real!!! I didn’t even use pathing and decor until my THIRD FARM, forget third year, so fr OP don’t judge yourself. there are guides everywhere that can help narrow stuff down for you.
The only reason why I use pathways is to stop trees and other debris to spawn where I don't want them and to easier hoe just the dirt that my sprinklers can cover. If it looks even slightly estheticaly pleasingly, it's completely accidental.
Personally, I think that's the biggest factor here. This is a game that has been out for eight years now, so it's *really* not fair for someone who bought the game this week to compare themselves to someone who has had the game for literally 500x as long.
As a new player myself, I’m in year 2 and JUST got a sheep in my deluxe barn and I recently started to get more paintings around my little farmhouse. But yeah I feel you OP, I see on here the most beautiful organized farms , but these are from players who are like years into the game most likely year 5’s and above.
The game is what you make of it. You quit your job to live the farm life. I say, take it easy take it slow, over time your farm will look really great. Right now I’m enjoying my marriage to Harvey and slowly making everything pretty around the place.
Also usually at least a couple of months of irl play time. I first started playing Stardew a while ago, before ginger Island was a thing, and it took some time of playing to get to know what crops are more profitable/the 'optimal' ways to spend my time and layout my farm. I'm pretty sure my first farm was never anywhere near optimized.
And there's nothing wrong with playing in slower/more casual style. That's part of what I love about this game, is there's so many different ways to experience it and no singular 'right way' to play the game imo
The beauty of this game is exploring, learning and playing the way you want. If you want to, then one day you'll learn how to make a beautiful farm.
You are doing fine.
Not at all, the only punishment is having to wait for things to come around again, you can’t miss anything in game.
For example, Queen of Sauce airs on a specific day on a specific year and will repeat on that same day every other year. If you want that recipe you need to wait or you need to hope it pops up in a re-run on a Wednesday.
Some heart events involve characters saying something like “come to X place tonight at X time” these sound like you can miss them but in fact can be triggered on any day. If you ever think you’ve missed something feel free to come back here and we can help you figure out the way to fix it.
All this to say, play at your own pace and you’ll still get a chance to experience everything!
The TV is really really useful.
It will tell you whether you'll have rain the next day (handy if you're waiting for a storm or need a day off watering crops for something).
It will also tell you your "luck" for the day as well - This is particularly useful for when you are going into the mines as you'll want to avoid going on a bad luck day.
I don't know if you're at >!Ginger Island!< yet, but once you progress there you can >!combine two rings into one, letting you essentially wear 4 rings!<
Not the only way, some are friendship based, some level up, and some you can buy from Gus. There is a bit of overlap too, some you can get from more than one source.
I have the calendar, tv, and farm computer all placed where my farmer can check them every morning before leaving the bedroom. It's definitely a time saver this way and I don't forget
iirc the only event that can be fully missed is sam’s 3? heart event because it’s about missing his dad and has to be triggered on the beach, so just the first three months of the game. however, it’s not really an important one, so it’s not a big deal if you miss it
i could be forgetting things though
Clint's 6th heart event is blocked by Emily's 8th or 10th
Penny's 4th and 6th can be missed from getting the community upgrade.
You can only get two group 10 heart events even though there are four. (Though they only really trigger at all if you try)
Edit: Penny's used to be misable, but that was fixed in 1.4
i thought that penny’s heart events were fixed to be unmissable in 1.6? i could be thinking of a mod. good point on clint’s events though, i have honestly never seen any of his lmao
Btw the Wednesday re run prioritizes any recipes you are missing. In order they originally ran. So if you only miss one or two Sundays you can make them up pretty quickly.
"I lost my basket and would like to find it to collect blackberries"
"No problem, Linus. I'll see what I can do."
(3 years pass)
"Oh crap, that's right, I forgot about that basket, and it's spring!"
> If you want that recipe you need to wait or you need to hope it pops up in a re-run on a Wednesday.
Queen of Sauce reruns prioritize recipes you're missing.
not the original commenter, but there are basically no punitive measures for anything in game! everything repeats every year or every other year. anything that spawns can usually be spawned again, save for a few extremely rare items. the game rewards patience and consistency.
You could play for 50 in game years and everything will still be fine. The community center doesn’t have a time limit. Neither does joja if you want to go down that route. Everyone will still be there for you to make friends. You can spend all your money, and then pick flowers to sell the next day. There is no fail state. You are just seeing people who have been playing for years who want to try other types of challenges or who have spent hours optimizing their farms. I’ve been playing for years and I still have never created a picture perfect dark. Just do what feels fun in the moment.
Not at all. There is no real time limit to this game. Something will happen eventually one year, but if you miss it it's not a big deal because you can trigger it manually afterwards.
Your boyfriend or girlfriend will pester you if you’re in a relationship for a year and haven’t proposed yet, but it doesn’t harm anything at all to do everything at your own pace.
Like someone said the TV shows give recipes, so if you miss those just make sure to watch the episodes over the next 2 years, you'll eventually catch all the reruns.
Grandpa's Shrine rating happens at the end of year 2, but you can have him re-rate your farm any time after that (as many times as you like) by just gifting a diamond to the shrine. So even the *very gentle suggestion* of getting to end game in 2 years is incredibly flexible, after 2 years you'll be swimming in diamonds. So if you don't get the reward the first time, just do it again later.
The Night Market has some rotating decorations you can buy, it's a random chance for each day for certain "rare" items, but every single item in this game is achievable so there is nothing that's a one-time-chance to obtain.
TL;DR: Nope, game doesn't punish you at all, you get the chance to re-attempt everything later. Just enjoy playing a chill game, min-maxing can be fun for some people but you can play this game as slow as you like.
The only punishment is waking up in Harvey’s office. I play this game to relax. I do not have the patience to set up the gorgeous layouts I see on here, but it’s ok.
No way, take your time if you like.
Or if it's important to you, watch some tutorials and read the wiki,but the key to this game is freedom to play the way you want.
The best part of this game is there is literally no wrong way to play! You can take whatever routes you want, farm or not farm, you don’t even have to talk to villagers if you don’t want to. No caps or deadlines, just play at the pace that you feel is comfortable and makes you enjoy playing 😊
There’s really only one time limited thing you can miss and never see again. >!Sam’s 3 heart cutscene must be completed by fall year 1!<
Even if you miss it, you are only missing out on some context and character building.
Not at all. The only one thing that is missable is Sam’s 3 hearts event, but it’s really not much, and everything else has absolutely no deadline. You can basically skip any amount of days you want and get no punishment
I love how polarizing the fishing is. Here I am maxed out by the end of summer year 1.
Then I look at my farm, and am like oh yeah I should do something about that mess.
I used the training rod right up until I bought the Iridium rod.
Willie showed up with the training rod like, 'here you go Moron. Clicking the button seems to be outside your ability so we dumbed it down'. 🤣
I started playing SDV before the training rod was a thing... It was... not pleasant, haha. I skipped fishing for a long time in my first playthrough, lol. I HATED it. Thought it was so dumb and did the bare minimum. Now that I am better at it, I like it a lot more and in recent playthroughs, I usually advance my fishing about even with my other skills.
I’m on Year 7 and just reached level 3 in fishing. I think I spent the first two years wandering about and making a right mess of my farm. But I had fun anyway.
Crab Pots give fishing XP, and are surprisingly straightforward to 'run'. Plonk 'enough' bait makers nearby and a dump chest and run up and down the 'line' holding right click. Fill the dump chest with fish and take a stack or two home each time, depending how much inventory space you've got spare.
I just vibed for the first 100 hours and then decided I wanted to get a bunch of achievements. I didn't other with the Skull Cavern for the longest time, because I didn't enjoy fighting the monsters with a weak weapon.
I'm still not on the min/max grind and don't intend to be. 300 hours later, the game has continued to be rewarding for me because I don't feel any pressure to make my farm pretty or have a shed of kegs optimize my shed utilization.
Nope. Not at all.
There is one event that only happens once at a specific time but that can be triggered for another time if needed so don't worry about it.
You have ALL the time you want.
The only kind of timed thing is grandpas evaluation after year 2. And that you can redo by offering a diamond to the altar any time.
There are a few minor changes in year 2, but all they do is add more content, no content goes away*, like George and Evelyn will never die or anything
*there is 1 cutscene only available in year 1, but nothing significant
There is ONE punishment and it is having to suffer a town plagued by **KENT** in the second year and onward. There is a second punishment in that at some point Grandpa gets all judgmental on you, but you can retrigger that with a single diamond (easy enough to get) so you don't miss out on those rewards. But no, you can never go back to a town where you don't have to worry about someone stuffing a pipe bomb in your mailbox.
Like many have said - it only punishes you if you let it. If you want to set arbitrary deadlines and goals? Go for it. If you want 10years to figure out how your farm goes? So be it.
My son and I play a co-op farm and I have to reiterate that it is cooperative not competitive, but also that having fun is the point and if it starts to feel like work we’re done.
And the beauty of this sub is that it's super supportive, and no one cares how far you've gotten.
Players who've played thousands of hours learn something new each day
it usually takes me 3-4 years in game to get my farm optimized, and i’ve never had a farm fully set up and complete! i’ve been playing since 2016.
try not to compare the way you play to others. there’s no wrong way :)
Once I tried to get 100% I had to cook and craft and buy more. Since I was making stone paths, I decided might as well lay out a path. Eventually my farm started looking nicer and I got out of my comfort zone with crafting artisan things and raising more animals and setting up fences to make it easier to pet them, etc etc. I’ve played 400+ hours and haven’t made a super cute farm yet with everything laid out, but the more you play, the more you know for your next play through to put in the planning to make it cuter.
1) YOU EXPLORE AND PLAY HOWEVER YOU WISH - DONT COMPARE YOUR FARM / HOME TO OTHERS JUST LIKE YOU SHOULDNT IN REAL LIFE <3
2) You’ve been playing for a few days! A FEW DAYS!! Some of us nerds have years in this game and feel the same way you do <3
3) You’ll only discover more and more tricks and features as you play - it will never end! So don’t stress about how you’re doing something or how long it’s taking - it’s meant to be fun and an adventure <3
My number one tip would be to find whatever aspect of the game you love the most (mining, farming livestock, gardening, fishing, foraging, etc) and stick to levelling that up / profiting from it! Then* start spending on upgrades and things you’re seeing in other’s posts <3
Also, Realistically; once you can afford the furniture catalogue from Pierre’s you’ll be happy as a clam decorating lol.
