Help with Stardew Valley type game

Sorry this is long... (And my notepad app adds extra end lines when copy-pasted)

So recently I've been drawing up plans for and creating the art/code/menus screens/etc for my very own farming rpg. Honestly I had the idea to do this before I even heard of Stardew Valley (I got it from a very basic farming rpg in Google Play)



I want the game to have soul- original characters with their own little stories and made-up locations with histories of their own. Pretty much like Stardew, except with each player's game being more unique.



After I found out about Stardew and played it, I pretty much gave up the idea of making a farming RPG. Barone's just done it too well.



Of course I want the game to be unique, it's own thing. I figure if I have enough unique mechanics in the game, it would be totally different and it wouldn't even have to be compared.

Recently, however, I've gone back to thinking there's no point in making this game inside Stardew Valley's shadow. Then I came up with an idea for an infinite map with procedural generation. Maybe that's out of my league, maybe not.



I categorized every level of difference I could think of between Stardew, my current plans for the game, and a very different game based on an infinite, procedurally generated map.



Lv.1 (Stardew Valley 1.0) the map is pretty static- only caves and maybe the trees/grass/rocks on the farm are randomly generated



Lv.2 (Stardew Valley 1.1) There are several farm layouts to choose from



Lv.3 The layout of the farm is randomly generated



Lv.4 The town's/towns' buildings are randomly shuffled around. For example: in one player's game, the town hall would be located in the North and in another player's game the town hall is South/West



Lv.5 Each NPC has a randomized name and/or gender and/or appearance but still have the same role (baker, shop owner, blacksmith, etc)



Lv.6 (The/Each) town is procedurally generated (terrain, roads, buildings, etc) but still contains the same NPCs/structures at random locations



Lv.7 The entire game map is randomly generated but forced to include: a big enough farm and all of the stores/houses/etc



(This could include a set number of locations that would include buildings close together (such as small villages) so that buildings aren't just oddly thrown ab

thought

v. 8 The same as #7 except the map is much bigger and there's a redundancy of NPCs and their respective buildings (so there might be 2 seed stores with varying prices or that sell different stuff or are open different times)



Lv.9 imagine: a procedurally generated and infinite 2D world, where NPCs are procedurally generated from appearance and name to good/evil alignment and magical ability. The player starts off in a small cabin/truck bed/tent with a small plot of land to farm and the wilderness all around them. They start with a few seeds, a couple hundred coins, and basic tools (or maybe they have the gather resources and craft a tool and find wild seeds). If the player explorers a bit, they're likely to run into an NPC establishment such as: an evil witch named Koren who dabbles in fire magic (avoid her), a nomad selling wares or offering a quest, a small -randomly generated in size, location and content- village where you can sell the wild rye you grew and use the money to buy some strawberry seeds from Garth, the local seed seller and chat up Abigail, the local cutie.



Why not add some zombies at night? Slimes that attempt to eat your crops when you're not looking? Caves you can explorer and mine in?



Next you buy more land to build a bigger farm, and luckily it's close to a large town.



Later you can build a bigger house, a pig pen, traps for those berry-loving slimes. Then you can finally propose to Abigail, get married, have 2 kids, etc.



As you can tell, I want to go with option 9. The problem is: as far as I can tell, there's little-to-no reason for a player to travel past the point where they've found each NPC they need to buy from/sell to/marry/etc. This makes having infinite worlds, which is the leading game mechanic, extremely pointless.



Additionally, option 9 completely takes away from the hand-crafted storylines and characters present in Stardew Valley, which appear to be why people play farming RPGs.



There's always option 10: give up.



It seems like Barone has maximized the potential for this genre and no indie developer/team can pull off something worth playing when there's Stardew.



Maybe Stardew Players want a taste of something new but similar- and not as bad as all those other farming RPGs.



What do you think? Should I keep developing something in the lv.3-6 range? Should I try putting the ninth idea into play? Or should I just give up and find a new hobby?

