So, you've grown all possible crops; caught all the fish; found all the artifacts; explored the mines; gotten a taste for the hot, desert air and are married with a family...What's next? I know it may seem rude to think about updates and additional content already, and I do apologise. Don't get me wrong, ConcernedApe has worked so hard to give us this game and I really appreciate it. But the reason I'm already thinking of updates is due to the fact that this game is so delightful and I don't want it to end. I've been thinking of ways that the game's life could be extended and this is what I've been thinking of. I will say, prepare yourself for a very lengthy post. I've thought about most of these aspects in great detail. I'm looking forward to discussing these ideas, and hearing about anyone else's opinions. Thanks for reading! If you do, I'm impressed. Oh...I apologise for my index, I know it's not really a proper index. I'm unsure as to how I anchor within these forums so I instead included vague descriptions of what's included within each category. INDEX Purchasing a New Deed Cost & Progression Expansion into New Lands Blacksmith, Carpenter, Mayor, Shop, Bank, Delivery System, Joja Membership Bus, Travel & Accommodation Bus, Travel, Taxi, Your Old Farm, Allotment, Hotel Relationships Mail System, Partner, Child, Villagers, Personal Stall, Farm Employee, Supply & Demand Additional Features Summary End Purchasing a New Deed Once you've reached a certain year, you can purchase a deed to a new farm, located in an entirely different area [Coastal? Bigger Town? Rolling green hills?]. This farm would likely be rather expensive (500,000g+?) to ensure that getting there would take quite some time. Upon receiving the deed to the new farm, you can then purchase boxes via 'Joja Mart,' as well as being able to rent a van to deliver your goods to the farm. You pack all these boxes yourself and decide what stays, and what goes. Your husband/wife will of course be coming with you, as will your pet. Maybe your animals? Maybe not? Perhaps you have to purchase new animals. Someone will take care of the previous animals upon your departure IF they're kept at the original farm (perhaps someone with 4+ hearts). As to what happens to your first farm, here are a few options: Absolutely nothing. Your farm stays as is and your child comes with you, and you can visit it whenever you like via the bus for a larger fee due to the greater distance travelled. *See more about this further down.* Your child OR A close friend becomes the new owner of the farm. They will grow crops autonomously depending on season, and will provide you with a cut of what they make...Or not? Your child OR A close friend becomes the new owner of the farm.A chest will be placed outside of the original farm-house into which you can place seeds for the new owner to grow. Or you can send seeds to your original farm via mail. †See more about this further down.† Your farm is developed into a hotel. This allows you to stay here when visiting. Along with there being a hotel, there would be a petting area with your old animals, though this would take up far less space than each farm-building individually would. There could also be a new road, with a taxi service along with a public park and an allotment (very small but upgradeable in size) for you to grow crops on. More detail in the "Bus, Travel & Accomodation" category. As for option 2 & 3, depending on which gender your child is and who you chose to marry, the house will be decorated differently. Or left exactly the same, allowing you to decorate it as you please, as is the case currently. Secondly, this "close friend" may be the person that was second in your list in terms of your prospective partner. Expansion into New Lands You've now travelled to the new farm. As was the case originally, the place is overgrown and ready to be cultivated. Your house is completely new and able to be upgraded further by an entirely new carpenter. The new area itself is full of brand new NPCs, buildings, fish, seeds, crops, forage, artifacts, minerals etc., all offering new tiers of progression. Blacksmith: Offers new tool upgrades. But can only upgrade beyond the original last tier. Can also only break geodes you find in the new land. Cannot break: Magma, Ice, Omni or regular geodes. Carpenter: Same as before: Can build farm buildings and upgrade your house. Perhaps an additional option allows them to build a bridge over a river in your new farm plot. The other side of this river is inaccessible until you pay for this upgrade? This grants you more building area + secrets on the other side, new areas to access, items to find etc.. Mayor: Unlike before and to grant a new feel to the game, the new Community Centre is fully built. Perhaps there can be a new system? For example, you need to discover all the new fish, materials, plants & items and then donate them in a similar fashion to Gunther's Museum. How about an aquarium in which to donate your fish, where you can then see them all. Or a public garden where you donate all your crops. **These new places where you donate your goods would provide expansion similar to the spirits in the original community centre (Bridge built, Glittering Boulder Removed, etc.). Additionally, to ensure you still travel to the original land, you'll have to donate all of the old items, and all of the new ones. Think Pokemon: