About this image
I conducted a brief research and wrote an article about how well different mods are compatible in terms of level design. The full article can be read on StardewValleyForums. Here are the main points from it, intended to generate interest in the issue:
1. The valley has become too crowded with all the mods adding locations.
2. Some transitions between locations from both the vanilla game and certain mods are strange and illogical.
3. The community lacks a well-thought-out plan for location placement to ensure that different mods don't interfere with each other and stay true to the canon.
4. The in-game menu map is too limited and needs modification.
5. Many mods are not represented at all on the menu map.
6. With the release of new mods, the problem will only worsen, so addressing it now is preferable.
7. Only by coming together and acknowledging this problem can we lead our game to a bright future.
If you care about this issue and consider the points I've raised important, please spread and endorse this image on Nexus, share the Reddit post, and the full article on StardewValleyForums.
P.S. The puzzle pieces in this image symbolize various locations that, when connected, form a unified and cohesive world.
15 comments
One of the problems is making it realistic while not adding too much empty space for the player. For example, in vanilla, it's clear that the Mountain is not right above town (if it was, the lake would be on the town map). But if there was a path leading to the mountain, it would make walking there a huge chore. Balancing gameplay and realism is pretty hard.
But the future is not as grimm it seems! 1.6 should make it easier for mods to add their own local map with Content Patcher (like what Ridgeside Village has). That won't fix the logic, but it will make navigation easier.
Oh and regarding some of the mods mentioned in your article, they are not meant to be in the Valley anyway (Downtown Zuzu, Durin's Rest, Mineral Town). I think it's also the case for Mount Vapius.
Again, congratulations on this article!
Yes, you're right, expecting a collaborative and harmonious effort from all authors of mods without exception would be foolish. But if it were possible to gather a substantial group of people who are interested in this idea and who are authors of popular and important mods for the community, then over time, simply due to the significance of this group, the majority of others might reconsider their views and join in.
Regarding the empty space, I agree with you, although it's not a problem for me personally, other players might not want to traverse through barren locations just to get, for example, to Robin's shop. However, the intermediate locations are mentioned separately in the article precisely because they are entirely optional.
I also want to thank you for informing me about the changes in the map's functionality in the 1.6 update; this is truly good news. However, there are issues with this approach. Just imagine how the map will look if a player installs many mods with new locations, and each of them adds its own small icon, which, when expanded, shows a full-fledged map. Currently, with only Ridgeside Village and Ginger Island, it's manageable, but if there are more of them, the main map might become barely visible.
As for mods far from the valley, they are intentionally placed in a separate category, they shouldn't be visible on the valley map, that's understood. But it would be nice to see them on the map, somewhere in the distance. I'd like to understand that it's a unified world, that they really exist, and there's such a route leading to them. It could be done with icons on the map, but I believe that's a flawed approach, and we need one large map. Maybe I'm not right, perhaps it's only my preference, but wouldn't it be a positive thing if the game world looked
Regarding the mods you mentioned, I must admit that I wasn't aware of all of them. I was only considering major mods that add numerous locations and smaller ones that I knew of, so there's a slight bias here. If we go through them one by one:
Eugene and Andy; Jane and Alec; and the Russian NPC you mentioned all have compatibility issues already and seem to be incompatible.
As I envision it, my idea revolves around creating a space from mods that will be well compatible, working together according to clear rules, and occupying available spots. Let's take an example: if you have Andy, you wouldn't install Eugene anyway, and until the authors of these mods come to an agreement and one of them concedes, you might only have one of them. Accordingly, there would be no issues on the in-game map menu, and only one of them would be displayed if the map was made suitable for all mods. But if a space is created in which major mods that already occupy certain areas can coexist well, smaller mods can slightly adjust their logic, fit in somewhere between them, and work harmoniously.
Regarding Witch Bella and Oliver, perhaps it's cynical, and I might come across as an SVE advocate, but it seems to me that the principle of the strongest works here. Many people want to place their character's house right in the town square, but it's already taken, so ambitions need to be tempered.
In the case of Seven Deadly Sins, as far as I understand, it contradicts not only SVE but also East Scarp. I looked at the mod's page, and as far as I could gather from the images, their mod features a massive palace and a lake to the right of JojaMart, which completely clashes with the road in East Scarp. Correct me if I'm wrong; I haven't played with this mod and haven't tested compatibility. For mods that can't be made compatible, you can simply organize a proper visual representation on the in-game map menu, but first, the menu needs to be addressed.
For some reason, everyone is focusing on the Very Complex Path, completely ignoring the fact that the first step is to sort out the in-game map, which can't accommodate the diversity of mods, and only then can we think about where to place each individual house from the smaller mods. In any case, you can't please everyone, and someone will end up feeling slighted, refusing to negotiate or compromise. However, many will be able to come to an agreement, and that already counts for a lot. But all of this is just speculative thinking, because the Very Complex Path is a utopian scenario where everyone is friends and works together for the common good, and that's not how things usually go.
I don't think that simply adding highways can solve all the problems I mentioned. As correctly pointed out in the comments here, if intermediate locations are added, they will end up empty and uninteresting for the most part. WTTD is a good mod, but such an approach won't appeal to everyone. And if we were to fill these intermediate locations with content, it would be enough for a separate full-fledged mod, which is not the goal.