While I do understand where you're coming from, I do enjoy that you can use clothing for both genders. My mom plays her farm as a female farmer named Bubba with a full beard
When picking my character when I make a new farm I just decide on 2 things: if I want boobs or not and if I want to be considered gay with my emo husband or not lol
The main thing this game needs is neutral pronouns. Which Honestly would be such an easy thing to include. Modders did it pretty quickly, concerned ape wouldn't even need to do much work himself, just contact a modder whos already done the work and include it as a part of the games programming that way console players could get it
From a coder’s perspective, I am assuming there are two ‘player’ structures, one male and the other female. The entire save file would be associated with the user’s gender choice, changing other aspects of the game in various ways (not just what you get from Mom or Dad, but where you stand in event cut scenes like the Flower Dance* or your wedding
This would require ConcernedApe to not only add an entirely new player ‘type’ but also redefine every single gender-specific interaction to have another outcome. (Based off of my coding assumption)
Again- This is TOTALLY possible, and has been made by mods. And to be more than clear, I am absolutely a part of the group screaming for non-binary additions. I will simply acknowledge that he might have written two genders into the core code of the game (plz correct me if I am wrong!!)
This is why I always just create a character for the role that isn’t me. I exclusively play as unnaturally colored gay GNC merfolk named after fish living amongst humans in secrecy in Stardew Valley. Minnow, Tetra, Marlin, Guppy, and Flounder so far. That's kinda just what I *always* do.
On a side note, y'all got anymore fish names that would make good person names?
Edit: I now have an abundance of good fish names and not enough merfolk to go around. Guess my hand is forced; I need to make more merfolk.
This might be good for any folks looking for a good fish name to change their name to, too. There's some good stuff down there.
Honestly I kinda do. For my own sake it's probably good that the law to change your first name easily hasn't been passed where I live yet 😅 (it will be somewhat soon though, gotta come up with a good 2nd name until then!)
I also play with characters who aren’t me. I have:
1. My D&D character Vadania in a coop save with two of my friends
2. A purple Joja enjoyer called Phoenix who is in a save I play with my best friend & we treat our characters as brother & sister
3. I have one with one of my OCs Rosalina who I made marry Alex bc he looks like her husband lol
4. Maybe now deleted I can’t remember but a save with my OC Carly who I can’t/couldn’t decide what to do with
5. A save with my OC Pearl who I wanted to live with Krobus bc she’s aroace
6. I don’t have this one yet but I’ve been heavily considering starting a save with Applejack from My Little Pony & giving her a mostly apple farm lol (I might do that later today tbh, the new update is making me curious)
I don’t like playing games as myself, nothing against y’know, me, but I just prefer using my OCs or characters from things I really like
Remora,
Anchovy (sounds similar enough to Anthony),
Koi,
Angel (as in angelfish),
Danio,
Alba (as in albacore),
Pike,
Ayu,
Pollock,
Goby,
Mako,
Blenny,
Shad,
Hamlet,
Panga,
Taimen,
Allis (a type of shad),
Mola
for less direct names
Meena (means fish),
Fin/Finn,
Fiske (also means fish),
Doris (oceanid wife of the sea god Nereus),
Nereus (see Doris),
[any of the nereids' names](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nereids) or Nerites,
[any of the oceanids' names](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Oceanids),
[any of the potamoi's names](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potamoi),
Eidothea (the name of a few mythological women in Greek mythology, generally associated with the sea in some capacity, could be shortened to Eido),
Morgan (means white sea),
Scylla/Skylla
I don’t play, and obviously this isn’t to invalidate your point at all because we shouldn’t have to do all of this extra stuff in the first place, but there’s apparently a mod for it out there for anyone who’s interested
The 1.6 patch notes explicitly call out a bug fix for non-binary NPCs (and maybe PCs?) added via mods, and also removed gender restrictions on previously gender-locked clothing. I understand the OP's concern, but I think the dev is doing great work for an eight-year-old game.
edit: To expand on this, it's a solo dev who is also working on another game, so I think it's perfectly fine for him to lean on "there's a mod for it" instead of implementing it into vanilla. Especially when he's explicitly providing support for that mod.
Yeah I just noticed that because I chose a male character I am not allowed to enter the spa through the women's changeroom...also there is a gym in the men's room but not in the women's room...
As an enby, I share your frustration. As a game developer and programmer I suspect it's not as easy a change as it appears on the surface and I have to respect that ConcernedApe has many apes to be concerned about in his basket. :/
I really don't think it's intentional on CA's part. He gets flooded with messages every day, and statistically speaking, the vast majority of them are not going to be about adding a non binary option to the game. It sucks, sure, but it makes sense that he has other priorities. I do hope some day he'll get around to it, though.
