WIP Enchanted Valley

[Sinmenon]

Hi, I'm working on a rather sizable mod and I would like some input. It started with one change here, another there, and I ended up starting this project: more fantasy beings at Stardew Valley. There is currently a download at Nexus with the initial version. The initial release has Abigail, Caroline, Emily, Haley, Leah, Pam and Penny. It also has the Community Bundle image for Emily, a previously unreleased in the individual mod; and all the bachelorettes have unique wedding dresses too.
Should I post/release it here too?

Fairy (fae) : free-spirited and lively, fairies are known for their mysterious ways and to be in touch with nature.
The two sisters came from the big city to get in touch with their origins, both with very different personalities.

Harpy : they might have a little of a bad reputation, but harpies can also be honorable guardians.
Spirits of the wind and the rainbows, they are said to have a fragrant aroma.

Spider-folk : also known as jorōgumo, the stories of them killing men are greatly exaggerated.
Abigail has a bad time with her fear of spiders, tho.

Alraune : they say that alraunes are born from the blood spilled at rose bushes, maybe that's why Leah is a vegetarian?
In any case, she is in tune with the trees and the forest around her.

Kelpie : water creatures that oftentimes attract folks to their demise under the guise of a stallion.
But, like horses, they can also be incredibly loyal. (upcoming update)

Now I'm having trouble deciding the next ones.
I have been toying with many ideas for the characters and one of the constant thing I have to deal with is that the NPC sprites have a certain width limitation, so I can’t make any promises about centaurs (otherwise I would certainly have one of the bachelors as one of them).


Bachelorettes:

• Emily: Fairy
• Haley: Fairy
• Abigail : Spider
• Penny : Harpy
• Leah : Alraune
• Maru : undecided

Bachelors:

• Alex : Minotaur
• Elliott : undecided
• Harvey : Raven Reaper (update 8/27/22)
• Sam : Elf or Werewolf?
• Sebastian : Kelpie (update 8/27/22)
• Shane : undecided

NPCs

• Jas and Marnie: Sheep
• Sandy: Naga
• Willy : Kappa (update 2/14/23)

So far I would like to avoid having Elliott as a merperson, there are two other mods that already do it and it is a very common trope so I would like something different, although I don’t mind keeping it on the back of my mind.
Alex is also very often placed as an orc, but I have thought of him as a minotaur. It makes sense to me to have him to be strong and buff and playing lots of sports.
Another very common one is having Harvey as a satyr. I actually converted his version from the old Monster Valley mod with the updated sprites for the Content Patcher, so feel free to check it out! (and Abigal and Caroline as onryos too). But, overall, I don’t have thoughts for him either.
So far I’ve been thinking about Sebastian as a vampire, as it had been suggested before. Just considering how to make it visually distinct from the vanilla one besides a paler skin.
Today I was also thinking: what about Sam being a half-elf and then having Kent to be a full-elf? That would also have Vincent as a half-elf too. Unless Jodi is also something different so it could reflect on either of her sons. (maybe mermaid, as in Jodi Benson?)
I also don’t have any definitive thoughts on Shane. Many people are chiming in for vampire Shane instead of Sebastian.

At one point I thought about a bee person for Maru, which makes me think of Bumblebee from Teen Titans (not transformers) but idk. Someone suggested aliens for her and Demetrius, which might be a good choice but I'm lowkey worried about their races. (well, Superman has always been an allegory of how people "other" immigrants, in his case a literal alien)

In terms of the other villagers, for a while I was thinking about Marnie and Jas as minotaurs instead of Alex, but maybe sheep people would also be interesting?
And I thought of Sandy to be a naga, although I did convert her djinn version from Monster Valley.

I've also made Alternative Textures for Abigail and Penny's daughters for personal use, maybe I could also add this to the mix?

