Helpful Programs

These programs can make the modding experience much easier! You don't need all of these, just choose the ones that best fit your needs.

Editing Code

These are the text editing software and coding environments that will help with the more technical side of creating a mod.

• Notepad++ - A simple text editor with more capabilities than the standard Notepad. Good for JSON editing.
• Visual Studio - Microsoft's IDE and code editor. Perfect for developing C# mods.
• Sublime Text - Another text editor. Good for search, can quickly search all files in a project.

Making Art

These are the programs that will help to create or edit sprites. Since pixel art isn't too complicated you only really need a pencil tool that lets you create art pixel by pixel, and the ability to export images with a transparent background.

On desktop

• Aseprite - Designed specifically for pixel art it helps you do that one thing really well, as a result many pixel artists swear by Aseprite. It is a paid program, but you can compile it for free from their source code. There is also a trial version.
• Paint.NET - A simple art program available for free.
• GIMP - Free program Primarily created for image editing, so can be a bit overwhelming to new artists but has some really handy tools like the ability to Posterize an image, Tile an image, symmetry painting, select by colour, color exchange, and creating custom brushes and patterns. You can also mimic Aseprite's "automatic outline" feature by using the "Grow" option on your selection. (*coughs* wiki author is biased *coughs*)
• Photoshop

In your web browser

• Piskel - Free. Good for making animated sprites, like characters or animals. Unfortunately setting up colour palettes is annoying, so consider making the first sprite in a different program and importing it. Can be used online or the program can be downloaded for free.
• Photopea - Free. Quick start type of program. When you really just want to do something quickly this is great because it doesn't require any downloading because it opens in your web browser. This is a light weight program so its good for slow computers, and works just like photoshop so it's really easy to google tutorials on how to use it.

On mobile

• Pixel Studio - Free in the app store. Good solid little program with all the essential stuff you need to make pixel art and is user friendly.

Miscellaneous

These programs don't fit into the coding or art territory, but are good to have when modding.

• Tiled - Essential for if you plan on editing maps. Has a bit of a learning curve, but does more than enough to get the job done.
• 7Zip - Makes extracting files easier.
• StardewXNBHack - Allows for XNB files in the game to be unpacked, making it so they can be edited.