in that you need to travel to different areas to get different creatures. Shop: As Pierre or Joja mart aren't located in this new area, perhaps there should be a new shop with new seeds and stock. There will be some seeds you can only get by returning to Pierre, The Secret Cart and Sandy, and some seeds exclusive to this new shop. Purchasing a computer will allow you to buy seeds and other items for your new farm via Joja Mart (though not Pierre's: He hasn't the means to deliver) with a fee for delivery. Delivery of items will take one day. Restricting online purchases to Joja Mart will force players to choose between either travelling to Pelican Town and staying there to get cheaper seeds, or accepting the greater price for convenience. +20% seems reasonable for delivery [on top of Joja Mart's increased price], but this depends on how much travel and accommodation would cost. An idea could be that upon the completion of the community centre in Pelican Town you could purchase the Membership for Joja Mart without being penalized. This membership would cost a certain amount of money per week or month. It would provide free delivery on items but would of course only be worth it depending on how much you produced. Bank: In this new area, there will be a bank into which you and your partner can deposit money. You will want to utilize the bank frequently in this new area as the penalty for 'dying' in dungeons and caverns will be far greater. Perhaps you will lose all of your items, and money. Clint or [Mx. New Blacksmith] will be able to sell you the first tier of items again (that's right, back to the start). This bank will also provide interest rates, or you can take out loans if you were reckless enough to lose all of your money in a dungeon. Bus, Travel & Accommodation The bus will allow you to return to Pelican Town at the same time intervals as the return journey. This bus will cost more than the Calico Desert journey as you're travelling much further. You'll be able to access the bus in a similar fashion to the way that you do currently - Though the driver will be different until you get to Pelican Town (where Pam will be waiting: for obvious reasons she wouldn't be in your new area). If you get stuck in Pelican Town and haven't returned home via the bus in time, you can either: Sleep in your original farm? Require the payment of a taxi if you miss the bus? (Very Expensive) Hotel is built somewhere in Pelican Town? Xg/Night. Hotel is built somewhere in Calico Desert? Xg/Night. Hotel is built at your new farm. This hotel renovation begins after you've spent your first week at the new farm, ensuring nothing gets destroyed and you remember to bring it all. Your old farm is then inaccessible for 1 month (or longer. 1 year?). You can still tend to a smaller area within this newly developed farm: an allotment†† which you can pay a hotel worker to tend to [Xg/Day]. A lot of the space will be used for a public park and new features (taxi, petting zoo, for example) and other things. Additionally, to allow you to access funds there will be an ATM at the newly developed farm area. Furthermore, travel via bus will take a while. You'll arrive in Pelican Town after Pam has left (5pm onwards), meaning you'll have no choice but to stay until the next day to run your errands and purchase cheaper seeds from Pierre. This also means that if there's a hotel, you'll have no choice but to pay to stay. You'll be waking up at the later time of 8, not 6. Adding another barrier. You'll only just make the bus if you leave the hotel. If you stop for errands, the bus will most definitely leave. Forcing you to stay until the evening. As Pelican Town is a secluded area, bus service is limited to and from there. You can only travel between 9:00-10:00am, or 16:00-17:00pm (just before Pam leaves). If travelling in the morning, you'll arrive at 5pm onwards. If travelling at night, you'll arrive home at midnight. What these barriers will do is ensure that the player makes an educated decision in either ordering from home via their computer or visiting Pelican Town and staying there. Weigh up the prices yourself and work out what's cheapest. Buses only run from Monday-Friday. Taxis are available all week, with greater expense on the weekends, including Friday. ††Allotment:As mentioned, an allotment would become available in your old farm plot. It would be significantly smaller, but upgradeable. You could request a hotel worker to tend to your plants, and even deliver them to you for a fee. This means you could take in money from a further option. I haven't yet figured out what pros/cons using an allotment would have over using your new farm. Maybe there are some crops that grow better in Pelican Town? Perhaps the soil is more fertile here, guaranteeing a better yield. Relationships This new town is quite a distance away from the old one. For this reason, relationships will decline at a further rate when in the opposing area. This also applies to your husband/wife and child. Instead of them being -2/day, they'll become -10/day (or greater). If you allow your partner to decline below a set level of hearts by not spending any time from being in Pelican Town too long then they may leave you and return to their original home, you could romance them again though (This seems rather 'hardcore,' and would perhaps detract from the relaxed nature of this game). Your Partner: