no oompa loompas in sight
October 22, 2021 1:12 PM Subscribe
ConcernedApe, creator of Stardew Valley, has released the name of his new game: Haunted Chocolatier (article) and some early gameplay footage (direct to youtube).
ConcernedApe and Stardew Valley previously on metafilter:
Stardew Valley 1.5
⚘ “Create. Move on to something else. Go back and re-create.” ⛏
The beauty of Stardew Valley is that you cannot fail and you cannot die.
ConcernedApe and Stardew Valley previously on metafilter:
Stardew Valley 1.5
⚘ “Create. Move on to something else. Go back and re-create.” ⛏
The beauty of Stardew Valley is that you cannot fail and you cannot die.
Thanks for posting this! I got into Stardew earlier this year and love it. Looking forward to this one - the ghosts are adorable.
posted by chaiyai at 1:41 PM on October 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by chaiyai at 1:41 PM on October 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
So, action RPG, with a bit of what looks like restaurant (or retail) management? I'm open to it. ConcernedApe has built up a great deal of goodwill from Stardew Valley, so I'm ready to follow this wherever it goes.
posted by Cash4Lead at 1:43 PM on October 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Cash4Lead at 1:43 PM on October 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
I have Stardew Valley on my phone as a fidget toy, and I'm disappointed in myself by how much time I've spent fiddling with it, and as soon as this is available on mobile I will undoubtedly buy it. I occasionally want to write something about how problematic I find elements of it (like when you discover that the slimes are sentient and friendly to everybody but you, or that you can set the color of the farm workers that you sent back to their place of origin except for those who stay with you in exchange for lodging alone, or rampaging through the baskets and tiled dungeons of what's obviously a very sophisticated civilization for ore), but then here I am, waiting for something IRL and distributing little pixelated gifts to virtual people, once again...
So, yeah, ConcernedApe has got a "I'll buy that sight unseen, but now that I've seen the cuteness..." level of pre-order out of me.
posted by straw at 1:46 PM on October 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
So, yeah, ConcernedApe has got a "I'll buy that sight unseen, but now that I've seen the cuteness..." level of pre-order out of me.
posted by straw at 1:46 PM on October 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
I'm curious to see what it turns into! It's too early to have any real thoughts yet other than "Yay! I can't wait"
posted by JDHarper at 1:56 PM on October 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by JDHarper at 1:56 PM on October 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
I'm really not a fan of the cutesy JRPG-esque aesthetic, but Stardew Valley won me over anyway. It's a pretty incredible achievement as a one-person project.
I'll definitely be interested to see how this one shakes out.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 2:59 PM on October 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'll definitely be interested to see how this one shakes out.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 2:59 PM on October 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
The shop is giving me Recettear vibes and that is not a bad thing at all. Yepperoni!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 5:23 PM on October 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 5:23 PM on October 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
My concern is that I'm getting Mr Qi and Ginger Island vibes off of it, which is probably unwarranted. I just never got good enough at the battle system on the Switch to proceed very deep into either of the endgame dungeons. I mean, it's fine, they're not really central to the game at all, but if this is going to be "beat up monsters for ingredients for chocolates"...
posted by Kyol at 7:48 PM on October 22, 2021
posted by Kyol at 7:48 PM on October 22, 2021
my main worry is that it won’t start with you, the player, being given the factory by an old man who sleeps on a horrible trampoline positioned diagonally in the middle of the living room
no Grandpa’s Fucked-Up Bed, no buy
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:10 PM on October 22, 2021 [10 favorites]
no Grandpa’s Fucked-Up Bed, no buy
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:10 PM on October 22, 2021 [10 favorites]
I occasionally want to write something about how problematic I find elements of it (like when you discover that the slimes are sentient and friendly to everybody but you, or that you can set the color of the farm workers that you sent back to their place of origin except for those who stay with you in exchange for lodging alone, or rampaging through the baskets and tiled dungeons of what's obviously a very sophisticated civilization for ore)
Waaaait--those first two things, sentient slimes and... "farm workers?" I've nearly finished the Community Center for my third time and I don't know what the heck you're talking about. Is this recent "post game" content? By farm workers are you talking about Juminos from the Jumino Hut building? Other than that or multiplayer I have no idea how you get anyone to work on this rectangular sweatshop besides yourself.
