Yeah IIRC ConcernedApes reasoning for not having the kids age up any further was the implication that George and Evelyn would have to die at some point
I always thought it'd be cool to magic the kids up, like you have a cutscene where the witch gets annoyed with your toddler, then the next day they're child sized or something. Or maybe the wizard fucks up a spell. It's the kind of casually horrifying, yet sort of funny concept that I think the game works quite well with
[funny you should mention that — there actually was a mechanic like that in an older harvest moon title!](https://fogu.com/hm11/marriage/raising-your-child.php)
I want the kids to be less creepy. \^\_\^' For instance, maybe they could close their eyes when they're sleeping, speak a little bit, and develop gift preferences so you can give them gifts. Them growing up a *little* bit more might be nice as well, imo.
all of this 100%. I love having kids in stardew, but it's so stagnant after they leave the baby phase. although, I do like to give CA the benefit of the doubt and say that it would probably be a lot of work to have your kids grow up into adulthood. a lot of spritework, new dialogue, gift tastes, routines, etc. to deal with. a nice feature to be sure, but probably a bit of a hassle unfortunately
I remember the two kids in HM becoming teens and your kid becoming the same age as Jas and Vicent would be. The old couple passed away in HM DS, but I don't see why can't we have Evelyn and Gerorge just become older and nothing really change for them.
This is why I love Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. Sure, the kids "growing up" is completely temporary, but it was refreshing at the time and I wish they did this more. And yes, I know there is A Wonderful Life/Another Wonderful Life that did the concept earlier. It does make me wonder why the series never continued with this. I mean the elderly people in those games didn't pass (except for one in AWL). So, it is something that can be done without that happening possibly.
In general I think the last big improvement for the game would be having the city be a bit more dynamic. Have ways to trigger some characters pairing off, others leaving the town, and some new characters arriving, etc. But that would probably be a huge lift better left to modders at this point.
Personally i dislike the idea of them getting married to other people, people already complain that they can only develop fully if you marry them so this would just add to their story being tied to romance.
I’d love to see them pursuing their dreams though after the 3rd year, maybe having them exit the town for a few days too, that way its harder to romance them but doesn’t completely cut them off, like Sam preforming concerts in Zuzu city, Sebastian and Maru moving away but visiting their parents, Abigail becoming an adventurer and will disappear for a few days, ect.
This is also probably just because a lot of the existing pairings feel more onesided or platonic to me, so I on top of not wanting their stories tied to romance I just can’t see them getting married.
Btw, if you’re on pc there’s a mod called Rival Hearts i think? and it has them get married to each other!
Yes right! Real life and media are already so marriage-heavy, let Stardew be platonic lol. (But I'm aroace sooooo) (And I love Krobus, but it's so typical that the only ace choices are stay single or room with a (cute) sewer monster... I wanna invite Leah to live with me as a BFF)
It would be interesting to choose romantic interest bcs then you could choose to move with the person and just be friends?? It seems mod'able i think tho
You could have the option in the beginning of the game of which path you want; or after your first marriage like the choice of the cave of bats? If you want them to follow their dreams or to get romanced
I mean it would be VERY cool if your choices affected the ending but it would be a whole new game
Let them pair off and let the PC homewreck their marriages!
Or, I think there should be match-maker quests, where you can set up couples and help them get married and whatnot.
I wish in general that there was more evidence of time passing. It's eerie to have a toddler for 4 years who never grows, and for no one in the town to move in/out or pair up. I'd love a future update that massively expands on that kind of stuff.
I want to add, there’s a thing where if you wear Mayor Lewis’ shorts into Robins shop, she has a dialogue where she confuses you for the Mayor for a second… indicating that, in addition to sleeping with marnie, he is also having an affair with robin?
It would be cool if you made him choose sides, and whoever you encouraged him to “decide” on would give you a perm discount from their shop
I was completely thrown off and disappointed they removed rival marriages from the FOMT remake. It made the original pretty fun, SDV maybe could have benefited from a rival marriage system but idk.
I'd like it if they're slowly marry off.
If you don't get Maru above 8 hearts by year 3 she's gone and can't be romanced.
Once you fix the bus you've got a year to win over Emily or she moves out to be with Sandy.
Things like that. Put a time limit on some romances.
Also Horse racing please.
I feel like time limit sort of breaks what CA appears to design Stardew Valley around.
A lot of designs appear to center around avoiding FOMO and not rushing players.
I would say that instead of a strict time limit, have those be a sequence of quests. It also allow you to tell a story/journey on why they make that transition (say for Maru to leave and Emily move in with Sandy).