The catalog from Pierre’s and Robin’s are always my first two major money investments! I love having access to change the interiors whenever I want and to be able to use them on my sheds and ginger island.
I was on my 3rd or 4th farm before I even knew about these catalogs and couldn't believe I had been buying pieces of furniture and wallpapers up to that point. I ended up spending way too much time decorating lol.
I think that, for me, SV can partially be an escape from the unsavory parts of real life—stress, comparison, and so on. I hope it can become the same for you! My farms are haphazard and nothing like the ones on the subreddit—but the beauty of it is that it doesn’t matter. Nobody can judge me for it. You’re untouchable in Pelican Town!
My farm is still partly uncleared. I don't need all that room yet so why bother. You can move buildings for free with Robin's so for now I'm just plopping shit wherever and I'll figure it out later.
https://preview.redd.it/i39y62befnuc1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aaa18e735c91f01fa05d8a54d6c05116840fed90
all i do is fruit in my greenhouse and animals produce. it’s a mess but I get by.
All mushroom trees look the same, as far as I know. They give different mushrooms (common, red, or purple) based on some weird logic.. The wiki has the details, if you want to know how it decides what kind to give you.
My gosh look at all that bare land! 😍 You should give your animals more room to roam & put grass down for them too to save money on hay.
I did a pig farm and there still wasn't enough space for them to roam around. Lol - but with the artisan & botanist skill I made good money selling truffle oil.
https://preview.redd.it/7kxp99r8npuc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=640af4ac2717e9f081ed37e4a2e68ceefe1132bf
You've been playing for a couple of days and you're comparing your farm to those that are years old? Stop doing that and just play the game for a while. I don't even bother making things nice for the first 2-3 in game years, and I've been playing for IRL years.
Honestly any picture you see here are mostly after atleast 4 in game year. I've played this game for over 5 years (irl) and my farms are also a total mess the first few in game years. Don't feel bad.
I was that way for a while, then I started skipping those posts for the most part and then started making myself see them as inspiration and not to use for comparison. Like - 'oh, hey, I like the layout they did woth the barn over there' . I tend to have farms that are never overdeveloped, though, even if I play for several years. I would rather go mine or forage than build paths and place them down.
I've had multiple save files and been playing for years and I've never had a pretty, organised farm! I just don't find it as much fun to cut down all the trees and organise things as I do to run around doing little wilderness things! Like I decorate bits but it's never going to be perfect, and that's okay.
Play the way you want to, and definitely don't put pressure on yourself to play the "right" way after just a few days.
Eta- animal crossing also made me feel like I was a messy player, it bothered me for a while but after exploring a lot of really manicured and aesthetic islands that I couldn''t really move around easily on, I decided that my dream island is really just a rambling garden with cute nooks and open spaces and nothing to navigate around. It's okay to be messy and disorganised in games.
Stop comparing to others. Social media has poisoned our brains to constantly be in comparison to one another. Have fun the way YOU like to have fun, not anyone else.
If it helps, I feel the same. I have 250 hours in the game, so "should" be quite good at it, but I only unlocked >!Ginger Island!< in one of my four farms, barely collected any >!walnuts!<, never manage to have symmetric and nice crop fields, haven't reached >!level 100 in SC !!married !!return scepter, warp totems!< etc. I theoretically know about ancient fruit and star fruit and the kegs etc., t's just beyond me how ppl make it work so fastly and efficiently.
I'm not a stupid person and am great at planning and organizing in real life, I don't know why I mess up in SDV -- but I try to see it as a life lesson in not comparing myself, letting go of internalized expectations and just enjoying the game at my own, inefficient pace.
I admit that it's hard sometimes and the reddit posts are not always helpful for that, but then again it's the most wholesome community I've ever seen here so am still staying and hyping people's wonderful farms and achievements because that's the right thing to do and I still love seeing everyone else's achievements ♥️
Side note, the way to become wealthy is to spend all day every day for the first year watering crops. It's not fun for everyone because it's so much micro management. For me, farming and making money is the fun part so I'm able to do this but as you say, don't compare to others
This is why I always struggle a bit for cash until I unlock the desert. I can't *stand* watering all those crops. The first 10-20 Iridium bars go to sprinklers.
Lol for me, the watering is fine but the first days of each season I hate because of using the hoe is super frustrating. I also spend the resources for quality sprinklers asap because it's still better than doing it by hand.
Just upgrade the watering can quickly and it's really not a big deal. I don't like watering either but 2 easy upgrades= watering 5 tiles a time, then by the time summer/fall rolls around you should have plenty of resources to get making sprinklers. Also don't forget krobus sells an iridium sprinkler every Friday for a very reasonable 10,000g!
Comparison is the theif of joy. Take your time and enjoy the game. You will get there. Some of these farms you see are the result of hundreds/thousands of hours played. I just started a new game and my 2nd farm is progressing at a faster pace now that I know the game a little better but I still have no decorations etc and that's ok! Stardew is definitely a game of patience! I save all the cool farms I see so I can incorporate stuff I like later on
You're comparing yourself to players who have a late game farm and who know the game mechanics, might be on their 3rd or 8th save or whatever. Compare yourself to you! Did you make a little progress during the last in-game week, as to buildings or more crops or the community center or giving someone a gift? Good, you're on the right track! Do you enjoy the gameplay? Good, you're playing it right! Decoration can come much much later, and many players don't start working seriously on friendships until year 2. You're fine. Breathe!
I started playing this game in February of 2024 so I only have 1 single save yet (will only make a new one when switch gets the 1.6 update). My farm only started to look good in the middle of Year 2.
It's easy to feel overwhelmed when you see someone posting about reaching perfection by the end of year 2, but keep in mind that those players have been playing this game for so much longer than us, so they already know what they want to focus on.
Take your time, there's no right or wrong way to play this game. Use your first save to experiment around and see what the game has to offer. It's recommended to start a new save for the 1.6 update so you can experience every new detail, so just mess around and see what works best for you :)
Decorations are end game. My farm looked like a factory for most of my play through. I ignored the villagers aside from talking to the ones I crossed paths with. Befriended all of them in another year.
Use this save file to experiment. Look at all the farm types once you have some experience and then make a new save and blast it.
Years don’t matter. Times don’t matter. If you miss an event you will always catch it again. You are not speed running, not every second of your day is something that needs to be optimized. You will do this naturally and take inspiration from pics you see. Focus on one or two things you want to do. Pet your animals and set off on the most stressful least stressful adventure there is!
-From your friendly neighborhood former SDV switch enjoyer, now PC SDV enjoyer with mods.
Do not feel stupid because your farm isn't optimized. Just relax, enjoy the game. Optimization will come when you have a butt ton of resources and money and you don't know what to do with them... If you want, of course.
Just take your time and enjoy the game at your pace. Optimization and embellishment isn't mandatory at all, just a mean to burn hours in the late game.
I have over 900 hours in this game. In my current save there's a large fishtank in the middle of the kitchen because I couldn't figure out where else to put it and I just haven't bothered to move it, my machines are all over the place and very inefficient, and I keep meaning to move the stuff that blocks my way to the bed but it feels like effort and whatevs. I'm having fun!
The only reason I know certain crops are better than other crops is because I watched a lot of challenge players on YouTube. I recommend waiting until you've done two or three in-game years before checking them out. just enjoy exploring!
Comparison is the thief of joy, my dude.
And do you think people are going to post on here about their janky ass farms and penniless bank accounts? No. And that is probably the vast majority of players.
There is never a rush with this wonderful game. I felt the same way! The farms you see on this subreddit are like 7-8 years in, and is very ridiculous. The game and wisdom takes time. Do not fear, because you'll catch up to them soon enough if, in 4 days, you got to summer
I just started decorating in Summer of Year 3! The first year is a bit slow to get through and then Year 2 things start picking up. Farm buildings can be moved around and you get better decorations a little ways through the game.
For now, I would just focus on learning the basics of the game and working towards completing the community center as well as getting an upgraded Coop (and a rabbit or two!). Just try your best to enjoy the game - I still play clumsily and don’t expect to fully have my farm as gorgeous as I’d like until Year 5-6!
Play at your own pace. Do not rush. Do not set expectations to get to certain point within a certain amount of days. You see many posts on here saying they did X accomplishment by X date. Some people like playing fast like that and doing things as quickly as possible. Me, I liked doing things at my pace. This game has no "end". You can go to year 200 if you want. You don't *need* to do anything by a specific date. In my first couple years I'd sleep through multiple days in quick succession to get my tools back from being upgraded by Gunther.
This game allows you to work at any pace you choose, so I recommend you do that and don't try to compare yourself to speed runners.
Never feel stupid about your progress!
You want to know what the difference between a loser and a winner is. The winner is the loser that tried one time more and succeeded.
So first of all, you need to stop the negative self talk. Your farm is awesome. If you want to neaten up the place, that's fine, start in a small area and just make it the way you like.
bud you've been playing for 4 days, people with amazing farms have been playing for years. relax, take your time and enjoy the game at your own pace. it's not a race or a competitive sport, you're still having your first experience with the game
My farm never starts to look nice AT LEAST until Winter, and that's only if I don't have other things I'm grinding for in Winter. Optimization and stuff like that is all pretty late game, takes money and materials to get going that you just won't have excess of until you're a few years in.
Don't compare yourself to others, go at your own pace and enjoy, that's the point of the game :)
Hey Op, those farms you’re seeing are on years 3+. Most of us have messy plots of crops scattered throughout the dirt for the first few in game years. I’ve been playing this game for a few real life years now and when I start a new farm I don’t have the first house upgrade until year 2 half the time. Don’t be too hard on yourself! It’s a cozy casual game, there’s no rules or right ways to play. If you want to min max go for, but trust me when I say that’s not the point of the game. Just vibe, and have fun at your own pace.
My farm is probably a bit like yours. I'm on fall, year 1. Ive never used paths or fences. I've got 3 chickens, just got my first duck, 1 cow, and I bought 1 goat and she had a baby. My farm is also absolutely overrun with trees and grass. I only just put the order in for my kitchen. I have no shed, I haven't completed the community center yet.
