Since the Stardew Valley comic has been released by Fangamer,
I am now able to write about what I had been doing in secret for one long year.
■ Gratitude
First of all, to the original creator Eric-san who entrusted the task in my hands, to Kari-san who helped me from early development all the way to printing, to Ryan-san, to Steven-san who did the translations, to Kari-san's mother who assisted in the creation of the envelope, to Erica-san for product photography -- And last but not least, everyone at Fangamer and FangamerJP.
It's thanks to the support of many people that I was able to finish the comic, and I wish to extend my sincerest gratitude towards everyone involved.
■ Chronology
"Chihiro! Big News! Let's create a new merch together!" was a request that I received around autumn of 2018. At first I was wondering if I was going to be asked to design a T-shirt, but turned out to be an invitation to draw a comic book!
At that time, I was posting comics on Twitter at random. Not even in my wildest dreams have I thought that my little comics would be appreciated so, and thus I immediately burst into tears.
I'm very honored and thankful for the opportunity to pen Fangamer's very first comic.
■ Contents
I'll try not to spoil anything about the story in this section.
The content requested by the original creator Eric-san for the comic was:
"The story before the farmer comes to the farm"
"With focus on the community center and Joja"
"And the protagonist should have no set characteristics"
These were really the ONLY information that we received from Eric-san throughout the whole process (whyyy).
I was definitely worried. In reality, for around six months when I did my preliminary research, I played Stardew Valley every day, took countless pictures, and absorbed myself in collecting materials.
I I ended up taking a little over 20 thousand screenshots total (lol).
I wholeheartedly agree with Eric-san's guideline not to give the protagonist any set characteristics. I think one of the keypoints of this game is that "Anyone can be the protagonist".
The story is set from a few years before the prologue of game, so I was rather careful not to show my own personal interpretation. In principle, the actions of the characters were mostly taken from their in-game dialogue where they mention having done something in the past (For example, the reason Sam got in trouble lmao).
It took a lot of effort outlining the story, which involved things such as "Which characters would be in contact with each other?" and "Which characters may not be present at the valley at the time?". This is the reason why the preliminary research took around six months.
By the way, I was the one who proposed to include a "letter" with the comic, both as a bonus and major spoiler, in a way. But uh, many fellow Japanese may not be able to read it, so... I'll secretly tell you the what's actually written on the letter:
It's the handwritten version of THE letter you receive in the English version of the game's prologue. It's in your hands now. So in conclusion, it's probably exactly what you think it was.
I was quite adamant about how the letter needs to be handwritten. And as who wrote it... I shall keep it a secret here.
The reason why the comic had little to no dialogue is because it was the style I had back from the time I was drawing Stardew Valley fan art. Since Stardew Valley is a media not originally from Japan, that style serves to fulfill my two wishes: "I want people all over the world to be able to read my work" and "I want to cherish the feelings of each individual player" -- That sort of idea, really.
To summarize,
"I want people all over the world to be able to read my work"
"I want to preserve the unique interpretations each individual player might have"
"Anyone can become a Stardew Valley protagonist"
I drew the comic with these concepts in mind.
■ About me
I would like to talk about my experiences throughout the development of the comic.
My name is Chihiro Sakaida (a.k.a. Brown Junimo), I was already working for a game company, so I took advantage of that experience to work on game design and illustration.
Of course, while I was working on the Stardew Valley comic, I was a freelancer and had other jobs to worry about as well, so I ended up spending a lot of time working on the comic at night after work. I also studied digital art for a month for the sake of the comic, and I think it helped improved my work efficiency.
Those were truly, very fun days for me. The only thing that did bother me was the fact that even though I was working on my favorite Stardew Valley content day after day, I couldn't really share it with anyone.
I didn't want to take the risk of accidentally running my mouth on Twitter, and I no longer had the time to draw and post online like I used to -- So I had to resort to posting only low-risk tweets, so to speak, and to be honest, it was quite disheartening.
As such, I felt truly supported by the trusted individuals who knew about the comic.
Tori-san, Aki-san, Kari-san, and Ryan-san, thank you so, so much.
■ Those who supported me
Tori-san is my partner, and also a person I respect as a novelist and screenwriter. She kindly and carefully reviewed and summarized my messy story.
Aki-san knew about the comic existed, but also knew next to nothing about it. Because of that, I think it was more than a handful to support me. It must've been really hard on Aki-san, who didn't know the contents of the book and thus had no way to accidentally spoiling the surprise, but whom also probably held even more feelings of shame than I did in regards to social media... I'm sorry that you've had to put up with so much. I was very proud to have you be the first reader of the finished book.
Kari-san is the illustrator of the Official Stardew Valley Guide Book, and I respect her a whole lot.
Both her work are her personality are very kind and easy-going.
Together with her partner Ryan-san, she's managed to assist and encourage me many, many times.
No matter what I drew, I was sure to be greeted with her "Chihiro, you're so great!" or "Chihiro, you really did your best!" (Even my own mother have never praise me this much!)
Overall, she feels just like an older sister I've always longed for, and it makes me very happy.
No matter what merch was in the process of being created, she would say "Let's make a brown one!!", solely because it's my signature color. It makes me very happy, although probably a tiny bit embarrassed as well to have her value my one schtick this much.
She's even came to Japan many times, and listened to me talk all day long.
After all, I wouldn't have been able to get this job to begin with if it wasn't for Kari-san, so she's a real lifesaver.
I didn't get to talk directly with Eric-san, the original creator and developer of Stardew Valley.
Obviously I received some feedback via Fangamer, but I was refraining from being in contact with him as much as possible.
I didn't think I could convey my full sincerity towards him before the comic was completed. I strived to be able to earnestly understand the feelings he wanted to convey via his own words -- Whether it was the game dialogues, his words on the developer blog and interviews, etc.
There was, by the way, no revision whatsoever to the comic. Eric-san did, however, carefully check all of my ideas and always provided words of appreciation; which made me happier than anything else. Those words became my motivation to live, in a sense, which in turn allowed me to freely and happily work on the comic.
■ Going Forward
While I've been talking about how proud I am to have finished the comic, I also would like to talk about what's coming next. While I certainly plan to continue working with Fangamer for the foreseeable future, at the same time, I have also decided to work for another game development company, and I plan to devote my time working on game development for at least the next year.
It has been my dream for the past 15 years to work for this particular company, and I'm elated to see it come true.
However, as a result I think I will have less exposure to social media. I don't think it's going to be easy to recreate that warm and wondrous time where I could interact with people regularly, but my memory of that time is something I will treasure for the rest of my life.
I'm really sorry that I have absolutely nothing to give back, but I sincerely hope the comic has brought a smile to everyone who's read or even merely noticed it.
■ Finally
I'm such a fortunate person -- I've come this far due to everyone's support, and for that, I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude. Thank you so much, for everything, always.
It would delight me if all of you could stay with me from this point on.
As I try to polish my skills and improve myself as a whole.
PS: Thanks to my best friend Ryou-chan for translating this!
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