You’ll want room for banana trees in Stardew Valley’s 1.5 update

My greenhouse is full, but I’ll make space

Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone is letting fans influence the direction of update 1.5 – a tiny part of it, anyway. The game designer recently held a Twitter poll asking fans if they’d rather have an avocado, banana, mango, or passionfruit tree in the “next update.” Stardew players went bananas.

Thanks for voting… Banana is the winner! Looks like mango is the runner up… pic.twitter.com/eQqiZ4Gf6Z

— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) April 8, 2020

Not much to go on, I know. But he did have a little more to say about his design philosophy.

In a response to a coding question from a self-described “novice programmer who wants to get better,” Barone said “Once you’ve coded the framework for items and crops, most of the work to add new ones is drawing the art and putting in the data (price, etc.). However, in order for new content to be fun, it usually has to be part of a meaningful bigger-picture… that’s where the real work is.”

I didn’t hear about the poll until now, but I would’ve voted for bananas too. They’re great on their own. They’re great in smoothies. They make bread even better. Really, there’s nothing bananas can’t do.

I’m so glad I have Animal Crossing to absorb my pent-up energy right now. My progress has been slow-going enough that by the time I need a break from the game, I’m hoping Stardew Valley 1.5 will be ready. That said, no rush – these are games I intend to stick with for years to come. They’re keepers.

_{[Image credit: ThinPen]}