I think a lot has to do with it that the dev's are "done" with the first Garden Paws. They choose not to put any effort into the discord and rely almost 100 percent on the mods. This game is great and I have a lot of hours in it like you do. The best way to find people to play with is cozy game discords (where I found a lot of people)

We can love a game but when the development team is done there isn't much we can do besides some mods and building our own communities

yes the devs involvement means a lot, and Stardew Valley has great loyalty to the Solo Dev, who for 8 years created not only the game code, graphics, story and music for the game and handled all the updates. Its the huge modding community that has kept the game growing too. But even with that, I find this game has so much more potential if only some one would take charge to expand on it.
I dont know anything about the devs of the this game, was it a team by a large gaming company or a few people , But on one solo person can crate a game like Stardew valley that sells 30 million copies, then this game should be able to do as much or more.

In the past I have spent over 4000 hours playing Creativerse, then the servers went down and killed the multiplayer. Then I spent over 4000 hours on Stardew Valley until mod conflicts with coding updates caused my game to crash, It was then i discovered this game, and got totally hooked on it, but I am totally surprised at the lack of activity with the game development.

The team at the beginning was one programmer, one art person and a sound person. (Dan, Kristina and Theo) but the company has changed so dramatically since then

If you ever want to tackle some crazy builds let me know (working on a cloud fortress right now with succulent and butterfly decorations)

This game does have endless hours if you want

oh that sounds like a fun idea, a cloud fortress. I have several beanstalks grown but have not decided what to do with them yet, except for the first 3 which have my dragon hatchery.
Do you post the pictures on Discord screen shots? Thats where you will find shots of my big builds.

I did in previous years so if you look up my user name it'll find them. I haven't posted any builds I think in over a year but I have been working on them

yes I saw some of the pics you posted, how did you make those red, white, and black spiral stairs???
I have several shots posted here in steam, but most are on the discord screenshots.
I try to encourage others to share their builds and share ideas. We can give each other inspiration to keep playing. I have over 3000 hours in the game now, but I have over 4000 in Stardew Valley too.

As I still live in Quarantine, I search for games that keep me inspired and creative, which is why I had over 10,000 hours in Creativerse before the servers went down and I had to search for new fun.
Of all the games I have tried Garden Paws has the best mix of building, story line, quests and challenges and great graphics. What other game can you ride a Unicorn, a Pegasus, and fly dragons all over the world peacefully, and never worry about being attacked.

I also am in a similar situation to yours which is why I have such time to game. As far as building with no combat I'd say GP is kinda a stand alone. Dinkum is a really fun game is minimal fighting and a great building system. Palia is ftp and coming to steam on the 25th (has it's own launcher for now and on switch) and is an amazing decorating and community game so I'd rec you check those out

*palia has no combat

will check them out. I have Dinkum on my wish list

Originally posted by Queen Droxxanna:

will check them out. I have Dinkum on my wish list

I posted a teaser screenshot in the discord of my current build I was talking about for you

Originally posted by Horuta:

Originally posted by Queen Droxxanna:

will check them out. I have Dinkum on my wish list

I posted a teaser screenshot in the discord of my current build I was talking about for you

saw it.
looking forward to seeing more pictures

The Museums still have display with under construction I'm not sure if any new updates will be added so I was under the impression the devs will be focusing on Potion Paws.
Dinkum is great and has alot of content for early access game there are some aggressive animals to watch out for crocodiles, Shark, Wary Mus and Bush Devils.
I made the mistake of starting on small island when could be started in larger landmass, time moves really fast unless you use Mod will be hard to terraform during in day and tools have durability. I have so much to do and will take a while to complete.
Palia is grindy, the cash shop are for cosmetics but I stopped playing after it became competition for rare resources such as flow wood and palium ores. Couldn't careless for events and players in the Community were unhelpful and party amongst themselves.
I wouldn't recommended buying Ikonei Island: Earthlock adventure until the bugs are patch out, since they added new update there has been major issues with storage, NPCs are bugged and environment keep resetting. You are free to test out the demo or Friend's pass.
I have playing since Early access, the devs made unnecessary changes such endless night, harder to get amri the base craft material for seeds.
I'm currently doing second playthrough of Garden Paws on classic maps to do things differently and decorate my house using mods. The time moves so fast I was on Year 4 on River Map with my house barely decorate and yard is filled with animals and crops.
If you are interested there's time limited playtest of Critter Cove, like first/third person Animal Crossing only difference you get design your own wacky animal or human character.

Palia was just released on Steam so I am about to try it out. Have not looked at most of the other games you mentioned, except Potion Paws, and I will wait for them to finish it more,
Critter Cove I may take a look at too.

Originally posted by Queen Droxxanna:

Palia was just released on Steam so I am about to try it out. Have not looked at most of the other games you mentioned, except Potion Paws, and I will wait for them to finish it more,
Critter Cove I may take a look at too.

Have you looked at Coral Island yet? That one scratched my itch for a bit :) I tried palia last night and today, it's very slow and grindy, and the chat is either too quiet or too toxic, no in between; but the graphics are super pretty.