Game Developer. Farming Game Vermont 1930's

Submitted by LeonTheLionRawr t3_11xshhe in vermont

I'm a programmer and an artist, I am developing a farming sim game like Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town that takes place in rural Vermont in the early 1930's during the great depression. This time period and setting are incredibly interesting to me visually, socially, economically, culturally in this region. I was wondering if anyone from this state has any articles, books, or interesting trivia or insight into this period of time. I am of course interested in any suggestions, wisdom, input, anything like that. I am already going to get "Up in the Morning Early: Vermont Farm Families in the Thirties", by Scott E. Hastings, Jr. and Elsie R. Hastings (1992)

I already know about and play games like Stardew Valley, Story of Seasons, Coral Island, Farm Folks, Rune Factory.

The emphasis I am going for is tone, setting, culture, family, friendship, community, music those kinds of things and less on the realistic portrayal of the mechanics of farming.

This is a personal passion project and hobby so there is no website, or patreon, or kickstarter or anything like that. Thank you so much for reading.

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AdventureSheepies t1_jd4mj93 wrote

A lot of small towns in VT have their own historical societies. I would reach out to them. Good luck!

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ty88 t1_jd65vt1 wrote

...and most of them have lots of old photos!

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ranaparvus t1_jd7799o wrote

The one in Orwell has copies of the Orwell currency, but not sure if that predated the Great Depression.

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Expensive_Break210 t1_jd4q06p wrote

I second the idea of calling town history buildings around the state.

In addition to this, I also highly recommend giving the “Old Stone House Museum & Historic Village” a call. I bet they have more information and stories than you ever care to know.

Also they should be able to give you contacts to basically anyone else about this.

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emzea t1_jd51v7h wrote

Deforestation and merino sheep are crucial things to consider when you are thinking about agricultural history of Vermont!

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papayaninja t1_jd51na1 wrote

It might be too early (I think the heyday was pre-1850), but VT used to have a lot of sheep. Like, a lot. Like more sheep than cows and people combined.

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Dr_Moonglow t1_jd5ni0v wrote

Vermont has very little old growth Forrest, because it’s was 90% clear cut for sheep pasture. Vermont supplied most of the wool for the mills in the north east.

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amoebashephard t1_jd58bad wrote

Don't forget the grange halls and oddfellows halls.

Burlington/Colchester Essex had several buffalo soldiers and some who brought families that settled in the area.

There's a lot to love about Vermont, but don't be afraid to add the hard parts as well.Lincoln Hill in hinesburg

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alwaysmilesdeep t1_jd4wtkd wrote

Does it include bootleggers?

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_JunkyardDog t1_jd5dv64 wrote

One granddad was a bootlegger. My dad told me all about the sacks of sugar filling the garage from time to time.

My other granddad was a farmer but had to supplement the family income by working the granite quarries in Barre as a rigger.

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alwaysmilesdeep t1_jd5envi wrote

I'm not a gamer but that sounds like history which should be involved

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Reepergrimrim t1_jd68bp5 wrote

Ggdaughter of illegal Canadian bootlegers here. When they weren’t running, ggpa was logging and winning bets at bars. My ggma was indigenous and fighting the good fight at home.

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_jd77slt wrote

My father was alive during prohibition in VT. He citied a number of now large companies that somehow had a large influx of capital after it was over to start business. It always made me laugh a little.

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alostpacket t1_jd58p1p wrote

Be sure to add mud season!

(also good luck, sounds like a cool game)

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stockman313 t1_jd59t77 wrote

I’m pretty sure vermont used to be like 80% deforested compared to about 80% forested now!

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StrugglesTheClown t1_jd6xunv wrote

I think all of New England was like that. Old pictures of MA just look like open fields

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amhais t1_jd5f4sk wrote

I’d reach out to Billings Farm and Museum in Woodstock in addition to local historical societies. They’d be a great resource IMO.

PS if you get a kickstarter going let me know, I’d chip in!

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gamefuse t1_jd6c2xn wrote

Check out “Witch windows.” It’s a very Vermont specific thing in old houses from the 1800s to mid 1900s (sometimes new construction for the look) that would be a perfect touch for a Vermont farm game. Please update on progress! I’d love to check it out when complete. Best of luck.

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Disastrous-Street-15 t1_jdcb51e wrote

My wife and I debate whether the preferred terminology is weird window or witchy window. There is also the Weird Window Brewing Company. We're trying to find the place in the state with the greatest concentration of them. So far I know Moretown has 2 just on the main road.

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PianistInformal4967 t1_jd7b7on wrote

When I first moved to the state, I bought local history books from the general store tourist stops and I wasn’t disappointed. Some really crazy history! I recommend browsing those.