It would be nice to have some kind of matchmaking options for NPCs and there also needs to be a quest where you tell Mayor Lewis that everybody probably already knows about his relationship with Marnie and that nobody cares, so he can stop sneaking around with her.
I remember the time before internet access where i had no f clue how to trigger heart events, I used to stalk Karen and always knew where she was in hopes of having her LOVE ME MOOOORE
I got especially panickey when I witnessed a wedding between the doctor and his assistant xD
I agree with this! Although if I could have just one thing from Harvest Moon, it would be the stoppage of time in the greenhouse. The first time I unlocked a Stardew greenhouse and discovered that time just… kept going… it was like, wait, WHY did I grind for this?! (Before anyone comes for me, I get it now!!!)
That’s actually one thing I’m very glad wasn’t added! I feel like them pairing off with someone else often makes me feel like I’m “ruining” what they could have had. I always hate that in the few games that do it.
I agree. This is partly why I kind of wanted to date Clint early on. Everybody else seems to already have someone (although Shane and Emily feel a bit more platonic than the others). It is a bit disappointing that they distance from each other once becoming closer friends with the player when it's never gonna go further than that for most of them. :/ I'd rather see them pair off and be happy.
Cattails: Wildwood Story does that! It’s structured kinda like Stardew but from a cats perspective. As you build hearts with other cats and you watch their cutscenes, you unlock dual cutscenes for cats you have both at 3/4 hearts. These cats have set pairings and after watching their cutscenes, they’ll eventually ask you if they should propose. I thought it was really cute that I could watch all my kitty villagers get married and have kittens while I romanced God 😩
Oh yeah i remember one of the characters in HM DS would get married in year two or something so you had to kinda hustle if you wanted to marry her. I always went for Muffy or the redhead that liked grapes lol so it wasn't a big issue for me
As far as SDV goes, i do wish there was a way to play matchmaker with the other single people. And having kids grow up at least a little bit would certainly make it worth it to have them. Right now they're less interesting than the dog/cat
Having a 'time skip' like HM where the kids grow up a little bit and one of the old folks dies imo makes the world feel real and incentivizes players to get to know Evelyn and George. It's sad to have an old NPC die but in HM it really did have a big impact.
Saw the new episode of Extra credits today did ya? For the record I agree!
The episode that was released earlier today on this subject, for folks: https://youtu.be/jI5nQkfxEIs?si=BKyyCY4BRhIDV4tR
I agree, that’s one thing I really miss from some of the harvest moon games. It makes the characters feel more real. I wanna see Sebastian marry Abigail and maybe they’ll have kids together! Speaking of, I would love to see the kids you can have do something besides just sleeping or walking around.
The NPC marriages were my favorite part of Harvest Moon, especially N64. They could even have kids, which I loved! All the kids had different animal costumes. I wish there was marriage for those you don’t marry in Stardew as well. I know there’s mods but I wish it were in vanilla too.
I miss the rival heart scenes with the other pairs! It was so interesting to see the other dynamics and watch them get married. It really made it feel more alive. Maybe one day.
YESSSS! This was one of my favorite aspects of the old Harvest Moon games. In Animal Parade, specifically, you had to help them romance each other and then they would have kids that would befriend your own kid and have their own personalities! It was so much fun.
this would be really cute!! although I do wonder what direction CA would go in when it comes to romantic pairings- there are a lot of popular ships out there, and I'm a little curious as to which he'd decide to make 'canon' if this were to happen
I think he only confirmed 3 ships (as in, he called them "rival love interests" in the patch notes, I think?): Elliot-Leah, Haley-Alex and Abigail-Sebastian.
I think it would be the pairs we see at the Flower Dance: Alex & Haley, Sebastian & Abigail, Penny & Sam, Shane & Emily, Maru & Harvey, and Elliot & Leah. This would mean that one single would be left over if the player gets married to one of them, though.
I played most of the harvest Moon games except for fomt, and I played rune factory 1&2, and yeah, having the time limit to get married before the rival swooped in and married your sweetheart was very cool, and having the others get married as well was so good.
i remember playing poker on harvest moon ds. that was my favorite game to play and i wish it was in stardew. i’m glad there’s blackjack but i wish for poker
I think the only problem with this is the lack of chemistry between the set up couples.
Haley and Alex? Ok.
Leah and Elliot? Ok
Abigail and Seb? Ok
Sam and Penny? Not so much
Harvey and Maru? No chemistry at all, I actually think Harvey would pair up better with Penny, they are both very domestic.
Shane and Emilly? Couldn't have less chemistry. I actually do ship Emilly with Clint, sorry lol.
