What happened during 2017 to 2021?

[AtomsJosh]

So I did some research on YouTube about Stardew Valley, and there's catching my eyes always and it keeps bugging me, Dangerously Funny and others Youtubers posted about Stardew 4 years ago, and not just that based on my statistics 75% of Stardew Valley videos are actually posted 4 years ago, so what happened during 2017 to 2021? Why Stardew Valley videos are posted 4 years ago? Did the trend goes down? Did the developer rest or got sick so he did not made an update on Stardew? Or else...

I don't know the answer, but you might know. Please comment it down below, and maybe ill make a YouTube channel about Stardew Valley.

(Also, during those years Minecraft trend goes down too)

Reference:
Stardew Valley Statistics (Link)
Dangerously Funny Video (Link)

 

[TheFireNight]

Well...

Stardew Valley is a little independent game that came out in beginning of 2016...

Like every other games, the hype is strong on release, then people go to something else.

What is the point for a youtuber to make new videos about a 5 years old game ? Who will watch it ?

About the updates, there is roughly one big update every year. And some bug fixes following.

 

[Schala]

Also, while the base game was finished in 2017, a lot of work has since gone into scaling it: Making translations in Hungarian and Japanese and Korean; porting it to mobile, Android, iOS, Nintendo, Sony, XBox; working on multiplayer.

If you check out ConcernedApe's twitter, pretty much every tweet in the past four years has been either releasing some new implementation or hotfixes for bugs and problems that have arisen from being ported to so many conflicting devices.

 

[lilan castel]

One of my favorite youtubers made a new sieres about the game (he did one in 2016) and he does it again!

 

[AtomsJosh]

Also, while the base game was finished in 2017, a lot of work has since gone into scaling it: Making translations in Hungarian and Japanese and Korean; porting it to mobile, Android, iOS, Nintendo, Sony, XBox; working on multiplayer.

If you check out ConcernedApe's twitter, pretty much every tweet in the past four years has been either releasing some new implementation or hotfixes for bugs and problems that have arisen from being ported to so many conflicting devices.

Do you have a link?

 

[TheFireNight]

Do you have a link?

https://twitter.com/ConcernedApe/with_replies

 

[AtomsJosh]

https://twitter.com/ConcernedApe/with_replies

This is actually very helpful, but my thumbs are literally tired of scrolling, maybe ill do it tomorrow

 

[TheFireNight]

This is actually very helpful, but my thumbs are literally tired of scrolling, maybe ill do it tomorrow

If you prefer, there is also the changelog (9 pages) : https://www.stardewvalley.net/blog/

 

[rippytrippy]

eh. i guess people think the game is 'old news', but that'd be a bit odd because people still make freaking fortnite videos and crap like that, sooo, idk,,,,,,, ;P

 

[__Fishy__]

A lot of people ride the hype of a new game and since Stardew Valley released early 2016, it really only got exposed in 2017 around the time multiplayer was added.

There are still some people making videos about it. WickedyChickady is the one I know best and she is also a member of the forum. Her last set of videos were about the 1.5 update

 

[Cptldsilver]

So I did some research on YouTube about Stardew Valley, and there's catching my eyes always and it keeps bugging me, Dangerously Funny and others Youtubers posted about Stardew 4 years ago, and not just that based on my statistics 75% of Stardew Valley videos are actually posted 4 years ago, so what happened during 2017 to 2021? Why Stardew Valley videos are posted 4 years ago? Did the trend goes down? Did the developer rest or got sick so he did not made an update on Stardew? Or else...

I don't know the answer, but you might know. Please comment it down below, and maybe ill make a YouTube channel about Stardew Valley.

(Also, during those years Minecraft trend goes down too)

Reference:
Stardew Valley Statistics (Link)
Dangerously Funny Video (Link)

I think the question you should be asking yourself is why people are still interested, at all, in a small indie game 5 years after its release. Obviously like with any game there is going to be a big spike in popularity soonish after its release, where most people get introduced to the game. The fact that there is still content being made for Stardew speaks to the quality of the game and the free and massive patches.

I myself started playing Stardew a little over a year ago and it has really proven itself with its longevity. The 1.5 update adds so much to the game too. IMO the 1.5 patch adds about 25% more content to the game.

I don't know if Stardew will be able to maintain this popularity. It will probably depend on future patches. Honestly I wonder if Concerned Ape will get tired of adding to Stardew eventually. He's been working on this game for close to 10 years now.