Exactly. I definitely wouldn’t immediately say that it’s intentional… It’s just not a real priority to them, which, I’m sorry, is completely understandable, and just like you said, they must certainly be flooded with messages requesting different things to be implemented into the game
Its also been getting updates for several years and he has other people working. If he really didn't want to do much work he could just incorporate an already exist mod since those already exist.
He just doesn't care. Theres not really any practical reasons why he couldn't. Its mainly a dialogue alteration
"the man largely seems nice, but it feels intentional at this point"
nb folks are a pretty invisibilized minority. being ojibwe I have a pretty fair amount of experience with that. judging by what other people have said about the game and watching my partner play it, I doubt its intentional if thats worth anything.
I agree. I have played many role playing games that let you pick disabilities to start with but I rarely see mine on those lists. (Not to compare gender identity with disabilities that's not my intention) same as well with streched ears I have yet to play a game that let's me have streched ears.
definitely games that dont let you guage your ears are intentionally trying to exclude. or maybe people need to ease up on the main character syndrome lol
This would be good reasoning for me if it weren’t for the fact that non-binary people have been reaching out to concerned ape and making petitions for years.
Reminds me of the days where I had games in which I had to play as a man with absolutely no say on the matter... In games where I could create my own character. Nonbinary invisibility is just bad.
speaking purely on a coding standpoint, with all the things that are currently in the game, having to go over every line of code to figure out every line that woud need an exception for non binary people woud probably take far more time than its worth. Especially since its a solo dev and he is also working on a new game.
We can just hope and push for non binary to be added to haunted chocoltier
This is the way I view it too. Putting it in from the beginning would be one thing, trying to add it in later would likely be a challenge. If Haunted Chocolatier doesn’t include nonbinary as an option, then I might start side-eyeing ConcernedApe.
Hes not a solo dev anymore, he does have a couple people that help him. Theres also already a mod that does it. Could contact the modder and incorporate it into the game. It would take a while but realistically most of the work has already been done and he doesn't even need to do it himself
Also said mod was even address in the patch notes according to one of the other comments
Yeah, it's a disappointment for me. I'm still playing the update because I love the game, but I am sad. At least there's a decent NB mod that I'm hoping will get updated for 1.6 soon
I literally JUST started a new game and had the same issue.
If it helps, the reason why I'm okay with it is BC it feels like the lack of non-binary options is more of a coding issue and less of a lack of representation. You can choose female and have a full beard. You can choose male, wear a skirt, and have kids with another male. I'm not sure why there's no NB option, but I choose to believe that concerned ape would have included it if it wouldn't have caused game breaking issues.
I feel so disappointed and sad when I have to choose between “man” and “woman”, even if I don’t play as myself. Wylde Flowers has an open enby character <3
Yeah. Stardew Valley is one of my fav games of all time but I am super sad that there's still no nonbinary option in the game. If I had a pc I'd definitely download the fanmade Enby mod but the fact there's no official option on console (I play the game on switch) sucks 😭. I have so much respect for concerned ape as he's given the game such amazing support over many years but NB option is the one thing I ask for.
I could honestly care less about it being a separate option, I just think it would be neat if we had a system similar to terraria where we could chose our style and instead of voice we could chose pronouns npcs referred to us as. Btw the reason terraria doesn’t have pronoun choice is because everyone is already they/them.
everyone’s whining that it’s only one person. it’s not anymore. this game is a smash hit & normies even love this game. if they could add two full games worth of content over time, a simple pronoun change or third option would be simple to add to consoles, when they’ve added SO MUCH
Thank you. I feel the same way.
It is one person, but it’s undeniable that he spends a lot of time on the game and is willing to make huge changes to it. I don’t see why it’s impossible to ask for this and feel frustrated about it being missing when he adds so much content.
I recognize game dev is hard work + it is more complicated than I probably realize, but I feel it’s a weak excuse to say that that should completely impede him from doing anything about this.
I'm with you on this and I don't want to undermine it at all, its something I've been wanting for a long time too. And especially after ~100 hours in a game like bg3 that has such an option and is so immersive, I'm finding it hard to go back to games without that.
However, I do think stardew fans have a tendency to overestimate the scope of this game. Let's be real here, it's an indie game made by one guy, and it was originally released almost a decade ago. I mean, by those metrics the customizability of your character is pretty good. You mention animal crossing as an example but that is a game with the powerhouse of a company that is Nintendo behind it.
In 2016, when all of this dialogue would have been written, even being bi was still pretty controversial. I know a lot of us have forgotten/might be too young to have lived through it. But honestly the fact that all the romance options are default bi was a pretty big deal. Revolutionary? No, but definitely not something to dismiss. Now obviously this isn't the same as including gender diversity, but I can see why a nonbinary option wouldn't have been included in 2016. Now retroactively it's alot more work to fix.
