Work is never done on the farm: Breakout sim Stardew Valley getting updates

By Will Fulton May 2, 2016

Stardew Valley — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The success of Stardew Valley, an indie farming and lifestyle sim, caught a lot of people off guard when it launched earlier this year. This one-man passion project, a spiritual successor to the Harvest Moon franchise, quickly topped Steam’s sale charts when it was released, selling more than a million copies. Now that the post-launch madness has died down a bit, creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has had time to recuperate and look forward to the game’s future, which will involve co-op multiplayer, loads of new content, and console ports, according to a recent developer blog update.

Updates until now have focused on bug fixes and quality of life, so the upcoming version 1.1 will be the first major infusion of new content, focusing particularly on the late game. The full list of planned features (which is, of course, subject to change) includes:

More late-game content
New farm buildings
New crops
New artisan goods
New advanced farming/producing mechanics
Shane and Emily will be marriage candidates; they will also have more events and dialogue as a result
More marriage content for all spouses
More events for the non-marriage NPCs
Improvements/additions to mining and combat
Ability to move buildings and other convenience features
More bug fixes
More secrets
More small, fun touches to the world

In addition to 1.1, Barone also plans to add support for co-op multiplayer, as well as ports for Mac, Linux, and consoles. Publisher Chucklefish will be handling the ports, freeing up solo developer Barone to focus on adding new content to the game.

“This will allow me to focus on creating new game content for version 1.1, which I will continue to do entirely on my own,” said Barone. There is no word yet on a time fame for either version 1.1 or any of the additional promised features and versions.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Gaming

Stardew Valley cheats: all glitches, codes, and secrets

best Mac games

You might not think a cozy game like Stardew Valley would even need cheats. After all, the entire point of the game is to relax, build up your farm, and make friends with the other townsfolk, right? Sure, but there are also a lot of challenging and time-consuming objectives that have been added over the many years of support. Plus, sometimes people just want to play a game on their own terms. In either case, cheats can help you farm up some fun times, so let's harvest every one there is to enjoy.
All Stardew Valley cheats
We're going to use the term cheat a bit loosely here since Stardew Valley doesn't have cheats in the traditional sense, but more exploits and glitches you can use to cause some cheat-like things to happen.
Infinite energy glitch

Every action you take in Stardew Valley costs some energy, so wouldn't it be nice not to have to worry about running out? There's a simple way to do it by exploiting that small step forward your character takes whenever they swing a weapon or tool. If you go into the Spa and swing your weapon against the wall until you clip through it, you can then go out of bounds over to the pool. Once there, put any post down in the water and touch it. After that, you can return back to the bounds of the game. However, the game will be tricked into thinking your character is swimming, and thus, you won't spend energy using weapons!
The Galaxy Sword glitch
If you did it the long way, you could get the Galaxy Sword by taking a Prismatic Shard and holding it between three pillars in the Calico Desert, but who has time for that? Instead, if you purchase the catalog from Pierre's General Store and buy the green wallpaper. Take this into the desert, and if you stand in just the right spot, it will inexplicably function like a Prismatic Shard and spawn the Galaxy Sword for you.
The Junimo Plush
This is purely a secret item, but one most players will never find without help. Secret Note #13 holds the clue to it, but all you really need to do is go to the bush on the northwest corner of Pelican Town on the 28th day of any season. If you right-click on it precisely at noon, you will get the rare plush.
Infinite fishing time glitch

Gaming

Stardew Valley 1.6 update: everything you need to know

A decorated home in Stardew Valley. There are yellow sofas around a TV, plants around the border, and the character is standing in the middle of the frame with the kitchen on the left.

For a game made by a single person, Stardew Valley has an unbelievable amount of content already. Despite that, years after launch, we're all still eagerly anticipating yet another content update coming to the game that will bring it to version 1.6. This update was announced in April 2023 but ConcernedApe has been rather tight-lipped on the full scope of features and additions this update will bring. With so many possibilities and rumors floating around, we've collected only the freshest bits of info you need to know about what you can look forward to.
When is the 1.6 update coming out?
https://twitter.com/ConcernedApe/status/1762192764899627457

The 1.6 Stardew Valley update will be available on March 19 for PC players. As far as console and mobile players are concerned, we don't know when you can get this update just yet as ConcernedApe simply stated that they "will follow as soon as possible."
Everything new in the 1.6 update

Gaming

Fae Farm is an approachable Stardew Valley riff lacking in personality

Farming in Fae Farm

I’ve played several farming and life sim games since I fell in love with Stardew Valley in 2017, but nothing has been able to live up to that game. In the past, I’ve attributed these shortcomings to things like slow-paced openings or mechanics that lag behind what Stardew Valley offers. But after playing through the first season in Fae Farm, Dauntless developer Phoenix Labs’ new cozy farming game, I finally recognize the real problem with most of these Stardew Valley clones: a lack of distinct, charming characters full of personality.
Fae Farm is a game designed for ease of use to a fault. It’s a very approachable farming sim game that recognizes the cozy appeal of living in a virtual town and tending to a farm on a daily basis. And while all of the genre’s mechanical rough edges are smoothed out, so is a lot of the personality. Because of that, I’m left focusing on the fact that this is a genre where games can get too repetitive very fast if you aren’t fully invested.
Characters not different enough
In Fae Farm, players show up on the island of Azoria and start tending to a farm there, completing quests for the townsfolk and eventually diving into dungeons for some light combat and resource gathering. It’s nothing wildly ambitious for the genre, but it feels great to play. Fae Farm will automatically equip whatever tool needs to be used for a situation, which pairs well with the tool improvements that allow players to cover greater swaths of land with their abilities.
There’s even a deeper amount of home and farm customization that feels more similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons than Stardew Valley here. At first, I loved all of this. I’m all for games being more approachable, and the mechanics and enjoyment held up when I played a bit of the game’s multiplayer with someone else. The more time I spent with the game, though, the more its main shortcomings showed.

While the early missions of Fae Farm bring players around Azoria to introduce a cast of characters, none of them look or speak in very unique ways. Whereas characters like Abigail and Leah felt distinct from each other the first time I met them in Stardew Valley, few Fae Farm characters feel like anything more than vendors or quest givers. Even if this improves a bit as I play more, the fact that I’m already running into repeated quips from characters and anecdotal lines shared between different people isn’t a good sign.
While I could initially ignore Fae Farm’s lack of character and charm, the more I played, the more it felt like I was just filling out a checklist. I’d collect the resources, craft what I needed to process those resources, and then use those resources to craft more things and repeat the cycle. The world feels welcoming and charming, but everyone who lives in it failed to leave any impression. That means that Fae Farm’s repetitive gameplay loop lacks enough personality to make it feel distinct, which in turn leaves a game full of checklist-based quests and systems that don't provide many challenges.
As a result, some of the more repetitious aspects of farming and life sim games are exposed here. That's not to say that being repetitive is inherently negative; if you have a solid core gameplay loop, you can get a lot of mileage out of recontextualizing it. Stardew Valley has more nuanced and engaging stories and characters on top of its repetitive mechanic. Fae Farm lacks that extra layer and it sticks out in the current farming landscape because of it.