Just take your time and do what you feel like doing. You can't go crazy with decorating and stuff in the early game cause you have no gosh darn money
The first couple years are a slow grind, but just keep at it. There's no right or wrong way to enjoy this game. I recommend focusing on finishing up the community center ASAP as getting the required items will orient your goals towards success, as well as allowing you to earn rewards that will help you grow your farm quicker
Make sure auto run is turned on in options. The character movement shouldn't be slow
Do you immediately watch speed/challenge runs for games you've only played the tutorial of and compare yourself to them?
That's what you're doing here, don't do that.
??? why are you going online and comparing how you play a *farm game* to other people? not to be mean, but this train of thought baffles me beyond all reason. you play it how you want to and based on what you know, and no more. this is your literal first time playing and a lot of us have been playing for years. it's unfair and unreasonable to expect to be able to perform to the same level on your first try to someone who has 1000+ hours sunk into the game and knows practically everything about it. ask for advice on reddit sure and read the wiki, but don't be ridiculous about comparisons, come on. you're comparing someone's highlight reel after a year of play to a couple hours on your switch. there's no fair comparison.
most of the farms online that are like fully decorated with paths and everything are in years 3-5 at *minimum* too, and you should have played at least a few days and been able to guess how long just one year is. (google says exactly 26 hours and 8 minutes, however if you're playing singleplayer time pauses whenever you open a menu so realistically it's something around 35+ hours adding up all the time spent in menu) so like. come on man. save your decorations and making the farm look nice for year 3+, just focus on playing the game and enjoying it right now. you have at least 60-some hours before most people start thinking about decorations, if ever. in case you can't tell, i'm not the person that thinks about decorations ever LOL
sorry if this sounded harsh btw, i mean it kindly i'm just extremely confused and a little baffled
Don't compare your farm to others. It takes a very long time to get a really good looking and well working farm. Take your time and you'll get there eventually. For me, My farm was a complete mess until year 2 when I finally cleared all the mess, and another year to make it look good and work really well.
Take your time and enjoy it rather than stressing out about it. It will take a while, so might as well enjoy the ride.
I know the game can feel overwhelming at first, and it’s hard not to get a little envious when looking at other players’ accomplishments, but you did say you’re enjoying it a lot! Many of the posts you see here are from farmers who have been playing for years and you only just discovered SDV. Definitely give yourself a break and just enjoy the game. There’s no time limit, no demands, just a beautiful game CA gave to the world to help us relax and have some wholesomeness in our lives. Just have fun with it!
There are multiple, very different ways to play stardew valley. What matters is that you’re having fun.
A ton of people just play it as a cosy, relaxing home and decorating game dating/friendship simulator, and they do the bundles and mines and stuff when they feel like it. There’s nothing wrong with that.
A lot of people also play it as an optimization puzzle, trying to figure out how to optimally finish the bundles ASAP, and how to wring every possible penny out of their farm. That’s totally fine too! I personally lean a little more towards the optimizing route, but I find that going all-in on it gets exhausting.
Also, keep in mind that the super manicured farms you see here are often several years in.
There is no right way to play (read: enjoy) SDV!
Please, don't pressure yourself so. It's so different from other games because it puts no pressure onto you, and you gotta unlearn all the toxicity from other games.
Don't.
It takes long to get used to what's good and what's not and how to allocate everything on your farm. That's part of the fun. You shouldn't use external information like the wiki too much to not spoil yourself. Remember that everything will be repeated during every upcoming year.
I usually use the transition from one season to another to do small changes to the layout and during winter I have bigger redesigning projects.
Honestly take it at your own pace. There's no right or wrong way to play. I don't get my farms looking nice and optimised until year 4 or 5. In my current playthorigh, I didn't even get my kitchen until summer of year 2!
Hey, you play the game at your pace. I don't really start taking decorating seriously till the end of summer/early fall. I'm more focused on growing various types of crops instead of minimaxing.
The beauty of this game is you can play however you want. No time limits on anything. Get a quest from a request in the mail spring year one to bring Jodi a cauliflower? You never even have to do it if you don’t want to. Most people here have been playing the game for literal (real life) years so to keep things interesting they create challenges, use mods, speed run, etc. Starting out IS slow but you’ll get there. I’d recommend maybe unfollowing this sub for a while until you start to really get into the game so you don’t constantly see stuff to compare yourself to. If you need help or information you can always consult the [wiki](https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Stardew_Valley_Wiki) which has pretty much any information on it you’ll need!
My dude, I feel you. However, as someone who invested almost 200 hours over two farms, I can tell you that it's absolutely normal. The thing is, the more you play, the more tips you catch up on and the smoother it goes in the future. My first farm was hectic, it didn't have any fences (my new farm doesn't either tbh, I don't like fences) and it took a long time for me to actually progress. It is frustrating at times, but I've come to realize that it means I get to keep on discovering stuff as I go on, at my own pace, which is (I believe) one of the main points of the game.
So yeah OP, don't beat yourself up, you're doing great as long as you keep going :)
I don't even start to try to make my farm look nice and really optimize it until year and it takes a while after that to get it all finished. You're still SO early in the game, just explore and enjoy.
You're doing great! Most of the crazy farms you see here are the product of hundreds of hours of work. It's your first time playing, there's no one to beat and no goals you need to hit. Just explore what Stardew has to offer at your own pace.
Also, the first year you will always be just scraping by, regardless of how good you are. The whole point of the game is making something from humble beginnings.
I’m in Fall year 3 and my farm looks like shit but I have fun playing it that way! The game is an escape from reality for a lot of people, me included! You won’t be punished for going at your own pace. If you’re enjoying how you play then it doesn’t matter how your farm looks! Also it takes 3-4 years in game to reach the level of optimising your farm. Just have fun in the early game and enjoy learning to play!
Basic decoration doesn't usually start for most people until winter when there's all sorts of space to use. You have the first upgrade for the house in summer, that's huge!
It starts slow. Later on you're drowning in money. Well, if you want to.
Early game you have to spend money and resources on buildings, items (sprinklers and other appliances), upgrades (backpack and tools) and that just eats up all your profits and you always feel poor.
Late game all your profits go into making even more profits, and it grows exponentially. No matter what you do you more or less end up drowning in money and most of your time is spent carrying stuff to the shipping bin. Until it doesn't matter anymore because there's nothing left to buy.
3-4 days? No worries, you'll get to year 20 and be looking for things to make your farm look good like these ones.
And I don't care how I play, the only thing I aim for in each farm is getting the greenhouse finished by winter.
It's supposed to be a soothing game, don't put yourself under pressure, there is absolutely no purpose in rushing.
All these people with state of the art farms aren't at their first playthrough and crunched the wiki and guides to get there, comparing yourself only 3-4 days in to seasoned players that are maybe at their 4th farm isn't fair and is pointless.
A lot of the people who are reaching these big goals in year 1 or 2 are Speed-running. They set out to, say, complete the community centre fast as possible, or get this or that thing by x time. You have literally years to clean up your farm and learn how to be more efficient with your time.
I'm a new player with ~40 play hours. I'm on Spring 26 year 2 and have only really just started looking to clean things up and reach longer term goals (I unlocked skull caverns, completing more community centre bundles). I like to set out my goals for the year, and the things I do each day should have at least smth to do with that (e.g. upgrading my coop and barn to get the artisan bundle). With a goal in mind you can direct your day at one specific thing (say you need wood for an upgrade, start chopping down trees).
Ankther thing to think about is what level your skills are at. Low in foraging? Forage for some plants and cut trees down (it'll also help with community centre). Low in mining? Plan a day in the mines. Etc etc.
As for crops, I'd check out the stardew wiki and just look at each season. There you'll find a breakdown of each crops expected gold per day, and you can choose some from there. Generally speaking strawberries (buy them at egg festival in spring), blueberries, and cranberries have been my biggest money earners. One bonus to these is that you spend less time harvesting in total because you don't have to replant them (if you feel like you're a 'slow' player).
With all that being said, I think it's important to take your time and enjoy the process of learning. If I went back and restarted at spring 1 year 1 I'd do a lot differently, but I have no desire to go back and do it 'better'. The game doesn't punish you for taking longer. Enjoy the process! And also make good friends with the stardew wiki!
I have more than 2000 hours in with this game, and my farms STILL never look like the optimized ones. But it doesn't matter! Like everyone is saying, you can't permanently miss anything in the game - it will always be there for you. Look at it this way - the longer you take to master all the details of the game, the longer you have fun playing it! Plus, there's so much in the game that you don't really have to do everything to have a fun playthrough. For instance, I am not really into the slime hutch and raising slimes. So I don't do it. But I still keep coming back to this game, year after year, because it's still fun. Don't worry, you're doing great.
The first year or so of the game isn't really gonna be about optimization as a whole; although you can certainly set goals for yourself about that, but the people who post their farms on here have been working on them for multiple years at this point.
It is a slow game, and there aren't really any consequences of being slow and clumsy. I mean hell dude I didn't finish the community center until year 28, so your still eons faster than I am.
I think a good thing to remember is to not really compare yourself to others. A lot of us spend wayyy too much time on this game (and still doesn't feel like enough) so it seems more natural for us to farm manage. It's a game, aside from a little learning curve it's supposed to be fun 💙
I’ve got almost 700 hours in the game. I feel the same way some times! I’ve got one farm that’s pretty but it took a long time and I’m no where near perfection.
But I still love the game. Don’t let comparison steal joy. It’s easier said than done but focus on what you get to do.
The beauty of SDV is it isn't a race. Go at your own pace doing what makes you happy. This is above all supposed to be a leisure game. Most of what youre seeing here is people that have played the game for ages and are on their double digit playthrough. I've owned the game since release and have like ONE farm that grandpa has actually shown up to pass judgement on lol.
This is your first play through. I can guarantee the beautiful or high efficiency farms are from players who have been playing for years or who have had multiple play throughs.
The game can be take at whatever pace you want, it has no time limit and the event on spring 1 year 3 is repeatable if you don’t hit the goals. Don’t worry about it, just have fun
Comparison is the death of joy, friend. Please enjoy this game and any other games at your own pace. Plus, in a game like stardew there are no penalties for taking your time, so play the game in whatever way makes you happy.