I'm somewhat a lurker in this forum and I don't know if I'm doing this right. Please let me know if there is something I should change here

 

[Sinmenon]

I don't know if there is anyone reading/interested here, but I'm going to give an update:

There are two different ideas for Maru (and Demetrius): a golem, which would explain her fascination for robotics; or aliens. Thinking a little I got lowkey worried about their races and “othering” POCs (well, Superman has always been an allegory of how people “other” immigrants, in his case a literal alien).
In favor of the alien thing, I do enjoy the lore from The Sims 2, especially the approach from Strangetown and a family of an alien who married a human and have a bunch of kids, trying to fit in. As for the golem, I recall the Greek story of Galatea, so the thought of having Robin and Demetrius sculpt the perfect daughter -- so maybe a living statue, maybe from wood (so I can also keep her skin tone mostly intact too).

LaLucela at Nexus mentioned Sebastian as a kelpie, that is that river spirit in form of a horse that can also turn into a human if necessary – also mentioned the motorcycle and it is an intriguing idea and also hits my sea creature itch nicely. They gave some cool ideas, like Harvey as some sort of reaper (being always around when you faint) and Sam as a werewolf (basically a golden retriever, full of energy) and Kent the tormented one (and cute puppy Vincent). And shifting Elliott as an elf (I know there are many types of elves, so maybe I can search some Forgotten Realms lore for sea elves?)

I started working on kelpie Sebastian design

The general idea is to have a human form and then use either Alternative Textures or the Adopt’n Skin framework to have his natural form as the horse.
The obvious thing would be to have the horse have the same color as Sebastian’s hair and add said hair as the mane. Just working on the shading a little, removing the saddle, and so on. I also decided to have the same color as the human eyes. Or maybe I should change the eye colors of both to yellow or red?
Now instead of just having the human Sebastian as it is I desaturated his skin color to have him paler and decided to take a page from Fate’s book and got inspired by Chiron from the Fate series.

Spoiler: A quick recap on Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Grand Order and Fate/Apocrypha basic concept

For those unaware, the series is about legendary heroes and anti-heroes aiding mages as their familiars in a battle royale and keeping their own identities a secret. I mean, if you find out that your enemy is Achilles, you would certainly go for that tendon, right? In order to conceal his identity as a centaur, Chiron has a human form, but he has a tail.

I decided to give Sebastian a tail and a ponytail. Maybe I’ll revisit the horse form tomorrow and give it a longer mane too.

I'm also working on naga Sandy, I'm still trying to decide on the colors and the design in general.

It is a challenge to animate within the constraints of the template, but I think I'm doing ok. I'm unsure if I should have the tail be in a green tone, completely red following the tone of her hair, or should I have her entire body covered in scales. There was also the suggestion of having her be a gorgon, with snakes instead of hair instead.

And, of course, it seems the idea of Shane as a vampire is very popular.

 

[dollynhoevida]

Maybe Harvey could be a Chimera made of different creatures, he would also have two or three heads (the heads could have different or similar expressions?), they could help him think or cause trouble.

He could also be a raven, eerie, broken wings (can no longer fly?).

 

[Sinmenon]

Maybe Harvey could be a Chimera made of different creatures, he would also have two or three heads (the heads could have different or similar expressions?), they could help him think or cause trouble.

He could also be a raven, eerie, broken wings (can no longer fly?).

Oh, a chimera would be cool, but a raven? In his heart events we learn that he wanted to be a pilot but couldn't because of his fear of heights, which would be a funny irony. And the moment you mentioned a raven I thought of the plague doctors with those masks with the long beaks, so maybe I could try to design something merging these concepts, and someone also mentioned a reaper. It would be very scary yet he is also very sweet, it would work maybe? I also thought of Malphas from the Castlevania series, the raven demon boss.

Now on the random updates:
Kelpie Sebastian's horse form is ready. I'm also considering doing an extra option in which the hind legs are a fish tail. I need to do a rough animation and test if it works tho.
I also found out that if you name your horse "Sebastian" the game will be very confused, having human NPC Sebastian being represented by a horse face on the minimap and the horse showing up in the CJB menu under the regular Sebby in the relationship page. It seems the game can't handle this very well. In any case it was a fun learning experience, I'll release this as an optional file.

So far I’m pretty set on Alex as a Minotaur and both Jas and Marnie as sheep people. The later two I might make the palette more pastel for them, to fit the “sheep” thing. I’m unsure if I should keep Alex’s proportions as it is or make him taller and more muscular. I didn't have a lot of time to mess around with the stuff but I just did Jas' sheet, but I still need to do the portraits.

