Subway to Stardew

Sideblog for the (unreleased) submas Stardew Valley mod made by @takadanobaba and @xdoctorsparklex !

[subwaytostardew]

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✦ Adoptable Joltik - Sample Mod

!! Blank/proship do not interact !!

[subwaytostardew]

take your time ❤️ you deserve to enjoy making and implementing the mod yourself, regardless of how excited we are. just know you have a lot of people cheering you on from the sidelines (for more than just the mod) ❤️

Thank you! ;v;

It means a lot to hear that since I worry a lot about how long it takes me to make progress nowadays. I even lamented getting a better job because that would mean less time to work on this! Thank you for being patient and understanding.

I really do enjoy implementing things when I'm not fretting over other tasks. There's a lot I'd like to add in patches as time goes on since I have ideas I want to put out, but I have to remind myself to keep them as updates so scope creep doesn't push back release... It's hard to not want to jump into doing that instead of bug fixing though. I'll get to it eventually!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

Hello! I hope you're all doing well. I just wanted to check in and see how things have been going for you. I was also wondering how the progress on the mod has been coming along. No rush at all! I know these things take time. I was just curious and wanted to see how everything is going! Thank you, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Unfortunately...... I do not have much to show for myself. Sorry to disappoint. ^^;;;

The past few months have been quite busy for me between family trips for graduation and getting a new job (which I love! but I'm adjusting to the work-life balance). I haven't really been able to sit at my laptop at all for the past couple of months. I've been working on spriting on my phone during my breaks, but I'm always editing the assets so I don't consider them finalized enough to post.

I can't make any promises for time frames since things are always happening to me, but it will get done when it gets done. When I have anything notable to show, you'll know because I'm itching to release/post things too.

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

Oftentimes, the best beta testers are the players themselves. They all have different kinds of setups from CPUs to graphics cards that you probably wouldn't think of those as impactful to development.

Of course this primarily applies to full games but with this mod changing and adding so much in the game that would probably help look for bugs you never thought would exist

I'm particularly excited to see who will decide to take a swim or something equally silly if it somehow happens XD

–Rando Anon

Emmet already went for a swim 😭 I'm fairly sure I fixed that bug (pathing error... adding new locations and warps mess with scheduled behavior) but I wouldn't be surprised if he did it again. 90% modding is spent staring at text files, and the other 10% is spent in-game. My focus areas for debugging are within events and construction bundles, but if anything else happens... That's for all of you to find out!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

Sorry if this sounds strange coming from an internet stranger, but I'm actually really proud of you for the update post I just saw.

A rough release is better than no release when it comes to creative projects that have the ability to be finished/fixed/added on to later, at least in my eyes; that's what got me back into art in the first place, and I do consider any form of creation an artform.

'Perfection is the enemy of done', and scope creep is a big issue that I don't see get talked about much outside of entire games, never in contexts like mods.

I'll still be here and be happy to play whatever form the mod takes when it drops, have a good day/night and stay healthy :)

Not strange at all! I appreciate it. Thank you anonymous internet stranger. I wish you a good night/day as well!! I'll try my best to stay healthy. ^^

Scope creep is very much real in the modding scene as well. I still see it rampant in the Stardew modding space. We were very ambitious. I'm worried about disappointing people, but what you said encourages me to put out some form of release, even if I don't consider it perfect.

It doesn't sound like a lot of new content being made before release to me, but I've been realizing that we put a lot of work into making what we already have (especially when it comes to bugfixing...), and even I'm surprised when rediscovering what I wrote myself. It's been fun looking back on what we made with a somewhat fresh pair of eyes. I hope you'll be able to have fun sometime soon whenever I release it!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

I'm so excited for this mod!! Hope ya'll are doing alright🫶 Do you have any updates?

Not much of an update, but we got back into modding recently! I've been fixing the old events since they broke in 1.6. I've also been familiarizing myself with the 1.7/early access changes, so that's been fun (not really, they replaced all the event question commands for 1.7)...........

We decided we're going to try to get it in a state where we can release it and anything else we had planned can sit for if we ever decide to make a patch. A rough release is better than none... I think. Scope creep was a big issue so we're going to be a little less ambitious. For "new" content, that would mean pretty much just the station rebuilding events and Emmet's 10 heart event. I'll have to do a lot of bugfixing before I can complete those though.

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

haiii, just wanted to check in and see if you guys are doing okay!

Hello! Sorry for the lack of update. We've been quite occupied with our real-life matters between work and other things.

I know Kade has been busy with moving and hasn't been able to work on the mod as she hasn't fully settled in yet. Since the last update, I've gotten hospitalized after I nearly died from anaphylactic shock for reasons unknown and I'm still getting treatment for that.

Not the most fun news but thank you for checking in!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

oh my god /pos, please tell me y'all are still working on this so i can give myself permission to get hyped- (< also has been considering creating a volo npc mod)

We still intend to finish this eventually! Unfortunately I do not have any progress to report as we've both been busy.