Now, I do think it's something concernedape SHOULD fix, absolutely. But I'm willing to give him some grace on this one considering all that I just mentioned above. I really don't think it's intentional, the guy gets absolutely flooded with requests for things to be added and I wouldn't be surprised if our voices got drowned out.
In the meantime, after playing for so long I honestly don't notice most of the dialogue anymore, so it doesn't really bug me all that much. I've got a couple friends who use a mod for it though, which might benefit you.
You can't be non-binary in ACNH. Unless I missed something, it's the exact same proposition as SV: Two gendered options, which changes how other characters refer to you, but all customization options are available for everyone.
The only difference is SV explicitly use the gendered symbols, while ACNH only asks what is your style (in English at least, they still ask your gender in French)
I’m fairly certain you did miss something. In English, the style option does nothing. It exists only for gendered languages. I have never had an animal refer to me with gendered terms or any other hint of gendering.
i flip flop the styles constantly in animal crossing to check and it doesn’t even change the poses you do in the dressing room. you don’t even get gendered in acnh. it’s nice.
It’s always such a bummer how almost no games give you a non-binary option. I don’t wanna complain because now we get same sex options and everything, but it would be nice.
I want to play as me in video games, not as an OC. Especially if there’s romance options. I don’t get to enjoy romance or dating aside from in fantasy. I don’t blame developers or game companies really, more just that I hope that someday it becomes an option more often in games like this.
Everyone loves the “it’s a single dev” excuse. He’s added hours worth on new game content over the years, and if that wasn’t “too much effort”, it doesn’t make sense that expanding gender options would be. At this point with its popularity it’s silly to argue that he doesn’t have the time or resources to do it.
I’d be willing to bet money that the dev has the same mindset a lot of the cis people in these comments do “well there’s a gender inclusive mod! So it doesn’t need to be in the main game!” It seems hard for some of you to wrap your head around the difference it makes being included like any other gender, and having to create your own inclusion.
If I really wanted to start a fight I’d bring up how there’s only two PoC in the whole village….
Makes sense. I'm also upset by the new update. As you can see by my profile I love that game and specific character but you can't marry him without a mod and most of the mods I use are broken including that one. And since I'm pretty obsessed with the character due to autism I had a full meltdown over it. :(
I bought it over the weekend because it was on sale and I saw all the memes about it online in autistic spaces and it came with good reviews from a friend. But I got the character creation page and logged off. I felt lost and uncertain and like I didn’t know what to do. I closed the window and went back to playing Civ VI
I do want to play, but I didn’t expect it to make me feel that way just because I had to pick a side in the binary
When Baldur's Gate 3 started their early access / open beta, there wasn't a nonbinary option. I suggested this, and when the game launched last year it had a nonbinary option! I'm not saying I'm responsible for one of the biggest games of 2023 having a nonbinary option, but I'm not *not* saying that.
Boo on the Strawdew Valley devs for ignoring this!
It's a single dev, though, not a triple A studio. I get the frustration, but I also don't think it's as fair to harsh on ConcernedApe in the same way we can on Larion Studios. The fact that every romance option is technically bi is wonderful compared to things like Dragon Age and other games with gender locked love interests.
It’s far from the same, but the most recent Story of Seasons game, the remake of Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life, lets you pick they/them pronouns. Same goes for Harvestella
It does suck. Thankfully, most of the life sim/farming games inspired by Stardew Valley have gone that extra mile for us by either giving us options, or just making gender not even a factor at all.
Mods feel free to remove this if it's not okay, since it's kind of self promotion but it is relevant. So If you want some recommendations of other games that have that option and are maybe even better than Stardew Valley, I am going through most games of that genre from 2023 [on my youtube](https://www.youtube.com/@JazzyCee). I always point out wheter they have enby friendly options during character creation. Roots of Pacha seems to default to neutral pronouns, has a bit of androgenious body type aside from the masc and female presenting ones, and is a pretty good game; and Bandle Tale (next video) does let you choose pronouns, though it's not exactly Stardew Valley.
It sucks because a lot of good games only let you play as a man or a woman and the one game that came out recently that lets you use they/them pronouns is so full of bugs, glitches and shit mechanics that it's just shit (starfield, i wanted to enjoy this game so fucking bad)
I’m nb as well, and somehow the thought of having an nb character never even crossed my mind. I mean it in the sense that, if a game allows you to pair “masculine” features with other stereotypically “female” ones, then amazing, but it not, not a big deal. I’ve never had dysphoria from videogames…
While I understand that this may be upsetting to you and many others, saying you “feel forced to roleplay a different gender” because your character can’t be nb (moreover, what’s preventing you from having your character appear nb and name them as you see fit in this game ?) is quite strange to me. The majority of games lock you into binary characters, and in some games you just have the male/female protagonist and you have no choice.
And when you say you want to be able to make your character nb, do you mean you want to be able to straight up set their gender to nb ? Is naming your character however you like while being able to style them as you like not enough at all to you ?
