Tristan and Oliver are joined by special guest game designer Ioana-Iulia Cazacu to ponder on the leisurely farm life of Eric ‘Concernedape’ Barone’s masterful Stardew Valley, as they harvest these three bits:
A Fresh Start - Joja Mart’s corporate capitalism versus the leisurely pace of village community life
Casual Pressure - The yearning for a peaceful life, the idealisation of a pastoral life and how the game uses time and character energy to comment on it
Nudging to Explore - How the hands-off game cleverly leverages core loops and collection mechanics to drive natural exploration and discovery

Find us on socials:
3-Bit Design: @3bitdesign
Oliver - @oliverwauters
Tristan - @theatrewalker
Or email - [email protected]

Some references:
Game Design Perspective: Stardew Valley - Game Design Perspectives (article)
The Anatomy of Stardew Valley - JM8, Design Delve (video essay)
How Stardew Valley Was Made by Only One Person - ThatGuyGlen (mini-doc)
Game Design: Stardew Valley and the Farming Genre - Craig Perko (video essay)
How Great Games Do Progression | A Stardew Valley Video Essay - James Likes Games (video essay)
Why Players become obsessed with “farming games”? - Yongcheng Liu, Game Developer (article)
An Objective Analysis of Stardew Valley’s Design - Tan Chong Han Alden, Game Analytics with Lenses and Tools (blog)
Learning to love Stardew Valley’s terrible fishing game - Polygon (video essay)

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