Big 1.7 Children Update Wishlist

[Anzasquiddles]

As we know, ConcernedApe has stated that 1.7 will update children to be more "interesting". I myself had just gotten my first fully grown toddler in my current playthrough, and I have a lot of thoughts regarding the children mechanic in this game.

Specifically, I love the idea of having children but I don't like the fact that they don't age past toddler and don't do anything of note (as so many people have pointed out, the only things you can do with children is giving them hats, raising their friendship, or turning them into dove eggs). In this post I've gathered lots of ideas and suggestions on 1.7 children updates I wish to see.

• More children growth/development stages past toddler. The ideal for me is up to elementary/tween-ish age (around the same as Jas and Vincent's ages), though I've seen some community suggestions asking for them to age into fully grown adults so that they can move out etc.
  • I've seen tons of children mods that alter their appearance based on the parents, this can be done for the update.
• The ability to actually interact (talk/give gifts) with your children rather than just clicking on them once per day like you do a pet dog.
  • Children should have unique dialogue when talked to. It can be as simple as "goo goo ga ga" when they're babies/toddlers to full on sentences once they're older.
  • Children needs gifting options and should have their own likes/dislikes.
    • The way this is done can be as simple as in Harvest Moon BTN/FOMT where your children always has the exact same preference for every playthrough (mostly likes sweets and hates vegetables), but I'm sure there are also ways to randomize this so that for example, one of your children may actually enjoy vegetables or minerals or something.
  • Children portraits, likes, dislikes, and birthday visible in the gift log. Right now the gift log does have an entry for your child, but it's completely empty and your child doesn't even show up on the profile, instead there's only an empty field where your child should be.
  • Children birthday visible on the calendar and gift log. I don't know if the game actually keeps track of this, but I assume it does since it keeps track of your child's development.
    • (My first daughter in my current save was born on the night of Fall 24, if anyone's asking.)
• The ability for your children to get out of the house and walk around the farm and the town. They're already out and about during festivals, so I can't imagine it'd be too hard to have them run around tripping over themselves in the Pelican Town square.
• Related to the growing older wish, the ability for your older children to help around your farm (eg. harvesting ready crops, petting/feeding animals, etc). Basically like a scrawnier version of a Junimo hut.
• More spouse dialogues for children (other than "You can focus on the farm, I'll feed the baby"). It's probably just me, but I notice that in my current playthrough, once my child is past the newborn stage (when you can toss them around), your spouse will stop mentioning your child completely.
• Townsfolk dialogues for children. Townsfolk should have unique dialogue after your children is born and/or fully grown.
  • In my current playthrough I have a child with Abigail in my current playthrough and I gotta say it's kinda weird how Pierre and Caroline don't seem to react at all over the fact that they are now grandparents.
  • Lewis should congratulate you on your child like he does your wedding, for instance; or Robin can mention that the crib she built is working well. Jas and Vincent should ask if they can play with your children. And so on.
• The ability to take your spouse and children to your farmhouse in Ginger Island for a tropical getaway.
• Adding closed eyes/sleeping children sprites, so that children will sleep with their eyes closed. Children sleeping with their eyes open is so cursed (see image), I'd say even more so than watching them wriggle and writhe around the house as green worm babies.
• Most importantly: the ability to retroactively apply all of these updates (eg. children preferences) to pre-1.7 saves.

That's all I have for my ideas, but I'm sure there are other community wishes I've missed. Please let me know what yall think

 

[Ih8Lewis4ever]

As we know, ConcernedApe has stated that 1.7 will update children to be more "interesting". I myself had just gotten my first fully grown toddler in my current playthrough, and I have a lot of thoughts regarding the children mechanic in this game.

Specifically, I love the idea of having children but I don't like the fact that they don't age past toddler and don't do anything of note (as so many people have pointed out, the only things you can do with children is giving them hats, raising their friendship, or turning them into dove eggs). In this post I've gathered lots of ideas and suggestions on 1.7 children updates I wish to see.