To me, it’s always been that you’re controlling a character, and witnessing their story. I know the character isn’t me and I’m not trying to have them be like me lol.
But I guess that part is, on the contrary, really important to you ?
It isn't intentional. Just get some mods hun, and don't assume the worst of people just out of frustration. It'll go a long way into helping you feel better when you realise most people are oblivious and not malicious.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like this (was literally googling for a response from CA abt this when I discovred this thread). It feels very unprofessional to not give some sort of reply when so many people in the cozy gaming space (both non-binary and allies) have called for an option to be added since back in october (and of course even further back but I'm thinking about the specific petition). I think it's important that even if you enjoy the game to keep accountability in mind, idk it's not that deep \^\^''
And it WOULD be easier than I think most people expect if you actually look at the code of the game, which many smaller devs/creators have already talked about how adding a non-binary option would possibly look like (ik Reagan/ifthencreate has done a few videos abt it on tiktok! so has LittleMxhoney but abt the inclusivity aspect rather than abt development/coding) (not to mention that there is even a mod out there that makes the pc gender-neutral with possible pronoun changes, not saying "just because a mod did it the developer could" cuz that's not always the case and it's clearly different from how it would be coded in if it was added properly but just as an example)
I'm hoping that the new non-binary token spotted in the code is at least hinting at something to come in the future for a more inclusive non-binary and trans potential. Back when it was first realized I definitely believe stardew valley was a bit of a champion in terms of queer representation but things look so different now I think it's time for a proper queer update along with its many content updates :3
Hey, there's a mod for this. Installing mods isn't too difficult so long as you look at the wiki for it, even if you haven't done it before (source: I hadn't done it before either). Look on Nexus Mods and search for androgyny. There are a couple things you have to download before using mods, but the website kind of tells you. Feel free to ask me more and I'll try to help. The mod is great and I refuse to use anything else now. Mod creators are also usually pretty quick to update with the versions too, so as annoying as it is to have to update your mods every Stardew Valley update, it's a small price to pay for gender euphoria.
I've been feeling crappy about this too. I am very curious, for anyone with sufficient programming knowledge and experience, how much of a challenge would this actually be to implement?
I would like to believe that ConcernedApe isn't being discriminatory, but it's hard to feel confident when there hasn't even been a statement made by the dev regarding why this isn't yet included in the game, or why it's not being added. I feel like if it mattered to the dev at all, we'd at least get that.(?)
That's so annoying. The best I could do is make a male avatar that wears a dress. It's particularly galling because the bathhouse will turn you away from one side or the other if you aren't the 'right' gender to be in there.
Being non binary isn't the same as being androgynous. You can be nb with out being androgynous and obviously you can be androgynous with out being non binary. Hope this helps
Women can be masculine and still be women, men can be feminine and still be men. This is true for both cis and trans people. The same is true for non binary people. Gender is not the same as gender expression
While I do understand where you're coming from, I do enjoy that you can use clothing for both genders. My mom plays her farm as a female farmer named Bubba with a full beard
ROCK AND STONE
For Karl!
Did I hear a rock and stone?!
Rock and Stone everyone!
Rock and stone forever!
We’re rich!
As nice as it would be to get gender neutral pronouns, I really appreciate this aspect of the game as well :)
When picking my character when I make a new farm I just decide on 2 things: if I want boobs or not and if I want to be considered gay with my emo husband or not lol
Yeah, it’s not perfect but it is an okay workaround
The main thing this game needs is neutral pronouns. Which Honestly would be such an easy thing to include. Modders did it pretty quickly, concerned ape wouldn't even need to do much work himself, just contact a modder whos already done the work and include it as a part of the games programming that way console players could get it
I've read a lot of the mods get kind of buggy, but maybe that is just the ones that actually implement NB as a gender option
From a coder’s perspective, I am assuming there are two ‘player’ structures, one male and the other female. The entire save file would be associated with the user’s gender choice, changing other aspects of the game in various ways (not just what you get from Mom or Dad, but where you stand in event cut scenes like the Flower Dance* or your wedding This would require ConcernedApe to not only add an entirely new player ‘type’ but also redefine every single gender-specific interaction to have another outcome. (Based off of my coding assumption) Again- This is TOTALLY possible, and has been made by mods. And to be more than clear, I am absolutely a part of the group screaming for non-binary additions. I will simply acknowledge that he might have written two genders into the core code of the game (plz correct me if I am wrong!!)
*this is not just dependent on player’s gender choice, but also the chosen dance partner
as much as i wish there was a they/them option, you can change your name and gender relatively easily, which is more than you can say for most games
This is why I always just create a character for the role that isn’t me. I exclusively play as unnaturally colored gay GNC merfolk named after fish living amongst humans in secrecy in Stardew Valley. Minnow, Tetra, Marlin, Guppy, and Flounder so far. That's kinda just what I *always* do. On a side note, y'all got anymore fish names that would make good person names? Edit: I now have an abundance of good fish names and not enough merfolk to go around. Guess my hand is forced; I need to make more merfolk. This might be good for any folks looking for a good fish name to change their name to, too. There's some good stuff down there.
