Thinking about a total conversion mod...

[diojeanne]

I have an idea for a stardew mod set in the future of the Ferngill Republic that requires essentially everything to be changed, but I know there's some stuff that's hard-coded... Is it a big deal to get around that? For example, I want zero vanilla festivals in this mod, zero vanilla NPCs and mail, and honestly zero vanilla locations (every existing map would be radically altered, and some removed.) It's also fairly important to me to have the game begin on the first day of fall, since summer will be quite difficult to survive after only one season. Is this realistic, or am I certain to hit a wall mid-development? I'm looking through the documentation for content patcher and it looks like most stuff can be overwritten, but I'm pretty worried because I can't find any other mods that offer a true total conversion with no vanilla content at all. Is there a technical reason for this absence, or is it just that everyone else is only interested in making expansions? I'd really rather not dig too deeply before discovering this isn't actually workable.

 

[Lenora Rose]

I have an idea for a stardew mod set in the future of the Ferngill Republic that requires essentially everything to be changed, but I know there's some stuff that's hard-coded... Is it a big deal to get around that? For example, I want zero vanilla festivals in this mod, zero vanilla NPCs and mail, and honestly zero vanilla locations (every existing map would be radically altered, and some removed.) It's also fairly important to me to have the game begin on the first day of fall, since summer will be quite difficult to survive after only one season. Is this realistic, or am I certain to hit a wall mid-development? I'm looking through the documentation for content patcher and it looks like most stuff can be overwritten, but I'm pretty worried because I can't find any other mods that offer a true total conversion with no vanilla content at all. Is there a technical reason for this absence, or is it just that everyone else is only interested in making expansions? I'd really rather not dig too deeply before discovering this isn't actually workable.

Honestly? This sounds less like something you can do with mods and more like just writing your own game sequel. I mean, if you're replacing everything anyhow, especially redoing the art, you're talking the same amount of work as writing a new game, and for every piece of code you can keep to save you time, there's probably a piece of code that will prevent you from doing the things you want and delay you.

The only difference I see is with a mod you can keep the Ferngill lore, where writing your own game you'd either need ConcernedApe's permission or a deft hand at filing off the serial numbers, so to speak.

 

[diojeanne]

Yeah, I don't necessarily think writing my own game is beyond me, I've done enough programming, I just wanted in particular to explore a dystopian future in SDV ravaged by climate change change and war, with nigh-unsurvivable summers and temperate winters. I doubt CA would extend permission for a standalone sequel since it would do such incredible violence to his warm and fuzzy masterpiece.

 

[Sinmenon]

Maybe you could try making an expansion area like Ridgeside or Stardew Expanded to learn about the limitations of what you can do within the engine and get yourself used to it and make a smaller scale concept thing, maybe a "prequel" or use the elements to make something else. It could be interesting to make a game set around the things that Kent saw during the war, for example, and then set up for a bleak outcome.
Or you could do a standalone fangame, many popular titles have a few and I can't say I've seen any based on SDV (a dating sim for Marnie and the male older bachelors? A tower defense game in which Charlie organize the other chickens against wild animals? It could be cool to see fangames).

 

[Pangaearocks]

Since you are planning/thinking about a total conversion mod, you can take a look at this page on the wiki, because a great deal is going to change by the looks of things!

 

[diojeanne]

Since you are planning/thinking about a total conversion mod, you can take a look at this page on the wiki, because a great deal is going to change by the looks of things!

Yikes, that is useful to know, but it looks like it will ultimately make my project more possible. Thanks for the heads-up.