If you have chosen to marry, your partner will be able to tend to a stall in the new town if you wish. This stall can be upgraded with money, eventually becoming an entire shop. This would take the place of the shipping container in Pelican Town. Items will increase and decrease in value depending on demand and time of year. For example, the previous seasons bounty will become more expensive in the month following it as supply has decreased. With a few exceptions (no one would really buy pumpkins in winter), there'd be far too many numbers for me to write down here. Your partner would tend the store from 9-4, and would deposit their earnings at the end of each day into the bank/ATM with a slight cut - This cut would be due to them tending the store instead of you. You could also tend to the shop yourself, but you'll likely be busy growing crops to sell. It'd be tough to do both. If you don't have a partner, this will be detected and instead of there being a stall there would be a van ready to ship your goods. Payment for shipping would be received in exactly the same manner it is currently. Your Child: If you move into a new town, your child will eventually grow up enough to help you. What this will do is allow your partner to tend to your shop, whilst your child does one thing around the farm. Instead of this you could perhaps employ a helper on the farm to do one of these things. The new Carpenter would build a hut for this person to stay in. They would cost money to hire, and you could even employ numerous people by upgrading the hut. Villagers: When moved into the new area, but only in the new area, all the villagers that were your friends (+3) will continue to send you supplies depending on who they are. Maintaining these friendships would ensure that you'd continue to receive basic supplies. The better your friendship level with these people (+5, +7, +10), the better the supplies they'd send to you. You might receive rare items through maintaining a 10♡ friendship level with someone for an extended period of time. These would be exclusive and only obtainable via this friend. These could be anything: decorative, informative, or they might be crops that you would need to plant to complete the new challenges you've come across. This means that you would need to frequently visit them and give them gifts to maximise they're admiration of you. Mail System: If you can't get to a villager, but still want to maintain your friendship with them you can send them items via the mail. These would work exactly as they do currently, everyone has their likes and dislikes. The benefit behind this means that your friendship level with these people wouldn't decline (assuming you give them good gifts), though it wouldn't increase either, and wouldn't increase beyond a level of 9 hearts. This ensures that you would visit them to maintain a great friendship. Gifts given via mail would only grant 1/3rd of the affection or so. If you send someone a gift they dislike via mail, it'll significantly reduce their admiration. Additional Features To wrap up, here's a list of things I think would be pretty cool: Bank, Loans & ATM: Your Partner deposits the money they earned here. You should deposit your money too. Money Loss: Greater penalty for 'death' in this new land. Purchase Original Tier Tools: If you die, you may lose important items. New Dungeons/Caves. New Fish, Crops, Tool Tiers, Forage, Wood Species, Enemies, Animals, Items, Furniture. New Land: Purchasable via a deed. Computer: Allowing you to purchase Joja Mart goods online for delivery. Joja Mart Membership: Removing delivery costs. Exclusive Goods: You'll need to periodically travel back and forth to get everything. Taxi: Available at any time, all week. Extended Bus Routes: Available at specific times, Monday-Friday. Greater Relationships: rare items obtainable only through these. Hotel: Built in time after you move, where you'll be staying when visiting. Takes place of your old farm. Upgradeable Stall for your partner OR Shipping Truck as alternative. Supply & Demand: Greater demand for previous season's produce. Mail System. Child Helping on Farm. Ranch-hand employable to help on Farm. New Collection System: Collect all the items for Aquarium, Public Garden, Museum, etc. To upgrade this new area. Allotments: Pay a hotel-worker in Pelican Town to tend to your allotment. Pay them to either deliver these goods to you, or get them yourself. Summary Honestly, if you've read this far I am thoroughly impressed. This took me a significantly long time to write and I apologise for the massive slog through everything. I hope these suggestions interest you! I'd love to incorporate these things myself...If only I knew how to code. I may edit this post to add more things as I recall them. I woke up today with a sheer volume of information rolling around in my head. Now I've typed this much I think a break is necessary...I may play a touch of Stardew Valley. End These are NOT demands. I absolutely love this game. It's incredible. I've just been thinking of ways I can play it even more. I respect the fact that all of these ideas are extremely ambitious and would require a massive amount of effort. ConcernedApe is a one-person team, I know this. The fact that they have even managed to get the game this far on their own imbues me with a great amount of respect. Thank you, ConcernedApe, for this game.
