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by sureglymop 564 days ago
How about something creative that is at the same time relaxing?

Some time ago I started creating mods for the game stardew valley. It still involves some programming but mainly drawing, creating animations and composing music! It's an absolute blast and so relaxing (like the game itself).

I think by now I could even start working on my own game but I don't yet have a desire to.
2 comments
williamdclt 563 days ago
Not the OP but as someone with the same mindset as them:

Sounds very fulfilling, but I explicitly want to stay as far away from tech as possible outside of working hours. I'd much rather draw and compose music outside of any tech environment.

Plus, creative hobbies are an amazing way to connect with people, it's half the reason I like them. Tech hobbies are going to make me connect with tech people which isn't what I want: I meet enough tech people at work, I'd end up talking about tech (languages, frameworks, software, AI...) outside of work which have no interest in, and I don't really relate to tech people anyway (as a sweeping statement that obviously isn't an absolute)

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whoodle 564 days ago
Not OP, but that’s really neat. What’s your process for that? What IDE for the coding? Is C# required? What software for the art?
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sureglymop 564 days ago
I started with something called ContentPatcher. It let's you patch game assets and other stuff (including some logic) using a json based DSL.

For more complex things C# is needed as Stardew Valley is made with XNA/MonoGame. There is a NuGet package to set it up which even includes hot reloading of the mod into the running game: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Pathoschild.Stardew.ModBuildC...

I use NeoVim but you can use any editor. It was a bit of a pain to get dotnet going on arch linux but I got it working after some tinkering.

To get started, one can install SMAPI, then unpack the game assets. Then, you can open game maps and assets in the Tiled level editor. I also use Aseprite to make the pixel art tilesets for the maps (LibreSprite would also work). I use a mix of my own tiles and tiles from the game itself for my maps. Music and sound can also be added or patched with ContentPatcher. I make all sound related stuff with Ableton Live. I haven't done much with C# yet but SMAPI provides a pretty nice API so it should be pleasant to use.

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