When the pandemic became an immediate threat stateside, I lost the drive to indulge in any creative endeavors. Before March, I'd been sewing a lot, with the hope that my twin sister would be visiting from Germany and I'd get to show her everything I'd made. When the virus ended those plans, I felt so completely unmotivated, out of anger and sadness. I haven't seen her in over a year, and I anticipate it will be another year of the same.
Spending time playing Stardew Valley was incredibly therapeutic for me. I've played before, so I was quick to fall into the gratifying rhythm of raising a beautiful farm in an idyllic town. The stories of the characters deal with tragic themes as much as happy ones, but overall there's almost nothing punishing about the game.
Out of curiosity, I started extending my game with contributed mods - things that made the animals cuter, or expanded my wardrobe. I began dabbling in modding when I wanted to expand my furniture, using furniture items from other villagers' houses.
The entry point for Stardew Valley modding is pretty low, especially as far as programming goes. Most mods use JSON to replace assets in the game, and occasionally to expand the range of assets. Not only did I get to use a familiar programming language, but I was able to enhance my experience playing. My farm felt more like mine.
Modding was a guilt-free way for me to explore my own creativity, and to experience the almost immediate gratification of new in-game features (rather than waiting several months for an update). The process was extremely rewarding.
While modding, it even made me consider jobs in game development. I don't flatter myself to think contributing modules to a niche online community is the same as game development, but it did inspire me to look into indie game developers - not as job prospects, but just to follow their process.
One of my favorite finds during this was the game Kynseed. Like Stardew Valley, Kynseed is a sandbox RPG, with some elements of a farming simulator. It's still in early access (and heavily under development), and following the journey of the development team on Twitter has been a lot of fun.
After about two months, I eventually found my process for other creative endeavors like sewing, or photography. As much as I loved modding, I was happy to use my hands again, and to look away from a screen.
The picture used at the top of this article is a modified version of the Rideable Deer patch by hojichas on NexusMods.