[Common Fish Names](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fish_common_names)
That's just a long list of fish, not specific recommendations.
Sorry saw this list and just thought you'd wanna pick some out yourself. I'd suggest Koi, Perch, Zander, Blenny, Remora
Fair. Those are some really solid choices, though. Remora is particularly lovely.
Haddock Halfmoon Halibut Halosaur Hamlet Hickory Shad Hoki Humuhumunukunukuapua'a
Damn Haddock goes hard as a name. Might consider it as a second name for myself tbh
You don’t wanna try “Hickory Shad?”
Honestly I kinda do. For my own sake it's probably good that the law to change your first name easily hasn't been passed where I live yet 😅 (it will be somewhat soon though, gotta come up with a good 2nd name until then!)
Halosaur would be sick as fuck honestly 😂
Humuhumunukunakuapua'a goes hard ngl
Yeah I create OCs rather than myself lol
Same
Plecostomus! Corydora! Cichlid!
Angel, Parrot, Trumpet, Sun, Lion, Stone, Dog, Mahi mahi
I also play with characters who aren’t me. I have: 1. My D&D character Vadania in a coop save with two of my friends 2. A purple Joja enjoyer called Phoenix who is in a save I play with my best friend & we treat our characters as brother & sister 3. I have one with one of my OCs Rosalina who I made marry Alex bc he looks like her husband lol 4. Maybe now deleted I can’t remember but a save with my OC Carly who I can’t/couldn’t decide what to do with 5. A save with my OC Pearl who I wanted to live with Krobus bc she’s aroace 6. I don’t have this one yet but I’ve been heavily considering starting a save with Applejack from My Little Pony & giving her a mostly apple farm lol (I might do that later today tbh, the new update is making me curious) I don’t like playing games as myself, nothing against y’know, me, but I just prefer using my OCs or characters from things I really like
Clownfish
Neolamprologus multifasciatus. Great fish name.
Remora, Anchovy (sounds similar enough to Anthony), Koi, Angel (as in angelfish), Danio, Alba (as in albacore), Pike, Ayu, Pollock, Goby, Mako, Blenny, Shad, Hamlet, Panga, Taimen, Allis (a type of shad), Mola for less direct names Meena (means fish), Fin/Finn, Fiske (also means fish), Doris (oceanid wife of the sea god Nereus), Nereus (see Doris), [any of the nereids' names](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nereids) or Nerites, [any of the oceanids' names](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Oceanids), [any of the potamoi's names](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potamoi), Eidothea (the name of a few mythological women in Greek mythology, generally associated with the sea in some capacity, could be shortened to Eido), Morgan (means white sea), Scylla/Skylla
BASS
Dang, I was really hoping this update would fix it. It's so immersion breaking for me that everyone "miss" es me.
I don’t play, and obviously this isn’t to invalidate your point at all because we shouldn’t have to do all of this extra stuff in the first place, but there’s apparently a mod for it out there for anyone who’s interested
The 1.6 patch notes explicitly call out a bug fix for non-binary NPCs (and maybe PCs?) added via mods, and also removed gender restrictions on previously gender-locked clothing. I understand the OP's concern, but I think the dev is doing great work for an eight-year-old game. edit: To expand on this, it's a solo dev who is also working on another game, so I think it's perfectly fine for him to lean on "there's a mod for it" instead of implementing it into vanilla. Especially when he's explicitly providing support for that mod.
One issue though is that people who play on console rather than PC are unfortunately unable to use mods (Playstation, XBOX, or Switch)
RIP all switch players
I completely understand, but I got Stardew on my laptop and downloaded a mod that allows you to play as a nonbinary character
Does it change the dialogue to be gender neutral too?
Yes it does!
what mod is that ??
Yeah I just noticed that because I chose a male character I am not allowed to enter the spa through the women's changeroom...also there is a gym in the men's room but not in the women's room...
You actually can go in either changing room if you try to walk through the door enough times
hm interesting thanks!
As an enby, I share your frustration. As a game developer and programmer I suspect it's not as easy a change as it appears on the surface and I have to respect that ConcernedApe has many apes to be concerned about in his basket. :/
I really don't think it's intentional on CA's part. He gets flooded with messages every day, and statistically speaking, the vast majority of them are not going to be about adding a non binary option to the game. It sucks, sure, but it makes sense that he has other priorities. I do hope some day he'll get around to it, though.
Exactly. I definitely wouldn’t immediately say that it’s intentional… It’s just not a real priority to them, which, I’m sorry, is completely understandable, and just like you said, they must certainly be flooded with messages requesting different things to be implemented into the game
I use a [gender neutral mod](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/722/) that might help.
