Understudy

When a villager takes a day off, their shop or post would normally just close for the day. With Understudy you can cover for them. Accept the job from the town bulletin board, work their counter for the day, and come away with a wage, a little friendship, and a look at their working life from the inside.

Requirements

Stardew Valley 1.6 or later
SMAPI 4.0.0 or later

Generic Mod Config Menu is an optional dependency. If installed, it adds a configuration screen for the mod.

How it works

Every so often a villager is announced as needing someone to cover their post on an upcoming day. The notice goes up on the town bulletin board a few days ahead. Walk up to the board, accept the posting, and it is added to your quest log.

On the cover day the villager stays home and their post is yours. Go to their counter during opening hours and work the shift. Customers come to be served, and you handle them at the counter. At the end of the day you are paid a wage based on how much of the shift you actually worked, plus a tip for every customer served, and you gain friendship with the villager you covered. The next morning brings a short summary and a peek into that villager's life.

The people around you notice, too. The villager you are covering, and sometimes a relative or a neighbour, mention the cover before the day, remark on it while you are working, and thank you afterwards, warmly or not, depending on how the shift went.

The posts

Understudy lets you cover these villagers:

Pierre, at Pierre's General Store. Ring up seeds and goods. The stock follows the season, built from the crops that actually grow that season, so modded seeds are sold too.
Marnie, at Marnie's Ranch. Sell animal supplies.
Robin, at the Carpenter's Shop. Sell crafting materials.
Willy, at the Fish Shop. Sell bait, tackle, and rods.
Clint, at the Blacksmith. Customers bring geodes and you crack them open on the anvil, in a short timing mini-game. Anything the game treats as a geode works, including modded ones.
Gunther, at the Museum. Villagers bring an unidentified find and you sort it into gem, mineral, or artifact. The right answer comes from the item's own data, so modded donations are handled too.
Gus, at the Stardrop Saloon. The evening crowd comes to the bar to order food and drink. The customers are the real patrons already in the saloon, who get up, order, and head back to their seats.
Harvey, at the Clinic. Run the reception counter and sell remedies.

Payment

Your wage is based on the time you actually spend on the post during opening hours, so arriving late or leaving early earns less, and skipping the shift earns nothing. On top of the base wage you get a tip for every customer served, and friendship with the villager you covered. Doing the job well lifts both.

Configuration

If Generic Mod Config Menu is installed, a configuration screen is available, with a general section and one section per shop:

Daily Absence Chance, how likely a cover is offered on a given day.
Lead Days, how far ahead a cover is announced.
Max Concurrent, how many pending covers can exist at once.
Customer Interval and Customer Patience, the pace at which customers arrive and how long they wait.
Tip Per Customer, the tip added to your wage for each customer served.
Per shop, the Base Wage and the Friendship reward, since a day at the clinic is not a day at the saloon.

Without Generic Mod Config Menu, the same options can be edited in config.json after the first launch.

Languages

English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Simplified Chinese.

Compatibility

Understudy reads shops, crops, and geodes from the game's own data, so modded seasonal crops, modded geodes, and modded museum donations are covered without any extra setup. It is built for single player.