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 - 3bitdesign@gmail.com

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)