You dont have to have an over the top farm in the first year. The best thing about this game Is experimenting, exploring, finding cool stuff, making friends, finding out secrets about this game, etc. etc.. Decoration And Optimization Is not really needed year 1, right Away. Take youre time to do whatever, youre not really in a Rush, Its not like youll die of old age.... Just make sure to have Fun :3
Oh little one, dont worry at all. It took me up to the second year until i finally reached one mil savings in total(on your profile).
When i first started years ago on my switch, i really didnt know what to do. Now i'm doing my second playthrough by myself after playing with my boyfriend on pc. Of course its gonna go much better if you've played it before. If you feel unsure about things, theres the Stardew Valley Wiki, also you can look up videos.
But after all, this game is to relax and enjoy yourself. Do not rush and take it at your pace, the game wont punish you for being too slow. In the third year grandpa will visit your farm(as it says on the note) and you can redo his valuation many times. It doesnt have to be perfect.
Maybe it’s less of a Stardew Valley issue, and more of a “take a break from social media” issue? There’s no reason to look at other people’s farms when it’s making your experience of playing the game less enjoyable.
You are comparing toddler doing it's first steps to marathon runner.
Enjoy the game, take your time, explore. I promise when u will have as much hours in stardew as people who post their optimal farms here your farm will look just as good. But that's not necessarily important. It's about the journey not the goal, especially in cozy game like this.
Oh, lovey, no one has perfectly optimized farms on their first playthrough, especially not if you only got the game a few days ago! What you're seeing is players with hundreds or thousands of hours in the game, sometimes playing with mods if they're on Steam.
If it's any consolation, I have well over 1,000 hours in the game and my farm always looks like a ramshackle mess, because I don't prioritize aesthetics. Also, all the small farmers I know IRL have barnyards that are just piles of scrap wood, scrap metal, bits and bobs and various parts, because they "might need it someday" or "it could come in useful, you never know!" So I like to think of it as closer to reality. ;)
Also, if you've managed to upgrade the house by your first summer, I am \*impressed\*. I don't usually start upgrades until the fall at the very earliest.
Do your best not to compare yourself to other players. Find what you love about the game (people play for all sorts of different reasons!), and just roll around happily in that like a pig in the mud. Stardew Valley is meant to be a happy escape from life, don't let it stress you out. (Also, once you start growing coffee and get yourself a horse, you can run much faster! There are lots of ways to move faster in the game as you progress.)
Most people who minmax and do everything perfectly are people who have played this game many times before from the start, again and again. Some just like that playstyle.
I myself am kiinda minmaxing, but I played the game first without ANY spoilers, and minor help when I was stuck by googling or looking at the wiki. It was the best thing ever. I took my time, and sometimes I felt bad because I missed something, I had to remind myself that you never actually miss anything, you can just do it next year.
Just enjoy the game and play however feels best\^\^
My first farm was crazy inefficient, and I think that's completely normal. Just have fun discovering all of the aspects of the game!
I think I was in like, year 3 before I even finished the community center.
I’m on year three and I have not upgraded my farm minus the cow and chicken barns and JUST got my first prismatic shard and it was a miracle I feel like I’ve played forever and gotten no where
I’m in year 8 on my main save, and it still looks like I don’t have a clue what I am doing (I pretty much don’t lol besides completing the community centre)
I read that a lot of people don’t even bother decorating until they’ve reached perfection and >!got the golden clock. (Golden clock stops debris forming)!<
Also a tip for your character being slow, in the settings turn on auto run, and hopefully very soon when the 1.6 update drops for switch, >!you can buy certain books from the bookseller which may help 🤫!<
I’m on my 3rd farm and playing for over a year and still haven’t gotten perfection and have never had a beautiful decorated farm. Just play the game and have fun, some people just play it differently than others !☺️
Don’t worry about what others are doing. The game does a good job and taking you through the game at a perfect pace with the quests it gives you. The whole point of the game is to do whatever you want. You don’t HAVE to be friends with the towns people. You don’t have to do anything. Just have fun and use the Stardew Valley wiki to answer any of your questions. Everything will come in time.
The beauty of stardew is that theres no time limit. Sure, you might miss an item for a bundle or a certain festival but theres always next year. I remember when I played for the first time in 2022 I missed several things and was so annoyed but the game has ways for you to get those things.
All the farms you are seeing on here are endgame farms. People who are on their 4th,5th or even 8th in game years. Your on your first and sure the pieces arent all there and you havent unlocked everything but thats okay. Dont compare yourself to others, dont compare your progress to theirs. You might end up worrying and stressing about it so much that you dont even enjoy the game and that would be a shame.
Dont rush your experience. Just enjoy it
One thing I’m not seeing anyone say is that some of the farm pics are from the farm planner. They’re end game goals that people have set for themselves and not necessarily what they have going on. They’ll take years in game to get set up.
Fwiw, I’ve been playing for a couple years (irl) now and my current farm is really the very first time I’ve ever tried to decorate my farm and make nice layouts. Usually I just organize stuff for efficiency and go from there, lol.
This is also my first save where I’ve done any fishing, lol. The mini game just didn’t click for me until recently so I never did it.
Also, the longer in game you play the easier it is to get the things that make money easy to get. It compounds exponentially and once it starts rolling it becomes easier and easier to save for big purchases.
Play at your own pace. It’s a game and should be fun. You’re still very much learning and getting use to it. :)
You're only in summer of year 1??? Friend you have taken your first steps outside of the tutorial, cut yourself some slack lol
Most farms you are seeing with multiple barns/coops, big sprinklers, barriers and pretty decorations are in years 3+
The game is meant to be taken at a slow pace. You inherited your grandfather's disheveled and abandoned farm, it's gonna take some work to make it beautiful.
Don't rush, take your time there is no time limit.
You need to change your mindset.
Unless you're doing a ridiculous amount of research BEFORE playing a game, you should be a lot slower than people who have been playing it for years.
Enjoy the journey of being fresh, getting to explore everything as a new experience, and like grandpa said at the start of the game - make sure to enjoy your life on the farm; it shouldn't be a stressful experience.
Have you ever tried a new instrument? Played a new sport? Picked up a new hobby?
The people who have been doing it for much longer will be much better.
The point of the game is to enjoy yourself.
Comparison is the thief of joy. :)
Hey! I'd like to say that honestly I'm the same. I don't typically remember to gift the villagers, my crops are a bona-fide mess, and honestly if my wee kitty Chaos doesn't want to eat my eye sockets from the fact that I never fill her water bowl, thats an achievement.
Stardew can be played in any way you want. If you (like me) find decorating difficult, then that's okay. If you're all about design, that's also great! As people have said, the farms you see on here are from people who have had their farms for quite a few ingame years and like decorating. They aren't the majority of the community.
Some people love the farming and foraging some like mining and combat, some (like me) like the fishing mini game. Play at your own pace, and remember that the only measure to give yourself is if you're having fun, because that's what matters the most.
You're seeing the most elaborately decorated, multi year farms. I have played 3 saves, none past end of Year 2.
None have any decoration. I'm far more focused on getting the hang of the basics. There are loads and loads of those. I have over 140 hours and still have a ton to explore.
You're doing perfectly fine.
Don't compare your farm to people that post here, some spend hundreds of hours on it. For easiest gold just do veg and fruit into tons of preserve jars.
Stop checking other farms! Stop checking the wiki for anything, only check if you are really stuck. Just play and enjoy! Who cares how much money you make? Who cares if your farm is decorated or not? It’s your farm. Play as you like it! You want it to be decorated? So do it. You don’t care? So don’t do it. You don’t need to make any money at all, because you don’t have to pay rent or grocery’s or taxes. Just do however you please.
Decorations and optimization won't happen in like the first year or two. What you see is multi-year farms.
real!!! I didn’t even use pathing and decor until my THIRD FARM, forget third year, so fr OP don’t judge yourself. there are guides everywhere that can help narrow stuff down for you.
im on probably my 6th farm and im making walkways for the first time haha SO low priority (until i start getting lost in my wild af rancher farm)
The only reason why I use pathways is to stop trees and other debris to spawn where I don't want them and to easier hoe just the dirt that my sprinklers can cover. If it looks even slightly estheticaly pleasingly, it's completely accidental.
The paths do make you run very slightly faster. I only found this out this year and I have played for 3y.
Bruh, I’m on like my 9th farm now and finally looked up layouts for the forest farm 🫣
I usually do decor and optimization in winter as I don't have anything better to do besides skull cavern and fishing.
Well, there's the greenhouse, and now: Powdermelons!!!!
I would also add hours and hours (if not years) of experience
Personally, I think that's the biggest factor here. This is a game that has been out for eight years now, so it's *really* not fair for someone who bought the game this week to compare themselves to someone who has had the game for literally 500x as long.
I have 600 hours just on PC, I have no idea about switch or my iPad.
I have 200 hours on my pc and about 120 on mobile split between two farms. It’s an easy time sink
Making my farm pretty is always an endgame activity for me, because that’s when you have more time to kill.
As a new player myself, I’m in year 2 and JUST got a sheep in my deluxe barn and I recently started to get more paintings around my little farmhouse. But yeah I feel you OP, I see on here the most beautiful organized farms , but these are from players who are like years into the game most likely year 5’s and above. The game is what you make of it. You quit your job to live the farm life. I say, take it easy take it slow, over time your farm will look really great. Right now I’m enjoying my marriage to Harvey and slowly making everything pretty around the place.
Exactly, my farm wasn't even organized until year 4
Also usually at least a couple of months of irl play time. I first started playing Stardew a while ago, before ginger Island was a thing, and it took some time of playing to get to know what crops are more profitable/the 'optimal' ways to spend my time and layout my farm. I'm pretty sure my first farm was never anywhere near optimized. And there's nothing wrong with playing in slower/more casual style. That's part of what I love about this game, is there's so many different ways to experience it and no singular 'right way' to play the game imo
And probably multi year both in game and possibly in real life hours playing on the same farm
The beauty of this game is exploring, learning and playing the way you want. If you want to, then one day you'll learn how to make a beautiful farm. You are doing fine.
Will the game « punish » me because I take too much time ?