One history I learned that might be of interest to you is that Boston thanksgiving celebrations have always been dependent on Vermont farmers’ turkeys- and that meant literally walking to Boston with flocks of turkeys. It would take Vermont farmers 2 weeks to a month, and they would lose some along the way, or trade some as they went, or collected more. They would sleep rough; there were no fridge tractor trailers back then or people couldn’t afford the earlier cruder options, and flocks were too big to put on horse cart. Boggles the mind that they would walk all the way there!

I don’t know maybe that could be a side quest or something ;)

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WeeGreyCat t1_jd5vf8a wrote

I work for a land surveyor and read a lot of deeds. I just saw one the other day from the ‘30s that named every single cow on the farm that was being sold. Also every piece of equipment down to the 1700 sap buckets. Most town offices charge a pretty nominal fee to go through the land records. Provided you can read cursive there’s an incredible amount of information there.

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EpictetussutetcipE t1_jd6606h wrote

Maybe check out Great Depression cookbooks. People had to scrape by with whatever they could get... unique Depression era recipes would be cool.

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8valvegrowl t1_jd4s36v wrote

I’d echo the historical society suggestions, also, maybe the VT Farm Bureau in Richmond? They might have some archives. I know some big, old, farming families of VT have been involved with them.

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Spiral-bound t1_jd5nqll wrote

Remember to consider the kinds of trees that existed then too. Many farms from that period had large elm trees lining the roads or a lone elm in a field for the livestock. This was also before the chestnut trees were wiped out.

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ranaparvus t1_jd76zsk wrote

Life with chestnut trees cannot be understated. They were an important food source for animals and humans, not to mention their utility for building.

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Low_Article5278 t1_jd60l07 wrote

Smugglers's Notch got its name from Boottleggers running booze during prohibition. There is a rough side to the culture that history tends to forget. Like, Ethan Allen wasn't a star citizen and backwoods justice was and is a real thing.

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adhdmamallama t1_jd67ug2 wrote

There are plenty of Vermonters still alive that remember growing up on farms in the 1930s. If you’d like to collect some oral histories, call around to a few assisted living facilities and ask to speak to their social activities coordinator. They’re often scrambling to find activities for residents and I’m sure you’ll find more than one that will help put together a round table discussion on growing up in Vermont.

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CardinalPuff-Skipper t1_jd6r2h4 wrote

Have you seen the UVM Landscape Change project? It’s a great database of vintage photos sortable by town and other keywords, often juxtaposed with current photos. This could be a good resource if you don’t know it.

https://glcp.uvm.edu/landscape_new/

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UniversityFamiliar t1_jd4rteb wrote

This sounds awesome. The secretary of state has an archives department. The person who runs the archives is a wealth of information. I suggest reaching out to them!

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SmashesIt t1_jd7bmzi wrote

you have to get in the weeds to find them but there are a ton of Historical societies and even a few "museums" of Vermont History.

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b_h_w t1_jd508ee wrote

very cool.

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its_rich_vs_poor t1_jd57vp2 wrote

Howard Frank Mosher has quite a few historical fiction books specific to the area that might be of interest. I'd suggest Northern Borders...

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KestrelVT t1_jd5cfoj wrote

Green Mountain Farm by Elliott Merrick is about the author who moves to Craftsbury (Horseshoe in the book) in the 1930's and does some farming among other jobs. Generally an enjoyable book to read.

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RaziyaRC t1_jd5d5pm wrote

These are.my favorite kinda of games so please keep me updated! I have beaten all of the game you listed other than Coral Island as it's early access and I'm waffling on trying it out now (I want to wait until it's finished it looks awesome)

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ricolageico t1_jd5du41 wrote

The Vermont historical society has incredible resources in their archives collections and exhibits. Start with an email to Amanda Gustin.

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Dr_Moonglow t1_jd5nu9t wrote

John Deere developed the modern plow in middlebury, vt.

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noelesque t1_jd5p3d6 wrote

Get in touch with the librarians at the Vermont History Center in Barre. They have a searchable database of farm journals from the period you're looking at and LOVE to talk about them.

This is one from their collection in which a young man sketched out his fields and what was in them (in this case, grass for livestock grazing and other crops) and also wrote journal entries about his life.

https://vermonthistory.org/history-center/

https://preview.redd.it/3sxvgc1598pa1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=147af3e381717acc312403fc9572fa1672d5be60

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ebriggs t1_jd5uagt wrote

Awesome! Let me know if you need any programming or design support.

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HandCarvedRabbits t1_jd5ub6s wrote

I wish my grandmother was alive, she could paint you a vivid picture of life on a farm in southern Vermont in the 30’s

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Bitter-Bar7180 t1_jd5ud0l wrote

The local historical societies and the librarians at the Vermont History Center will be your best bet. Schedule meetings in advance and let them know what you are looking for so they have time to pull relevant material.

