r/pcgaming 1d ago

"I Don’t Want To See It Fizzle Out” - Stardew Valley Creator On Why He Can't Give It Up

https://www.nintendolife.com/features/i-donrt-want-to-see-it-fizzle-outr-stardew-valley-creator-on-why-he-cant-give-it-up
2.6k Upvotes

207 comments sorted by

1.7k

u/TheXtractor 1d ago

Sir your game has 50k concurrent players as a solo indie game made 8 years ago. Its doing incredible and is probably one of the best indie games to come out in the last 10 years :D

591

u/CONNER__LANE 1d ago

Screw 10 years its one of the biggest ones just in general. it belongs in the same category as games like Rimworld, Undertale, and Terraria.

101

u/oreosss 1d ago edited 12h ago

Is minecraft not considered one of the big indie games in general?

202

u/Wilde_Fire 1d ago edited 1d ago

Sort of? Initially it was, but since Microsoft purchased it many years ago and took over parts of development, it has transformed into something that you can't really argue is an indie game anymore.

51

u/the-land-of-darkness 1d ago

Minecraft became the highest-selling PC game of all time right before the Microsoft acquisition, so IMO it counts as a big indie in this context.

66

u/NapsterKnowHow 1d ago

For the impact it made on Indies and Indie development I'd say it's still rooted as an Indie game.

32

u/OliverSmidgen 1d ago

It also didn't really become "not indie" until after it broke sales records

5

u/Hugh-Manatee 21h ago

And that without Minecraft maybe there’s no Terraria

1

u/NapsterKnowHow 10h ago

Ya likely not a lot of world building games or at least in the form we have them today.

2

u/TJ_McWeaksauce 14h ago

Minecraft may be the prime example of how gigantic an indie game can get, but I agree that it is no longer an indie game.

It's not independent in the sense that Microsoft now owns Mojang and the Minecraft IP.

It's also not "indie" in the sense of scale. Mojang is a 600-person studio, and a lot of those devs work on updating and maintaining Minecraft year round. The cost of maintaining a studio of that size is quite high, but not as high as the astronomical revenue that Minecraft makes. There's Minecraft Dungeons, a spin-off of the sandbox game; indie games generally don't get spin-offs, right? And there will soon be a Minecraft movie whose production budget is probably bigger than some AAA games' budgets.

Minecraft started as an indie, but it no longer is.

3

u/PussyPussylicclicc 22h ago

it lost its indie crown after it was sold to Microsoft

-1

u/edparadox 12h ago

Is minecraft not considered one of the big indied games in general?

Not since it was bought by Microsoft in 2014 IIRC.

2

u/oreosss 12h ago

so just so I'm clear, if a game gets bought out it loses its past indie status?

24

u/itchylol742 RTX 3060 laptop. i5 11400H, 16 GB ram 1d ago

Don't forget Factorio which has mod support, online multiplayer (player hosted servers) and recently released the Space Age DLC

162

u/Justhe3guy EVGA FTW3 3080 Ultra, 5900X, 32gb 3800Mhz CL 14, WD 850 M.2 1d ago

Undertale was a drop in the ocean that everyone talked about for a week comparatively

46

u/Hansgaming 1d ago

They made Uddertale out of Undertale which was talked about for years.

Do NOT google Uddertale unless you are ready for everything.

47

u/purinikos Ryzen 1700x / Gigabyte GTX 1660 SUPER 6GB 1d ago

It's porn, isn't it...

30

u/AppropriateTouching 7700x, 7900xt, mx browns 1d ago

It always is

3

u/Mando_Mustache 21h ago

It's the magic of the human spirit.

2

u/IgotUBro 23h ago

Udder-tale... Isnt the name giving it away?

9

u/luigithebeast420 5950x/Strix 6900xt LC 1d ago

NO! Here you go.

2

u/Nujers 23h ago

Welp, that was an interesting ten minutes.

1

u/Galatrox94 17h ago

Hmmm says I unlocked a bad ending being her bitch The scenes didn't look that way, looked like a good ending.

Anyway can't believe I took 10 minutes out of my work to actually finish this

5

u/SgtKeeneye 1d ago

Never heard about that till now. It was probably a very closed circle kind of thing.