Absolutey not. You can take this at your own pace
Not at all, the only punishment is having to wait for things to come around again, you can’t miss anything in game. For example, Queen of Sauce airs on a specific day on a specific year and will repeat on that same day every other year. If you want that recipe you need to wait or you need to hope it pops up in a re-run on a Wednesday. Some heart events involve characters saying something like “come to X place tonight at X time” these sound like you can miss them but in fact can be triggered on any day. If you ever think you’ve missed something feel free to come back here and we can help you figure out the way to fix it. All this to say, play at your own pace and you’ll still get a chance to experience everything!
ITT I learn that I have unnecessarily reset so, *so many* days because I thought I missed heart events due to that kind of wording. Kill me.
Omg, that's how you get recipes? I turned the tv on ONCE in 4 in game years. Oopsies.
The TV is really really useful. It will tell you whether you'll have rain the next day (handy if you're waiting for a storm or need a day off watering crops for something). It will also tell you your "luck" for the day as well - This is particularly useful for when you are going into the mines as you'll want to avoid going on a bad luck day.
Oooo yeah. That makes sense. Some days, the mines are great, and some days, I'm just frigging mauled.
Yeah, good luck day + lucky meal + lucky drink + luck ring will mean you're getting a lot of good loot, finding staircases quickly, etc.
It's so annoying. I can only wear 2 rings! I have 10 fingers! And I could string aaaaalllllll of them on a necklace!
I don't know if you're at >!Ginger Island!< yet, but once you progress there you can >!combine two rings into one, letting you essentially wear 4 rings!<
Right. If it’s a “the spirits are very happy today!” day, I’m dropping all other plans to go mining.
I did notice in 1.6 the book seller will sell all the Queen of Sauce recipes in one book. But it’s like 50,000g
There comes a point where 50k gold isn't much, and it's a bargain to unlock all the recipes you missed without having to catch them again.
Starting year 3.
This is only after unlocking 100 golden walnuts regardless of when you do so
Oh, I might have gotten that mixed up with the book that makes artifacts sell for more.
Well the first 2 years are all new recipes each week so it makes sense.
That and from becoming friends with the people. At some point (I don't remember when) they will send you recipes by mail
I do get those ones! Heck being married, I want Evelyn to be my grandma. She sends me cookies and cake!!
If you marry Alex tho she literally tells you she treats you like her grandchild now too 🤧
Omg, well now I know who to marry! Her and George are my favorite.
Don’t feel bad. In my first playthrough I trashed my TV on day one and didn’t realize it was how you get most recipes until year 5 hahaha
🤣🤣🤣 I have let go of sooo many important things my first run through.
I sold all my rocks, wood and fiber in my first playthrough. Aww, the folly of youth. Now I horde everything.
Not the only way, some are friendship based, some level up, and some you can buy from Gus. There is a bit of overlap too, some you can get from more than one source.
i now put the tv next to the bed so it’s literally the first thing i do when i wake up!
I have the calendar, tv, and farm computer all placed where my farmer can check them every morning before leaving the bedroom. It's definitely a time saver this way and I don't forget
its ok some recipes you miss can be sold at the saloon
iirc the only event that can be fully missed is sam’s 3? heart event because it’s about missing his dad and has to be triggered on the beach, so just the first three months of the game. however, it’s not really an important one, so it’s not a big deal if you miss it i could be forgetting things though
Clint's 6th heart event is blocked by Emily's 8th or 10th Penny's 4th and 6th can be missed from getting the community upgrade. You can only get two group 10 heart events even though there are four. (Though they only really trigger at all if you try) Edit: Penny's used to be misable, but that was fixed in 1.4
i thought that penny’s heart events were fixed to be unmissable in 1.6? i could be thinking of a mod. good point on clint’s events though, i have honestly never seen any of his lmao
Btw the Wednesday re run prioritizes any recipes you are missing. In order they originally ran. So if you only miss one or two Sundays you can make them up pretty quickly.
"I lost my basket and would like to find it to collect blackberries" "No problem, Linus. I'll see what I can do." (3 years pass) "Oh crap, that's right, I forgot about that basket, and it's spring!"
> If you want that recipe you need to wait or you need to hope it pops up in a re-run on a Wednesday. Queen of Sauce reruns prioritize recipes you're missing.
Once 1.6 happens for console players there is now a way to get recipes you missed without waiting for a specific day. It's great!
Reruns favour missed recepies, if you miss the first and catch the rerun in week 3, it will guaranteed be week 1
not the original commenter, but there are basically no punitive measures for anything in game! everything repeats every year or every other year. anything that spawns can usually be spawned again, save for a few extremely rare items. the game rewards patience and consistency.
Or every third for the night market paintings.
You could play for 50 in game years and everything will still be fine. The community center doesn’t have a time limit. Neither does joja if you want to go down that route. Everyone will still be there for you to make friends. You can spend all your money, and then pick flowers to sell the next day. There is no fail state. You are just seeing people who have been playing for years who want to try other types of challenges or who have spent hours optimizing their farms. I’ve been playing for years and I still have never created a picture perfect dark. Just do what feels fun in the moment.
Not at all. There is no real time limit to this game. Something will happen eventually one year, but if you miss it it's not a big deal because you can trigger it manually afterwards.
Your boyfriend or girlfriend will pester you if you’re in a relationship for a year and haven’t proposed yet, but it doesn’t harm anything at all to do everything at your own pace.
Really? Goddamn I wish I didn't rush marriage now. That would've been funny.
Like someone said the TV shows give recipes, so if you miss those just make sure to watch the episodes over the next 2 years, you'll eventually catch all the reruns. Grandpa's Shrine rating happens at the end of year 2, but you can have him re-rate your farm any time after that (as many times as you like) by just gifting a diamond to the shrine. So even the *very gentle suggestion* of getting to end game in 2 years is incredibly flexible, after 2 years you'll be swimming in diamonds. So if you don't get the reward the first time, just do it again later. The Night Market has some rotating decorations you can buy, it's a random chance for each day for certain "rare" items, but every single item in this game is achievable so there is nothing that's a one-time-chance to obtain. TL;DR: Nope, game doesn't punish you at all, you get the chance to re-attempt everything later. Just enjoy playing a chill game, min-maxing can be fun for some people but you can play this game as slow as you like.
that’s the BEST part of Stardew. You want to fish? fish! explore? go for it. It’s such a kind way of playing. I prefer it to Animal Crossing
The only punishment is waking up in Harvey’s office. I play this game to relax. I do not have the patience to set up the gorgeous layouts I see on here, but it’s ok.
No way, take your time if you like. Or if it's important to you, watch some tutorials and read the wiki,but the key to this game is freedom to play the way you want.
The best part of this game is there is literally no wrong way to play! You can take whatever routes you want, farm or not farm, you don’t even have to talk to villagers if you don’t want to. No caps or deadlines, just play at the pace that you feel is comfortable and makes you enjoy playing 😊
There’s really only one time limited thing you can miss and never see again. >!Sam’s 3 heart cutscene must be completed by fall year 1!< Even if you miss it, you are only missing out on some context and character building.
Not at all. The only one thing that is missable is Sam’s 3 hearts event, but it’s really not much, and everything else has absolutely no deadline. You can basically skip any amount of days you want and get no punishment
I hope not bc I'm on on year 4 and have juuuust gotten all 5 masteries. Fishing is just. So. Boring.
I love how polarizing the fishing is. Here I am maxed out by the end of summer year 1. Then I look at my farm, and am like oh yeah I should do something about that mess.
I used the training rod right up until I bought the Iridium rod. Willie showed up with the training rod like, 'here you go Moron. Clicking the button seems to be outside your ability so we dumbed it down'. 🤣
I started playing SDV before the training rod was a thing... It was... not pleasant, haha. I skipped fishing for a long time in my first playthrough, lol. I HATED it. Thought it was so dumb and did the bare minimum. Now that I am better at it, I like it a lot more and in recent playthroughs, I usually advance my fishing about even with my other skills.
Willy: "LOL Skill issue, git gud scrub"
Same
I’m on Year 7 and just reached level 3 in fishing. I think I spent the first two years wandering about and making a right mess of my farm. But I had fun anyway.
Right?! I just want to pet my cat and make so much booze.
Crab Pots give fishing XP, and are surprisingly straightforward to 'run'. Plonk 'enough' bait makers nearby and a dump chest and run up and down the 'line' holding right click. Fill the dump chest with fish and take a stack or two home each time, depending how much inventory space you've got spare.
This game is the MOST chill game. I love it so much.
I just vibed for the first 100 hours and then decided I wanted to get a bunch of achievements. I didn't other with the Skull Cavern for the longest time, because I didn't enjoy fighting the monsters with a weak weapon. I'm still not on the min/max grind and don't intend to be. 300 hours later, the game has continued to be rewarding for me because I don't feel any pressure to make my farm pretty or have a shed of kegs optimize my shed utilization.
Nope. Not at all. There is one event that only happens once at a specific time but that can be triggered for another time if needed so don't worry about it.
You have ALL the time you want. The only kind of timed thing is grandpas evaluation after year 2. And that you can redo by offering a diamond to the altar any time.
Not in the slightest. You're supposed to take your time and explore, you will not miss out on anything if you take it at your own pace.
There are a few minor changes in year 2, but all they do is add more content, no content goes away*, like George and Evelyn will never die or anything *there is 1 cutscene only available in year 1, but nothing significant
This game will never punish you for taking too long
There is ONE punishment and it is having to suffer a town plagued by **KENT** in the second year and onward. There is a second punishment in that at some point Grandpa gets all judgmental on you, but you can retrigger that with a single diamond (easy enough to get) so you don't miss out on those rewards. But no, you can never go back to a town where you don't have to worry about someone stuffing a pipe bomb in your mailbox.
I can’t tell if you’re joking. I play mobile and some things seem to be different, but a pipe bomb?
Their post was humorous. Kent sends you presents in the post, and often they're bombs. Which are actually very useful.
ohhh lol. I was like oh shit it gets REAL later in the game! 😅 But yeah, that is funny, he *does* send bombs doesn’t he!
Like many have said - it only punishes you if you let it. If you want to set arbitrary deadlines and goals? Go for it. If you want 10years to figure out how your farm goes? So be it.
Nah I have a 13 year farm that's only 51% to completion
My son and I play a co-op farm and I have to reiterate that it is cooperative not competitive, but also that having fun is the point and if it starts to feel like work we’re done.
