Spoiler alert! I am not even going to try to avoid spoilers. So be forewarned.
This walkthrough is for the iPad version of the game which has quite a few differences from the desktop version.
Stardew Valley is very flexible, so as you play the game your experiences will not be the same as mine. Once I am past the game basics, I will not be going step by step, but only recapping the action.
If you are looking just to get a particular question about the game answered. You can find just about every thing you need to know in the Wiki.
In Stardew Valley the year is 112 game-days. Each season is 28 days. On day two of spring of the first year, I got up and checked the TV to see what the fortune teller had to say.
Oh, things don’t look good for today.Stepping out of the cabin I find that I have a letter in the mail box.Well, I guess I had better make my way down to the beach. I hope this Willy guy isn’t a creep. First I had to water my garden, then I was ready to go.To find my way to the beach, I opened the hamburger menu, in the upper left hand corner of the screen, and clicked on the tab for the map. I see that I need to go east out of my farm and then head south over the river.What is this I found on the path past the bus station? It looks like three worms wiggling up from the soil. They are called roots in the Wiki, but I call them wiggly worms. This time I only got some lumps of clay when I clicked on them.Past the bus stop I see Pelican Town for the first time.The river was easy to find, and I spotted the bridge leading to what I thought must be the beach.As soon as I crossed the bridge, a cut scene started with Willy, who lives and has his shop on the pier. He gives me his old bamboo fishing rod.After I get the rod, it is too early to enter the fish shop, so I took the rod down the pier from Willy, for a little fishing. I was surprised that I was able to get a screenshot at this point. I did real quick and the fish didn’t get away. With the bamboo pole, fishing is really hard because the green bar is so small and hard to keep behind the moving fish.As soon as I reeled the fish in, I saw that I had forgotten to empty my backpack at the farm before leaving, and had no room for the fish. I had to chose what to throw away to make room for the fish. I tossed the clay, even though I will want clay later. Once I drug the clay over and dropped it into the trashcan, I was able to drag the fish down into inventory. When it was past 9 a.m. I entered the fish shop and clicked on the arrow on Willy’s counter.At this point in the game, he isn’t selling much. But he has what I need. I wanted the training rod, but I have no room for it in my backpack. I clicked on the upper right hand box which reads “Inventory (12/12)” this opens the box below.I sold my two Sardines to Willy for 80g. In the game the money is called “gold”, but I like to say gilder.
With the addition of the second fishing rod, my backpack was full, so I headed back to the farm to unload. Passing through the village I saw that there was a question mark on the bulletin board in front of the general store.
Clicking on the Bulletin Board opened up the Spring calendar. I saw that the next birthday was the mayor’s. Eventually I will have to start giving folks presents on their birthdays, but at the moment I am just too busy trying to get by.
After unloading my backpack at the farm, I decided to exit my farm to the south to explore and look for things to forage. I knew from examining the map that there was a forest, lake, and river that way. I thought I might gather some wood and maybe do some fishing.
The south exit is just below the larger pond.Boy, there sure was a lot of forage in this area.
I started working on gathering as much wood and fiber as I could, knowing that I wouldn’t have room in my backpack for fish, even if I had the time to do some fishing.
You might have noticed in earlier screenshots these Mixed Seeds. They randomly pop into my backpack when I am cutting fiber. They do come in very handy in these early game-days, when you can’t be spending money on seeds. I found a dandelion, which I can carry in my backpack in case I need to eat it for an energy boost.As you are walking around Stardew Valley you will run into Villagers, who you can talk to. Check out the Wiki about making friends. If you click on a character you can have a bit of a conversation with them, which can tell you useful information or not.As it turned out, it began to get dark before I was even close to being through with my foraging. You have to make sure that you leave yourself enough time to get home before the witching hour. It was pretty dark when I got back to the cabin, so I decided to make a couple of torches to put outside my cabin. I didn’t have any sap (since I hadn’t actually cut down any trees yet.) I had some energy left, so I cut down enough trees and made two torches.Putting torches near my font door helps me zero in on the cabin if I have stayed out too late and the farm is dark. You can put torches in a lot of places, even inside the cabin.
After placing the torches, I cleared out my backpack, to be ready for morning. I managed to get into bed before midnight. You have until 2 a.m. to make it to bed. If you don’t make it there are consequences. From a scolding from a Villager to losing money and goods you are carrying.
Join me for tomorrow’s adventures in the next post.
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