• More children growth/development stages past toddler. The ideal for me is up to elementary/tween-ish age (around the same as Jas and Vincent's ages), though I've seen some community suggestions asking for them to age into fully grown adults so that they can move out etc.
  • I've seen tons of children mods that alter their appearance based on the parents, this can be done for the update.
• The ability to actually interact (talk/give gifts) with your children rather than just clicking on them once per day like you do a pet dog.
  • Children should have unique dialogue when talked to. It can be as simple as "goo goo ga ga" when they're babies/toddlers to full on sentences once they're older.
  • Children needs gifting options and should have their own likes/dislikes.
    • The way this is done can be as simple as in Harvest Moon BTN/FOMT where your children always has the exact same preference for every playthrough (mostly likes sweets and hates vegetables), but I'm sure there are also ways to randomize this so that for example, one of your children may actually enjoy vegetables or minerals or something.
  • Children portraits, likes, dislikes, and birthday visible in the gift log. Right now the gift log does have an entry for your child, but it's completely empty and your child doesn't even show up on the profile, instead there's only an empty field where your child should be.
  • Children birthday visible on the calendar and gift log. I don't know if the game actually keeps track of this, but I assume it does since it keeps track of your child's development.
    • (My first daughter in my current save was born on the night of Fall 24, if anyone's asking.)
• The ability for your children to get out of the house and walk around the farm and the town. They're already out and about during festivals, so I can't imagine it'd be too hard to have them run around tripping over themselves in the Pelican Town square.
• Related to the growing older wish, the ability for your older children to help around your farm (eg. harvesting ready crops, petting/feeding animals, etc). Basically like a scrawnier version of a Junimo hut.
• More spouse dialogues for children (other than "You can focus on the farm, I'll feed the baby"). It's probably just me, but I notice that in my current playthrough, once my child is past the newborn stage (when you can toss them around), your spouse will stop mentioning your child completely.
• Townsfolk dialogues for children. Townsfolk should have unique dialogue after your children is born and/or fully grown.
  • In my current playthrough I have a child with Abigail in my current playthrough and I gotta say it's kinda weird how Pierre and Caroline don't seem to react at all over the fact that they are now grandparents.
  • Lewis should congratulate you on your child like he does your wedding, for instance; or Robin can mention that the crib she built is working well. Jas and Vincent should ask if they can play with your children. And so on.
• The ability to take your spouse and children to your farmhouse in Ginger Island for a tropical getaway.
• Adding closed eyes/sleeping children sprites, so that children will sleep with their eyes closed. Children sleeping with their eyes open is so cursed (see image), I'd say even more so than watching them wriggle and writhe around the house as green worm babies.
• Most importantly: the ability to retroactively apply all of these updates (eg. children preferences) to pre-1.7 saves.

View attachment 37411
That's all I have for my ideas, but I'm sure there are other community wishes I've missed. Please let me know what yall think

I hope at least a few of these will make it to 1.7! Fingers crossed!

 

[HedgehogIII]

I think sharing a few likes/dislikes with a parent would be nice, maybe there could be a place where you put an item that’s in the game along if the favorite thing.

 

[Anzasquiddles]

I think sharing a few likes/dislikes with a parent would be nice, maybe there could be a place where you put an item that’s in the game along if the favorite thing.

i like this idea, i think the child's favorites taking 1-2 things (but maybe not all) after the parents' sounds reasonable

 

[Slone Ranger]

As we know, ConcernedApe has stated that 1.7 will update children to be more "interesting". I myself had just gotten my first fully grown toddler in my current playthrough, and I have a lot of thoughts regarding the children mechanic in this game.

Specifically, I love the idea of having children but I don't like the fact that they don't age past toddler and don't do anything of note (as so many people have pointed out, the only things you can do with children is giving them hats, raising their friendship, or turning them into dove eggs). In this post I've gathered lots of ideas and suggestions on 1.7 children updates I wish to see.

