Players of Stardew Valley will be getting fishing out of their minds, literally, as a newly-released patch finally fixes a long-standing glitch in the game that causes fishing rods to appear out of players' heads. The glitch, which more concerning than a funny image would cause the avatar to be frozen in place and require players to restart the day, has been plaguing players since the game was initially released. But developer ConcernedApe has announced via Twitter that the days of frozen fishing are now over, thanks to the newest patch.
When Stardew Valley first came on to the scene in 2016, it garnered unprecedented success and was especially noteworthy for being a game that was completely designed and built from the ground up by a single indie developer. While building an entire game from scratch, down to the graphics and soundtrack, is a Herculean task that developer ConcernedApe achieved with absolute aplomb, it also meant that he alone deals with the inevitable glitches and issues that even big-budget games aren't immune to.
One such issue that left players understandably frustrated was the fishing rod glitch, in which players participating in fishing minigames during fairs would end up with their rod stuck just above their head in the mid-swing frame, and the avatar would stop responding altogether. The only way to fix the issue would be to restart the game, and although the game saves automatically at the end of each day cycle, for those who participated in other fair minigames and earned tokens, which are not easy to come by, the glitch was particularly frustrating as it would cost them their entire day's progress, and those tokens would be lost. But with a patch meant to deal primarily with the glitches that came out of the game's massive 1.5 update, the issue has officially been fixed, according to ConcernedApe:
The glitch has been a running joke since the game's release, so some will likely see it's absence as bittersweet. Since ConcernedApe is a one-man team solely responsible for dealing with the game's issues, updates, and future content, it's not surprising that it didn't get much developer attention in the game's first five years. The glitch occurred infrequently, and many players never encountered it at all, so it's understandable that ConcernedApe shelved the issue in favor of dealing with more pressing problems and projects.
The fix will undoubtedly ease some tensions for players who were leery about participating in the fishing minigame during fairs, especially with so many new fish to catch after the 1.5 update. After all, fishing should be relaxing, especially in a game like Stardew Valley designed to take away the stress of daily life, not add to it.
Source: ConcernedApe