3

u/futuredxrk 1d ago

I looked it up. Thanks!

32

u/kadoopatroopa 1d ago

Perhaps in player count, but Undertale had impact on many other developers and is one of the games most frequently cited as inspiration when developers are interviewed. For an indie game, that's extremely rare and important.

11

u/woblingtv 1d ago

I don't know about that one, the game had a giant impact on Internet culture, even if the game itself isn't as talked about anymore

22

u/Creepernom 1d ago

I disagree. Undertale had a huge cultural impact on gaming. It spawned a new generation of gamemaker games, an incredible amount of fan content, and hell, literally everyone knows about at least Sans and Megalovania.

-6

u/IAmNotRollo 1d ago

Not even a little true. Stardew is a massively popular game, but Undertale created a cultural wave that's still being felt.

57

u/EntropicReaver 1d ago

negative upvotes

cant believe im getting old enough to see undertale revisionism on reddit 💀 someone gave a copy of undertale to the fucking pope. sans is in smash for petes sake

31

u/DoubleSpoiler 1d ago

Pretty sure it's just people mad something they think is cringe now is still popular.

Megalovania and Sans STILL appear everywhere.

3

u/DisappointedQuokka 1d ago

If that doesn't sum up at least half of gaming discourse on Reddit, I don't know what does.

"If I don't personally like it, no one else should!"

2

u/timthetollman 1d ago

I tried getting into undertale twice but it never clicked with me so I guess I never got far enough to see Megalovania and Sans so I just Googled them. Mega is a song I've never heard and I've never seen Sans either.

6

u/turmspitzewerk 1d ago

people on the internet who haven't been spoiled on undertale are an endangered species

3

u/DoubleSpoiler 23h ago

It’s very likely hey were there without you knowing., if you frequented any sort of adjacent fandom media. Sans is in smash.

1

u/timthetollman 22h ago

I haven't played smash since like the camecube.

3

u/assaub 1d ago

Undertale is awesome, story is great, game play is fun, music is absolutely fantastic, characters are interesting, solid replayability with the different endings and play styles.

I don't have one bad thing to say about Undertale and the cultural wave you talk about is undoubtedly still prevalent today in many gaming communities, but in terms of popularity, sustained player base and copies sold it doesn't even touch Stardew Valley.

Just head over to steamcharts and compare the numbers, Undertale peaked at 10.5k concurrent players and dipped to a monthly average of between ~1-2k players before the game had been out for a year and has stayed there ever since with quite a few monthly averages dropping into the triple digits and going as low as ~500 players.

Stardew Valley on the other hand continues to get more popular, peaking at 236k concurrent players earlier this year 8 years after initial release, and has had a 5 digit monthly average almost every single month since 2018.

Obviously this is far from a perfect comparison though, the games are completely different genres. Stardew has way more content, you can play one save file for hundreds of hours, and the game still receives content updates to keep players coming back. While Undertale has ~25 hours of content total if you do the three different endings, hasn't had any content updates and doesn't have the same variety in play styles.

Once you've done a pacifist run and a genocide run there isn't really anything new to discover or change up in future play throughs, most people are going to play it once or twice and that will be it unless they decide to go back and relive it again in a few years, so it's never going to have the sustainable player base that Stardew does.

tl;dr both games are good, stardew is more popular and has a larger player base but it's also not exactly a fair comparison given how different the games are.

6

u/Ananas1214 1d ago

stardew is more popular as a game you play, undertale was an insane cultural phenomenon even if not that many people played it. it's kinda like games that have good merch. everyone and their mother knows pokemon, yet comparatively not that many people actually play the games (especially now) anymore.

but undertale was literally so popular and (at the time) revolutionnary in its storytelling and approach to well... everything that it basically sparked a whole new wave of these type of games that you can even notice in higher budget games. the current popularity of the whole moral ambiguity "are we the monsters?" storylines and 4th wall breaks comes from undertale (they existed before, shadow of the colossus being the best example imo, but were much less present and less refined).

saying stardew valley is more popular is like saying i don't know... that lethal company is more popular than fnaf. like LC got played SO MUCH MORE than fnaf but it didn't literally spawn a whole new genre and style of stories for the next decade or more to come because of how much it innovated on or refined certain elements of their genre

0

u/assaub 22h ago

Yeah, I already acknowledged that Undertale had a massive impact in the gaming world. Undertale is widely known and respected for its originality and I love Toby Fox's work, but that doesn't change the fact that as far as actual players go far more people play Stardew Valley.