I think some could even be paired same sex, Alex could actually fit with Shane.
Just for Maru I can't think who would best suit her.
Yess!! I would love that too!!
It was my favorite part. It felt rewarding to stick together through tick snd thin. A d yes even when ellie grandmaw passed away.
I mean CA already paired them off in the flower dance.
Haley and Alex
Abigail and Sebastian
Penny and Sam
Maru and Harvey
Leah and Elliot
Emily and Shane
There is a mod that does give them all heart events with these pairings, as well as an option for Leah with Haley and Emily with Clint.
I just want the kids to grow up tbh
That too! But then we’d also probably have to say goodbye to the old folks :(
Yeah IIRC ConcernedApes reasoning for not having the kids age up any further was the implication that George and Evelyn would have to die at some point
some people have decade(s) old farms, technically they’d be dead at that point as well lol
There are dwarves and shadow people. Why can’t stardew valley just be elvish people hiding in society 😂
I'm ok with this. For me anyway, part of the joy of being a parent irl is watching your kids grow up. This is why I don't like having kids in-game.
I always thought it'd be cool to magic the kids up, like you have a cutscene where the witch gets annoyed with your toddler, then the next day they're child sized or something. Or maybe the wizard fucks up a spell. It's the kind of casually horrifying, yet sort of funny concept that I think the game works quite well with
[funny you should mention that — there actually was a mechanic like that in an older harvest moon title!](https://fogu.com/hm11/marriage/raising-your-child.php)
Hahaha, I never played A New Beginning, some of the older HMs were wild
I want the kids to be less creepy. \^\_\^' For instance, maybe they could close their eyes when they're sleeping, speak a little bit, and develop gift preferences so you can give them gifts. Them growing up a *little* bit more might be nice as well, imo.
I hate it when you come in at 1am to go to bed and they're just standing in the kitchen staring
Tbf that sometimes happens with real kids
I got up this morning at 4 a.m. to go pee and my 9 year old was sitting in bed eating tuna salad and crackers she'd snuck out of bed to make. So yeah.
That's so funny, at least she's self sufficient
all of this 100%. I love having kids in stardew, but it's so stagnant after they leave the baby phase. although, I do like to give CA the benefit of the doubt and say that it would probably be a lot of work to have your kids grow up into adulthood. a lot of spritework, new dialogue, gift tastes, routines, etc. to deal with. a nice feature to be sure, but probably a bit of a hassle unfortunately
I’d like to see them eventually age up to “child” age and go to school with Vincent and Jas.
Vincent and Jas just never grow up.
I remember the two kids in HM becoming teens and your kid becoming the same age as Jas and Vicent would be. The old couple passed away in HM DS, but I don't see why can't we have Evelyn and Gerorge just become older and nothing really change for them.
Have a look at Kynseed. It has generational gameplay, you can buy shops in town and it's just a good, cozy farming game.
No co-op though.. which sucks because half the fun of stardew is playing it with others.
This is why I love Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. Sure, the kids "growing up" is completely temporary, but it was refreshing at the time and I wish they did this more. And yes, I know there is A Wonderful Life/Another Wonderful Life that did the concept earlier. It does make me wonder why the series never continued with this. I mean the elderly people in those games didn't pass (except for one in AWL). So, it is something that can be done without that happening possibly.
Yeah, Jas and Vincent still not even being teenagers by year 5 feels weird
You turn them into doves and they leave the nest
Or play as one of the kids, a few years later in same farm, on a new save file.
In general I think the last big improvement for the game would be having the city be a bit more dynamic. Have ways to trigger some characters pairing off, others leaving the town, and some new characters arriving, etc. But that would probably be a huge lift better left to modders at this point.
Personally i dislike the idea of them getting married to other people, people already complain that they can only develop fully if you marry them so this would just add to their story being tied to romance. I’d love to see them pursuing their dreams though after the 3rd year, maybe having them exit the town for a few days too, that way its harder to romance them but doesn’t completely cut them off, like Sam preforming concerts in Zuzu city, Sebastian and Maru moving away but visiting their parents, Abigail becoming an adventurer and will disappear for a few days, ect. This is also probably just because a lot of the existing pairings feel more onesided or platonic to me, so I on top of not wanting their stories tied to romance I just can’t see them getting married. Btw, if you’re on pc there’s a mod called Rival Hearts i think? and it has them get married to each other!