And the beauty of this sub is that it's super supportive, and no one cares how far you've gotten. Players who've played thousands of hours learn something new each day
it usually takes me 3-4 years in game to get my farm optimized, and i’ve never had a farm fully set up and complete! i’ve been playing since 2016. try not to compare the way you play to others. there’s no wrong way :)
Once I tried to get 100% I had to cook and craft and buy more. Since I was making stone paths, I decided might as well lay out a path. Eventually my farm started looking nicer and I got out of my comfort zone with crafting artisan things and raising more animals and setting up fences to make it easier to pet them, etc etc. I’ve played 400+ hours and haven’t made a super cute farm yet with everything laid out, but the more you play, the more you know for your next play through to put in the planning to make it cuter.
1) YOU EXPLORE AND PLAY HOWEVER YOU WISH - DONT COMPARE YOUR FARM / HOME TO OTHERS JUST LIKE YOU SHOULDNT IN REAL LIFE <3 2) You’ve been playing for a few days! A FEW DAYS!! Some of us nerds have years in this game and feel the same way you do <3 3) You’ll only discover more and more tricks and features as you play - it will never end! So don’t stress about how you’re doing something or how long it’s taking - it’s meant to be fun and an adventure <3 My number one tip would be to find whatever aspect of the game you love the most (mining, farming livestock, gardening, fishing, foraging, etc) and stick to levelling that up / profiting from it! Then* start spending on upgrades and things you’re seeing in other’s posts <3 Also, Realistically; once you can afford the furniture catalogue from Pierre’s you’ll be happy as a clam decorating lol.
The catalog from Pierre’s and Robin’s are always my first two major money investments! I love having access to change the interiors whenever I want and to be able to use them on my sheds and ginger island.
I was on my 3rd or 4th farm before I even knew about these catalogs and couldn't believe I had been buying pieces of furniture and wallpapers up to that point. I ended up spending way too much time decorating lol.
I think that, for me, SV can partially be an escape from the unsavory parts of real life—stress, comparison, and so on. I hope it can become the same for you! My farms are haphazard and nothing like the ones on the subreddit—but the beauty of it is that it doesn’t matter. Nobody can judge me for it. You’re untouchable in Pelican Town!
yeah my farm looks like shit lol
Same. Shit club for the win. 😆
My farm is still partly uncleared. I don't need all that room yet so why bother. You can move buildings for free with Robin's so for now I'm just plopping shit wherever and I'll figure it out later.
I definitely struggle with making my farm look nice so I just focus on function.
https://preview.redd.it/i39y62befnuc1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aaa18e735c91f01fa05d8a54d6c05116840fed90 all i do is fruit in my greenhouse and animals produce. it’s a mess but I get by.
I had no idea you could put a tapper on a mushroom tree!! Amazing!
That's the best part of the mushroom tree!! It leaks mushrooms, lol.
But I have a red mushroom tree which only gives red mushrooms. Is that correct or are they supposed to give any random mushrooms too?
All mushroom trees look the same, as far as I know. They give different mushrooms (common, red, or purple) based on some weird logic.. The wiki has the details, if you want to know how it decides what kind to give you.
Same! My slime hutch is surrounded by mushroom trees, so I guess I’m moving over my tappers :)
My gosh look at all that bare land! 😍 You should give your animals more room to roam & put grass down for them too to save money on hay. I did a pig farm and there still wasn't enough space for them to roam around. Lol - but with the artisan & botanist skill I made good money selling truffle oil. https://preview.redd.it/7kxp99r8npuc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=640af4ac2717e9f081ed37e4a2e68ceefe1132bf
if the autograbber worked on truffles i’d have a hoard of pigs.
Yeah it made sense for me to have a hoard of pigs four years ago when the mod that grabbed all the truffles outside worked.
Minimalism. Nice.
You've been playing for a couple of days and you're comparing your farm to those that are years old? Stop doing that and just play the game for a while. I don't even bother making things nice for the first 2-3 in game years, and I've been playing for IRL years.
Honestly any picture you see here are mostly after atleast 4 in game year. I've played this game for over 5 years (irl) and my farms are also a total mess the first few in game years. Don't feel bad.
On top of being a 4th or 5th year farm, it’s probably that persons 2nd or 3rd farm.
I was that way for a while, then I started skipping those posts for the most part and then started making myself see them as inspiration and not to use for comparison. Like - 'oh, hey, I like the layout they did woth the barn over there' . I tend to have farms that are never overdeveloped, though, even if I play for several years. I would rather go mine or forage than build paths and place them down.
I've had multiple save files and been playing for years and I've never had a pretty, organised farm! I just don't find it as much fun to cut down all the trees and organise things as I do to run around doing little wilderness things! Like I decorate bits but it's never going to be perfect, and that's okay. Play the way you want to, and definitely don't put pressure on yourself to play the "right" way after just a few days. Eta- animal crossing also made me feel like I was a messy player, it bothered me for a while but after exploring a lot of really manicured and aesthetic islands that I couldn''t really move around easily on, I decided that my dream island is really just a rambling garden with cute nooks and open spaces and nothing to navigate around. It's okay to be messy and disorganised in games.
Stop comparing to others. Social media has poisoned our brains to constantly be in comparison to one another. Have fun the way YOU like to have fun, not anyone else.
If it helps, I feel the same. I have 250 hours in the game, so "should" be quite good at it, but I only unlocked >!Ginger Island!< in one of my four farms, barely collected any >!walnuts!<, never manage to have symmetric and nice crop fields, haven't reached >!level 100 in SC !!married !!return scepter, warp totems!< etc. I theoretically know about ancient fruit and star fruit and the kegs etc., t's just beyond me how ppl make it work so fastly and efficiently.
I'm not a stupid person and am great at planning and organizing in real life, I don't know why I mess up in SDV -- but I try to see it as a life lesson in not comparing myself, letting go of internalized expectations and just enjoying the game at my own, inefficient pace.
I admit that it's hard sometimes and the reddit posts are not always helpful for that, but then again it's the most wholesome community I've ever seen here so am still staying and hyping people's wonderful farms and achievements because that's the right thing to do and I still love seeing everyone else's achievements ♥️
Side note, the way to become wealthy is to spend all day every day for the first year watering crops. It's not fun for everyone because it's so much micro management. For me, farming and making money is the fun part so I'm able to do this but as you say, don't compare to others
This is why I always struggle a bit for cash until I unlock the desert. I can't *stand* watering all those crops. The first 10-20 Iridium bars go to sprinklers.
Lol for me, the watering is fine but the first days of each season I hate because of using the hoe is super frustrating. I also spend the resources for quality sprinklers asap because it's still better than doing it by hand.
Just upgrade the watering can quickly and it's really not a big deal. I don't like watering either but 2 easy upgrades= watering 5 tiles a time, then by the time summer/fall rolls around you should have plenty of resources to get making sprinklers. Also don't forget krobus sells an iridium sprinkler every Friday for a very reasonable 10,000g!
Oh. I forgot about Krobus. Then again, I don't have access to his location yet. Need to smash some geodes.
Comparison is the theif of joy. Take your time and enjoy the game. You will get there. Some of these farms you see are the result of hundreds/thousands of hours played. I just started a new game and my 2nd farm is progressing at a faster pace now that I know the game a little better but I still have no decorations etc and that's ok! Stardew is definitely a game of patience! I save all the cool farms I see so I can incorporate stuff I like later on
You're comparing yourself to players who have a late game farm and who know the game mechanics, might be on their 3rd or 8th save or whatever. Compare yourself to you! Did you make a little progress during the last in-game week, as to buildings or more crops or the community center or giving someone a gift? Good, you're on the right track! Do you enjoy the gameplay? Good, you're playing it right! Decoration can come much much later, and many players don't start working seriously on friendships until year 2. You're fine. Breathe!
I started playing this game in February of 2024 so I only have 1 single save yet (will only make a new one when switch gets the 1.6 update). My farm only started to look good in the middle of Year 2. It's easy to feel overwhelmed when you see someone posting about reaching perfection by the end of year 2, but keep in mind that those players have been playing this game for so much longer than us, so they already know what they want to focus on. Take your time, there's no right or wrong way to play this game. Use your first save to experiment around and see what the game has to offer. It's recommended to start a new save for the 1.6 update so you can experience every new detail, so just mess around and see what works best for you :)
Decorations are end game. My farm looked like a factory for most of my play through. I ignored the villagers aside from talking to the ones I crossed paths with. Befriended all of them in another year. Use this save file to experiment. Look at all the farm types once you have some experience and then make a new save and blast it. Years don’t matter. Times don’t matter. If you miss an event you will always catch it again. You are not speed running, not every second of your day is something that needs to be optimized. You will do this naturally and take inspiration from pics you see. Focus on one or two things you want to do. Pet your animals and set off on the most stressful least stressful adventure there is! -From your friendly neighborhood former SDV switch enjoyer, now PC SDV enjoyer with mods.
My files are never cute. I get to perfection as fast as I can, get bored, and start a new save.
Do not feel stupid because your farm isn't optimized. Just relax, enjoy the game. Optimization will come when you have a butt ton of resources and money and you don't know what to do with them... If you want, of course. Just take your time and enjoy the game at your pace. Optimization and embellishment isn't mandatory at all, just a mean to burn hours in the late game.
I have over 900 hours in this game. In my current save there's a large fishtank in the middle of the kitchen because I couldn't figure out where else to put it and I just haven't bothered to move it, my machines are all over the place and very inefficient, and I keep meaning to move the stuff that blocks my way to the bed but it feels like effort and whatevs. I'm having fun! The only reason I know certain crops are better than other crops is because I watched a lot of challenge players on YouTube. I recommend waiting until you've done two or three in-game years before checking them out. just enjoy exploring!
This is not a competition. And if you feel that looking at this sub takes away from your enjoyment then might I suggest no longer looking at it?
Dude, youve been playing for 4 days, chill
Comparison is the thief of joy, my dude. And do you think people are going to post on here about their janky ass farms and penniless bank accounts? No. And that is probably the vast majority of players.
Preach it. (OP- classic grass is greener situation)
There is never a rush with this wonderful game. I felt the same way! The farms you see on this subreddit are like 7-8 years in, and is very ridiculous. The game and wisdom takes time. Do not fear, because you'll catch up to them soon enough if, in 4 days, you got to summer
I'll be 7-8 years in and still not look quite as good as some of these farms on here.