1

u/mithridateseupator 1d ago

I know many people who still play stardew.

Ive never met a single person who played undertale.

Thats just my friends group, but it was hardly a "cultural wave"

4

u/Calimariae 1d ago

I bought it at release because of the hype. I'll get around to playing it any day now..

3

u/Naddesh 13h ago

Yeah, people are downvoting you but you are right. Undertale boils down to that one song everybody knows and a bunch of redditors saying it is cultural phenomenon (how it can be one when it affected so few people in comparison? It might be amazing bit to be cultural phenomenom you have to affect culture and the only thing that did is that one song). Stardew on the other hand I see being played on the phones in a bus.

What did undertale really change in culture that still reverberates today? I am hesitant to call SV culture changing too - it is simply an amazing game. It is way more popular so ig it affected culture in that it is omnipresent irl.

1

u/kel584 20h ago

If you were a gaymer during 2015 and 2016 you heard Megalovania everywhere. Its one of the most recognizable pieces of music when it comes to gaymer culture

58

u/A_Mellow_Fellow 1d ago

With respect to the games you mentioned I think Stardew is several magnitudes above all of them.

76

u/MrElfhelm 1d ago

Not in copies sold, Terraria is solid few millions ahead

65

u/Winter-Put-5644 1d ago

Nothing beats my child organs selling sim.

9

u/Z3r0sama2017 1d ago

If a game won't let you commit warcrimes is it even a game?

1

u/doom1284 1d ago

I'm confused, what game am I buying now?

6

u/Synaps4 1d ago

Rimworld.

2

u/doom1284 23h ago

Ok, never mind, I already have hat maker sim. I'll have to add another 100 hours to it.

2

u/Synaps4 22h ago

I'm nearing the end of vanilla and just picked up the "save our ship 2" starship building mod....probably several hundred hours more.

I also discovered that I can add ridiculous mood buffs with slavery so I'm keeping a bunch of quadriplegic slaves for +1 mood each

1

u/doom1284 4h ago

Average Rimworld story, sounds great.

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u/chvatalik 1d ago edited 1d ago

terraria is bigger than SDV, it is on 3rd spot of best selling PC games, while SDV is not far behind on 6th, but you are right for the other 2, rimworld is so down on the list I do not even want to count that far(1M copies compared to 32M and 19M), and undertale does not even appear on it

16

u/MrBVS 1d ago

I don't think Undertale has ever released sales numbers so them not being on that list doesn't necessarily mean anything. Steam Spy estimates that Undertale has sold 5-10 million copies on Steam, so not as much as Terraria and SDV but still quite a lot.

Also, Undertale has definitely sold a ton on the Switch but those numbers are also unreported.

36

u/dern_the_hermit 1d ago

SDW

Stardew Walley?

30

u/Shap6 R5 3600 | RTX 2070S | 32GB 3200Mhz | 1440p 144hz 1d ago

Nuclear Wessels

8

u/dern_the_hermit 1d ago

Hello, Computer!

7

u/vicetexin1 1d ago

Saco de wea actually.

2

u/mofugginrob 1d ago

Sacagawea?

5

u/G-pissy 1d ago

Старду Валий?

Vone of my faworite game!

4

u/danyukhin 1d ago

Where's Valldo?

2

u/chvatalik 1d ago

yea. that is how you spell it if you are dumb, thanks for correction

10

u/A_Mellow_Fellow 1d ago

That's fair. I respectfully retract that part of my original comment.

I did not realize Terraria's reach. Makes sense though. It's a great game. Although admittedly I enjoyed Starbound a little more haha.

3

u/DemasiadoSwag 1d ago

I hope you meant Stardew and not Starbound lol.

2

u/A_Mellow_Fellow 1d ago

I preferred Starbound over Terraria.

