How To Play Stardew Valley (With Pictures)

stardewvalleygallery.blogspot.com - Stardew Valley is a roleplay life simulation game focused on country life in Pelican Town. There are many different aspects to Stardew Valley, from simple farming to helping out local forest spirits. With all these different aspects of the game, it can be difficult to get started, especially if it is your first time playing. This article shows you some of the basics of farm life to help you get started playing Stardew Valley.

Creating a New Farm

Open Stardew Valley. Stardew Valley can be opened in a few ways, depending on what device you are playing on.

If you're playing on a computer, you can use the search bar to search for Stardew Valley, or you can find and click on the pixelated chicken icon on your desktop. If you use Steam to play Stardew Valley, open your Steam library, click on Stardew Valley, and press Play.

If you're playing on a console, you can open it in a few different ways. If you downloaded it from the console's game store, locate it in the game library on your console. If you have a physical copy of the game, put it into your console and find it in the game library.

If you're playing on a mobile device, find the Stardew Valley icon on your homescreen or in your app library. The icon is a pixelated chicken with a starry blue gradient background.

Click on the 'New' button. Once the main menu loads, locate the button at the bottom of the screen that says New. It will also have a small green sprout on it. Click it to create a new game.

Create your character. The first thing you do when creating a new game is create a character. You can pick your name, your farm name, your favorite thing, and customize the appearance of your character using a variety of sliders and buttons. The display in the top left corner shows what your farmer looks like while you're customizing them.

Enter your name, farm name, and favorite thing in their respective text fields. Your name is what characters in the game will refer to you as, and your farm name is what they will call your farm. When entering the farm name, there is no need to add 'farm' at the end of it, as the game automatically calls it "(name) farm".

What you enter as your favorite thing won't affect the gameplay too much. It will only be used in a few dialogue boxes later on.

Choose your gender. Below the character display are a mars and venus symbol. You can pick the mars symbol to be a male, or the venus symbol to be a female. If you pick male, the game will refer to you with he/him pronouns, and if you pick female, it'll refer to you with she/her pronouns.

Pick which animal you want. Underneath the text field for your favorite thing are some arrows, a cat icon, and text that says Animal Preference. Click on the arrows to change what animal you will have. Look at the animal icon as you click the arrows and stop on the animal you want.

Use the sliders to change your eye, hair, and pants color. Below the animal preference spot are some color sliders next to text that says what they're for. Move the sliders around to change the color of your eyes, hair, and pants. Look at the character display to see the changes.

Click the arrows to change your skin color, hair, shirt, pants, and accessories. To the left of the color sliders are some arrows that can change aspects of your character. Text that goes along with the arrows tells you what the arrows change. Click the arrows to change aspects about your character, and watch the character display to see the changes.

Select your farm type. On the right of the character creation menu are some icons depicting different types of farms. Each farm has different layouts and features to them, and you can hover over the icons to see a short description of the farm types. Click on the type you want to select it. Below is a list of the farms and some of their features.

Standard farm - Has a lot of open space, good for beginners and those who want to focus on farming or designing a farm.

Riverland farm - Has lots of rivers and different islands connected by bridges. Not a lot of space for farming, but you can catch river fish in the water.

Forest farm - Not a lot of space for farming, but you can find seasonal forage items around the farm, as well as regenerating hardwood stumps.

Hill-top farm - Not a lot of space for farming, but there is a mineral deposit which spawns rocks, minerals, gemstones, and geodes occasionally. There is also a river running through the farm where you can catch river fish.

Wilderness farm - Lots of space for farming, but at night monsters will spawn.

Four corners farm - This farm has 4 distinct corners that resemble some of the other farm types. The top right is like the standard farm, it has space for farming. The top left is like the forest farm. The bottom right is like the hill-top farm, it has a small quarry where minerals and rocks spawn. The bottom left is like the riverland farm, it has a small pond where fish can be caught.