There is an old Vermont book called 80 Years of It, and it covers an extended family’s history from 1860s to the 1940s. I recall it being fairly dry, but it gives good detail about day to day life and might inspire some aspects of the game. Good luck!

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joytothesoul t1_jd5wrcs wrote

The kids during that time period would walk the railroad tracks to school and hope to find coal that fell off the coal cars. The kids might leave early from home and stop by the Granite Shed to offer to do a bit of work before school. They might earn coal to bring home. The Granite Sheds had blacksmiths that made tools and sharpened chisels. A typical task might be gathering up tools that need to be sharpened or returning tools to the workers.

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browsing_around t1_jd5z83b wrote

My nephews will absolutely love this game. They’re already quite into farming simulator.

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PortraitsofWar t1_jd60cdf wrote

I know quite a bit about that time period in Vermont and can likely add some material culture context if needed. Shoot me a PM. I also enjoy games like stardew valley and this sounds awesome!

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wampastompa09 t1_jd6596y wrote

Machine tool industry is also something to look into

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rockstang t1_jd6hqjz wrote

Penalty tax for shopping in New Hampshire!

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ranaparvus t1_jd76ql9 wrote

PBS had a cool series of documentaries about VT, called “Vermont Memories”. I can’t find a link to it online, but maybe you’ll have better luck.

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tdoottdoot t1_jd78a52 wrote

you can reach out to the state college system, NVU-Lyndon has some cool historical stuff and someone might have book recommendations

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Keatonium765 t1_jd5agkg wrote

middletown springs vt is really cool it has a lot of interesting history and is amazingly beautiful, i live there and have a nice view so i can send you pictures if its something you would be interested in

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shoesontoes t1_jd5f054 wrote

This sounds amazing so please post here again when you are done, I think you would have many fans!

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Spiral-bound t1_jd5o2oe wrote

Also not explicitly about farming, but check out the book This is Vermont by Walter and Mary Hard, where they road tripped around VT in 1936.

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hellibot t1_jd5suym wrote

Fast Lane on a Dirt Road

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crehfish t1_jd676mv wrote

Commenting to find this later, and to hopefully see if there are any updates to this project down the line! Good luck on your project OP!

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Rangerrickbutsaucier t1_jd7jvit wrote

Hands on the Land is a good book for this. Also, Daniel Mills, an employee of UVM, is an amateur historian that may enjoy helping.

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457424 t1_jd7u60m wrote

If you haven't already, skim over the census (https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1810731) for a few towns. You can just search for "town, Vermont", click on any of the people, then go into the actual census image and go between pages.

The census usually goes right down the street with the census worker walking door to door, so you can get an idea of if you were just walking through the town, how many people are living together as a family, how many renters/boarders are there, how many families are Vermonters or how many moved from NH or Mass, how many people are working in what trades or professions, how many people were in the war.

It's a lot of basic demographic stuff you can look at as a case study of one town in a few minutes, that would tell you if you were going to use this town as a model, who would be all the characters who realistically fit in.

You can also look up vital records of these people, which will tell you things like, when someone dies, where is the doctor they would've gone to, what is the cause of death, where are people being born (home/hospital), where are people getting married and are their spouses from this town or further away.

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Cap1691 t1_jd8p2om wrote

Try Vermont Historical Society or UVM Special Collections Library

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KimonoDragon814 t1_jd8w4kk wrote

What game engine are you using?

I'm a dev myself (mainly C# and react with some unity experience)

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v3rmin_supreme t1_jd8wj5x wrote

As part of a class in college, we made a movie called “life in Orange County.” It was a series created over several years, with one film for each county in the state. We interviewed old locals who shared stories of life in the early 20th century. The lady I spoke with had homemade crullers and hot cocoa for us. She also shared a story about how she would carry a rifle to school every day, in case her or her siblings saw a deer on the way to/from the schoolhouse. Her and all the other kids kept all of their guns in a cubby by the door. Wild! That class was a great experience.

Can’t find a link for the videos themselves. Here is a link that describes this for Bennington county, circa 2014: https://www.benningtonbanner.com/archives/film-by-johnson-state-college-students-about-bennington-county-may-be-shown-in-january/article_7143f7f8-a4ed-50ec-8f18-5d1aaea65db0.html

Local libraries in each county would probably be your best bet to find the DVDs. Maybe try the Johnson State (now NVU) library before it closes this summer.

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inbetweenthestrings t1_jd8xm1m wrote

Definitely include traditional New England fiddle music in the soundtrack if you can! Lots of great resources around if you don’t know where to look. Also, contra dancing/barn dances

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