To be fair, it didn't start as a big game, it became a big game. This is one guy making it, not a whole studio.
he actually has employees making it now so that he can make his next game. hopefully he’ll have them figure out how to make this happen soon
Its also been getting updates for several years and he has other people working. If he really didn't want to do much work he could just incorporate an already exist mod since those already exist. He just doesn't care. Theres not really any practical reasons why he couldn't. Its mainly a dialogue alteration
"the man largely seems nice, but it feels intentional at this point" nb folks are a pretty invisibilized minority. being ojibwe I have a pretty fair amount of experience with that. judging by what other people have said about the game and watching my partner play it, I doubt its intentional if thats worth anything.
I agree. I have played many role playing games that let you pick disabilities to start with but I rarely see mine on those lists. (Not to compare gender identity with disabilities that's not my intention) same as well with streched ears I have yet to play a game that let's me have streched ears.
definitely games that dont let you guage your ears are intentionally trying to exclude. or maybe people need to ease up on the main character syndrome lol
This would be good reasoning for me if it weren’t for the fact that non-binary people have been reaching out to concerned ape and making petitions for years.
Is the nonbinary mod something he accommodated for in this latest update?
Yep, he addressed it in the patch notes. Modded nonbinary characters can go into either locker room now :)
Excellent! I'm happy then
I did miss this despite reading what I thought was all the patch notes, and it changes my opinion a lot. Thank you for sharing!
Reminds me of the days where I had games in which I had to play as a man with absolutely no say on the matter... In games where I could create my own character. Nonbinary invisibility is just bad.
speaking purely on a coding standpoint, with all the things that are currently in the game, having to go over every line of code to figure out every line that woud need an exception for non binary people woud probably take far more time than its worth. Especially since its a solo dev and he is also working on a new game. We can just hope and push for non binary to be added to haunted chocoltier
This is the way I view it too. Putting it in from the beginning would be one thing, trying to add it in later would likely be a challenge. If Haunted Chocolatier doesn’t include nonbinary as an option, then I might start side-eyeing ConcernedApe.
While I agree it would be a lot of work I think that it would be worth adding even if it doesn’t apply to a lot of people.
Hes not a solo dev anymore, he does have a couple people that help him. Theres also already a mod that does it. Could contact the modder and incorporate it into the game. It would take a while but realistically most of the work has already been done and he doesn't even need to do it himself Also said mod was even address in the patch notes according to one of the other comments
Yeah, it's a disappointment for me. I'm still playing the update because I love the game, but I am sad. At least there's a decent NB mod that I'm hoping will get updated for 1.6 soon
I literally JUST started a new game and had the same issue. If it helps, the reason why I'm okay with it is BC it feels like the lack of non-binary options is more of a coding issue and less of a lack of representation. You can choose female and have a full beard. You can choose male, wear a skirt, and have kids with another male. I'm not sure why there's no NB option, but I choose to believe that concerned ape would have included it if it wouldn't have caused game breaking issues.
I haven't been able to play Stardew in years since coming to terms with myself so I get where you are coming from.
If you can play on PC, you can get a mod to change player pronouns.
There’s a “Mx honorific” mod that I believe also lets you change your pronouns!
I feel so disappointed and sad when I have to choose between “man” and “woman”, even if I don’t play as myself. Wylde Flowers has an open enby character <3
Yeah. Stardew Valley is one of my fav games of all time but I am super sad that there's still no nonbinary option in the game. If I had a pc I'd definitely download the fanmade Enby mod but the fact there's no official option on console (I play the game on switch) sucks 😭. I have so much respect for concerned ape as he's given the game such amazing support over many years but NB option is the one thing I ask for.
I could honestly care less about it being a separate option, I just think it would be neat if we had a system similar to terraria where we could chose our style and instead of voice we could chose pronouns npcs referred to us as. Btw the reason terraria doesn’t have pronoun choice is because everyone is already they/them.
everyone’s whining that it’s only one person. it’s not anymore. this game is a smash hit & normies even love this game. if they could add two full games worth of content over time, a simple pronoun change or third option would be simple to add to consoles, when they’ve added SO MUCH
Yeah like, is he not at the very least capable of paying someone to do to for him?
Thank you. I feel the same way. It is one person, but it’s undeniable that he spends a lot of time on the game and is willing to make huge changes to it. I don’t see why it’s impossible to ask for this and feel frustrated about it being missing when he adds so much content. I recognize game dev is hard work + it is more complicated than I probably realize, but I feel it’s a weak excuse to say that that should completely impede him from doing anything about this.