Beach farm - Lots of space for farming. However, sprinklers don't work on the sand. Ocean fish and foragables can be caught and foraged here. Sometimes supply crates filled with good loot wash up on the shore.

Change advanced game options (optional). In the bottom left corner of the character creation menu is a button with a tool bar. You can click it to access the advanced game options menu, where you can change some aspects of the game. However, if this is your first time playing, you may not want to change a whole lot about the game at first. The menu contains the following options:

'Community center - There are 2 options to change the community center. First, there is a drop down box where you can choose to keep the original community center bundles or remix them. Remixing the bundles replaces them with different bundles than the originals. You can also check a box to make the community center guaranteed to be able to be completed in the first year.

Mine rewards - There is a drop down box where you can choose to keep the original mine rewards or remix them. Remixing the mine rewards will give you different loot from chests in the mines.

Multiplayer options - There are 2 options for multiplayer. First, you can choose how many cabins you want starting out. The amount of cabins will decide how many players can join your farm at a time. Then, you can choose how close together the cabins will be. You can have them be near each other or have them be more separate.

Other options - There are a few other options you can choose. There is a check box you can click to make it so that, at night, monsters will spawn on your farm. There is also a drop down box that changes the profit margin, or the multiplier that is applied when you sell items in the game.

Choose if you want to skip the intro or not. Towards the bottom right of the character creation menu is a checkbox that says "Skip intro". If you want to skip the introductory cutscene in the beginning of the game, click the checkbox to do so. If you don't, leave it empty.

If this is your first time playing the game, it is recommended that you watch the intro cutscene.

Click the 'Ok' button. Once you're done customizing your character and farm, click on the Ok button in the bottom right of the character creation menu to start your game.

Watch the intro cutscene. If you chose to watch the cutscene at the beginning, simply watch through it until it ends. The cutscene starts out with a scene of your grandpa giving you a letter, and ends with you arriving at Stardew Valley.

Getting Started

Understand the basic controls. You'll be using these controls a lot, so it's important to understand the different controls and what they do.

Computer controls Use the W, A, S, and D keys to move. Left click to use tools and place items, and right click to interact with things. Press Escape or E to open and close the menu. Press F to open the journal, M to open the map, ⇧ Shift to run, and Tab ↹ to shift the toolbar. Use the number keys, -, and to select different inventory slots.

Xbox controls - Use the left joystick and D-pad to walk or run. Use the right joystick to move the mouse cursor. Press 'start', 'menu', or 'B' to open and close the menu. Press 'back' or 'view' to open the journal, 'A' to interact with things, 'X' to use tools, 'Y' to open the crafting menu, LT and RT to switch items, and LB and RB to shift the toolbar.

PS4 controls - Use the left joystick or D-pad to walk or run. Use the right joystick to move the cursor. Press 'options' or circle to open and close the menu, the touchpad to open the journal, 'X' to interact with things, square to use tools, triangle to open the crafting menu, L2 and R2 to switch items, and L1 and R1 to shift the toolbar.

Nintendo Switch controls - Use the left joystick or D-pad to walk or run. Use the right joystick to move the cursor. Press the plus button or 'B' to open and close the menu, the minus button to open the journal, 'A' to interact with things, 'Y' to use tools, 'X' to open the crafting menu, ZL and ZR to switch items, and L and R to shift the toolbar.

Learn how your energy bar works. In the bottom right corner of your screen is a green bar that represents your energy levels. As you do things like break rocks and cut trees, your energy bar will slowly deplete. If it completely runs out, you'll become exhausted, which slows down your movement speed.

If you continue to use tools when exhausted, you'll get negative energy. When the bar reaches -15 energy, you'll pass out. Passing out outside your house can result in you losing up to 1,000g.

You can restore energy by eating some foods. Not all foods are good, however. Some can deplete energy. Hover over the food in your inventory to see if it restores energy or not. Then, if you want to eat it, hold it in your hand and use it. The game will ask you if you want to eat the food, just click Yes to eat it.