• More children growth/development stages past toddler. The ideal for me is up to elementary/tween-ish age (around the same as Jas and Vincent's ages), though I've seen some community suggestions asking for them to age into fully grown adults so that they can move out etc.
  • I've seen tons of children mods that alter their appearance based on the parents, this can be done for the update.
• The ability to actually interact (talk/give gifts) with your children rather than just clicking on them once per day like you do a pet dog.
  • Children should have unique dialogue when talked to. It can be as simple as "goo goo ga ga" when they're babies/toddlers to full on sentences once they're older.
  • Children needs gifting options and should have their own likes/dislikes.
    • The way this is done can be as simple as in Harvest Moon BTN/FOMT where your children always has the exact same preference for every playthrough (mostly likes sweets and hates vegetables), but I'm sure there are also ways to randomize this so that for example, one of your children may actually enjoy vegetables or minerals or something.
  • Children portraits, likes, dislikes, and birthday visible in the gift log. Right now the gift log does have an entry for your child, but it's completely empty and your child doesn't even show up on the profile, instead there's only an empty field where your child should be.
  • Children birthday visible on the calendar and gift log. I don't know if the game actually keeps track of this, but I assume it does since it keeps track of your child's development.
    • (My first daughter in my current save was born on the night of Fall 24, if anyone's asking.)
• The ability for your children to get out of the house and walk around the farm and the town. They're already out and about during festivals, so I can't imagine it'd be too hard to have them run around tripping over themselves in the Pelican Town square.
• Related to the growing older wish, the ability for your older children to help around your farm (eg. harvesting ready crops, petting/feeding animals, etc). Basically like a scrawnier version of a Junimo hut.
• More spouse dialogues for children (other than "You can focus on the farm, I'll feed the baby"). It's probably just me, but I notice that in my current playthrough, once my child is past the newborn stage (when you can toss them around), your spouse will stop mentioning your child completely.
• Townsfolk dialogues for children. Townsfolk should have unique dialogue after your children is born and/or fully grown.
  • In my current playthrough I have a child with Abigail in my current playthrough and I gotta say it's kinda weird how Pierre and Caroline don't seem to react at all over the fact that they are now grandparents.
  • Lewis should congratulate you on your child like he does your wedding, for instance; or Robin can mention that the crib she built is working well. Jas and Vincent should ask if they can play with your children. And so on.
• The ability to take your spouse and children to your farmhouse in Ginger Island for a tropical getaway.
• Adding closed eyes/sleeping children sprites, so that children will sleep with their eyes closed. Children sleeping with their eyes open is so cursed (see image), I'd say even more so than watching them wriggle and writhe around the house as green worm babies.
• Most importantly: the ability to retroactively apply all of these updates (eg. children preferences) to pre-1.7 saves.

View attachment 37411
That's all I have for my ideas, but I'm sure there are other community wishes I've missed. Please let me know what yall think

Yeah...I think there is a TON of potential with getting the children to grow to adulthood but as they grow, they can ultimately learn about responsibility and work ethic. Get them doing some chores to earn a little money so they can buy something for themselves. Tired of the Skull Cavern conquest to get that last elusive "Auto-Petter" for the CC path minded player? Why not have your 12 year old (or older) do the petting. As long as you build up hearts with your child and keep them up, the child can be depended on just as much as the auto-petter but can also do the job of the auto-grabber. Why not? That's just the tip of the iceberg for the potential a maturing kid can bring to the legacy of Stardew. Imagine an extension of the game where your child takes on the role you did when you inherited your Grandfather's farm only he/she does it in a nearby town that is similarly struggling like Pelican Town did before you arrived.

So many possibilities.

 

[BeenASon]

i like this idea, i think the child's favorites taking 1-2 things (but maybe not all) after the parents' sounds reasonable

Definitely not all. I have some mutual favs with my dad and mom but a lot of my own. Won't make sense to copy paste them.

Definitely not all. I have some mutual favs with my dad and mom but a lot of my own. Won't make sense to copy paste them.

They could be randomized. Like 2 things inherited from the parents a favourite from your spouse and your favourite thing and two random favorites of the child's own.

 

[Anzasquiddles]

Tired of the Skull Cavern conquest to get that last elusive "Auto-Petter" for the CC path minded player? Why not have your 12 year old (or older) do the petting. As long as you build up hearts with your child and keep them up, the child can be depended on just as much as the auto-petter but can also do the job of the auto-grabber.

I'll be real, I only put in children working the farm because it's a popular idea in the community (the so called "child labor" wishlist) and only came up with random ideas like petting animals, but I didn't even realize the possibility of that replacing auto petters. That sounds like a really great late-game meta call.

 

[Anzasquiddles]

Amendment: another suggestion for children in 1.7 is to like, fix a lot of weird bugs involving them? Especially the going to bed thing.

Because I thought children in this game don't have sleeping sprites at all because I always see them sleep with their eyes wide open, but I only found out this week that not only children DO have sleeping/sitting down sprites (that I almost never see being used), but also children actually DO properly tuck themselves into bed, HOWEVER they will only tuck into bed if you are at your home by 7pm to watch your children run into bed and sleep. If you arrive home AFTER 7pm you get the cursed "sleeping with eyes open" children.

 

[Anzasquiddles]

Addendum: I know children do attend festivals since 1.5, but for festivals with their own cutscenes (eg. Flower Dance, Moonlight Jellies), I wish the children would actually show up during said cutscenes instead of them disappearing.

Flower Dance

Moonlight Jellies (ignore my reddish hue, I was from the mines and got shot by a debuff from a shadow monster before teleporting here)

I'll keep posting in this thread whenever I think of any other suggestion for children and family.