If you want to make a Volo mod, I would say to go for it! If you ever need any help, I am willing to be of assistance. Coding is quite daunting at first, but I did write a whole guide on eventing if that helps! Maybe we could have some crossover content when our mods are both released, too!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

The mod looks so cute and fun!!! I was wondering how it was going, it's been a bit, and the most recent updates to sdv. I keep checking to see any updates, or especially for a release! Even if it's unfinished. I just want to befriend Emmet 🥺😭 But also no rush, cause safety checks, verrrrrry important. Regardless, I love the work!!! Amazing writing! Adorable art! Love the events! /g

Thank you for the kind message! I appreciate that you enjoy our work that much. ^^

It has been quite a while indeed... Apologies for no updates! We haven't really made much if any progress due to being busy and other life complications...

I had actually gotten my car broken into and laptop stolen back in December. It was only downhill from there since I got laid off from my job because of a store closure... It took me a while (just last month really...) to get a new laptop and set everything up since I hadn't made a backup in quite some time. I did lose a bit of progress (mainly the art assets... aaah... I was nearly done retouching the portraits for Drayden and Iris) but thankfully it wasn't too much. It's just... disappointing since I had wanted to work on things again and was thwarted so terribly.

I'm currently refamiliarizing myself with the coding side of things again (now that I actually have a device to code on again). I'm a bit rusty but... I'll get back into things eventually! Aside from finishing up new content, I still have cleaning up past events to do (thanks to the way I did battle animations breaking in the update... yay... I'm going to have fun redoing Emmet's 80 page long 8 heart event...) but I do want to get Emmet's 10 heart event done next!

Especially since I fretted so much over recovering some WIP assets for the event visuals... Here's a few!

Anyways... Release isn't going to be soon at all, but hopefully more updates will roll in eventually! I'll be trying my best to get back on track and progress full steam ahead!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

Hello!!!! I wanted to drop by and say I love this mod!!! This mod was literally my introduction into Ingo & Emmet as characters lol I've watched through all the videos on the channel and I LOVE the world you're building!!! You're both doing a great job!!! ALSO I am ELATED for a possible Cilan romance option!!!!!! I burst into actual tears seeing it was a possibility (he's my biggest comfort character and I've loved him since his debut in the anime in 2011) thank you so much for your hard work!!!

Thank you for taking the time to write out such nice messages!! The Cilan routes will come much, much later, but we'll get to it eventually!

I always wonder what it's like seeing the videos without the daily dialogue or being the person working on it... let alone with no prior knowledge of submas. We do a lot of thinking and planning... I feel bad cutting out content and leaving out context! All the events posted so far have dialogue for if you check in with whoever makes sense to talk to afterwards. Some have a little more insight that we cut out of the main events because... our events are long enough as is (I'm still dead from Emmet's 30 minute long battle... I dread replacing every attack animation after it broke). It's not too much, more just how they feel afterwards- most of the content is in the events because... they feel fun and rewarding for me to code compared to everything else.

As for the worldbuilding- you have Kade to thank for that! She goes crazy with the worldbuilding... She writes all the scripts and we whittle them down for a bit more cohesion. This mod really wouldn't be the same without her!

Nonetheless, I'm happy to hear that we're doing well writing them to be interesting but still cohesive as characters even to someone not already a submas fan! Our main goal for this project was to elaborate on their canon behaviors (the scraps of content they have... and how their autism manifests...) to further other people's enjoyment of them all while expressing our own love for submas! Thank you again!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

Did I hear somebody say "Hilda and Hilbert" NPCs? By a certain... "Silicon", no less?

Indeed, I haven't made any progress since we last chatted ahaha, but I'm still totally up for adding them in!

Also the map bugs were, fortunately, promptly fixed up ('twas a bug in SMAPI, of all things) — but not before 2 people sent me mistaken bug reports (I don't even add maps... ahaha)

Silicon!! Good to see you again!

Thank you for updating us! It's always a joy to see your Hilda and Hilbert sprites again. ^^

I'm glad things were getting fixed up... Hopefully things don't take too long to get used to when I refamiliarize myself with modding in the new game version! I hope you've been doing well!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

So I read there will be some compatibility with other Stardew Pokémon mods? What kinda stuff will that be, since the lore of this mod seems to be that there aren't really any Pokémon in the valley, but those other mods make it so there are actually Pokémon there.

Not quite compatibility per se, but we wanted to not reskin any animals and other creatures in case if someone did want to play alongside another Pokémon mod (such as Pokéfy), that way the changes wouldn't overlap with each other.

It's more just not breaking other mods by only focusing on adding content rather than changing vanilla. Maybe we'll write a few events acknowledging if mods that add Pokémon are installed, but that's a low priority (especially since there's so many pet mods... it would take forever to account for all of them...)