Plain and simple, I do love all these ideas. As I stated in like everything I liked so far, anything you can add to this game (besides Cheats, Trainers, Hacks) will only make the game better~
Thank you, I appreciate that. I think because it's a relaxed, casual game, I feel it doesn't need an excessive amount of additional, special features. I feel that all of these would fit perfectly in the game, and I'd love to try my hand at doing the art for them all!
This game is very customize-able, and i love that, if they don't add anything in the future, i see it being a mod you can add. Though, when it comes to mods in general, I would hope that they aren't needed to do things , I would like as much in the game as possibly can be put in owo
That almost sounds like a complete joja arc. And the membership kind of makes it even further that notion. Big business in a way. I do like the idea, however it just seems a bit saturated with big corporation expansion type of thing. Especially with the hotel bit. Almost like you are going from small town to outskirts of a big town. So to me it isn't fitting for the town hall arc continuation, but more or less seems more fitting if you when down the joja arc in the first place. Main reason I mention that is the word use and presentation of the entire thing. I don't mind if it was something like visiting another town to get other things that would be new or more adventure, but that really isn't expanding the farm. I think a decent way to expand the farm is to add onto what is already there creatively. I mean we have a cave and various areas; why not a little more to the left of the farm, another entrance. Also boats to another island of adventure per say, as well some more critters to gain. If not some islander seeds to be had. Possibly expanding upon the town itself would be the CC way. Since that in itself would be a tourist attraction I would think. So you might have a cruise liner stopping by every so often letting off "visitors", and among them they could possible have a merchant or two the sells new product. I think even the quarry could be added onto an entrance somewhere else to expand the horizon. There are many possibilities for a CC route or combinations. I just feel that yours seems more like a slap in the face for the villagers of pelican town. After all it could be just another place within stardew valley that is nearby, and won't be so harsh of a transition. Still a good idea, just not seeing the connection to the CC being complete route; since per chance you would be pretty much destroying it anyway... Ok enough of my critics before I run in any more circles. Good read and nice idea for a joja/big business route.
Hey the game is basically YOUR fantasy life, so if you want to side with Joja, that is on you, and I like that, you would have to make that choice to do so owo.
True enough, just was saying this does sound like a joja route. I am more towards the CC route than the joja. Each does have their own way to play, and I am all for any extras along other paths and the like. Just may see things a different way than some I guess. Open to the possibilities, and the reason I do like the idea.