Marnie will also have pastel colors. Right now I'm not sure if I should keep Jas's horns or not, and if I should make her hair the same color as the sheep's wool. But mostly I enjoy how she is turning out.

 

[dollynhoevida]

Yes! I like the plague doctor/reaper idea, Harvey could be a half human half raven witch doctor with skull beak, hair made of feathers and maybe use wings as hood?

One eye is empty while the other is used for expressions, his moustache could be black too.

The beak face could be like Striga's armor or Malphas broken beak from Castlevania, it would still show the mouth while the beak is part of his body, that way we can still see Harvey sweet and shy personality!

I have some ideas for the clinic, the beds could be magic circles (like a spell that brings people back when they pass out or die) and there is potions in the tables (this mod turns the clinic remedy and tonic into vials that Harvey sells).

Marcello could be a raven too (man who helps Harvey with balloon).

Edit: I'm trying to replace the beds with circles, will test later and maybe also change the whole clinic too (I did this harvey in paint btw T_T).

Spoiler

 

[astatine210]

Dunno if this was ever an option to consider for Elliott, but what about him being some sort of descendant of Thoth (Egyptian god of writing) with some characteristics of an Ibis? Just throwing it out there since his metamorphosed version for your mod was still in question.

Also just wanted to say the ideas you have going are super cool and would definitely side with the golem version of Maru (convinced by the story of her creation that you gave!!!)

 

[dollynhoevida]

It's working well... now I just have to pass out in the mines lol

Edit: the spell is perfect!

Spoiler

 

[Lew Zealand]

Wow. I really love the vibe in this pic, every single little bit of it. It's perfect.

 

[Sinmenon]

Wow. I really love the vibe in this pic, every single little bit of it. It's perfect.

Thank you! I'm actually pretty proud of how this farm turned out

Spoiler

Also featuring a bunch of mods, including a cave of memories recolor to match the DaisyNiko's recolors.

View attachment 11530
It's working well... now I just have to pass out in the mines lol

Edit: the spell is perfect!

Spoiler

View attachment 11534

Ok, this is cool beyond words. I'll definitively keep on working on the Harvey as a reaper thing, the idea of Marcello too being a raven person fits very well to the concept.

Dunno if this was ever an option to consider for Elliott, but what about him being some sort of descendant of Thoth (Egyptian god of writing) with some characteristics of an Ibis? Just throwing it out there since his metamorphosed version for your mod was still in question.

Also just wanted to say the ideas you have going are super cool and would definitely side with the golem version of Maru (convinced by the story of her creation that you gave!!!)

Thoth would be a great inspiration for Elliott, I really enjoyed it! I'll see what I can do to make him distinct.
And thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it! And contributions like yours are going to make this mod even cooler, you have been giving great ideas.

I'm still giving some time for people to vote in the poll for Maru before checking and starting. Maybe I'll wrap things up for Marnie, Jas, Alex and Harvey before checking and working on her, so it will be a while.

 

[dollynhoevida]

Some more ideas, I also tried to use the ones in your nexus page :D

The Wizard could be a deer god (cervitaur or faun?) that protects nature, the forest or living things, he has antlers and his hair is made of leaves that changes with the seasons (green, light green, red and white).

This could be interesting, Harvey as the reaper and the Wizard as life.

Junimos are souls of those who died or are lost in the forest, they have no face and each of them has a different color (they could look like Will-o'-wisps or just ghosts).

Gunther is a owl, wise creature that protects knowledge or greedy dragon that never leaves his treasure the museum and is always looking for more treasure (like the myth of Fafnir).

Marlon and Gil are kobolds or goblins, Marlon is always in the caves while Gil is lazy and sleeping.

The desert merchant is now a mummy because they are always there, selling things, their camel could be a sphinx too.

Clint is a forge god? his eyes, hair and beard are always on fire, maybe he is a dwarf too.

Morris is some kind of demon, I was thinking of Joja as a cult, the joja cashier is a cultist and the player can sell their soul by joining Joja?

