Stardew Valley Game Analysis

Stardew Valley
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1️. Core Concept
• What’s the game’s genre?
Co-op, Farm Simulation, Relaxed, Building (RPG, FPS, puzzle, etc.)
• What’s the core gameplay loop?
Farming, sowing, cutting, harvesting, exploring, mining (The action the player repeats most often)
• What’s the unique selling point (USP)?
The game uses 2d pixel art and has very relaxing music and audio cues for all actions. Instant connection with the world and gives a very calm and homely feeling (What makes it different from similar games?)
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2. Mechanics & Gameplay
• Player Actions:
Create your own farm, however you want. Interact with NPCs and make friends. Buy and sell things. Collect resources and explore areas. Manage energy to stay active and healthy. Raise and manage animals, go fishing. Upgrade equipment. (Jump, shoot, interact, etc.)
• Game Feel:
Calming and simplistic controls, multiple tools with different use for each type of crop/tree/rock. Sprite sheet animation is smooth with a focus on small detailed animation like breathing and foot movement too.
• Difficulty & Learning Curve:
Story based learning with basic tools tutorial. Story narrative drives the initial exploration and learning. The game also gives the first task to meet 28 people in the town/village. How does the game teach mechanics? Does it scale difficulty well?
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3. Level & World Design
• Level Layout – Open world, 2d pixel, grid based. A small town/valley with unknown locations to explore. The map is the same for every game.
• Guidance & Flow:
All basic tools are given at the start of the game. A simple mouse click gets you started without knowing how the game works. Story/dialogues give some hints about what is to be done next. How does the game lead the player without obvious instructions?
• Pacing:
No priority of deadline of tasks, so they can be done when you want to. Plenty of things to do and explore while the crops are growing. Energy bar keeps the player from doing things all day long and will get exhausted or even faint out if grinding or over farming is done. Does the game balance action, exploration, and downtime well?
• Exploration & Secrets:
Unknown areas are marked with ‘???’ in the map with no known reward as of yet.
• Visual cues – The game guides through dialogue and visual cues to explore or pay attention to important points of areas. Example the next task or the letter box is marked with an ‘!’ mark to open new letters.
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4. Narrative & Storytelling
• Does the game have a strong story?
Narrative & Storytelling combine to give a farmhouse feel. With a background of enjoying life and not getting stuck in the 9-5 job life.
• How is the story delivered?
Cutscenes, and narration of story using text dialogues only. NPCs interact more with you after knowing you which adds a level of realism and a challenge to know and talk to anyone.
• Is the storytelling effective?
The story begins with the player doing a typical 9-5 job and then opening a letter from the grandfather which tells that life is beyond a 9-5 job and that there is a old farm owned by his grandfather where he should start a new life. There is an instant connection with the house and the people of the town because there is history.
________________________________________5. Game’s Economy & Progression
• Skill tree which indicates the efficiency of each tool. The player levels up the skill by using the tool over time. Each tool has a specific action which has to be repeated over time to gain a skill point in it. Backpack can be upgraded by buying it from the store in the town using gold.
• Selling and buying – Anything can be sold at a price in the game by depositing it in the box next to the house.
• Crafting – Player can craft objects and place in the world using resources.
• Players can keep using actions on objects to level up, but each crop has a growing time after which it can be harvested so there is slowdown which allows the player to do other things
• Progression - Each upgrade brings more stats and efficiency of the tool. Example cutting a tree can give you seeds more often.
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6. UI & UX (User Experience)
• Toolbar – Toolbar system with 10 hotkey slots to easily toggle through each item and use it. Inventory system allows players to sort and keep items collected.
• Building placement – Any item to be placed in the world can be done by going near the designated area first and the finding a spot to place it rather than placing it anywhere in the world. Still can’t figure out how to drop an item.
• Crafting – The crafting tab is slightly complicated with all the items on the screen without any kind of a sorting system.
• Game feedback Energy depletion is not communicated properly when it is dropping quickly. The bar is in the bottom right corner which makes it difficult to keep track of regularly.
• Clicking – All actions are done on click of the mouse and at the cursor position. It takes time to get the hang of it as it is not character direction oriented but cursor oriented. Showing a square would indicate where the player will be doing the action
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7. Art & Audio Direction
• Game Theme - 2d pixel art suits perfectly the theme of the game, conveys emotions with color and subtle movement. Each asset is created with as much detail as possible. Easily distinguishable by the player.
• Animations - Animations are smooth and satisfying, and right on the money. Subtle animations show emotions and each action has particle effect attached to it which is also very satisfying.
• Sound and Music - Calm and soothing music. Each area of the map has different music based on the mood of the area. Weather effects and nights are perfectly captured in the audio
• Audio cues – The audio for each animation is absolutely spot on! The most satisfying part of the game is the audio that comes with the animation, which makes you want to keep doing the same thing again and again without getting irritated or bored.
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8. Player Experience & Emotional Impact
• Emotion created by the game - Calm and relaxing
• The game motivates the player to build the farm back to its glory. Create a better and sustainable farm. Increase skill and efficiency.
• The game takes you back to the 8bit gaming experience and it combines very nicely with modern technology for smooth animation. Starting the game with my fiancé made me feel that I am starting a new home with her, where we can just farm and relax together, meet other NPCs and create our own farming world.
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9. Comparison with Other Games
• What does this game do better than others in its genre?
Keeping the game simple and to the point. Many games try to add complexity and realism like farming simulator even though it is a completely different game.
The quickness of the game keeps the player engaged all the time and looks forward to the next task.
• Where does it fall short?
The tutorial can be improved, all the basics should be taught quickly before the player starts his own farm. It could be done by starting the game by helping out another person harvest and sow his farm. Travelling can be made quicker from one point to another, maybe there is an option to buy a car in the future but not yet. I have to walk everywhere.
• What would I change?
Improve the UI, particularly crafting section. Use better instructions for how to use basic tools like dropping an item. Nothing much to add since I have played the game for only 5 in-game days
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10. Final Verdict: What Did I Learn?
• Design lessons:
Keeping the game simple is vital if the goal of the game is to be simple and relaxing. Stardew valley has nailed it. Using sound cues and audio for a 2D pixel game is absolutely vital. Getting them correct and satisfying is even more important. Creating a homely feeling for the player using the most common things which most people do is important. Starting small and encouraging the player to grow gives a good achievement feeling and something to look forward to. Small interactions make the overall experience complete, making almost each thing in the game interactive gives the player a chance to inspect each and every thing.
• Would I change anything?
Crafting screen, that’s all. Maybe even not that

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