If you want: use the poll below for which option you feel you'd be most interested in playing.

 

Well first of all, option 10 is clearly the worst. Don't pick that one.
Just because Stardew Valley exists, doesn't mean your game can't also. I mean, Harvest Moon existed before Stardew Valley, right?

I like your option 9, it has me thinking of a game with much the same feel as early minecraft, or don't starve.
As far as getting the player to continue playing in the "late game" goes, I think games like Stardew, Minecraft, and Sea of Thieves prove that people will keep playing even after they've completed whatever "story" exists in your game, as long as you make your core gameplay loop compelling.

 

Echoing above - don't give up. This genre is actually super popular but under-represented in the market. I mean, the big ones are Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing - and then Stardew Valley came around.

My tip would be to try to do your own thing. Stick to the theme, but try to add something fresh. I mean, I picked up Slime Rancher a while back and I never thought I'd pour so many hours into such a (relatively) simple concept - but it was unique for what it did, even though there's not much variety in the gameplay itself.
Build the skeleton and add what you want later. I'd make sure that everything is prepared for additional mechanics and add-ons but aim for what you feel is within the possible limits. When you build it, you'll no doubt think of other things to add (and remove stuff you thought would be great but didn't turn out as expected.

Remember that you don't have to compete with Stardew Valley - you can build something that's entirely it's own.

 

@Habitablaba @Jacob_Unity Thanks so much for your replies. Just because of them, I'll probably end up making my own farming RPG.

First, however, I'm planning to make (or rather finish):
1. an advanced rule tile asset that lets you compare a tile against other tiles and change the advanced rule tile's sprite accordingly
2. a very advanced tile game engine that includes multiplayer implementation, efficient and non-repetitive level storage, 100% customizable (by the dev] player inventories/chest/loot boxes and TONS of other features that allow each developer to make a completely different game but with a ton of the work done for them

Then I'd be able to sell those on the asset store as well as use them in my game.
I'm mostly done with the whole Advanced Rule Tile thing. The Editor GUI stuff is taking time.

 

@BeanBug it's funny how you can stumble across old forum posts from a simple google search. I'm brand new to Unity, over the past few months I have taught myself C# using a SoloLearn course, and have done every Brackey's tutorial I could find on youtube. I've recently been fleshing out a concept for a farming RPG as well, and It's amazing how similar my thought process was to your own.

Reading this post has inspired me to also not give up and also give it a go. I'd love to learn more about your Rule Tile system if that's still something you've considered- I would be happy to be a customer!

Good luck with your projects!

 

Oh man, I've got a whole stack of paper towels with my idea something like that. I always loved Harvest Moon and after Stardew Valley came out I eventually just started jotting like a mad man intent on doing it better.

Edit: My ideas eventually became so grandiose I didn't even know what I had anymore so I put it on the back burner until I can do 2d. It hurts my brain for some reason, which is kinda tragic.

 

I've actually created a kit to help kickstart the creation of these types of games, maybe it will help you:

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/rpg-farming-kit-121080

 

First of all, I want to say I totally feel your struggle when you say you had an idea for a game, before someone else made a similar game. This has happened to me far too often over the years. ^^;

On another note: I personally didn't care much for Stardew Valley. To the point where I'd love to create my own farming rpg, just so I could do it differently from Stardew. Basically taking everything I liked about the game, and removing everything I did not like. It would be very easy for me to come up with ideas, since I know exactly what I do and don't want.

So yeah, as others mentioned: It's a good idea to think of new things to add to your game. (Things that weren't in Stardew.) But I think it's also important to think about what you'd like to remove or replace from the Stardew formula. Was there anything you didn't like about Stardew? Anything you think could be improved? Cause if you only add, and not change, your game will end up feeling more like an extension to Stardew, with a "fresh coat of paint," rather than it's own original take on the genre.