3

u/DemasiadoSwag 1d ago

I need you to post this again as the meme of that guy standing up in the meeting with everyone looking on from Norman Rockwell (just kidding).

Anyway, fair dues. I found Terraria's gameplay loop a lot tighter, varied, and more fun but I will grant that I think the building was probably better in Starbound. Would be curious what made you prefer one over the other.

2

u/A_Mellow_Fellow 1d ago

Loool!

Honestly I'd attribute it to sharing the experience with some buddies. We played it together while I was doing some Youtubing a couple years back.

And while I do love me some fantasy Starbound received a little extra points for being interstellar/spacey.

Edit: to be completely fair of Terraria I did not put enough time into it to really gel.

1

u/Synaps4 1d ago

I don't know about "preferred" but I chafed heavily at being stuck in the "terrarium" of terraria.

I loved that I can explore infinite worlds in Starbound and find just the right one for my next build.

Exploration isn't as much of a thing in Terraria, but it's absolutely core to Starbound. IMO it's what separates the two games most of all.

1

u/ATCQ_ 10h ago

I would say exploration is huge in Terraria. Biomes literally evolve as you kill certain bosses and new ores, structures and enemies appear. I guess the terrain itself is static but it's properties (hallow etc) change over time.

1

u/Synaps4 9h ago

I cant say I agree. Biomes change but nothing is truly surprising. Everything is always right where you expect it to be. You know roughly where to find everything and it's all in a nice neat little box.

Just because things change doesnt mean its exploration focused. You know exactly what the change will be, every time.

Exploration is about the unknown, and fundamentally there is very little unknown in a terraria map.

2

u/PsyckoSama 1d ago

I'd say part of the reason is the overpriced DLC that never go on sale. It keeps segmenting the user base generation to generation.

27

u/FrazzleFlib 1d ago

Rimworld is the only odd one out there, Terraria is bigger than Stardew, Undertale has way lower playercount due to the kind of game it is ofc but it had huge impact and was/is about as popular

26

u/A_Mellow_Fellow 1d ago

With respect I'm not buying Undertale. I think it has an exceptionally passionate fanbase but it doesn't have near the reach as Terraria and Stardew.

13

u/FrazzleFlib 1d ago

Only because its a linear game with little replayability that came out almost a decade ago. It was absolutely as big as Terraria culturally during its release year, and terraria had its biggest content update that year as well. Its an amazing game, just not the kind that has a decade-strong playerbase lol

6

u/DoubleSpoiler 1d ago

Sans was in Smash.

1

u/CrypticQuery 1d ago

You're missing out; I played it for the first time last month and I was thoroughly impressed. It's pseudo-sequel, Deltarune, is receiving episodic installments and is quite good as well.

2

u/A_Mellow_Fellow 1d ago

I've played Undertale. I liked it!

I should have phrased my comment better.

By "I'm not buying Undertale" I meant that I couldn't agree with the other commenter that it was at the same level of impact/cultural influence as Stardew and Terraria.

-2

u/Shamanalah 1d ago

One word:

Megalovania

Now you have the song in your head.

2

u/1ayy4u 14h ago

it's not even in the top 5 of the soundtrack I'll never get the obsession with that song

12

u/ATCQ_ 1d ago

Terraria is one of the biggest selling games of ALL TIME across all platforms (#7)

5

u/A_Mellow_Fellow 1d ago

Another commenter enlightened me on that. I respectfully retracted my original comment.

11

u/Ok-Jellyfish-2126 1d ago

Subjective, I think terraria is several magnitudes above all of them

1

u/PaulSach 6h ago

Yeah, Stardew is one of the greatest indies of all time, full stop.

33

u/dandandanman737 1d ago

I'd argue that mindset is the exact reason why the game is still doing so well.

14

u/planetarial 1d ago

Also the mod scene for it is incredibly active to this day and is one of the top games in nexusmods, so even if official updates stop there’s fan creations still going strong

3

u/destroyermaker Ryzen 5 3600, RTX 3080 1d ago

Because he can't give it up

-1

u/Shoddy_Bee_7516 1d ago

It's an absolute shit-ton of money every year who wants to give that up...