We would be more open to other NPC mods since it's a bit more feasible (and fun) to write for. We actually had plans to make Nimbasa's map functional since another mod creator (Silicon, better known as the creator of Growing Valley!) did have plans to have his Hilda and Hilbert NPCs live there. We unfortunately we don't have much to update on from that front since last I saw him, he took a break from burnout as well and had other priorities (I don't want to repost his spritework here like this either). We also don't have anything of value to show for Nimbasa yet (keeping in mind sizing and walkability made us scrap multiple drafts... pain). That'll come... eventually. The bugs in the new game updates scare me a bit.

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

Hey, it's been a bit since we've heard from you guys! Hopefully things are going much better for you both? I hope so, but Pokemon Masters EX is releasing sygna suits for the twins! Have you guys seen? What do you guys think? If not, I just wanted to let you both know.

Hello!! Sorry for the lack of updates...

We actually decided to take a break from the coding and implementation side of things until Stardew stabilizes. 1.6 has been a bit of a pain and I kept getting discouraged having to go back and fix things because of all the update patches... It was frustrating trying to make progress only to learn that I would have to go back and redo things.

The content in 1.6 is set to release November 4th, but from the beta of 1.6.9, I've heard that there's quite a few mod-breaking changes that I'll need to look into... later. I'm sure there will be more patches once mobile/console players can explore the new content (and report more bugs...). So... mod progress is on an indefinite pause while we wait for the game to be stable (and also get the motivation to work on it back... the thought of having to refamiliarize myself with the modding changes and fixing the broken content kills that a lot.)

In the meantime- we're still very much excited for new submas content!! I love their fancy new outfits... We're especially excited for new stories and dialogue to reference when writing them in more mod content!!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

hey! i hope you're both doing well, i just wanted to send this to say that this mod seems REALLY cool, and it inspired me to try my hand at stardew modding! best of luck to yous

I'm glad it inspired you to start modding! I'd love to see what you've made and I hope you're having fun!!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

It's always a good idea to step back and take a break from a passion project, it will get boring and awful if you burn out from it. Plus you can get ideas on what to add during the break so it can be a win-win ^^. Anyway, take care you two! This will always be here I'm sure <3

—Rando Anon

Oh of course!! I still find myself thinking of what else to add in when I have time to work on it again. Thank you for the message and understanding! It'll get done eventually, but I'd rather it not suffer from being worked on despite burnout.

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

Hello, hope you’re all doing well.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen anything so I’m just dropping by to see if all has been well

Ah... It has been a while hasn't it ^^;;;

To be honest, we haven't really made much progress lately since we had to step away from modding due to a combination of being busy in real life and burnout. I want to work on the mod more, but I haven't had much time lately to even sit down at my desk and do anything between two jobs (same with Kade, who has the added stress of trying to find a new place to live).

Thank you for checking in though! It will likely be a while until any new updates (and especially completion), but we do still intend to finish it eventually.

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[subwaytostardew]

Maybe for Emmet's date montage you could have Polaroid pictures of what the day was like, there's a picture of the player and Emmet eating ice cream, of them touring the subway, checking out Elesa's gym, riding the roller coasters in her old gym, maybe they watch Emmet battle someone in front of Gear Station, whatever else the date montage has. And man, you guys have a lot to do! Remember to take care of yourselves! You don't wanna burn yourselves out!

That was the plan actually! That's also why we established Joltik's interest in photography back in his 8 heart event buuuut... I'm not so sure about giving Joltik such a big role in his 10 heart event anymore. The focus is supposed to be your date with Emmet... Don't want to be too awkward about a little baby spider watching your every action.

As far as the script goes, we're still working out the details, but I was thinking the first half plays out more normally until Emmet shares his first kiss with the farmer. Then it would speed up into a montage of visuals (mostly because thinking about properly eventing the rollercoaster part scares me). I don't want to have it be too visual-heavy if that makes any sense? Trying to have a nice balance with movement like Ingo's event. Emmet is expressive... I think he'd be clingy and marching around everywhere during the first half where they're boarding a train, multi-battling Hilda and Hilbert, watching a Pokestar Studios movie, eating Castellia Cones, etc.

I posted a snippet of this earlier, but here's the full idea page that I got sidetracked with for Emmet's 10-heart. This was made REALLY early on and pretty much everything needs to be changed to better match the main themes in my head as well as just... Making sense. A lot of my creative process is jotting down what few ideas I have, realizing that I hate them later on, and editing them until I'm okay with it. I did also get carried away spriting a few visuals over Haley's event assets...

But Haley's event didn't really have any dialogue or much interaction during the picture portion. I'm not too sure if I like the Polaroid-esque look alongside the text box... I was considering on expanding the visual dimensions to make it feel more... dynamic? Kind of like watching a movie (which would fit since watching a movie with him is a planned activity anyways)...

But I don't know... Maybe it's okay? I'll figure it out. I'll probably go with the widened visual dimensions since I do want to include a ferris wheel ride in the montage and it looks like it would be hard to fit into the Polaroid dimensions.