posted by JHarris at 2:47 AM on October 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Waaaait--those first two things, sentient slimes and... "farm workers?" I've nearly finished the Community Center for my third time and I don't know what the heck you're talking about. Is this recent "post game" content? By farm workers are you talking about Juminos from the Jumino Hut building? Other than that or multiplayer I have no idea how you get anyone to work on this rectangular sweatshop besides yourself.
posted by JHarris at 2:47 AM on October 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'd like to hear more about sentient slimes in Stardew Velley. From memory you're actively reminded they're dangerous when you get the hutch. The ring stops them damaging you but doesn't stop them from attacking.
posted by Braeburn at 4:46 AM on October 23, 2021
posted by Braeburn at 4:46 AM on October 23, 2021
If you leave a Slime Incubator in town, slimes can hatch there. Whatever code causes NPCs to occasionally greet each other also works on Slimes.
posted by zamboni at 5:45 AM on October 23, 2021
posted by zamboni at 5:45 AM on October 23, 2021
old man who sleeps on a horrible trampoline positioned diagonally in the middle of the living room
From my experience of in house palliative care, weird beds installed in inappropriate rooms is absolutely true to life.
posted by zamboni at 5:58 AM on October 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
From my experience of in house palliative care, weird beds installed in inappropriate rooms is absolutely true to life.
posted by zamboni at 5:58 AM on October 23, 2021 [6 favorites]
Regarding slimes: I have been known to say "hello bird!" or "oh, that's a BIG rat" and that doesn't mean those creatures are sapient or friendly.
Regarding Junimos and labor: my impression is that they were attracted to the Community Center and, late-game, can be attracted to the abandoned warehouse and a hut outside your house if you and/or the Wizard give them the right offerings.
One might as well call putting up pollinator habitat plants to encourage them to hang out in your garden a kind of forced labor in real life. Sure, you're not paying the Junimos in any meaningful way, but you're also not, like, confining them or scheduling their work hours. I suppose the thing where putting gems in the hut on your farm changes Junimo colors could could be read as forcibly magically transmuting them, but I prefer to think about it like filling your birdfeeders with a Finch Mix or Cardinal Mix or whatever and attracting the sort of birds that like that kind of seed.
As far as labor is concerned, I really love the fact that villagers' shops are closed for many hours of the week, villagers take off holidays, and villagers explicitly take medical and family leave. The corporation that runs an open-late, open-early, seven-days-a-week superstore is portrayed as Evil.
I am really truly looking forward to cursing under my breath when I find out that, like, my Icing Specialist is unavailable today because she's taking her son to his annual physical and then they're standing under a tree together for four hours. Good for them.
posted by All Might Be Well at 7:08 AM on October 23, 2021 [18 favorites]
Regarding Junimos and labor: my impression is that they were attracted to the Community Center and, late-game, can be attracted to the abandoned warehouse and a hut outside your house if you and/or the Wizard give them the right offerings.
One might as well call putting up pollinator habitat plants to encourage them to hang out in your garden a kind of forced labor in real life. Sure, you're not paying the Junimos in any meaningful way, but you're also not, like, confining them or scheduling their work hours. I suppose the thing where putting gems in the hut on your farm changes Junimo colors could could be read as forcibly magically transmuting them, but I prefer to think about it like filling your birdfeeders with a Finch Mix or Cardinal Mix or whatever and attracting the sort of birds that like that kind of seed.
As far as labor is concerned, I really love the fact that villagers' shops are closed for many hours of the week, villagers take off holidays, and villagers explicitly take medical and family leave. The corporation that runs an open-late, open-early, seven-days-a-week superstore is portrayed as Evil.
I am really truly looking forward to cursing under my breath when I find out that, like, my Icing Specialist is unavailable today because she's taking her son to his annual physical and then they're standing under a tree together for four hours. Good for them.
posted by All Might Be Well at 7:08 AM on October 23, 2021 [18 favorites]
My head canon is that only slimes spawned in town are sentient, thanks to an enchantment installed by the Wizard. They still hate you because you're the jerk who installed a potentially lethal Slime Incubator in a residential area.
My list of weird Stardew Valley things includes:
My list of weird Stardew Valley things includes:
- In Jas' dollhouse, why is the grandfather toy wedged under the bed?
- Lewis keeping Marnie on the down low. Nobody cares, Mister Mayor. Treat your lady with respect.
JHarris: Yeah, the Junimos.