 

[Lauren1593]

The game and it’s updates are created by, at best, maybe a team of two or three people, and appear to adhere to about one major release a year, with bugfixes following. The updates themselves are usually pretty incremental, seldom alter much of the core experience. The pro is that the game retains strong familiarity among longtime fans while having some niceties and additional content added over time. It really is fantastic in this regard. Certain other games had changed so drastically over the years that they may as well be entirely different games.

As a result however, there’s only so much to cover. It does not mean that Youtubers no longer play or like the game. Making videos people want to watch takes work, and a lot of youtubers make income from their venture. It makes sense to keep up the variety so as to keep the audience’s attention.

As an aside, DangerouslyFunny does a pretty fantastic job in covering a lot of indie games, and had also released a recent video regarding the 1.5 update. I’d probably expect another Stardew Valley video or two from him in the coming months as well.

 

[AtomsJosh]

I guarantee to all of you, the 1.5 will increase the trend of Stardew Valley, the update is sooo fantastic it will keep the trend of Stardew Valley for months.

But...

 

[Odin]

The game and it’s updates are created by, at best, maybe a team of two or three people, and appear to adhere to about one major release a year, with bugfixes following.

To be more exact, there are currently two developers for the PC version (ConcernedApe and Mr. Podunkian), while the console and mobile ports are each handled by separate companies. You can always check the game's credits (in the bottom left of the main menu) to see a full list of people that have contributed to the game over the years!

 

[Lauren1593]

To be more exact, there are currently two developers for the PC version (ConcernedApe and Mr. Podunkian), while the console and mobile ports are each handled by separate companies. You can always check the game's credits (in the bottom left of the main menu) to see a full list of people that have contributed to the game over the years!

I’d love to see a Raspberry Pi port one of these days too. The game is so lightweight that it almost seems a waste to boot up my desktop just for it. And the portability of the Pi makes it convenient to take over to other places.

Considering the game is already running on ARM in the mobile and Switch incarnations, I doubt it to be much of a stretch to get it running on the Pi as well.

Though I’d probably be quadruple dipping if I were to purchase the Pi version too as have the Steam version (when I had home internet), the iOS version, and the GoG one (as Steam frequently makes a fuss without internet).

 

[Odin]

Considering the game is already running on ARM in the mobile and Switch incarnations, I doubt it to be much of a stretch to get it running on the Pi as well.

Well, I believe the Switch and Mobile versions are a bit specialized for their platforms, but maybe if a native ARM Mac version is created it could be easily brought to the Raspberry Pi! I think we're getting a bit off topic here though :P

 

[Lappy]

Stardew Valley is a little independent game that came out in beginning of 2016...

Like every other games, the hype is strong on release, then people go to something else.

I think the main thing is that there is usually a spike in popularity somewhere in a game's history that is significant. It's probably written up on a gaming website (or several) or in the App Store, and clicks are generated, which lead to more writeups, and more clicks, etc.

But the other thing is that early on, there isn't yet an organized group of fans (such as on this forum) or a comprehensive wiki to get information. Until that happens, individual fans (e.g. YouTubers) have a lot of influence. If they're considerably further along or have specific info about how to do x, y, and z, that info is gold.

I think another big difference between YouTube videos and a forum like this one is how focused the information is, in general. I think YouTube videos are good for specific things - where to go for this, how to do that, etc. I don't know if Stardew Valley is a great example for this, but I would say for other game types, "how to beat the level xx boss" is a good example.

But over time, YouTube videos and website writeups are too specific, become outdated, and/or are too "basic", and the forums and wiki become better resources - what to do in your first winter, the importance of upgrading your tools, how much more money you make by making wine and preserves, which crops are the most profitable, etc. This may not necessarily be the case for all games, but for a game like Stardew Valley, once you get past a rudimentary understanding of the game, the forums and wiki eventually become far more valuable, imo.

 

[Schala]

It is definitely a thing we have noticed that there are those archetypes that will make themselves indispensable in a flurry of seemingly-useful activity, only to threaten to pull out as a means of coercion.

If someone is suddenly extremely useful, beware.

 

[Grimmer_007]

Well, DangerouslyFunny uploaded Stardew valley videos till 2018 or 2019 maybe, and he was the best in experimenting with the game. He also recently uploade a video on 1.15, after a long time, and nothing has changed.

 

[Salonpad]

Not just stardew valley but every games in general, no matter how good the game is at some point people will get sick of it and move on, yearly update is great since the old players is coming back but that was it. Beside to be honest, while i love it - the gameplay is pretty boring to watch unless you good at capture the audience attention.

Out of topic a bit, I do think that given it 20 years from now Stardew valley will be the next harvest moon , game that give you nostalgia feeling and make you think about the good old times. It gonna be a classic! Hype or not, the game will never die.