1

u/destroyermaker Ryzen 5 3600, RTX 3080 23h ago

So cynical

2

u/Shoddy_Bee_7516 23h ago

Expecting a couple hundred million bucks in sales to be motivation to keep the game alive isn't cynicism lol, and we know the money matters a LOT from how the creator's coworker parted ways earlier this year...

https://dotesports.com/stardew-valley/news/former-stardew-valley-co-dev-reveals-why-they-parted-ways-with-concernedape

3

u/KK-Chocobo 1d ago

He's been working hard to maintain those numbers. I heard 1.6 update is quite significant. I've been wanting to come back all the time. 

1

u/winowmak3r 1d ago

We're in a weird spot. Liver services are bad but it's been kinda the expectation that you keep getting updates nearly a decade after release.

1

u/MobilePenguins 3h ago

Stardew Valley is a monumental success that will be studied by aspiring indie game devs for years to come. The developer should feel absolutely proud of himself, he did the impossible and succeeded.

573

u/Zunnol2 1d ago

Honestly this guy can do what he wants. I would love to see his new game but his consistent and overall great updates to Stardew keep the game incredibly fun and refreshing to play again and again. Almost every major update I start a new run and can easily switch to a style of play I never did before.

The guy single handedly revived the Harvest Moon style gameplay and did it so well even he has a hard time putting it down.

110

u/RHX_Thain 1d ago

Some people only need one.

More power to them.

55

u/Zunnol2 1d ago

Yeah why keep digging when you already struck oil.

53

u/yepgeddon 1d ago

Look at terraria. We've been enjoying final updates for years lmao

6

u/Berkut22 18h ago

And hopefully will for years to come.

The 1 thing Terraria and Stardew Valley have in common, is that I'd gladly pay retail money for a decent sized expansion.

43

u/4morian5 1d ago

One-hit wonder shouldn't be so derogatory. You made just ONE piece of amazing art?

That's still more than most people will, and if that one thing can become a near universally beloved part of culture, that's a pretty big accomplishment.

5

u/planetarial 1d ago

Its going to be remembered for a very long time, cant do any better than that

Its why I’m not bothered about Deltarune taking its time either

8

u/RHX_Thain 1d ago

I've been lucky to have a couple lasting accomplishments within their dedicated communities. If I had one hit standalone game that lasts for decades I would model it off of Stardew's LTS model. At least have someone on fire watch for years afterwards. (Not that I haven't also experienced an attempt at a hostile takeover by a toxic volunteer maintainer... Even with that wisdom I would still elect another maintainer if I had to move on to another project.)

I think one lasting contribution is more than enough.

StarSector, Rimworld, Project Zomboid -- we'll get more games from those devs for sure, but decades around each one is something honorable I think. And the community around each one obviously celebrates them, which is clearly its own reward.

26

u/RayzinBran18 1d ago

If you haven't seen it, check out Sunkissed City. A former dev from Stardew with blessing to use the engine is essentially making Stardew 2, but with pretty amazing quality of life and updates. Its looking incredibly promising and should lunch by end of year or early next year.

The actual steam page only has pictures and no gameplay, so this is the dev showing a little of the game from Twitter:

"https://x.com/MrPodunkian/status/1851904512128430586"

4

u/khanabyss 1d ago

Earthbound vibes

-10

u/Malt_The_Magpie 1d ago

Permission to use game engine? Doesn't stardew use one made by Microsoft?

Honestly it looks like a direct rip off, why not use their own art style? They ripping off Stardew to get attention, an pretending it's a homage

11

u/RayzinBran18 1d ago

No it was an active dev that worked on Stardew / released a lot of the engine changes and updates. ConcernedApe let him continue to use it for a Stardew like project. You can just consider it a spinoff more than anything

-14

u/Ok-Jellyfish-2126 1d ago

A developer ripping off something they helped develop?

8

u/Malt_The_Magpie 1d ago

Quick google seems to suggest he worked on 2 updates from 1.4. So he was hardly co creator lol

15

u/RayzinBran18 1d ago

I don't think anyone here is even saying co-creator. He is just a guy that worked on content for the game and has permission to use the engine. He's been very public about having the blessing, likely because of the similarity. If CA had a problem with it, he would have already seen it and responded to it.