It is xD SUPER well written, a lot of thought went into this idea.... also ... penguin owo... xD sorry moment
I understand your concerns, though I must say I tried to humour the idea that Joja Mart still doesn't play a massive role, and moving into the outskirts of a big city was just one of the ideas, the new area could very well be a town similar to Pelican Town. The purchase of the membership and availability of seeds only through Joja Mart is an attempt to force players to choose between supporting Pierre or sacrificing that for convenience; the penalty for supporting the corporation would be a greater loss of money, and perhaps less variety. This is what would force the player to return to Pelican Town. A boat or cruise-liner did cross my train of thought, but for now I was wrapped up in these ideas, and I feel a boat could add many new things to the game: Fishing trips to catch bigger fish, visiting islands (as you mentioned) to purchase new seeds. I favour the Community Centre greatly, I love it there and would never choose Joja Mart over this. What I intend with the restriction of delivered goods and the purchase of a membership (which, upon purchasing the new deed wouldn't destroy the Community Centre) is that players would still have a reason to return to Pelican Town. Amongst collecting everything to complete the new challenges posed by the new area and maintaining relationships to gain exclusive goods, players would also be returning home to purchase all their monthly seeds via Pierre, making the journey worth it. And amongst limited bus times I believe it would add a really enjoyable dynamic: "Pierre shuts on Wednesday, but if I finish tending to my [new] farm on Wednesday night, I can arrive in Pelican Town at midnight, stay at the hotel then get all the seeds I need the following day! I may be able to catch the bus home if I'm quick, too. After all, I don't want my crops to go untended...Maybe if I hired someone while I'm out of town..." I don't want Pelican Town to be ignored, quite the contrary. A lot of heart & soul went into the place and I feel it would be unfair to ignore it, after all it's the place that allowed you to make your fortune. Additionally, relationships as mentioned would decline rapidly if not in the same area.
This is a great list and giving the option for people to move to a new community would be kinda nice. Personally I'd stay in Stardew and have an option to expand the current farm's area but all for choices! I mostly like the idea of more small town areas to be added, each with different events and festivals though my biggest concern would be that the calendar would get way overbearing with birthdays and festivals though.
I considered the feeling of over-saturation myself. I feel that coupled with exclusive gifts from the townsfolk and the events/festivals, you'd have a lot of choice, but no pressure. If you want to get an exclusive item from someone it's entirely your decision. Same goes for the festivals. Likely most players would focus on one friend at a time, visiting them on their birthday, making them feel special, etc.. Additionally I think it'd be fun to return to Pelican Town and make a little holiday of it. Travel there during a festival, stay a couple of days, take care of all your errands and then return home. Of course the new area shouldn't be exclusive to those that purchase the new deed, and a further afterthought would be that you could re-purchase your old farm if you so wish, or have another level of progression there, allowing you to accommodate a hotel (if there is one), and grow your crops, too.
@UnluckyStorm You know I just thought of something. Why not instead of using the bus it would use the train. After all that right now just runs past every so often at the moment. Or could be a combination of both. However the Train could be the quickest between the two, the only thing would be schedule, as the train would only stop at pelican town certain days during the week. So it would be like you have to keep in mind for those days if you want to use the train, otherwise it will have to be the bus. It will not be as pricey as the bus, but pretty close. And yeah I figured that was the intent, as it reads like that. It just overall together sounded or feels like joja route. I do understand the intent, and it is why I like the idea, as it is quite fleshed out. Those are the best ones that fill in the blanks per say. I may have some qualms with it here and there, but overall it is quite a considering idea. My type of thinking is to split off depending on which was chosen. So that it won't feel like it is the same thing all over again. As in if joja, it goes this way, and CC would go that way, but being separate places. That would be my reasoning behind having or utilizing the current map to some degree. In which one would enterprise outward to one farm, while the other would be either expanding the current or going to another farm in another direction. Both would consider the farm, as that is the prized accomplishment we have done. Or it could be temptation from the forest for all we know. Something to do with the tree spirits as a further thank you gift or progression gift that is within the same map, but you would have to finish the CC first. Well along those lines. Can't be really thorough, as it is early, and generally more scatter-brained than usual these days; hence me almost going in circles or seemingly abscent-minded like the professor in Cats & Dogs the movie. So focused or distracted that everything else fazes out sometimes, or slip of the mind. In other words what I would love to see is something that branches off in 2 directions due to choice. Granted that means you would have to have 2 save files in order to see both, but wouldn't that be the point? Well might just be me though, and after all we all have interesting ideas; fleshed out or not.