Energy is also restored by sleeping. You'll normally replenish all your energy if you go to bed by 12am. However, if you're exhausted or if you pass out, you'll wake up with 50% energy. You'll also wake up with less energy the longer you stay up past 12am.

Learn how your health bar works. When you're in an area with monsters, like the mines, you'll see a red health bar in the bottom right corner of your screen. When you get attacked by monsters or get damaged in other ways, you'll lose health points. If your health bar reaches 0, you'll pass out and lose up to 5,000g and some random items in your inventory.

If you lose items you want to get back, you can go to the Adventurer's Guild and use their item recovery service. This will only get you back 1 item you lost, however.

Pick up the package of parsnips in your house. After watching the intro cutscene and waking up the next day, you will see a package in your house. Face it, hover over it with your mouse, and right click it to open it. You will receive 15 parsnip seeds from it.

Watch TV. Watching the TV in your house can provide valuable information about the day and game, so you should watch it every day. Face the TV and use it to open a TV menu. Select the show you want to watch, of which there are a few:

Weather report - Reports the weather for the next day. This lets you know about upcoming rainy days, where you don't have to water crops.

Fortune teller - Tells you your daily luck of the day. Luck influences many aspects of the game, from the loot you get from breaking rocks and killing enemies to the amount of crops you harvest.

Livin' off the land - Gives you tips and information about various aspects of farm life. Runs on Mondays and Thursdays.

The Queen of Sauce - Teaches you cooking recipes every Sunday. On Wednesdays, an episode that ran previously will play as a re-run.

Clear a space outside for your crops. After picking up the parsnips, head outside and survey your land. You'll want to clear a space where you can plant your crops. Select a tool in your hotbar, face the thing you want to break, and left click.

Rocks can be broken with a pickaxe, wood logs and trees can be broken with an axe, and grass and weeds can be broken with a scythe.

Craft a chest. Since your inventory space in the beginning is so limited, one of the first things you'll want to do is make a chest to store your items. To make one, you'll need 50 pieces of wood. Chop down trees and break wood logs to get wood. Then, open your inventory and scroll over to the crafting menu. Find the chest icon and press it to make a chest.

To place it, hold the chest and use it on the ground. You can then open it by interacting with it.

Go to Pierre's General Store. If you want to buy more seeds, you can buy them at the general store. After 9am, follow the path around the top right of your farm past the farmhouse. It will first take you to the bus stop, which you'll need to walk through. Then, you'll arrive at Pelican town. Pass by the doctor's office until you see a sign that says Pierre's. Face the doors and enter the shop.

The general store is open from 9am-5pm on every day except Wednesdays.

While traveling there, check the bus stop area for any foragables like daisies or dandelions. If you find any, pick them up. They can be sold, eaten, gifted, donated, and used in many other ways.

If you see any townsfolk while going to the store, talk to them. Introducing yourself to all the townsfolk is a part of one of your first quests.

Buy seeds. Walk up to the main counter and use it to open the shopping menu. Scroll through the menu and buy any seeds you want using your starting money of 500g.

Different seeds produce different crops, and some crops are more valuable than others. Generally, you'll want to buy at least 1 potato, cauliflower, and green bean seed if you want to complete the main 'story'. If you just want money, however, potatoes and cauliflower are the most profitable.

Use the hoe to till dirt. Head back to your farm, select the hoe tool in your hotbar and use it to till 1 dirt tile for each seed you have.

Plant the seeds. Hold the seeds in your hand and use it on the tilled dirt to plant the seeds.

Water the seeds. You'll need to water your seeds every day in order for them to grow. Hold the watering can and use it on the seeds to water them. If done successfully, the ground and seeds will turn darker.

