Time auto-freeze on start of new day

[astronautical]

I’m a regular on the Stardew subreddit and I see a lot of people desperately asking if they can rewind several weeks/months in-game because they accidentally left their game running overnight. Would it be possible to maybe implement a freeze on the game time until the player moves out of the bed or something? Or maybe even having a transition screen between days where you have to click to proceed the same way you do when you’ve sold something the previous day?

 

[noobsqoou]

I’m a regular on the Stardew subreddit and I see a lot of people desperately asking if they can rewind several weeks/months in-game because they accidentally left their game running overnight. Would it be possible to maybe implement a freeze on the game time until the player moves out of the bed or something? Or maybe even having a transition screen between days where you have to click to proceed the same way you do when you’ve sold something the previous day?

I was just thinking of this earlier. Perhaps at the very least the game could pause between days whether any items were shipped or not. It could show the date with a few options:

• Save & Continue
• Save & Exit (selecting this gives the following options):
  • Exit to Title
  • Exit to Desktop(?)

 

[Dyanosis]

I mean... you could sell a piece of sap before you go to bed IRL and then put your character to sleep and it'll sit on the sold screen until you continue.

My question is - why the hell are you leaving the game on over night?

 

[Freizeitfarmer]

I mean... you could sell a piece of sap before you go to bed IRL and then put your character to sleep and it'll sit on the sold screen until you continue.

My question is - why the hell are you leaving the game on over night?

It seems enough people do for one reason or another... I could imagine they getting a call, looking for the kids or something alike what takes longer as expected.
Anyway such feature could be an option. And I think its not that hard to implement a general "day billing" even when its null.

 

[Dyanosis]

There's always CJB Cheat Menu that would let you go back to a specific day of a specific month of a specific year. But it won't reset your progress to that day. Not really the point.

 

[stardew_luv]

There's always CJB Cheat Menu that would let you go back to a specific day of a specific month of a specific year. But it won't reset your progress to that day. Not really the point.

But CBJ mods or any mods do not work on mobile where the majority of the people who experience this are.

 

[Dyanosis]

But CBJ mods or any mods do not work on mobile where the majority of the people who experience this are.

Now I'm even more confused. Running a game overnight on PC seems reasonable enough. Running it on mobile (like say a Steam Deck or something) seems weird. Most mobile devices have a screensaver of sorts or some way to put programs to sleep.

 

[noobsqoou]

Now I'm even more confused. Running a game overnight on PC seems reasonable enough. Running it on mobile (like say a Steam Deck or something) seems weird. Most mobile devices have a screensaver of sorts or some way to put programs to sleep.

It’s very common for mobile devices to keep things running in the background by default, even when the screen is locked. I can totally see someone tabbing(?) away from the game or putting their phone down to do something else, only to go back and realize that they burned through a week or two.

 

[Draconifors]

And I think its not that hard to implement a general "day billing" even when its null.

This sounds like a good solution.

I only play on PC, and would never leave the machine running overnight, but I can see how this could be a problem especially on mobile. I know I've forgotten to close phone apps and they've been running in the background for hours (though not overnight).

 

[Quirinea]

Yeah, and whatever device, you can be interrupted and forget or be unable to return in time. Or hit hastily "stop" when you leave, but then something accidentally turns it back running.
I'm playing on PC, but it's happened more than once that Pokemon Go's been running on my phone when I thought I closed it (that luckily just consumes some battery).

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Now I'm even more confused. Running a game overnight on PC seems reasonable enough. Running it on mobile (like say a Steam Deck or something) seems weird. Most mobile devices have a screensaver of sorts or some way to put programs to sleep.

It happens when someone leaves a mobile device with the game running to quickly run an errand or something and you lose say 4-5 days.

I personally think just a toggleable end of day screen would be nice. I don't want to always be forced to click another button to sleep though, especially not on farms I play where half the gameplay is sleeping for stuff.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Considering there's an optional end of day freeze already when you sell something, implementing a toggle to display this after every day should be straightforward (lol I say as a non-programmer), and will likely make exactly 100% of the playerbase happy.

Everyone. Zero complaints. My prediction if implemented.

This seems like an easy win.

 

[Dyanosis]

Yeah, and whatever device, you can be interrupted and forget or be unable to return in time. Or hit hastily "stop" when you leave, but then something accidentally turns it back running.
I'm playing on PC, but it's happened more than once that Pokemon Go's been running on my phone when I thought I closed it (that luckily just consumes some battery).

Pokemon Go is a bit different than SDV. SDV isn't meant to be played in the background with push notifications about things you need to do.

Also, that's the massive problem with Android - you can "close" an app and it's still running because you close the window, not the process.