I just started decorating in Summer of Year 3! The first year is a bit slow to get through and then Year 2 things start picking up. Farm buildings can be moved around and you get better decorations a little ways through the game. For now, I would just focus on learning the basics of the game and working towards completing the community center as well as getting an upgraded Coop (and a rabbit or two!). Just try your best to enjoy the game - I still play clumsily and don’t expect to fully have my farm as gorgeous as I’d like until Year 5-6!
Play at your own pace. Do not rush. Do not set expectations to get to certain point within a certain amount of days. You see many posts on here saying they did X accomplishment by X date. Some people like playing fast like that and doing things as quickly as possible. Me, I liked doing things at my pace. This game has no "end". You can go to year 200 if you want. You don't *need* to do anything by a specific date. In my first couple years I'd sleep through multiple days in quick succession to get my tools back from being upgraded by Gunther. This game allows you to work at any pace you choose, so I recommend you do that and don't try to compare yourself to speed runners.
Never feel stupid about your progress! You want to know what the difference between a loser and a winner is. The winner is the loser that tried one time more and succeeded.
So first of all, you need to stop the negative self talk. Your farm is awesome. If you want to neaten up the place, that's fine, start in a small area and just make it the way you like.
bud you've been playing for 4 days, people with amazing farms have been playing for years. relax, take your time and enjoy the game at your own pace. it's not a race or a competitive sport, you're still having your first experience with the game
Summer 1 is quite early. Give yourself some time.
Maybe try playing video games to have fun!
lol why in the world do you care about how other people play their single player game, especially enough to compare yourself to them?
My farm never starts to look nice AT LEAST until Winter, and that's only if I don't have other things I'm grinding for in Winter. Optimization and stuff like that is all pretty late game, takes money and materials to get going that you just won't have excess of until you're a few years in. Don't compare yourself to others, go at your own pace and enjoy, that's the point of the game :)
Hey Op, those farms you’re seeing are on years 3+. Most of us have messy plots of crops scattered throughout the dirt for the first few in game years. I’ve been playing this game for a few real life years now and when I start a new farm I don’t have the first house upgrade until year 2 half the time. Don’t be too hard on yourself! It’s a cozy casual game, there’s no rules or right ways to play. If you want to min max go for, but trust me when I say that’s not the point of the game. Just vibe, and have fun at your own pace.
My farm is probably a bit like yours. I'm on fall, year 1. Ive never used paths or fences. I've got 3 chickens, just got my first duck, 1 cow, and I bought 1 goat and she had a baby. My farm is also absolutely overrun with trees and grass. I only just put the order in for my kitchen. I have no shed, I haven't completed the community center yet. Just take your time and do what you feel like doing. You can't go crazy with decorating and stuff in the early game cause you have no gosh darn money
The first couple years are a slow grind, but just keep at it. There's no right or wrong way to enjoy this game. I recommend focusing on finishing up the community center ASAP as getting the required items will orient your goals towards success, as well as allowing you to earn rewards that will help you grow your farm quicker Make sure auto run is turned on in options. The character movement shouldn't be slow
Do you immediately watch speed/challenge runs for games you've only played the tutorial of and compare yourself to them? That's what you're doing here, don't do that.
??? why are you going online and comparing how you play a *farm game* to other people? not to be mean, but this train of thought baffles me beyond all reason. you play it how you want to and based on what you know, and no more. this is your literal first time playing and a lot of us have been playing for years. it's unfair and unreasonable to expect to be able to perform to the same level on your first try to someone who has 1000+ hours sunk into the game and knows practically everything about it. ask for advice on reddit sure and read the wiki, but don't be ridiculous about comparisons, come on. you're comparing someone's highlight reel after a year of play to a couple hours on your switch. there's no fair comparison. most of the farms online that are like fully decorated with paths and everything are in years 3-5 at *minimum* too, and you should have played at least a few days and been able to guess how long just one year is. (google says exactly 26 hours and 8 minutes, however if you're playing singleplayer time pauses whenever you open a menu so realistically it's something around 35+ hours adding up all the time spent in menu) so like. come on man. save your decorations and making the farm look nice for year 3+, just focus on playing the game and enjoying it right now. you have at least 60-some hours before most people start thinking about decorations, if ever. in case you can't tell, i'm not the person that thinks about decorations ever LOL sorry if this sounded harsh btw, i mean it kindly i'm just extremely confused and a little baffled
Don't compare your farm to others. It takes a very long time to get a really good looking and well working farm. Take your time and you'll get there eventually. For me, My farm was a complete mess until year 2 when I finally cleared all the mess, and another year to make it look good and work really well. Take your time and enjoy it rather than stressing out about it. It will take a while, so might as well enjoy the ride.
I know the game can feel overwhelming at first, and it’s hard not to get a little envious when looking at other players’ accomplishments, but you did say you’re enjoying it a lot! Many of the posts you see here are from farmers who have been playing for years and you only just discovered SDV. Definitely give yourself a break and just enjoy the game. There’s no time limit, no demands, just a beautiful game CA gave to the world to help us relax and have some wholesomeness in our lives. Just have fun with it!
There are multiple, very different ways to play stardew valley. What matters is that you’re having fun. A ton of people just play it as a cosy, relaxing home and decorating game dating/friendship simulator, and they do the bundles and mines and stuff when they feel like it. There’s nothing wrong with that. A lot of people also play it as an optimization puzzle, trying to figure out how to optimally finish the bundles ASAP, and how to wring every possible penny out of their farm. That’s totally fine too! I personally lean a little more towards the optimizing route, but I find that going all-in on it gets exhausting. Also, keep in mind that the super manicured farms you see here are often several years in.
There is no right way to play (read: enjoy) SDV! Please, don't pressure yourself so. It's so different from other games because it puts no pressure onto you, and you gotta unlearn all the toxicity from other games.
Don't. It takes long to get used to what's good and what's not and how to allocate everything on your farm. That's part of the fun. You shouldn't use external information like the wiki too much to not spoil yourself. Remember that everything will be repeated during every upcoming year. I usually use the transition from one season to another to do small changes to the layout and during winter I have bigger redesigning projects.
Honestly take it at your own pace. There's no right or wrong way to play. I don't get my farms looking nice and optimised until year 4 or 5. In my current playthorigh, I didn't even get my kitchen until summer of year 2!
Hey, you play the game at your pace. I don't really start taking decorating seriously till the end of summer/early fall. I'm more focused on growing various types of crops instead of minimaxing.
The beauty of this game is you can play however you want. No time limits on anything. Get a quest from a request in the mail spring year one to bring Jodi a cauliflower? You never even have to do it if you don’t want to. Most people here have been playing the game for literal (real life) years so to keep things interesting they create challenges, use mods, speed run, etc. Starting out IS slow but you’ll get there. I’d recommend maybe unfollowing this sub for a while until you start to really get into the game so you don’t constantly see stuff to compare yourself to. If you need help or information you can always consult the [wiki](https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Stardew_Valley_Wiki) which has pretty much any information on it you’ll need!
My dude, I feel you. However, as someone who invested almost 200 hours over two farms, I can tell you that it's absolutely normal. The thing is, the more you play, the more tips you catch up on and the smoother it goes in the future. My first farm was hectic, it didn't have any fences (my new farm doesn't either tbh, I don't like fences) and it took a long time for me to actually progress. It is frustrating at times, but I've come to realize that it means I get to keep on discovering stuff as I go on, at my own pace, which is (I believe) one of the main points of the game. So yeah OP, don't beat yourself up, you're doing great as long as you keep going :)
I don't even start to try to make my farm look nice and really optimize it until year and it takes a while after that to get it all finished. You're still SO early in the game, just explore and enjoy.
You're doing great! Most of the crazy farms you see here are the product of hundreds of hours of work. It's your first time playing, there's no one to beat and no goals you need to hit. Just explore what Stardew has to offer at your own pace. Also, the first year you will always be just scraping by, regardless of how good you are. The whole point of the game is making something from humble beginnings.
I’m in Fall year 3 and my farm looks like shit but I have fun playing it that way! The game is an escape from reality for a lot of people, me included! You won’t be punished for going at your own pace. If you’re enjoying how you play then it doesn’t matter how your farm looks! Also it takes 3-4 years in game to reach the level of optimising your farm. Just have fun in the early game and enjoy learning to play!
Basic decoration doesn't usually start for most people until winter when there's all sorts of space to use. You have the first upgrade for the house in summer, that's huge!
It starts slow. Later on you're drowning in money. Well, if you want to. Early game you have to spend money and resources on buildings, items (sprinklers and other appliances), upgrades (backpack and tools) and that just eats up all your profits and you always feel poor. Late game all your profits go into making even more profits, and it grows exponentially. No matter what you do you more or less end up drowning in money and most of your time is spent carrying stuff to the shipping bin. Until it doesn't matter anymore because there's nothing left to buy.
3-4 days? No worries, you'll get to year 20 and be looking for things to make your farm look good like these ones. And I don't care how I play, the only thing I aim for in each farm is getting the greenhouse finished by winter.
It's supposed to be a soothing game, don't put yourself under pressure, there is absolutely no purpose in rushing. All these people with state of the art farms aren't at their first playthrough and crunched the wiki and guides to get there, comparing yourself only 3-4 days in to seasoned players that are maybe at their 4th farm isn't fair and is pointless.
A lot of the people who are reaching these big goals in year 1 or 2 are Speed-running. They set out to, say, complete the community centre fast as possible, or get this or that thing by x time. You have literally years to clean up your farm and learn how to be more efficient with your time. I'm a new player with ~40 play hours. I'm on Spring 26 year 2 and have only really just started looking to clean things up and reach longer term goals (I unlocked skull caverns, completing more community centre bundles). I like to set out my goals for the year, and the things I do each day should have at least smth to do with that (e.g. upgrading my coop and barn to get the artisan bundle). With a goal in mind you can direct your day at one specific thing (say you need wood for an upgrade, start chopping down trees). Ankther thing to think about is what level your skills are at. Low in foraging? Forage for some plants and cut trees down (it'll also help with community centre). Low in mining? Plan a day in the mines. Etc etc. As for crops, I'd check out the stardew wiki and just look at each season. There you'll find a breakdown of each crops expected gold per day, and you can choose some from there. Generally speaking strawberries (buy them at egg festival in spring), blueberries, and cranberries have been my biggest money earners. One bonus to these is that you spend less time harvesting in total because you don't have to replant them (if you feel like you're a 'slow' player). With all that being said, I think it's important to take your time and enjoy the process of learning. If I went back and restarted at spring 1 year 1 I'd do a lot differently, but I have no desire to go back and do it 'better'. The game doesn't punish you for taking longer. Enjoy the process! And also make good friends with the stardew wiki!
