This incredible Stardew Valley Lego build won an award and got a surprise visit from ConcernedApe
If there's one thing that Stardew Valley players and Lego builders have in common, it's an impressive level of dedication to executing a creative vision. Stardew players are known for optimizing farm layouts that are equal parts beauty and efficiency, so it's no surprise that one of them went and built the entirety of Pelican Town in Lego. The feat took about 2 years to complete, its creator told PC Gamer.
Steve Jensen has been posting in-progress photos of the build over on the Stardew Valley forums since last year, and brought it out to the Lego fan exhibition BrickCon 2024 last weekend. It's an amazing build with tons of detail, covering everything in Pelican Town from the player's farm over to JojaMart and the forest down to the beach. It even has the giant "Stardew Valley" title screen in the back. You can see a view of the full build up above or check out this video by Beyond The Brick, which quotes the build at a total of 75,000 pieces and zooms in on various parts.
@beyondthebrick ♬ original sound - Beyond the Brick
As for favorite parts of the build, Jensen has a few. "One is the Hat Shop, because I was able to make [it] almost entirely hollow, so you can look through the cracks and broken parts, and see through to more such openings on the other side. Just as a rundown, abandoned structure would be.
"Another fav is the wizard's tower. I was able to get the shape I wanted, including a peaked door, and vines growing up the sides, the cone-shaped roof in blue, everything!"
I just can't stop zooming in on all the wonderful little details: the pink traveling merchant cart, Pam's bus, all the machinery coming out of Clint's workshop. All the characters are there too, which Jensen has also shared photos of. My favorite part might actually be the elevation changes. This isn't all laid out flat. It starts at its lowest point on the beach and builds up to the hills and mountain pass in the back.
What boggles my mind is just how much familiarity this took with Stardew Valley but also with specific Lego sets. Looking back through the forum posts, I spotted Jensen explaining which sets certain pieces came from, like the leaves on the main Stardew Valley sign which were apparently from a relatively new Lego set last year.
Jensen's build won a well-deserved "People's Choice" award at the convention, and Stardew Valley's developer, Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone, even made a surprise appearance. Which, as Jensen put it on the forums, is "even BIGGER news than an award." There's a charming photo of the two of them posing behind the 75,000 piece Pelican Town.
Jensen is planning to share more about the individual buildings over on Instagram.