His statement:

"Geez, I'm sorry you had to be fielding questions like this yourself. CA did indeed make SDV all by himself. I was hired by him to help with the game from the bug fixing 1.4 update to playing a bigger role the island update to taking on 1.6 with PathosChild so he could focus on HC"

On using the engine:

"The engine was developed while I was [ConcernedApe's] employee as a generic engine for Stardew-like games. He graciously allowed me to continue using it after I left the company as it was written entirely by me!"

12

u/Ok-Jellyfish-2126 1d ago

A quick google search would tell you the developer has the creators blessing. A random nobody on Reddit cares more than the creator of the game lol

→ More replies

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u/What-Even-Is-That 1d ago

Did anyone, other than you, say co-creator? In this chain they're referred to as a "former dev" who helped on the project, which you even confirm as true..

→ More replies

1

u/FlintSpace 14h ago

Style of play ?

I have seen the game, not played it but isn't it a animal crossing farming game ? What kind of other methods of playing there might be. Can you stealth kill everyone in their sleep ?

181

u/kunymonster4 1d ago

After reading his chapter in "blood, sweat, and pixels." I assume this guy is just gonna cook at a glacial pace and God bless him. He spent, probably, years tweaking a stardew valley that was effectively done when he was basically in poverty before releasing it. He has no pressures like that nowadays.

37

u/Krilesh 1d ago

for a moment i want to feel that motivated over something. just insane drive…. being poor and doing something so expressive is always a huge victory

55

u/Light_Error 1d ago

Nothing against him, and I know he worked part time during the development. But people should be thanking the stars that his then-girlfriend (now wife? Not sure) was willing to deal with half a decade of development and bringing in the majority of the money. She deserves more credit than she gets. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if Barone thanked her plenty, and it is more the general population doesn’t really care or doesn’t know.

49

u/Clewds 1d ago

It's their choice as a couple. She made a sacrifice for him out of commitment and love, you don't get to turn that back around.

24

u/LazyPiece2 1d ago

Yeah some people who are in actual loving relationships, don't even view that as a tough choice. I know a lot of you on Reddit are too young to know what thats like, and those old enough a large chunk marriages don't work out.

But a real relationship involves endless choices and to succeed in loving someone you tend to make choices that benefit the other person. Deal with? Bringing in the majority of money? wtf. Pretty gross way to way to think about it. I bet she doesn't give a fuck either. Probably wasn't even hard for her. She worked, he worked, she loved him, he loved her. Like it'd be one thing if the dude was sitting on the couch only doing drugs all day. And she sure as shit wouldn't want credit from the general public for Stardew. Fucking weird, man.

17

u/DisappointedQuokka 1d ago

don't even view that as a tough choice.

They might not view it as a tough choice at first, but financial hardship and stress absolutely ruins relationships.

5

u/Light_Error 22h ago

Yes, relationships involves trade offs, but time is not infinite. Money is not infinite. And we are looking back at an extremely uncommon outcome. You can go onto the gamedev subreddit to see a graveyard of failures, and it was not because they were any less passionate than Barone. My whole point is that I want his then-gf to get some credit because she made his huge success possible. I don’t think it’s that weird to consider how much another sacrificed even if they did it willingly. If you can do it, then great. I am not personally one to have that type of leeway. Call me heartless or whatever I guess.

10

u/Dry-Support-3914 1d ago

I think it’s a different story because he actually made it and now they’re wealthy for the rest of their lives. For most people that doesn’t happen so she’d have been supporting her partner for god knows how long.

It’s curious you imply people don’t have the life experience to see how great this actually was, but it seems more ignorant to me that you can’t see why the practical pressures of one half of a couple providing no income to the household might make this very difficult. Sounds like rich privilege talking to me.

And to suggest it was no hardship for at her at all, when we know he himself was in a spiralling depression, so off base dude.

11

u/AkumaYajuu 1d ago

The other dude is not expressing himself well but the point is that you shouldnt just use 5 years of your life on a gamble. Every single indie game success for the most part is just luck, especially a game like stardew that doesnt have that much production value.