Alex's dog, Dusty is Cerberus.

Lewis is a satyr, I think it works well with him.

Linus is a kappa, also known as "river-child" or "river-boy", Linus lives in the mountain lake and is misunderstood by humans and teaches the player a recipe for fishing. He could have a turtle carapace and lilypad hat.

The Witch is a nogitsune, also known as void kitsune, it makes sense since she can turn your chickens into void chickens, her helper the Henchman can be a nekomata (cat yokai) and both are trickster shapeshifters.

Bouncer is a gargoyle, they can be carved humans or figures that protect buildings, maybe a snake has turned him to stone?

Pirates in Ginger Island are sea folk but still pirates, they could be cecaelia, selkie, mermaid, etc.

I'm thinking about having birds or ravens flying inside the clinic or Harvey's room, not sure if it's possible but the theater can do it...

 

[dollynhoevida]

I decided to do the entire clinic! working on his room now

 

[Sinmenon]

I'm alive! (barely)
A lot of things happened. I got a temporary job position teaching and I got very busy, and then I had to get a new computer as my old desktop gave up completely – and, with that, I also wanted to play a few games that my previous machine couldn’t handle, ops.

Anyway, back to modding. I’m wrapping up to make the next update with the first bachelor, Sebastian. I also finally finished up Marnie and Jas as sheep-people (working on the horns in the portraits was daunting). This version will also include Sandy as a snake person (too bad you can only see her walking circle one day of the year, I worked so hard). I'll post the AT version to have your horse be the kelpie.

I also ended up kind of using dollynhoevida's idea...Except not.

Linus is a kappa, also known as "river-child" or "river-boy", Linus lives in the mountain lake and is misunderstood by humans and teaches the player a recipe for fishing. He could have a turtle carapace and lilypad hat.

Instead of Linus, I made Willy a kappa. It makes me think of Animal Crossing’s Kapp’n and his hat already cover the hole in the head thingie. I also thought about making the beak but with his beard, it could be misinterpreted as something else. I also added the turtle shell to make it more distinct than just an ordinary green guy (although he could be misinterpreted as a turtle guy?) . Maybe I should eventually do the lilypad hat for clarity's sake.

These are the ones already in the file running smoothly.

I was considering changing at least one more NPC before publishing the next version, maybe Mr Qi.... But to what exactly? Although he is weird enough as he is...

I made a prototype for Harvey that might change -- the result is slightly scary imo. I’m still undecided how to go with the wings. Should they show up or be hidden ? I’m afraid it should be too much like the harpies. I also gave him a different hairdo because it looked bad with the mask.

Maybe I should have his hair black? Either way, I'm positive he is going to look like a dork in his beach outfit and I'm looking forward it.

I’m also considering if I should keep Alex’s facial features humanoid or give him the full minotaur treatment. I actually also got a template/walking circle that I made ages ago for BUFF guys but I don't know if I should do it. Either way, it is going to be interesting.

Also, the input from HannaVictoria from Nexus made me consider having Maru either as a Bastet or a sphinx. Bastet is the "domestic" side of Sekhmet, the lioness goddess of war and love in Egyptian mythology, while the idea of a woman in STEM to be represented by the enigmatic sphynx is also interesting. Either way or a cyborg or a lion-person. HannaVictoria actually linked to a Monster High character who is a cyborg and coded as POC and it looked pretty cool to be honest. I think the cyborg would make better use of Robin's and Demetrius' backgrounds tho (yes, I'm more leaning for the cyborg option. )

Spoiler: big image here

Some more ideas, I also tried to use the ones in your nexus page :D

The Wizard could be a deer god (cervitaur or faun?) that protects nature, the forest or living things, he has antlers and his hair is made of leaves that changes with the seasons (green, light green, red and white).

This could be interesting, Harvey as the reaper and the Wizard as life.

Junimos are souls of those who died or are lost in the forest, they have no face and each of them has a different color (they could look like Will-o'-wisps or just ghosts).

Gunther is a owl, wise creature that protects knowledge or greedy dragon that never leaves his treasure the museum and is always looking for more treasure (like the myth of Fafnir).