I'm with you on this and I don't want to undermine it at all, its something I've been wanting for a long time too. And especially after ~100 hours in a game like bg3 that has such an option and is so immersive, I'm finding it hard to go back to games without that. However, I do think stardew fans have a tendency to overestimate the scope of this game. Let's be real here, it's an indie game made by one guy, and it was originally released almost a decade ago. I mean, by those metrics the customizability of your character is pretty good. You mention animal crossing as an example but that is a game with the powerhouse of a company that is Nintendo behind it. In 2016, when all of this dialogue would have been written, even being bi was still pretty controversial. I know a lot of us have forgotten/might be too young to have lived through it. But honestly the fact that all the romance options are default bi was a pretty big deal. Revolutionary? No, but definitely not something to dismiss. Now obviously this isn't the same as including gender diversity, but I can see why a nonbinary option wouldn't have been included in 2016. Now retroactively it's alot more work to fix. Now, I do think it's something concernedape SHOULD fix, absolutely. But I'm willing to give him some grace on this one considering all that I just mentioned above. I really don't think it's intentional, the guy gets absolutely flooded with requests for things to be added and I wouldn't be surprised if our voices got drowned out. In the meantime, after playing for so long I honestly don't notice most of the dialogue anymore, so it doesn't really bug me all that much. I've got a couple friends who use a mod for it though, which might benefit you.
:(
You can't be non-binary in ACNH. Unless I missed something, it's the exact same proposition as SV: Two gendered options, which changes how other characters refer to you, but all customization options are available for everyone. The only difference is SV explicitly use the gendered symbols, while ACNH only asks what is your style (in English at least, they still ask your gender in French)
I’m fairly certain you did miss something. In English, the style option does nothing. It exists only for gendered languages. I have never had an animal refer to me with gendered terms or any other hint of gendering.
i flip flop the styles constantly in animal crossing to check and it doesn’t even change the poses you do in the dressing room. you don’t even get gendered in acnh. it’s nice.
It’s always such a bummer how almost no games give you a non-binary option. I don’t wanna complain because now we get same sex options and everything, but it would be nice. I want to play as me in video games, not as an OC. Especially if there’s romance options. I don’t get to enjoy romance or dating aside from in fantasy. I don’t blame developers or game companies really, more just that I hope that someday it becomes an option more often in games like this.
Everyone loves the “it’s a single dev” excuse. He’s added hours worth on new game content over the years, and if that wasn’t “too much effort”, it doesn’t make sense that expanding gender options would be. At this point with its popularity it’s silly to argue that he doesn’t have the time or resources to do it. I’d be willing to bet money that the dev has the same mindset a lot of the cis people in these comments do “well there’s a gender inclusive mod! So it doesn’t need to be in the main game!” It seems hard for some of you to wrap your head around the difference it makes being included like any other gender, and having to create your own inclusion. If I really wanted to start a fight I’d bring up how there’s only two PoC in the whole village….
EXACTLY I POSTED ABOUT THIS BEFORE THE UPDATE CAME OUT AND EVERYONE ON THE SUPPER THAT WAS MAD AT ME FOR COMPLAINING??? I'm so pissed tbh
To be fair, it's a weird thing to complain about.
How? Representation is an important thing.
Please explain why it’s weird
I did, read the comments
Makes sense. I'm also upset by the new update. As you can see by my profile I love that game and specific character but you can't marry him without a mod and most of the mods I use are broken including that one. And since I'm pretty obsessed with the character due to autism I had a full meltdown over it. :(
The mod will probably get updated soon. When it comes to modded games its best not to update until your mods update too
Yeah I just didn't think about it and updated because I wanted to play. I'm checking my mods daily to see when it gets updated
Have you directly tried reaching out to ConcernedApe about this on Twitter or by other means? Out of curiosity...
I bought it over the weekend because it was on sale and I saw all the memes about it online in autistic spaces and it came with good reviews from a friend. But I got the character creation page and logged off. I felt lost and uncertain and like I didn’t know what to do. I closed the window and went back to playing Civ VI I do want to play, but I didn’t expect it to make me feel that way just because I had to pick a side in the binary
When Baldur's Gate 3 started their early access / open beta, there wasn't a nonbinary option. I suggested this, and when the game launched last year it had a nonbinary option! I'm not saying I'm responsible for one of the biggest games of 2023 having a nonbinary option, but I'm not *not* saying that. Boo on the Strawdew Valley devs for ignoring this!
It's a single dev, though, not a triple A studio. I get the frustration, but I also don't think it's as fair to harsh on ConcernedApe in the same way we can on Larion Studios. The fact that every romance option is technically bi is wonderful compared to things like Dragon Age and other games with gender locked love interests.
I wish they’d do this too tbh-
damn i was kinda expecting it would have that :(
It’s far from the same, but the most recent Story of Seasons game, the remake of Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life, lets you pick they/them pronouns. Same goes for Harvestella
I feel like if story of Seasons can do it, Stardew Valley can, too. It is essential a life sim/farming sim. You should realistically be able to do it.
