Stardew Valley Shines

Photo from Tiffanie Poust of Stardew Valley.

Stardew Valley is a farming simulator game that goes through different seasons of the year. Some of the game’s features are farming, mining, and even raising cows, chickens, and other animals. This game has a very similar art style to the game Terraria, as they are both pixelated art. This game only has one camera angle and it is a large overview of the character and surrounding areas.

During each season the tree leaves and other plants change color and appearance, which makes it more realistic. The ground color changes as well based on the season. There are shadows based on the lighting, however; shadows really only show up on still objects and other objects that can be moved. The design of the water in the game helps provide a more realistic feel as well, due to the little motions of the water, whether it is a river, lake, pond, or ocean. The lighting is realistic as well and when it begins to get darker out the field of view around the character is diminished as well as the character being able to see better with torches, campfires, and other light sources. A neat little bonus as well is realistically carrying a torch that is lit, as the character provides light when they are holding a torch in the hotbar. The character's clothes and designs feature different colors for clothes and even hat options throughout the game. As well as being able to customize clothing colors, throughout the game there are also little details on the characters so that it is easily recognizable which character is supposed to be male or female, adding baldness, facial hair, and even colored hair into the mix.

The color palette for this game is very warm, with reds, oranges, yellows, and pinks for the most of the year. Certain areas have brighter colors such as on the beach in the game and there is bright yellow sand, sky blue shells and other treasures in the area. The game overall has more neutral and warm colors with pops of other colors coming out in certain areas and certain items loaded with color.