Although Stardew Valley's 1.6 update has now been confirmed to be in development, this will reportedly focus more on mod than changes to the gameplay.
As a farming simulator, a large part of Stardew Valley’s gameplay revolves around growing crops. Although there are other ways to make a living, from animal husbandry to spelunking in the mine, almost all players will grow at least a few crops during their time with the game. Seeds for these crops can be obtained in a few ways. They can be bought from various vendors, but the seasonal ‘Wild Seeds’ can also be crafted using the proceeds of foraging in each season. Of course, foraging by itself is also one of the best ways to make money in Stardew Valley, so players may want to balance selling foraged goods and crafting seed packets to progress quickly through the game.
However, some players have found themselves encountering an unusual pitfall in growing crops from Wild Seeds, one which Reddit how Stardew Valley uses pixel art to portray its world.
Stardew Valley's Graphics Can Badly Mislead Players
Some commenters in the discussion sparked by Bros_And_Co have found themselves looking back with regret, as they themselves have been caught out by the same misleading graphics. Many players have destroyed perfectly healthy crops believing them to be dead, a mistake costing them time and money. This has in turn led to an outpouring of shock and commiserations. As it turns out, many players have been using tools like the axe to remove their crops in this situation; a far better tool for the job is the scythe, which unlike the Axe will not affect healthy growing crops, thus preventing any unfortunate misunderstandings. The discussion is a great example of how a friendly community teaches unaware players about a game's quirks without judgement.
This has highlighted an unfortunate problem with pixel art sprites. Although Stardew Valley is able to portray a wide variety of plant life with the simplified graphics this style necessitates, in this particular case the otherwise charming graphics can cause some consternation. Although the brown sprites simply denote a 'wild' plant has been planted and is growing, the dead-like appearance has led to many players removing their actually healthy crops and starting over. Fortunately, as Bros_And_Co has discovered, the game's friendly player base is always happy to lend struggling farmers a hand and give them some useful tips. Stardew Valley's use of pixel art may have been misleading some players, but its community will always steer them right.
Source: Bros_And_Co/Reddit
