Although the answer to this question seems obvious on the surface, I love asking game developers which other games have inspired their creations. Sometimes you get wonderful answers. Often, looking at a game, you can clearly see its sources of inspiration: this one has Zelda-like gameplay, that one resembles Destiny, and so on. But sometimes, the developers I talk to dig deeper, mentioning unexpected games and those surprising details within them that they have incorporated into their own distinctly different works.
Take Nick Duchene, producer of Serious Sam: Shattered Universe, for example. As you know, the core of the Serious Sam series is using increasingly outrageous weapons to mow down ever-growing hordes of enemies, blowing them to bits. In this spin-off created by Duchene and his team, the protagonist is a muscular hunk who blasts various bizarre mutated monsters with explosives and lasers. So, what inspired Duchene's creation?
The answer is Stardew Valley. Yes, that's the one.
Of course, everyone's interests vary, but Duchene's story with Stardew Valley is quite heartwarming:
"My wife and I have a Christmas stay-at-home tradition," he explained. "We choose a game we can play together and then spend two or three days immersed in it, cut off from the world. About five years ago, I found out the game had a console version, so I thought we could put on our pajamas, play for two or three days straight, turn off our phones, and ignore Everythinggj. I thought she would definitely like it, after all, we are both from the older generation, or millennials, let's say. We both dream of moving to the countryside, having a small farm, raising chickens, and so on. And she agreed."
"As a result, we played this game for three consecutive Christmases, starting a new save file each time. Now it feels like we aren't choosing a game for our Christmas tradition anymore; rather, we just pick an excuse and end up playing Stardew Valley anyway. And the game keeps updating with new content every year, which is great. It has become an annual fixture, like rewatching The Mummy or The Lord of the Rings every year."
He said that the first time they played together, his wife was perfectionistic about farm work, very serious, asking him to help water all the crops every day. But once the farm chores were done, he was free to do his own thing. "I like fishing," he said. "I don't fish much in real life, but in the game, I just want to be an ordinary person, quietly fishing. It's like experiencing the fantasy of being normal. You start the day together, finish the farm work, and then arrange the rest of the time yourselves. It's a life we don't have in reality because we are always working. It's like the fantasy of having leisure time."
And yes, they marry each other every time in the game. Duchene says he has never tried marrying any other character. The first time he played, he surprised his wife with the Mermaid Pendant—she didn't even know marriage was possible in the game.
Duchene has been working at Behaviour Interactive for nearly ten years and has been involved in the development of Shattered Universe for about three years. He has worked on many projects with styles vastly different from Stardew Valley: he worked on mobile games like Assassin's Creed: Rebellion and Goblin: Fantasy Builder. Including Shattered Universe, he has participated in three PC/console games, two of which are yet to be announced. These games are all fun and visually vibrant, but they have nothing to do with his beloved cozy, slow-paced farming simulation game, especially Shattered Universe.
Shattered Universe launched on August 31st. It is a 1-5 player co-op roguelite arcade shooter. Each run consists of three levels, each ending with a large boss, and the levels are packed with tidal waves of enemies—after all, it's part of the Serious Sam series. "Your way of expressing love is violence, it's shooting. You pull the trigger, things explode, that's what everyone expects."
And this straightforward design, where Everythinggj meets expectations, is one of the things he appreciates about Stardew Valley. "Stardew Valley is very simple. Its sandbox gameplay can be rich, with lots to do. But the barrier to entry is extremely low; even children can play because there are only two control buttons. The pickaxe does exactly what you think it does, and the shovel functions as expected. I highly advocate for designs that are simple yet offer delightful interactions."
"I think many modern games are made too complex and cumbersome. Usually, the publisher's solution is to add tutorial pop-ups, dumping information on the player. It's all text reading, neither intuitive nor guided. It's like an entrance fee you have to pay before playing the game. Stardew Valley is different—when I first played it, I had a feeling it was very much like the original Legend of Zelda, or the earliest Zelda titles. Later, I saw online that it was indeed inspired by the original Zelda. The opening design is identical: you appear on screen, can move up, down, left, and right, and no one explains anything to you. You explore the world with just two buttons, figuring out the gameplay yourself, because the sense of exploration is complete. You not only explore the game world but also the game systems, learning how to play on your own."
Another commonality Duchene likes between Shattered Universe and Stardew Valley is couch co-op. He says people of his generation grew up playing LAN parties, playing StarCraft and Diablo together. He enjoys gaming experiences designed specifically for multiplayer fun but with a low barrier to entry. Stardew Valley allows single-player from the start and full co-op throughout, with no hurdles. Shattered Universe is similar: there's a 5- to 10-minute tutorial at the beginning, but if you don't want to watch it, you can exit anytime and jump straight into co-op mode.
"I can't count how many times I've made plans with friends to play games," he said. "It turns out to be a hassle because everyone is busy. Finally getting into the game, only to find out we have to play solo for an hour before we can go online, wasting half the evening. We just wanted to hang out and play with some beers."
"I wanted Shattered Universe to be a 'beer and pretzels' kind of experience. Low barrier to entry, affordable. You see it on Steam or PlayStation and think, 'I'm tired of seasonal games like Call of Duty and League of Legends, and I don't know what else to play. But we have three hours free, so let's play this and enjoy the time.' It's our go-to for casual rotation."
The third thing Duchene likes about Stardew Valley, like the first two, is something I hadn't really thought about before. In Stardew Valley, there's basically no possibility of "failure." The completion goals for the Community Center (and JojaMart) are always there, no matter how long it takes you to finish them. Shattered Universe isn't exactly like that (you can die, for instance), but what matters to him is that players feel a sense of satisfaction regardless of how well they actually perform.
"Goals don't matter because you've already played for hundreds of hours," he said. "The longer I stay in the game industry, the more I feel it's crucial for players to gain a sense of satisfaction after each session, regardless of what they did. Because in too many modern games, you have to spend an absurd amount of time to achieve goals. If you don't reach them, you feel like your time was wasted because you didn't hit that milestone. So, respect the player's time; anything you do in the game should yield rewards. I think this is extremely important. And this is what Stardew Valley taught me."
This Christmas, Duchene might play Shattered Universe with his wife instead of Stardew Valley, and maybe even invite friends along. Not all of them are shooting game enthusiasts, but Shattered Universe—once again, just like Stardew Valley—allows him to easily bring everyone along for the ride.
"I think this is very important for co-op games," he said. "We've all been in situations where you're really excited about a game, but your friends aren't interested. Getting them to play with you takes a lot of effort. You end up saying, 'No, no, I promise, I'll even play that silly game nobody wants to play as a trade-off.' It becomes like a transaction. Just relax, I'll buy it for you, it's not expensive anyway. Just play for three hours, you'll like it. Even if you don't get it, it's okay, I'm here, I know the ropes."
Finally, Duchene joked that he hopes to collaborate with Stardew Valley someday. He thinks it would definitely be interesting, just like the crossover between Doom and Animal Crossing—of course, much like this article, full of contrast.
"I think the interesting thing about the concepts of Serious Sam and Shattered Universe is that anything is possible because it's the Sam universe. You could totally make a universe entirely focused on farming, where your task is to water crops while hordes of psychic monsters attack your farm. Nothing is impossible."