people are often comparing Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. both are cozy, have cute-but-shallow villager friendships, fishing, cleaning, busywork, pastoral fantasy. but... as @danctheduck has pointed out, SV is focused on progress = increased efficiency. AC is .. the opposite

"progress" in AC *primarily* means more freedom of expression and verbs with which to explore the systems -- and also whatever is needed to support that (additional complexity/tediousness only introduced when it also increases player capabilities)

SV isn& #39;t QUITE a & #39;mining& #39; game (as @maxkreminski has coined it), where the world gets less interesting & more static as you consume/explore/destroy it... but AC is the classic & #39;gardening& #39; game, a world that gets MORE interesting and less static, as you nurture it

I& #39;m kinda excited that I think FINALLY in a few years we& #39;re going to see various indie "knockoffs" of the AC/gardening genre! WOOO! CAN& #39;T WAIT!

but that should be your mantra, when doing so: how can the world become *more* interesting & complex, the more the player lives in it?

theoretically you don& #39;t "have" to have all the mechanical slow-downs AC has (punishments for running, incentives to play regular but short sessions, etc)... but it does help the player understand that the world isn& #39;t really there **to be consumed**. it& #39;s a playspace, not a mine.