Harvest crops. You'll have to wait a few days before being able to harvest crops, and the amount of days you have to wait depends on the crop. Once the crops are ready, stand in or near them and press the use button to harvest them. You can then sell them, gift them to townsfolk, eat them, or do a variety of other things with them.

Talk to townsfolk. Building relationships with the townsfolk is a big part of Stardew Valley, and while not necessary, it reveals a lot about the town. To talk to the residents of Pelican Town, walk up to them and press the interact button. This will pause time and bring up a dialogue box which you can then go through.

You can usually only talk to them once a day, but they may have multiple dialogue boxes for 1 conversation a day. Interact with the townspeople until they no longer provide any dialogue.

You can also give them gifts. Different people like different things, but generally things like flowers, fruits, vegetables, artisan goods, and gemstones are good gifts that most of them will like. Most of them will hate things like trash, monster loot, and raw materials like stone. There are always exceptions, though, so experiment with giving different gifts to different people.

Making Money

Sell crops. Planting and selling crops is one of the easiest ways to make money early on. Different crops sell for different amounts of money, so some are better to plant than others. You can sell crops you've harvested by putting them in the wooden bin to the right of your farmhouse. When you sleep that night, a menu will appear that will show you how much money you've made from the items you put in there, and you'll get that money the next day.

You can also sell crops directly to Pierre at this general store.

It is recommended that you save a few of each crop for later use. They may be used in quests and recipes later on.

In spring, potatoes and cauliflower are the most lucrative crops to plant and sell. In summer, it's blueberries and melons, and in fall, it's cranberries and pumpkins.

Fish. You can start fishing on day 2, where you'll get a letter from Willy telling you to meet him at the beach. Go to the beach in the south of town before 5pm to get a fishing rod from him. To use the fishing rod, face a body of water while holding it and hold down the use tool button. A bar will appear above you with a moving notch in it showing your progress. Release the button when the notch is on the far right of the bar to cast your rod.

Eventually, while the rod is cast, you'll hear a noise and see an exclamation point above your head. Press the use tool button again to reel it in. This will activate a fishing minigame. You'll see a fish icon move up and down on the minigame menu, and you'll also see your own bar that you can move by pressing the use button. Press and hold the use button and try to stay on the fish until the progress bar on the right fills up completely.

If you find fishing to be too hard, you can buy a training fishing rod from Willy's shop at the beach. This rod will make it somewhat easier to catch fish and will allow you to level up your fishing skill as well. However, you will only be able to catch basic, low quality fish with it.

You can sell any fish you catch directly to Willy at his shop on the beach, or you can put them in the shipping bin.

Try fishing in different areas of the map. You can catch different types of fish in different bodies of water.

Forage for items. Wander around the map and look out for items on the ground that you can pick up. When you see items like this, face them or hover your cursor over them and press the use button to pick them up. You can then put these in the shipping bin or sell them directly to Pierre at his store.

It is recommended that you save a few of each foragable for later use. They can be used later on in quests and recipes.

Mine for resources. After 4 days of playing the game, you will receive a letter in the mail informing you that the mine is now open. The mine is located in the mountains above the lake. When you enter the mines for the first time, you will see a short cutscene with a character named Marlon where you'll receive a rusty sword. You can then enter the first level of the mines using the ladder and begin mining.

The mines are filled with dangerous enemies. You should bring lots of food so you can eat it to heal yourself. You can use your sword to kill these enemies.

You'll find rocks, ores, and even gemstone nodes in the mines. You can use your pickaxe to break them.

To advance in the mines, you'll need to break rocks or kill enemies to find a ladder that leads down to the next level. After every 5 levels you go down, you'll unlock that floor on the mine elevator, which lets you travel directly to them later on.

You'll want to keep most of the resources you obtain from the mines, as they are very useful and used for lots of crafting recipes. However, you can sell extra things you don't want like gems and enemy loot.

