I love Stardew Valley. I love The Sims. So, I thought it might be fun to combine the two and see what happens!

RULES

No real restrictions on your starting sim, other than the youngest they can be is Young Adult. Otherwise, go crazy!
1. Start in Willow Creek, Largest Lot (Bulldoze the Mansion and use FreeRealEstate if you have to)
2. Set your funds to 20,000 (minimum for "starter" homes)
3. Build your starter farm! Make sure your home has the essentials, fence off a plot for farming, etc. "Decorate" with trees, rocks, bushes, etc. Make sure you save 500 simoleons, these will be your sim's starting funds for survival.
4. Surround the house with trees, rocks, etc. to limit expansion. You can ONLY expand if there is at least a 5x5 area open, or upstairs. You can ONLY remove trees, rocks, etc for expansion when you hit "milestones" (see "Milestones" section) You CAN use some money cheats to do your landscaping but once you're finished, that's it for the money cheats. If you have any leftover money, set your household funds back to 500 using the cheat (testingcheats must be on for it to work) "money 500" (minus quotations of course)
5. Extracurricular Activities (aka anything besides gardening/"farming" as that's your main job) are at your discretion. Mine rocks, harvest things in the wild, paint, use the woodworking bench, whatever you like.
6. Your Sim CANNOT hold an actual career. They must make their money either by farming, painting, music, or living off the land.


Milestones

The Challenge ends when you complete ALL Milestones you can possibly complete in 16 weeks (game time). You cannot "repeat" a Milestone for extra points, except for Skill Milestones (where each skill counts as a separate milestone). Consider this the "Grandpa's Evaluation" of the challenge. Milestones are as follows:

1. Have a garden at least 10x10, with at least 20 different plants (10 points)
2. Reach Level 5 in ANY Skill *Each Skill counts as a separate Milestone* (5 points)
3. Reach Level 10 in ANY Skill *See Above* (10 points)
4. Have at least 5 Friends (5 points)
5. Have at least 8 Good Friends (10 points)
6. Have at least 10 Best Friends (10 points)
7. "Upgrade" (Expand) your house at least 3 times (should have a child's bed, master bed, living, dining, bath, and any other room you may like) (50 points)
8. Collect all Fish (10 points)
9. Collect all Metals (10 points)
10. Collect all Crystals (10 points)
11.Collect all Elements (10 points)
11. Collect all Plants (10 points)
12. Collect all "MySims" Trophies (10 points)
13. Collect all Fossils (10 points)
14. Collect all Collectibles (100 points)
15. Get married (50 points)
16. Have at least two kids (age doesn't matter) (50 points)

OPTIONAL CATS & DOGS UPDATE:

A. Befriend 10 cats (10 points)
B. Befriend 10 dogs (10 points)
C. Own at least one dog or cat (or both if you like!) (+1 point for each animal you have)
D. Max out Pet Training skill (10 points)

The maximum amount of points you can receive is 655 (Thanks to DarkChii_666 for doing the math I borked on, lol) and that's just going with base game skills. Your mileage may vary depending on the packs you have, so just add 5 (if you hit lvl5) or 10 (if you hit lvl 10) points depending on which additional skills you have. Otherwise, just have fun with the challenge and enjoy yourself! Happy farming, Simmers!

Note: I'd like to make a special reward for those who score over 200 points, but as I am not good at modding or creating custom content it may take a little while. Ideally it will be an object like the "Stardew Hero" trophy in the game Stardew Valley, but with some special perks. The work is still in progress as of this time. Not sure it'll ever actually be a thing, so at the very least I'll try and make some kind of signature banner for bragging rights. :P

Wow, I really like it! I'm played "Harvest Moon" in my infancy, and its reminds me a lot this game! I will certainly do this challenge.

Thank you so much for your challenge I'm actually just about to add a "Nature-Loving Sim" to my neighbourhood. (To give me another household to play, when I need a break from the main challenge I'm doing in this Save Game File.) I'm glad I went on Mod The Sims, to see if there are any nature/collection related challenges; since I absolutely love playing Sims challenge-style.

Please don't take offense, but I'll try and find a few nature/collecting challenge on MTS, and kinda combine them: then change any rules that don't make sense (once I've mixed them all together; maybe add -- a few extra rules, regulations, goal, restrictions, etc -- of my own to make it more challenging (or maybe just more suited to how I like to play my Sims); and modify the rules of the challenges their creators made (once I've combined them all together.

Should be interesting. Wish me luck!

By the way, just did the math. The maximum number of points cannot be 370, if each skill counts as a separate milestone. Based on your point system, you recieve 15 points per each maxed skill. Depend on which expansion packs, game packs, and stuff packs you have, the total number of skills will differ; but even with just the base game, there are about 20 skills (if I am not mistaken) that have 10 levels. So doing the math quickly 20 skills times 15 points (20x15) equals: 300; which would change maximum amount of points you can receive to 655 (370-15+300).

Please forgive me, if I am wrong in my calculations, but taking --at least-- all the base game skills in mind, the total number of points should be: 655.

Hello! Apologies for the late reply, I've been without internet for the past few months. Thank you so much for this input! Math has never been my strong suit LOL. I will update the rules to reflect this!

Omg i love love LOVE this challenge! I remember playing almost all the Harvest Moon games when i was a kid, then playing hours upon hours of Stardew Valley, so I know I will enjoy this challenge.
Quick question, now that we have pets, will you be adding any pet related milestones? Since the dogs can be trained and such. If not that is fine with me, just thought I would ask.

Love the idea of this, as I love Stardew Valley! Think I'll be starting this tonight!

Are the rocks and trees etc. All apart of the $20, 000 as well as the house? Or just the house?

Very sorry for the late reply, life kinda got a hold of me. I have updated the rules to reflect the release of Cats and Dogs!

Sorry for the late reply! I actually updated the rules, so if you want to really make your lot look overgrown (similar to how the farm starts in game) you are able to use money cheats for your landscaping (but not your crops/home itself) to give it that authentic, overgrown flair.

Great idea RhysBrando, I love Stardew Valley too! I've had a hard time getting into Sims 4, going to give this a try. Thanks for the great challenge