Marlon and Gil are kobolds or goblins, Marlon is always in the caves while Gil is lazy and sleeping.

The desert merchant is now a mummy because they are always there, selling things, their camel could be a sphinx too.

Clint is a forge god? his eyes, hair and beard are always on fire, maybe he is a dwarf too.

Morris is some kind of demon, I was thinking of Joja as a cult, the joja cashier is a cultist and the player can sell their soul by joining Joja?

Alex's dog, Dusty is Cerberus.

Lewis is a satyr, I think it works well with him.

Linus is a kappa, also known as "river-child" or "river-boy", Linus lives in the mountain lake and is misunderstood by humans and teaches the player a recipe for fishing. He could have a turtle carapace and lilypad hat.

The Witch is a nogitsune, also known as void kitsune, it makes sense since she can turn your chickens into void chickens, her helper the Henchman can be a nekomata (cat yokai) and both are trickster shapeshifters.

Bouncer is a gargoyle, they can be carved humans or figures that protect buildings, maybe a snake has turned him to stone?

Pirates in Ginger Island are sea folk but still pirates, they could be cecaelia, selkie, mermaid, etc.

I'm thinking about having birds or ravens flying inside the clinic or Harvey's room, not sure if it's possible but the theater can do it...

Anyway, I do like the idea of the witch being a void kitsune, but that would also conflict with the people who have the witch NPC expansions so I'm really conflicted.
Marlon and Gil being kobolds or goblins doesn't make a whole lot of sense because of how avid they are in killing the monsters. Wouldn't that be exterminating their own kind? We do have a dwarf blacksmith in Ginger Island too.
I like the idea of the pirates being sea folks, I just need to locate the files. Maybe Bird can also be a sea folk. I also need to locate the files for the desert merchant too.
.....Why I somehow see Morris as a pig, as in "capitalist pig"?
All these ideas are pretty good, I'm going to keep them in the back of my mind.

Shane and Elliot are still undecided and I haven't locked in anything for Sam yet. Maybe I'll prototype Alex and Sam this weekend.

 

[dollynhoevida]

You're back!

I'm so happy you got a new job I hope everything goes well, I was working on new house interiors for the fairies and spiders but my laptop stopped working, fortunately we got new ones! I can play so many games now, it's nice to take a break from modding.

Willy as kappa is amazing, the shell looks so cute on him! I found this mod that makes Sandy walk more, now we can see more snake Sandy.

Mr. Qi is perfect as the alien/half-alien too, but yes he looks very mysterious already.

Harvey reminds me of Otus from Owlboy, he uses a cloak that lets him fly just like the other owls, it looks normal when walking but when he flies it turns into wings, I also love the new hairstyle you made.

I found pirates_tilesheet in maps folder and the desert merchant in temporary_sprites_1 inside the loosesprites folder!

Everyone looks great, love your ideas, especially pig Morris :P

 

[Sinmenon]

I'm actually trying to make the lily pad on Willy's head instead of the hat and the results have been... Mixed. So instead of delaying the update any further I just updated it on nexus and here!


What's new? : Adds Sebastian, Sandy, Jas and Marnie. I also added an Alternative Texture file for the kelpie form of Sebastian as an optional download.

... Why I'm thinking about Birdie to be a cecaelia?

Harvey reminds me of Otus from Owlboy, he uses a cloak that lets him fly just like the other owls, it looks normal when walking but when he flies it turns into wings, I also love the new hairstyle you made.

That's it! Instead of a raven maybe more owl-focused? This way I can actually keep his face or give him more interesting features in his beach outfit. Having the poor guy in a mask while sunbathing was feeling so wrong to me.

I'm also studying the possibility of learning how to make a config file so you can pick and choose who you want to change the appearance. This way, let's say if you don't like spiders you can uncheck Abigail and Caroline. Or if you would like to use something like Diverse Valley or other patches you don't need to go through too many hoops.