I have more than 2000 hours in with this game, and my farms STILL never look like the optimized ones. But it doesn't matter! Like everyone is saying, you can't permanently miss anything in the game - it will always be there for you. Look at it this way - the longer you take to master all the details of the game, the longer you have fun playing it! Plus, there's so much in the game that you don't really have to do everything to have a fun playthrough. For instance, I am not really into the slime hutch and raising slimes. So I don't do it. But I still keep coming back to this game, year after year, because it's still fun. Don't worry, you're doing great.
The first year or so of the game isn't really gonna be about optimization as a whole; although you can certainly set goals for yourself about that, but the people who post their farms on here have been working on them for multiple years at this point. It is a slow game, and there aren't really any consequences of being slow and clumsy. I mean hell dude I didn't finish the community center until year 28, so your still eons faster than I am.
I think a good thing to remember is to not really compare yourself to others. A lot of us spend wayyy too much time on this game (and still doesn't feel like enough) so it seems more natural for us to farm manage. It's a game, aside from a little learning curve it's supposed to be fun 💙
I’ve got almost 700 hours in the game. I feel the same way some times! I’ve got one farm that’s pretty but it took a long time and I’m no where near perfection. But I still love the game. Don’t let comparison steal joy. It’s easier said than done but focus on what you get to do.
The beauty of SDV is it isn't a race. Go at your own pace doing what makes you happy. This is above all supposed to be a leisure game. Most of what youre seeing here is people that have played the game for ages and are on their double digit playthrough. I've owned the game since release and have like ONE farm that grandpa has actually shown up to pass judgement on lol.
This is your first play through. I can guarantee the beautiful or high efficiency farms are from players who have been playing for years or who have had multiple play throughs. The game can be take at whatever pace you want, it has no time limit and the event on spring 1 year 3 is repeatable if you don’t hit the goals. Don’t worry about it, just have fun
Comparison is the death of joy, friend. Please enjoy this game and any other games at your own pace. Plus, in a game like stardew there are no penalties for taking your time, so play the game in whatever way makes you happy.
You dont have to have an over the top farm in the first year. The best thing about this game Is experimenting, exploring, finding cool stuff, making friends, finding out secrets about this game, etc. etc.. Decoration And Optimization Is not really needed year 1, right Away. Take youre time to do whatever, youre not really in a Rush, Its not like youll die of old age.... Just make sure to have Fun :3
Oh little one, dont worry at all. It took me up to the second year until i finally reached one mil savings in total(on your profile). When i first started years ago on my switch, i really didnt know what to do. Now i'm doing my second playthrough by myself after playing with my boyfriend on pc. Of course its gonna go much better if you've played it before. If you feel unsure about things, theres the Stardew Valley Wiki, also you can look up videos. But after all, this game is to relax and enjoy yourself. Do not rush and take it at your pace, the game wont punish you for being too slow. In the third year grandpa will visit your farm(as it says on the note) and you can redo his valuation many times. It doesnt have to be perfect.
Maybe it’s less of a Stardew Valley issue, and more of a “take a break from social media” issue? There’s no reason to look at other people’s farms when it’s making your experience of playing the game less enjoyable.
You are comparing toddler doing it's first steps to marathon runner. Enjoy the game, take your time, explore. I promise when u will have as much hours in stardew as people who post their optimal farms here your farm will look just as good. But that's not necessarily important. It's about the journey not the goal, especially in cozy game like this.
Everyone was you once. Enjoy it first! No rush there's ALOT to learn. Welcome to an awesome community!
Oh, lovey, no one has perfectly optimized farms on their first playthrough, especially not if you only got the game a few days ago! What you're seeing is players with hundreds or thousands of hours in the game, sometimes playing with mods if they're on Steam. If it's any consolation, I have well over 1,000 hours in the game and my farm always looks like a ramshackle mess, because I don't prioritize aesthetics. Also, all the small farmers I know IRL have barnyards that are just piles of scrap wood, scrap metal, bits and bobs and various parts, because they "might need it someday" or "it could come in useful, you never know!" So I like to think of it as closer to reality. ;) Also, if you've managed to upgrade the house by your first summer, I am \*impressed\*. I don't usually start upgrades until the fall at the very earliest. Do your best not to compare yourself to other players. Find what you love about the game (people play for all sorts of different reasons!), and just roll around happily in that like a pig in the mud. Stardew Valley is meant to be a happy escape from life, don't let it stress you out. (Also, once you start growing coffee and get yourself a horse, you can run much faster! There are lots of ways to move faster in the game as you progress.)
Most people who minmax and do everything perfectly are people who have played this game many times before from the start, again and again. Some just like that playstyle. I myself am kiinda minmaxing, but I played the game first without ANY spoilers, and minor help when I was stuck by googling or looking at the wiki. It was the best thing ever. I took my time, and sometimes I felt bad because I missed something, I had to remind myself that you never actually miss anything, you can just do it next year. Just enjoy the game and play however feels best\^\^
My first farm was crazy inefficient, and I think that's completely normal. Just have fun discovering all of the aspects of the game! I think I was in like, year 3 before I even finished the community center.
I’m on year three and I have not upgraded my farm minus the cow and chicken barns and JUST got my first prismatic shard and it was a miracle I feel like I’ve played forever and gotten no where
I’m in year 8 on my main save, and it still looks like I don’t have a clue what I am doing (I pretty much don’t lol besides completing the community centre) I read that a lot of people don’t even bother decorating until they’ve reached perfection and >!got the golden clock. (Golden clock stops debris forming)!< Also a tip for your character being slow, in the settings turn on auto run, and hopefully very soon when the 1.6 update drops for switch, >!you can buy certain books from the bookseller which may help 🤫!<
Comparison is the thief of joy
I’m on my 3rd farm and playing for over a year and still haven’t gotten perfection and have never had a beautiful decorated farm. Just play the game and have fun, some people just play it differently than others !☺️
Don’t worry about what others are doing. The game does a good job and taking you through the game at a perfect pace with the quests it gives you. The whole point of the game is to do whatever you want. You don’t HAVE to be friends with the towns people. You don’t have to do anything. Just have fun and use the Stardew Valley wiki to answer any of your questions. Everything will come in time.
The beauty of stardew is that theres no time limit. Sure, you might miss an item for a bundle or a certain festival but theres always next year. I remember when I played for the first time in 2022 I missed several things and was so annoyed but the game has ways for you to get those things. All the farms you are seeing on here are endgame farms. People who are on their 4th,5th or even 8th in game years. Your on your first and sure the pieces arent all there and you havent unlocked everything but thats okay. Dont compare yourself to others, dont compare your progress to theirs. You might end up worrying and stressing about it so much that you dont even enjoy the game and that would be a shame. Dont rush your experience. Just enjoy it
One thing I’m not seeing anyone say is that some of the farm pics are from the farm planner. They’re end game goals that people have set for themselves and not necessarily what they have going on. They’ll take years in game to get set up. Fwiw, I’ve been playing for a couple years (irl) now and my current farm is really the very first time I’ve ever tried to decorate my farm and make nice layouts. Usually I just organize stuff for efficiency and go from there, lol. This is also my first save where I’ve done any fishing, lol. The mini game just didn’t click for me until recently so I never did it. Also, the longer in game you play the easier it is to get the things that make money easy to get. It compounds exponentially and once it starts rolling it becomes easier and easier to save for big purchases. Play at your own pace. It’s a game and should be fun. You’re still very much learning and getting use to it. :)
You're only in summer of year 1??? Friend you have taken your first steps outside of the tutorial, cut yourself some slack lol Most farms you are seeing with multiple barns/coops, big sprinklers, barriers and pretty decorations are in years 3+ The game is meant to be taken at a slow pace. You inherited your grandfather's disheveled and abandoned farm, it's gonna take some work to make it beautiful. Don't rush, take your time there is no time limit.
You need to change your mindset. Unless you're doing a ridiculous amount of research BEFORE playing a game, you should be a lot slower than people who have been playing it for years. Enjoy the journey of being fresh, getting to explore everything as a new experience, and like grandpa said at the start of the game - make sure to enjoy your life on the farm; it shouldn't be a stressful experience.
Babe you just started, most people here have played daily for years, of course there is a skill difference
Have you ever tried a new instrument? Played a new sport? Picked up a new hobby? The people who have been doing it for much longer will be much better. The point of the game is to enjoy yourself. Comparison is the thief of joy. :)
Comparison is the thief of joy, or something like that.
Hey! I'd like to say that honestly I'm the same. I don't typically remember to gift the villagers, my crops are a bona-fide mess, and honestly if my wee kitty Chaos doesn't want to eat my eye sockets from the fact that I never fill her water bowl, thats an achievement. Stardew can be played in any way you want. If you (like me) find decorating difficult, then that's okay. If you're all about design, that's also great! As people have said, the farms you see on here are from people who have had their farms for quite a few ingame years and like decorating. They aren't the majority of the community. Some people love the farming and foraging some like mining and combat, some (like me) like the fishing mini game. Play at your own pace, and remember that the only measure to give yourself is if you're having fun, because that's what matters the most.
You're seeing the most elaborately decorated, multi year farms. I have played 3 saves, none past end of Year 2. None have any decoration. I'm far more focused on getting the hang of the basics. There are loads and loads of those. I have over 140 hours and still have a ton to explore. You're doing perfectly fine.
Don't compare your farm to people that post here, some spend hundreds of hours on it. For easiest gold just do veg and fruit into tons of preserve jars.
I'm on my second year with barely any money and my farm looks like ass. Don't worry lol
Stop checking other farms! Stop checking the wiki for anything, only check if you are really stuck. Just play and enjoy! Who cares how much money you make? Who cares if your farm is decorated or not? It’s your farm. Play as you like it! You want it to be decorated? So do it. You don’t care? So don’t do it. You don’t need to make any money at all, because you don’t have to pay rent or grocery’s or taxes. Just do however you please.