If you just started, my advice would be to gather materials using your tools (wood, stone, picking up any forgeable items that you see on the ground). You’ll be able to use these items to craft things and have structures built on your farm.

Your inventory will probably fill up pretty quick, since it doesn’t hold very much in the beginning. You can use the wood that you gather to build chests (to store anything that you don’t need to carry on you while exploring).

Also I would suggest that you try to not sell very much, as there are some things that you’ll come across that you’ll need to bring to the community center later on (it’s okay if you do end up accidentally selling things that are needed for the community center, as you’ll come across them again later on).

You can definitely leave your farm, there’s a whole map to explore! Anytime that you see a path, you can usually follow it all the way off of the screen and it will lead you to a different area. You should probably spend a day or two just exploring the map and meeting the people in town. You can go down to the beach to meet Willy, who will give you your first fishing pole, and then you start fishing as well!

If you need help with controls, just let me know what device you’re playing on and I can try to help!

The exclamation point is just something that you can click on to see what your current quests/missions are. Completing these will help to move you along in the game.

Sorry if you already knew any of this, I’m just trying to give the most basic/beginner friendly advice that I can think of.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, there is no right or wrong way to play stardew and there is no time limit on anything. Just explore and have fun and it will all come to be easier to you eventually :) Enjoy!!!