Perhaps using the train is a good idea! I quite like that. I feel that it could go either way, but I think using the bus for other places is a novel idea as it's closer to the centre of town, it would act as the travel hub rather than having numerous travel options. Though maybe it would be nice to have that variety. Additionally, I think a Monday - Friday routine would work best, regardless of if it'd be a train or bus. I must say that naturally I'm more drawn to the bus as an option, but this could be out of stubbornness if nothing else! Furthermore, buses are typically a lot cheaper than trains. The train would be a quicker option, but would be more expensive and more irregular in terms of scheduling (if both a train and bus option were utilized). I think that it isn't necessarily a strictly Joja route. As I mentioned, whether you buy a membership or not, and purchase goods from Joja online or not is your choice. A further penalty to purchasing goods online (if you haven't built the warehouse, and have built the Community Centre) could be that Pierre's shop slowly loses custom and supply. The less you shop there, the less goods he would have. Continuing until he would be forced to shut down, removing a vital supply-line in Pelican Town. Finally, I don't feel this game would suit multiple directions. It's an open-ended game and I feel most would want to own one farm with one character. To force players to create another just to experience something they chose not to do seems unfair. All content should be available, regardless of the route you take.
Love all the ideas, they're awesome, slightly complicated, but awesome, but I think that would require a LARGE amount of programming, and reprogramming, I also the it would require an absolutely MASSIVE update. But as I said, I think the ideas are awesome, and hope they try it.
@UnluckyStorm Oh I know. It was after all how I feel, then again I am one to make many characters as if it were a table top gaming experience. Most would probably want it to be all gained through one thing one way or another. One reason Terraria is such a pain sometimes... But at least the resources are acquirable from one map, even if it is through fishing. I know that is a different game all together, but shows that multiple directions does work, if done in a certain way. So it is of a matter of how it is handled/done rather than lumping everything onto one map. Granted it could be 2 separate routes, but with each later acessible; just in a different order depending on which route you initially chose. A way to loop all the things together in which what takes priority. Whether it would work that way or not is besides the point, but is possible to still further the experience that way with a single character. Also that would be a long term type of thing, as that would be a lot of content to do something like that. I understand what you were implying by it is both, and minor changes, but sometimes minor is hardly noticeable now a days. Or well it seems anyhow... No matter what there will be always that one crowd or person that sees everything or think they see everything. Regardless, just having more areas to travel to in general with other types of transport seems like a decent idea in itself. The main thing I am not fond of is the shear thing about new farming area, while your old farm is... The concept of starting anew again somewhere else and have hands to take care or do something else with your farm... I know that would sort of bug me, but might take away what I personally enjoy of these type of games. Farm expansion is one thing, but to completely go somewhere else to somewhat start anew, almost sounds like a new game+ type of thing. Which I am sure lots of people would love. There would still be some not too fond of that and would rather just have more field space. Although the current space is quite larger than what I remember from the HM series. I am just looking at it from many different angles as I possibly can; even if some are negative or positive. It is a way to see the whole picture, even if some of the things are my personal thoughts on the matter. For me though I am easily entertained, so I welcome most changes; now whether I get to that point in some of these games I play or not is debatable since I tend to take my time slower than most. I'm sure there will be balance, especially in the pricing. Funny how things sometimes get reversed over time. Trains usually cost less than bus travel, and now a days it has been reversed; mainly due to less people riding one over the other. After all trains only go where the tracks go, and buses to where the roads can lead. While some things get less costly, others seem to go up in price due to rarity. At least in the parts of the US that I have lived in. Of course I am mainly thinking when I hear bus, I think greyhound; which is a common town to town cross route transit for buses. And can get quite expensive depending on how far you want to go. In town buses are low cost though... But due to mechanics in game, and what you have laid out it does make sense to put a high cost on train; even though it runs only certain times. Well would think it would be too much higher, as something that is too high would not be used at all, despite the quickness of it. So yeah balance... Glad you liked that part. I mainly only thought of it since there is a station up there; granted it is on the other side of the tracks, but it is there. It looks like one of those old western stops that is mainly just a waiting area with a small ticket booth within somewhere. Might just be over-imagining that, since I do have an overactive imagination.