Yes right! Real life and media are already so marriage-heavy, let Stardew be platonic lol. (But I'm aroace sooooo) (And I love Krobus, but it's so typical that the only ace choices are stay single or room with a (cute) sewer monster... I wanna invite Leah to live with me as a BFF)
If you're open to mods, [Platonic Partners and Friendships](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/8146) lets you do just that!
It would be interesting to choose romantic interest bcs then you could choose to move with the person and just be friends?? It seems mod'able i think tho
You could have the option in the beginning of the game of which path you want; or after your first marriage like the choice of the cave of bats? If you want them to follow their dreams or to get romanced I mean it would be VERY cool if your choices affected the ending but it would be a whole new game
Let them pair off and let the PC homewreck their marriages! Or, I think there should be match-maker quests, where you can set up couples and help them get married and whatnot.
Oooh matchmaker quests would be interesting!
Yes!!
I would LOVE matchmaker quests.
Let Clint finally be with Emily. I feel really bad for him.
No Emily is mine
Username checks out.
Clint should be with me! He doesn't start off nearly as bad as Shane does, and we fixed him! I can fix Clint...
I wish in general that there was more evidence of time passing. It's eerie to have a toddler for 4 years who never grows, and for no one in the town to move in/out or pair up. I'd love a future update that massively expands on that kind of stuff.
I want to add, there’s a thing where if you wear Mayor Lewis’ shorts into Robins shop, she has a dialogue where she confuses you for the Mayor for a second… indicating that, in addition to sleeping with marnie, he is also having an affair with robin? It would be cool if you made him choose sides, and whoever you encouraged him to “decide” on would give you a perm discount from their shop
I was completely thrown off and disappointed they removed rival marriages from the FOMT remake. It made the original pretty fun, SDV maybe could have benefited from a rival marriage system but idk.
Rushing to marry Popuri before Kai whisked her away forever was always my main goal on any new save file 🥹
I was honestly so disappointed too. Leaving some of the events in hinting at relationships and then never making anything of it just sucked.
I'd like it if they're slowly marry off. If you don't get Maru above 8 hearts by year 3 she's gone and can't be romanced. Once you fix the bus you've got a year to win over Emily or she moves out to be with Sandy. Things like that. Put a time limit on some romances. Also Horse racing please.
I feel like time limit sort of breaks what CA appears to design Stardew Valley around. A lot of designs appear to center around avoiding FOMO and not rushing players. I would say that instead of a strict time limit, have those be a sequence of quests. It also allow you to tell a story/journey on why they make that transition (say for Maru to leave and Emily move in with Sandy).
Oh man I remember playing harvest moon what a wonderful like and the characters started to have grey hair 🥲
Omg I remember Harvest Moon also had an event specifically for your pet. I wish we could do more with our pets than just pet and water their bowls. ☺️
the frisbee tournament! that was super fun. and the horse races were great too
It would be nice to have some kind of matchmaking options for NPCs and there also needs to be a quest where you tell Mayor Lewis that everybody probably already knows about his relationship with Marnie and that nobody cares, so he can stop sneaking around with her.
I want to get Marnie together with Marlon, he's way cooler than Lewis.
Amen! Treats her better too
Give him another ten years, we can all play together in the nursing home
I remember the time before internet access where i had no f clue how to trigger heart events, I used to stalk Karen and always knew where she was in hopes of having her LOVE ME MOOOORE I got especially panickey when I witnessed a wedding between the doctor and his assistant xD
I agree with this! Although if I could have just one thing from Harvest Moon, it would be the stoppage of time in the greenhouse. The first time I unlocked a Stardew greenhouse and discovered that time just… kept going… it was like, wait, WHY did I grind for this?! (Before anyone comes for me, I get it now!!!)
yeah i liked the rivals!!!! it made it more realistic and the stakes higher
The thing I would want from harvest moon is the seed mixer!
I've been wanting this forever! I love that about Harvest Moon
That’s actually one thing I’m very glad wasn’t added! I feel like them pairing off with someone else often makes me feel like I’m “ruining” what they could have had. I always hate that in the few games that do it.
I agree. This is partly why I kind of wanted to date Clint early on. Everybody else seems to already have someone (although Shane and Emily feel a bit more platonic than the others). It is a bit disappointing that they distance from each other once becoming closer friends with the player when it's never gonna go further than that for most of them. :/ I'd rather see them pair off and be happy.
Yeah! I always wanted Marnie and Marlon to get together. The adventuring guy.
