Stardew Valley Creator Points Out Helpful Feature That Many May Have Missed

Eric «ConcernedApe» Barone, the developer of Stardew Valley, took to the internet recently to inform players about a useful feature that many may have missed throughout their playthroughs. Barone's popular farm life simulator received a major update in March that introduced new content like items and events, as well as several quality-of-life improvements, among other things.

There are a lot of unique mechanics and systems baked into Stardew Valley, as the title, which was released in early 2016, offers a wide variety of activities for people to enjoy. Most learn about the game's many quirks just by playing, asking a friend, or turning to the cozy game's various helpful wikis. Developer ConcernedApe, however, had to directly tell players about one feature in the game that apparently some fans never even knew existed.

In a post on Twitter, Barone revealed that hovering over an item in Stardew Valley while accessing the inventory screen would let players know if that highlighted item was still needed for the game's Community Center bundles. Should the tree-shaped Community Center icon in the inventory menu pulsate when a player puts their cursor on an item, then that means that the item is required for an incomplete bundle, ConcernedApe explained. Finishing the Stardew Valley Community Center bundles unlocks a variety of rewards, such as seeds, farm equipment, and food.

Barone noted that the aforementioned feature was in the game before Stardew Valley's latest 1.6 update was released. The developer said he believed that a lot of people were unaware of it, which ended up being a spot-on assumption, since many players told ConcernedApe that they never knew about the pulsating notification even though they had spent hundreds of hours on Stardew Valley. Others, meanwhile, said that they thought this feature was common knowledge among players.

Update 1.6 introduced the Desert Festival, as well as the Trout Derby and SquidFest mini fishing festivals. It also added the