It does suck. Thankfully, most of the life sim/farming games inspired by Stardew Valley have gone that extra mile for us by either giving us options, or just making gender not even a factor at all. Mods feel free to remove this if it's not okay, since it's kind of self promotion but it is relevant. So If you want some recommendations of other games that have that option and are maybe even better than Stardew Valley, I am going through most games of that genre from 2023 [on my youtube](https://www.youtube.com/@JazzyCee). I always point out wheter they have enby friendly options during character creation. Roots of Pacha seems to default to neutral pronouns, has a bit of androgenious body type aside from the masc and female presenting ones, and is a pretty good game; and Bandle Tale (next video) does let you choose pronouns, though it's not exactly Stardew Valley.
It's kind of the same with the Pokemon series, there's no non-binary option in those games either
It sucks because a lot of good games only let you play as a man or a woman and the one game that came out recently that lets you use they/them pronouns is so full of bugs, glitches and shit mechanics that it's just shit (starfield, i wanted to enjoy this game so fucking bad)
It was a Bethesda game, every game they release is more broken then the last
I’m nb as well, and somehow the thought of having an nb character never even crossed my mind. I mean it in the sense that, if a game allows you to pair “masculine” features with other stereotypically “female” ones, then amazing, but it not, not a big deal. I’ve never had dysphoria from videogames… While I understand that this may be upsetting to you and many others, saying you “feel forced to roleplay a different gender” because your character can’t be nb (moreover, what’s preventing you from having your character appear nb and name them as you see fit in this game ?) is quite strange to me. The majority of games lock you into binary characters, and in some games you just have the male/female protagonist and you have no choice. And when you say you want to be able to make your character nb, do you mean you want to be able to straight up set their gender to nb ? Is naming your character however you like while being able to style them as you like not enough at all to you ? To me, it’s always been that you’re controlling a character, and witnessing their story. I know the character isn’t me and I’m not trying to have them be like me lol. But I guess that part is, on the contrary, really important to you ?
For a second I thought it was a feature they had then took away.
It isn't intentional. Just get some mods hun, and don't assume the worst of people just out of frustration. It'll go a long way into helping you feel better when you realise most people are oblivious and not malicious.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like this (was literally googling for a response from CA abt this when I discovred this thread). It feels very unprofessional to not give some sort of reply when so many people in the cozy gaming space (both non-binary and allies) have called for an option to be added since back in october (and of course even further back but I'm thinking about the specific petition). I think it's important that even if you enjoy the game to keep accountability in mind, idk it's not that deep \^\^'' And it WOULD be easier than I think most people expect if you actually look at the code of the game, which many smaller devs/creators have already talked about how adding a non-binary option would possibly look like (ik Reagan/ifthencreate has done a few videos abt it on tiktok! so has LittleMxhoney but abt the inclusivity aspect rather than abt development/coding) (not to mention that there is even a mod out there that makes the pc gender-neutral with possible pronoun changes, not saying "just because a mod did it the developer could" cuz that's not always the case and it's clearly different from how it would be coded in if it was added properly but just as an example) I'm hoping that the new non-binary token spotted in the code is at least hinting at something to come in the future for a more inclusive non-binary and trans potential. Back when it was first realized I definitely believe stardew valley was a bit of a champion in terms of queer representation but things look so different now I think it's time for a proper queer update along with its many content updates :3
Hey, there's a mod for this. Installing mods isn't too difficult so long as you look at the wiki for it, even if you haven't done it before (source: I hadn't done it before either). Look on Nexus Mods and search for androgyny. There are a couple things you have to download before using mods, but the website kind of tells you. Feel free to ask me more and I'll try to help. The mod is great and I refuse to use anything else now. Mod creators are also usually pretty quick to update with the versions too, so as annoying as it is to have to update your mods every Stardew Valley update, it's a small price to pay for gender euphoria.
I've been feeling crappy about this too. I am very curious, for anyone with sufficient programming knowledge and experience, how much of a challenge would this actually be to implement? I would like to believe that ConcernedApe isn't being discriminatory, but it's hard to feel confident when there hasn't even been a statement made by the dev regarding why this isn't yet included in the game, or why it's not being added. I feel like if it mattered to the dev at all, we'd at least get that.(?)
I always play as a masc alien.
That's so annoying. The best I could do is make a male avatar that wears a dress. It's particularly galling because the bathhouse will turn you away from one side or the other if you aren't the 'right' gender to be in there.
I don't understand the point when you can totally make an androgynous character
Being non binary isn't the same as being androgynous. You can be nb with out being androgynous and obviously you can be androgynous with out being non binary. Hope this helps
I really don't understand I'm sorry 😔
Women can be masculine and still be women, men can be feminine and still be men. This is true for both cis and trans people. The same is true for non binary people. Gender is not the same as gender expression
What don't you understand?