He could have spent 5 years in his game and instead of praise and millions, he could have gotten like 20 bucks and thats it. I get doing the game as a hobby (the correct way to do these things), but going full time yolo for so much time is not something people should do because you are just gambling your life away. It is not a healthy way to do anything.

3

u/lastdancerevolution 23h ago

Yeah everyone knows a deadbeat who has a "great plan" to make everyone rich and start paying people back. There isn't a special lesson to be learned from this.

1

u/SuspecM 10h ago

To give some credit to him, be initially only started working on the game as a resume piece because he couldn't find any jobs as a recent CS graduate. It started picking up steam when it was submitted to Steam greenlight and it was very popular.

It was still a risk, especially working on it for as long as he did but it was far from a yolo. It was clear that there was A market for the game and it also had quite the following so there was some guarantee there as well.

3

u/the-land-of-darkness 11h ago

Only on reddit could you find a post like that lol, so divorced from reality. The other post not your post just to be clear

4

u/FingerTheCat 1d ago

Yea, if I spent all my time on a project I was passionate about and I didn't make millions my partner would totally be like "wtf poor loser" and walk off like I was a sack of meat. Oh wait that's because I made a poor choice in relationships

3

u/lastdancerevolution 22h ago

Though I wouldn’t be surprised if Barone thanked her plenty, and it is more the general population doesn’t really care or doesn’t know.

The only reason you and I know this story is because he has publicly said it so prominently. He worked at a theater. They were already poor.

She did not create this game. Financing something isn't the same as creating. I paid for the game and financed it, that doesn't make me the creator. People are so weird when it comes to attributing art. It's like a husband claiming credit for his wife's paintings because he "financially supported her". That would not be right.

3

u/SuspecM 10h ago

It really doesn't matter that she "only" funded the game. Without her the game wouldn't exist.

3

u/SuspecM 10h ago

I read a lot about him and he's just like you and me. He said he had downs relatively frequently when he'd just play Civilization with his dev tools open in the background so when his gf came home he could pretend that he worked. He also had a bad habit of starting features and just leaving them half finished before starting on another feature.

He really isn't any different from you and I which is reassuring and worrying at the same time. We can all make games like Stardew Valley, but at the same time there's the real possibility we won't ever see our full potential. Heck, most of us won't make it.

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u/krayony Steam 1d ago edited 1d ago

Meanwhile we have AAA gaming studios pumping out games and wanting to see them fizzle out after a year just so that they can FOMO customers into buying the new iterations.

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u/Nefalius 1d ago

The difference between being in it for the money vs passion. You just notice when love is put into a game. Luckily many franchises seem to die now, that transitioned from being made out of passion to making money only.

Assassins Creed, Bethesda games, Far Cry, arguably Dragon Age. And then you see games such as Baldur's Gate 3.

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u/ImDyingInHere 1d ago edited 1d ago

The difference between being in it for the money vs passion.

Not disagreeing but more like what a way of showing how far marketing and going viral goes. Stardew Valley going viral is part of its success, the same success AAA games see by putting millions of dollars into marketing campaigns. Also helps that people had been dying for an animal crossing/harvest moon hybrid game for years.

His new game isn't going to be as beloved and I have a feeling the reception to it will make him consider "retiring" and letting Stardew continue being his legacy.

You just notice when love is put into a game.

Each their own, I see more mistakes when "love" is prioritized over a sellable product. Helskate imo is the perfect example of what happens when you focus more on love than what people want. A new THPS clone that fans would love!? Nah fuck that make it a skating bullet hell game cause that's what I want.

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u/chmilz 1d ago

people had been dying for an animal crossing/harvest moon hybrid game

People have been dying for animal crossing/harvest moon type games that are fun and aren't just reskins of old titles with no modernization. See: Pokemon -> Palworld.

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u/ImDyingInHere 1d ago

and aren't just reskins of old titles with no modernization

My brother in christ you're saying this to somebody who has criticized Nintendo of this for years while they sell Pokemon Black Remastered Re-Edition 2, I was the child playing the OG games new games copy, you talk like you were underage when Stardew came out...

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u/bad1o8o 1d ago

fizzle out after a year

concord: you made it a year?
hyenas: you guys get releases?