Braeburn: If you hatch slime eggs in town, the slimes will converse with the townspeople as they walk by (and, not attack them).
posted by straw at 9:19 AM on October 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
Braeburn: If you hatch slime eggs in town, the slimes will converse with the townspeople as they walk by (and, not attack them).
posted by straw at 9:19 AM on October 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
I had no idea about the slime mechanics since I've never messed with slime ranching, or even slime ranching in town (advanced). Or the Junimo gem mechanics. Apparently I've ignored a few parts of the game without meaning to... Oops.
The shadow person thing (the guys you hit around level 80) does become a little dicy when you meet Krobus. I think if you talk to the dwarf in the mine, he talks about wars between shadow people and dwarves. It's not something the game elaborates on much/at all, so I would like to hear more about it in HC if the games' lore intersects there. Until then, I will happily go tearing through baskets. Even if they're mostly only Mixed Seeds anyway, rude.
Come to think of it, the town really has no relationship to mining as industry at all. Nobody mentions having a miner among their ancestors or anything like that. There isn't much of a depot. There's some fun stuff you can do with Doylist reading there.
posted by snerson at 5:10 PM on October 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
The shadow person thing (the guys you hit around level 80) does become a little dicy when you meet Krobus. I think if you talk to the dwarf in the mine, he talks about wars between shadow people and dwarves. It's not something the game elaborates on much/at all, so I would like to hear more about it in HC if the games' lore intersects there. Until then, I will happily go tearing through baskets. Even if they're mostly only Mixed Seeds anyway, rude.
Come to think of it, the town really has no relationship to mining as industry at all. Nobody mentions having a miner among their ancestors or anything like that. There isn't much of a depot. There's some fun stuff you can do with Doylist reading there.
posted by snerson at 5:10 PM on October 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
I've sunk enough hours into Stardew that I definitely feel like I owe ConcernedApe more money. The subreddit for the game is a very friendly place as well.
One of the fascinating things about Stardew is while the world is genuinely warm and kind there actually is all kinds of shit going on in town once you dig into the character dialog. Sure there's the mayor's extracurricular hijinks but that's tame compared to Pam's alcoholism and its effect on her daughter, or Shane's depression/SI, or Abigail's parentage. I've never really explored the AO3 stardew tag but I hope someone has done some juicy fanfic.
posted by Wretch729 at 6:39 AM on October 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
One of the fascinating things about Stardew is while the world is genuinely warm and kind there actually is all kinds of shit going on in town once you dig into the character dialog. Sure there's the mayor's extracurricular hijinks but that's tame compared to Pam's alcoholism and its effect on her daughter, or Shane's depression/SI, or Abigail's parentage. I've never really explored the AO3 stardew tag but I hope someone has done some juicy fanfic.
posted by Wretch729 at 6:39 AM on October 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Oh, and don't forget Kent, the PTSD afflicted veteran of a war no one else will talk about, who keeps sending you bomb parts in the mail. The Stardew world is kind but it also has its dark places.
I get the take on the junimos being problematic but I choose to intepret them more through a mystical Ghibli-esque lens. They're not exploited labor; they're friendly spirits that are repaying me for the favors I offered. (Though I do strongly feel that the game should not allow you to get junimo huts if you go the evil corporate joja path.) The junimos also help me reconcile myself to the idea of the farm being successful: I've read too much Sarah Taber to believe that one person and their spouse can successfully run an ethical and sustainable farm without more people being involved.
posted by Wretch729 at 6:49 AM on October 24, 2021 [4 favorites]
I get the take on the junimos being problematic but I choose to intepret them more through a mystical Ghibli-esque lens. They're not exploited labor; they're friendly spirits that are repaying me for the favors I offered. (Though I do strongly feel that the game should not allow you to get junimo huts if you go the evil corporate joja path.) The junimos also help me reconcile myself to the idea of the farm being successful: I've read too much Sarah Taber to believe that one person and their spouse can successfully run an ethical and sustainable farm without more people being involved.
posted by Wretch729 at 6:49 AM on October 24, 2021 [4 favorites]
I keep waiting for Kent to send me fertilizer in the mail. Then I'll know that shit's gotten real.
posted by straw at 9:25 AM on October 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by straw at 9:25 AM on October 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Fertilizer is Jodi's standard mail gift…
posted by zamboni at 4:00 PM on October 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by zamboni at 4:00 PM on October 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
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