Unlocking the Community Center

Enter the town on or after Spring 5th. When the 5th day of Spring comes around, enter town through the bus stop on a sunny day from 8am to 1pm. This will trigger a cutscene with mayor Lewis at the Community Center.

Watch the cutscene. Watching the cutscene will unlock a new quest.

Re-enter the Community Center. After watching the cutscene, go inside the Community Center again. Head over to the room in the lower left of the building, it should have a golden scroll in it.

Interact with the golden scroll. Face the scroll and interact with it. This should open an interface that contains text that can't be deciphered.

Wait until tomorrow morning. After reading the scroll, wait until the next day.

Check your mail. In the morning after visiting the Community Center, you will get a letter from the Wizard inviting you to his tower. Check your mailbox and read the letter.

Go to the Wizard's tower. After reading the letter from the Wizard, head down to Cindersnap forest, the wooded area below your farm. Once in the forest, head west and past the lake. You should see a stone tower around there. Enter the tower.

Watch the cutscene. Entering the Wizard's tower will trigger a cutscene that you will need to watch. In this cutscene, the Wizard will explain that the creatures in the Community Center are junimos. He will give you a potion that lets you read their language.

Go back to the Community Center. After the cutscene with the Wizard, go back to the community center and enter it.

Donate items to the Community Center. Interacting with the golden scroll will show that there are now bundles that require certain items to be completed. You can find and put those items in the bundles to complete them and earn rewards.

You'll need to complete a bundle in the first golden scroll to unlock other scrolls, then complete another bundle to unlock all of them. In total, there are 30 bundles that need to be completed. Completing them all will restore the community center.

Restoring the Community Center takes a long time, you likely won't restore it until late into the 2nd year.

You can also complete the Community Center through JojaMart. Go to the JojaMart on the east side of town and buy a Joja membership from Morris. Talk to him after purchasing the membership to turn the Community Center into a Joja warehouse. This will allow you to talk to Morris again and pay gold to complete developments you'd normally get from donating to bundles.

Building Basic Buildings

Decide what you want to make. While there are many different farm buildings available, generally the first ones you'll want and be able to make are a silo and coop.

It is a good idea to build a silo or 2 first, as they are needed to store hay that is used to feed your animals.

Gather materials. Each farm building requires a different amount of materials and gold to make it. Silos require 100 stone, 10 clay, 5 copper bars, and 100g. Coops require 300 wood, 100 stone, and 4,000g.

Stone can be obtained by mining rocks with a pickaxe or by buying some from Robin's carpenter shop.

Wood can be obtained by chopping down trees and logs on the ground or by buying some from Robin's carpenter shop.

Clay can be obtained by digging up dirt, sand, and artifact spots, or by opening geodes.

Copper bars can be obtained by putting 5 copper ore and 1 coal in a furnace and waiting for it to smelt.

Decide where to put the buildings. Each building takes up a different amount of space. Silos take up a 3x3 space, and coops take up a 6x3 space.

Clear space for the buildings. You'll need to remove all grass, debris, and seeds in the area where you want to place the buildings.

Go to Robin's carpenter shop. Robin's shop is located in the mountains, which you can easily get to by taking the path that goes up from your farm. Head to the left of your farmhouse until you see a path leading up. This will lead to another path that will take you to the mountains, where you will see Robin's house.

The carpentry shop is open from 9am to 5pm on every day except Tuesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays, it is closed, and on Fridays, it closes at 4pm.

Buy buildings. Walk up to the main counter and interact with it while Robin is there. Select Purchase farm buildings to open the building selection menu. Scroll through the building options until you find the one you want. Then, press the button that has a little hammer on it and says Build farm building.

Place the building. After selecting the building you want to buy, you'll be taken to a picture of your farm. Move around the picture of your farm and find the spot where you want to place the farm building, then place it there.

Wait for Robin to build it. Robin will take a few days to completely build the farm buildings. It will take 2 days to make a silo, and 3 to make a coop.