Getting Started

Stardew Valley is an open-ended game, allowing the player to achieve goals non-linearly.
There are various ways to earn income and many activities to choose from including farming, fishing, foraging, mining, fighting enemies, crafting, cooking, gift giving, completing quests, and restoring the Community Center.

Character creation

The Character Creation screen allows options for character name, gender, appearance, farm name, and preferred pet.

• There are 24 skin tones, 32 hair styles, 112 shirts and 20 accessories to choose from.
• The sliders next to eye color, hair color, and pants color represent hue, saturation, and lightness.
• The pet chosen here determines which pet will arrive on the farm later.
• Gender does not affect ingame marriage.
• The "favorite thing" will be referenced ingame when a specific item is obtained.

Players can later change their appearance for data-sort-value="500">500g, in the Wizard's tower, after reaching 4 Hearts of friendship with him.

Controls

All hotkeys can be reassigned by opening the menu and choosing the Options tab

Key	Description
W A S D	W moves the character up, A moves left, S moves down, D moves right
Left Click, C	Use tool
Right Click, X	Check/Do Action
Escape, E	Open Menu
F	Open Journal
M	Open Map window
Left Shift	Run
1 - 0,  - ,  +	Inventory hotkeys
F4	Screenshot mode
Mouse Selection	Click on any item position with your mouse, even empty ones (which cannot be done with the mouse wheel or even the hotkeys)

Tilling the soil

Use the hoe to till the soil on the farm and plant the 15 parsnip Seeds provided by Mayor Lewis.

Watering crops

The best times to upgrade the watering can is the day before it is supposed to rain or the second to last day of the season. The Blacksmith requires 2 days to upgrade a tool, and rain automatically waters crops, so the Watering Can will be ready for pick-up the day after it rains.

Sprinklers can be used to automate much of the farming process and free up a lot of time to do other things. They automatically water adjacent tiles every morning.

Energy

Energy limits productivity. One of the main ways to overcome this is by eating food. Most crops and many foraged items can be eaten in order to regain energy.

On the third day of summer, an earthquake will remove the rocks that block the path leading to the Spa (north of the Carpenter's Shop). The Spa will fully restore energy over a short period of time.

Skills

The only way to level up skills is by actively performing related tasks. Farming increases farming. Foraging increases foraging. Mining increases mining. And fishing increases fishing.

Villagers

See also: List of Best Gifts by Villager

Giving gifts to villagers will increase their friendship rating. At certain levels of friendship, villagers will send cooking recipes in the mail.

Television

The television provides useful information, such as weather forecasts, fortune telling, free cooking recipes, and other general tips.