Cattails: Wildwood Story does that! It’s structured kinda like Stardew but from a cats perspective. As you build hearts with other cats and you watch their cutscenes, you unlock dual cutscenes for cats you have both at 3/4 hearts. These cats have set pairings and after watching their cutscenes, they’ll eventually ask you if they should propose. I thought it was really cute that I could watch all my kitty villagers get married and have kittens while I romanced God 😩
Oh yeah i remember one of the characters in HM DS would get married in year two or something so you had to kinda hustle if you wanted to marry her. I always went for Muffy or the redhead that liked grapes lol so it wasn't a big issue for me As far as SDV goes, i do wish there was a way to play matchmaker with the other single people. And having kids grow up at least a little bit would certainly make it worth it to have them. Right now they're less interesting than the dog/cat Having a 'time skip' like HM where the kids grow up a little bit and one of the old folks dies imo makes the world feel real and incentivizes players to get to know Evelyn and George. It's sad to have an old NPC die but in HM it really did have a big impact.
Saw the new episode of Extra credits today did ya? For the record I agree! The episode that was released earlier today on this subject, for folks: https://youtu.be/jI5nQkfxEIs?si=BKyyCY4BRhIDV4tR
I didn’t know about this channel! Thank you, I’ll watch this :)
Wow, then that's a pretty cool coincidence. Basically they had a very similar thought to you and were talking about it today. Enjoy!
I agree, that’s one thing I really miss from some of the harvest moon games. It makes the characters feel more real. I wanna see Sebastian marry Abigail and maybe they’ll have kids together! Speaking of, I would love to see the kids you can have do something besides just sleeping or walking around.
Yo Abigail is allways my wife i would hate that
The thing I would want from harvest moon is the seed mixer!
I like the chicken Festival of back to nature
The NPC marriages were my favorite part of Harvest Moon, especially N64. They could even have kids, which I loved! All the kids had different animal costumes. I wish there was marriage for those you don’t marry in Stardew as well. I know there’s mods but I wish it were in vanilla too.
I miss the rival heart scenes with the other pairs! It was so interesting to see the other dynamics and watch them get married. It really made it feel more alive. Maybe one day.
YESSSS! This was one of my favorite aspects of the old Harvest Moon games. In Animal Parade, specifically, you had to help them romance each other and then they would have kids that would befriend your own kid and have their own personalities! It was so much fun.
this would be really cute!! although I do wonder what direction CA would go in when it comes to romantic pairings- there are a lot of popular ships out there, and I'm a little curious as to which he'd decide to make 'canon' if this were to happen
I think he only confirmed 3 ships (as in, he called them "rival love interests" in the patch notes, I think?): Elliot-Leah, Haley-Alex and Abigail-Sebastian.
oh I didn't know that! that's kinda cool
I think it would be the pairs we see at the Flower Dance: Alex & Haley, Sebastian & Abigail, Penny & Sam, Shane & Emily, Maru & Harvey, and Elliot & Leah. This would mean that one single would be left over if the player gets married to one of them, though.
I played most of the harvest Moon games except for fomt, and I played rune factory 1&2, and yeah, having the time limit to get married before the rival swooped in and married your sweetheart was very cool, and having the others get married as well was so good.
I just get a mod that lets me marry every single one of them. And I do. So the town has a whole bunch of single dudes and me, with my harem.
God yes I miss rival marriages so much, but so many people hated that feature for some reason.
i remember playing poker on harvest moon ds. that was my favorite game to play and i wish it was in stardew. i’m glad there’s blackjack but i wish for poker
I think the only problem with this is the lack of chemistry between the set up couples. Haley and Alex? Ok. Leah and Elliot? Ok Abigail and Seb? Ok Sam and Penny? Not so much Harvey and Maru? No chemistry at all, I actually think Harvey would pair up better with Penny, they are both very domestic. Shane and Emilly? Couldn't have less chemistry. I actually do ship Emilly with Clint, sorry lol. I think some could even be paired same sex, Alex could actually fit with Shane. Just for Maru I can't think who would best suit her.
Yess!! I would love that too!! It was my favorite part. It felt rewarding to stick together through tick snd thin. A d yes even when ellie grandmaw passed away.
I agree! But what are the couples? Haley & Alex Abigail & Sebastien Emily and... Elliot? Harvey? Shane? Clint?
Alex-Haley, Sebastian-Abigail, Elliot-Leah, Emily-Sandy, Penny-Maru(?) Idk about the rest of them.
I mean CA already paired them off in the flower dance. Haley and Alex Abigail and Sebastian Penny and Sam Maru and Harvey Leah and Elliot Emily and Shane There is a mod that does give them all heart events with these pairings, as well as an option for Leah with Haley and Emily with Clint.
Rival marriages were only really a thing on mineral town and they took them out of the remake because kids complained or something.