NEW CHALLENGE - "Stardew Valley, but I can't leave my farm because COVID" by thesalalmon - any feedback?

thesalalmon

thesalalmon

Greenhorn
Basically I'm challenging myself to see how far I can get in Stardew Valley while keeping to covid rules. Here's what I've got so far:

-Must keep approx. 2m from NPCs at all times
-Can only leave the farm for essential services once a week (this includes Robin's, Pierre's, Marnie's and Clint's - and probably Willy's? I did briefly consider a pub-closes-at-6pm rule, but I feel like it's too non-essential if I'm truly playing safe. Thoughts?)
-No parties! (festivals are off-limits)

I am also undecided on whether I should be allowed to enter the community centre and the mines - whether that is something I can do in my one day off the farm, or whether they are out of the question completely.

I plan to start streaming my attempt tomorrow, so if you have any feedback on rules I could add or modify I would love to hear it! Cheers!

(I may update once the rules are more resolved with a fun graphic if anyone wants to join in trying the challenge! Let me know if you'd be interested!)
 
imnvs

imnvs

Local Legend
You will never make friends if you can never get within 2m. That's a large portion of the game completely cut off. That's just the first thing to pop into my head, too.
 
thesalalmon

thesalalmon

Greenhorn
imnvs said:
You will never make friends if you can never get within 2m. That's a large portion of the game completely cut off. That's just the first thing to pop into my head, too.
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Yep, I tested this theory earlier and you have to stand waaaaay too close to talk to anyone. If only it were like Animal Crossing and I could mail gifts to villagers haha
 

Ereo

Helper
Where I am, people are called upon to not practice any dangerous sport (because accidents would use up hospital beds/medical personnel), so I think the mines are too dangerous for covid times.
 
thesalalmon

thesalalmon

Greenhorn
Ereo said:
Where I am, people are called upon to not practice any dangerous sport (because accidents would use up hospital beds/medical personnel), so I think the mines are too dangerous for covid times.
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This is interesting! That definitely makes sense, but something someone said on reddit (I posted there too hoping for diverse feedback) caused me to google it and turns out mining is an essential service in many countries. They had pointed out that building work is an essential service in the UK so the community centre should be OK. I definitely think I shouldn't be allowed in the clinic unless I'm showing symptoms of covid ;)
 
thesalalmon

thesalalmon

Greenhorn
Akemisora said:
Use mask and you're "fine". Don't forget to wash your hand!
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I was thinking about making a rule where I have to "sanitize" before entering and after exiting any building, by using the watering can and pretending that's me washing my hands, but then I realized it would be impossible to ever upgrade the watering can if that were a hard and fast rule and decided it wasn't worth it :laugh:
 
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PoppyForPenny

PoppyForPenny

Farmer
There are several masks that cover the face.

The perfect obvious choice would be the skeleton mask, from Gil after slaying 50 skeletons. Second best would be the blobfish mask you can tailor.

Other masks that cover the face:
Jack o lantern, totem, and golden relic masks you can tailor.
Knights helmet, get 50 pepper rex. Chicken mask, fill 40 help wanted posts. And goblin mask, ship every item.
Qi mask tailor with qi fruit. Purple cat mask when you achieve perfection.

So as you can see there are several stylish options for face coverings. :smile:
 

Elenna101

Farmer
Question: How would you handle cutscenes where you're talking to a character? E.g. when Clint gives you the furnace recipe, when Kent introduces himself, Pierre coming up to the farm to promote his stuff in winter year 1... Maybe you can pretend you're standing 2m back from your door in those cutscenes?

PoppyForPenny said:
There are several masks that cover the face.

The perfect obvious choice would be the skeleton mask, from Gil after slaying 50 skeletons. Second best would be the blobfish mask you can tailor.

Other masks that cover the face:
Jack o lantern, totem, and golden relic masks you can tailor.
Knights helmet, get 50 pepper rex. Chicken mask, fill 40 help wanted posts. And goblin mask, ship every item.
Qi mask tailor with qi fruit. Purple cat mask when you achieve perfection.

So as you can see there are several stylish options for face coverings. :smile:
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A lot of these require you to talk to someone to get them, though. You have to talk to Gil to get the skeleton mask or knight's helmet, you have to go to a festival and talk to the submarine pilot to get a blobfish, you have to go to a festival to get a jack-o-lantern, you have to talk to the mouse to buy the masks from 40 help wanted posts or shipping every item (plus, fulfilling 40 quests requires talking to people). I don't know about those last two, I haven't gotten that far in 1.5 yet.
The totem or relic masks are probably the best option in terms of distancing, as long as you're okay with seeing the cutscene where Emily comes to your door to tell you about the sewing machine.
I do like the idea of "once you do this thing, you get a mask and then you can lift some restrictions" although I'm not sure how true that really is IRL lol.
 
thesalalmon

thesalalmon

Greenhorn
secretlondon said:
I thought about being self sufficient on the beach farm. No Pierre's of course and no new buildings.
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That's how I initially got the idea! I was playing the beach farm and beginning to appreciate how big it is and how much foraging and fishing is available and I started wondering how long I could sustain myself as a hermit on that map without ever leaving the farm. And then the idea evolved into whether I could survive COVID lockdown rules, and I decided I had to give it a go!
 

secretlondon

Farmhand
thesalalmon said:
That's how I initially got the idea! I was playing the beach farm and beginning to appreciate how big it is and how much foraging and fishing is available and I started wondering how long I could sustain myself as a hermit on that map without ever leaving the farm. And then the idea evolved into whether I could survive COVID lockdown rules, and I decided I had to give it a go!
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I'm going to have to try this now!
 
thesalalmon

thesalalmon

Greenhorn
Cptldsilver said:
What's the goal of the farm?
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Well I want this challenge to be accessible to anyone who wants to try it so I didn't make that specific, so I guess the goal is surviving and having fun, however you see fit! Maybe making it through a year for one person would be enough, while someone else may just want to finish the community centre or unlock all of a certain level of something - I haven't spent enough time with other stardew players to know how other people play the game haha
 
thesalalmon

thesalalmon

Greenhorn
secretlondon said:
I'm going to have to try this now!
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Please do!! And let me know how it goes! I've compiled the rules into a graphic if you want to use it for reference, I'll add it in below. I forgot a couple little rules so I may make an updated version soon, but the basics are all there! The one big thing that's missing is NO exhausting yourself and NO staying up late enough to pass out - that's unsafe regarding someone's comment above about keeping the clinic open for others. I don't know what the 'punishment' should be if you fail that though, surely not losing the entire challenge as it could be a mistake - maybe a two week quarantine?

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
aArtboard 1.png
 

lmizutani

Tiller
Ooh, this sounds interesting. I've already started a beach farm in the 1.5 update...but, I probably can switch it up in that it began before the pandemic really took hold. And then the transition between pre-lockdown and lockdown would be interesting...

I don't have any mods either - just the regular game.
 
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