by a multimillion dollar corporation with over four hundred people working on this sole project, all of which was shown at E3 only to have a massive graphics downgrade on release.” That sentence is what I would write if it was true. Stardew was created by one computer science major(2) who decided he didn’t like how Harvest Moon(3) games were going/were being made. So he dedicated his time to making this game, delving into his artistic views to make the game come to life even more.

After some time, he reached out to Reddit and Twitter for his progress updates, to which he was returned with waves and waves of support from the online community. What went from a small project soon turned into his full time investment. Once Chucklefish came on board to help carry the load of publishing the game, Ape went and set his days on polishing the game the best he could before initial release.

And thank goodness he did.

The game was a success. Is a success. With over ten million copies sold by January 2020, ConcernedApe still to this day works on patching bugs, adding content, and discussing the future of the game in online forums. This direction of development was not only eye-opening to me, but it’s admirable in its own right.

The charm from that is enough to be portrayed into the game. Every detail, every spoken word from the NPCs and every pixel on the monsters in the mine was drawn and rendered from one mind. That level of dedication to this craft is so impressive that the weight of that notion carries throughout the gameplay. To know that so many mechanics were programmed in C# by one person astonishes me, and the returns tell us that many others feel the same way.

Next, the message of the game. It’s introspective, it’s mature, it’s prominent but not obvious. Basically:

Fuck Capitalism.

I mean, fuck wasting your life away behind a desk without connecting to those around you in a world where human interaction should not be as forced as it should be welcomed.

From the prologue, prior to your adventure to Stardew Valley, your call to action comes in the form of a letter from your grandfather. Trapped in your cubicle in the fictional company Joja’s office, you have finally grown tired of the stale lifestyle you’ve been leading. Opening the letter, you read about the property your grandfather left you. You head to his home. Once you arrive, your game starts.

This entire exchange of scenery, world building, and story takes place in under ten minutes. However, it is executed perfectly. The theme carries over in town once you realize there are two places to get your groceries, a Joja Market and Pierre’s General Store. The game makes a point of competition between these two establishments and it’s direction is influenced from the player’s involvement to love nature.

I believe that this was excellently done. It all revolves around a place where little fairies live, all of which need your help rebuilding their broken home. Now you can help them find their precious food and crafts or you can buy a membership at Joja like some kind of toxic, stupid, disrespectful, horrible, waste of space human filth that smells bad. I took to helping them with my good nature. I’ve run around, collecting only the most beautiful flowers and harvesting the dankest crops to give to those little bitch fairies to see that center bloom to life.

And I loved it. I loved it so much that when the Joja manager showed up to make a statement after I had repaired the entire establishment, I was gratified to see Pierre duke it out with this man. ConcernedApe took an approach to seeing past business in such an appealing way that I never once thought of it as a chore, let alone as a rebellion against societal standards.

Stardew Valley is a special experience. You can’t just continue to play games without giving this one a fair chance. It’s cute, it’s handcrafted, and I think most importantly, it’s completely unique in its delivery. While influences from other games and works of art are present, it’s safe to say that Stardew Valley goes above and beyond the usual farming simulator or dating RPG. Good job ConcernedApe, I will be returning to that farm almost constantly.

My statement still stands.

Fuck Capitalism.

(1)  From Software’s newest title, a new IP from their universally acknowledged Dark Souls series.

(2)  Nerd.

(3)  A farming simulator released in 1996, which is still continued to be made.