 

[Sinmenon]

Today in “I should stop procrastinating and make some time for this project”... Some development!
I didn’t release Willy in the previous update because I wanted to make the lily-thingie on his head, but I was thoroughly unhappy with the results. But it was still way too simple, so I ended up making him barefoot. I know, I know, not exactly an exciting development but I spent way too long and I wasn't happy with the results.

Next up I decided to go to the simpler edits instead of going for the romance candidates. First I went for the old mariner and decided to make him a cecaelia. Not only that, but to be roughly similar to the mermaid we see in the show during the Night Market and Ginger Island on rainy days. At first, I tried to make her a little pirate-like but it didn’t look so nice, so I just had her with a slit-cut long skirt to “hide” the tentacles. I actually managed to change the lines so she wouldn’t be called “old mariner” or have an accent. The lines might still change but I’m roughly happy.

And lastly, Mr Q. I had two ideas: either for him to draw inspiration from the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland or a mysterious man in a kitsune mask. I went for the later, I’m still working in the art for the portrait. I also gave him hakama and hair to make him more visually interesting.

I also decided to toy with the bastet Maru for fun and test what I could do with the others. Because of the limitations I need to be very careful of how I use my space. It was a fun exercise nonetheless. If I’d develop it, the later would have paws for hands instead, kind like of Felicia from Darkstalkers although the former concept was also fun to toy with.

(and that's why there are no centaurs in this project)

I’m still going for a cyborg idea. I want to make a head piece roughly like Demi from Phantasy Star IV with a visor similar to the cyborgs from Disgaea.I might also use the general gist of the latter for the body too.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Ooooo these are all fantastic! Willy's toes, cecaelia, Kitsune mask, bestest basted Maru...... gaaaaaaahhhh I love them all!

 

[Sinmenon]

A quick update on cyborg Maru sprite:

I used her beach standing pose because I fought it would look slightly better and make her silhouette slightly more interesting. Should I keep the central piece on her head or remove it ? Or perhaps the bastet idea is slightly better? I personally had a lot of fun developing the cyborg one.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I kinda like the cyborg Maru better but I wonder whether the center piece kinda hides her too much. In contrast, the Kitsune mask hiding Mr Qi's face is the point of that look and that's no great loss as he's hiding behind huge shades anyway. Maru would be great either way, whichever you prefer.

 

[Sinmenon]

These are roughly the current ideas.
The cyborg/android Maru (more android as she was built by Robin and Demetrius). The covering the face is deliberate but I could move it up enough to see her features.
Alex the minotaur I'm more tempted to have the regular body type (up) and use the bull face. The first concept had some inspiration from Fate/Grand Order version of Asterios.

Spoiler

And Harvey... I feel bad covering his face with the mask. Ops? But maybe I should keep the mask and have it black colored, only showing his face in his beach outfit.
Edit: I also realized that he kind of looks like a tengu? It could also work.

I'm still considering Shane, Elliot and Sam. Sam had a concept of either a half-elf or a werewolf. Part of me is considering editing the non-romancables and go back once I have more ideas.

To recap I also thought about some NPCs not changing, like the Wizard and Marlon. Part of me is currently tempted to give the Rasmodius a light colors makeover and make him slightly more "ethereal" but being a wizard is magical enough. Being a cool adventurer like Marlon is already fantasy-ish enough. Gunther as an "adventurer"-like museum curator is also very fantasy-ish, but I also thought maybe a ghost, with some transparency effects?
I know Pierre will keep being human, and the same for Demetrius and Robin for now (unless I want to make Maru a Bastet, then I'd change Demetrius). I'm also planning to keep Evelyn and George as humans, to enhance Alex's sense of displacement as he mentions in his interactions.
Kent and Vincent will depend on what Sam ends up being. If Sam is a half-elf, same for Vincent. If I go with the half-elf, Kent would be an elf and I'd give him an elf overhaul; but if they are werewolves then Kent would be slightly more feral. Jodi as a former mermaid (nod to Jodi Benson, the original Little Mermaid's Ariel voice actress) I could actually have some slight fun with Vincent's design maybe? (a "sea elf" could be cool).
I also don't have plans for Linus or Lewis. I don't think I'll change the Witch because there is a number of mods that turn her into a playable character and it would be incompatible.