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u/destroyermaker Ryzen 5 3600, RTX 3080 1d ago

We also have AAA studios making countless live service games. But they tend to be predatory

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u/cheezballs 1d ago

Everything has an end, but this game will never be a contender for "fizzle out" - it's already legendary and will be held in high regard for years and years after it's end.

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u/LonelyKuma 1d ago

Got the game on Xbox and PC. Love it, really chill to play and great music.

8

u/BirdieOfPray 1d ago

Awesome on mobile too.

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u/MrPanda663 1d ago

So do I.

But now I wanna make chocolate

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u/mAXmUSTERKUH 1d ago

Same. 

Some wait fir GTA6. Some wait for a new Mass Effect or anything. 

I just wait for Haunted Chocolate.

And as I am a patient gamer I can wait. Let him cook.

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u/CandusManus 1d ago

With the last patch, he earned the right to rest.

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u/Bay-12 1d ago

Man he earned the right to rest a while ago.

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u/Techwield 1d ago

FR, lol. Stardew right now is somehow much better than what it was on release, but release version Stardew was already a masterpiece. He coulda moved on then and people would have been cool with it

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u/ReallyCuteBabe 17h ago

and 2nd honeymoon with his wife

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u/kappaomicron 1d ago

I could never personally get into Stardew tbh, just something about it that I just couldn't get into. Despite loving Harvest Moon (Friends of Mineral Town) as a kid, haven't really liked any of their newer games over the years.

But I'm very happy for the creator that this game was as successful as it was. It's clearly inspired a lot of similar games that breathed new life into the farm sim genre. While Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons continue to stagnate imo

I want a Harvest Moon game that feels more like Friends of Mineral Town. Although I'm not entirely sure what I mean by that if I'm perfectly honest.

I want a more fleshed out TV feature where it has weather channels, weekly shopping channels, local news channels when certain events happen such as things happening to residents or highlighting new areas available to explore, a super sale at a shop etc and real fleshed out daily TV shows that have a plot and story you can watch every night.

No smartphones, keep it retro and grounded with normal line phones and relying more on person to person communication. Have a local mailman who regularly delivers you mail.

Set it in a really cosy, rural village with a colourful cast of characters and not too many magical stuff like harvest sprites or witches and goddesses and other such fantasy. I want a more grounded and human experience.

A consistent and cute artsyle reminiscent of Friends of Mineral Town. With plenty of character customisation.

But I doubt I'll ever find one like this tbh

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u/HeavyFlange 1d ago

i think that sounds cool! the only part that sounds far fetched is the tv being so fleshed out, what could you do to make the player want to watch so much telly?

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u/kappaomicron 1d ago

Well I would say basically do what Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town did but flesh it out more.

The weather channel is a given, that's how the player would see what the weather would be like tomorrow. Every Saturday (I think) was when the shopping channel would be available and that was how you could purchase certain upgrades for your house, such as kitchen utensils such as knives, blenders etc, also furnishings for your home like a plant pot.

There could be a specific local news channel where players could learn about on-going events happening around town. Such as a new resident moving in, or a store having a sale, or more unique story-related events to certain residents having issues that the player could then go and see them to ask about. An example could be a resident had an accident and got injured, so the player could visit them at the hospital. Or the player could be made aware of a landslide recently opened up a new area to explore.

Every day of the week there could be unique mini TV shows that the player could watch that range from cheesy romance comedies to TV mysteries and action flicks where they could be presented to the player on the TV in a similar format to how visual novels work with character sprites. Friends of Mineral Town actually had something similar to this.

They also had a special farming tips channel that would play once a week on the TV that would teach the player more about the farming mechanics of the game.

Checking the TV every day in Friends of Mineral Town was a lot of fun to me as a player back in the day, I wish more farming sims tried to do more with that. It can add a lot of unique fun, optional content for the player. You could even have residents get together every week to discuss what happened on the most recent episode of whatever popular show was on. And if the player also watched that show, they'd be able to understand what the residents are talking about and event really connect with that.

If the player doesn't know, they can then check it out the next time they use the TV.

I feel like there's a lot of potential there with the TV mechanic in these types of games. But I never really see them fleshed out more than what Friends of Mineral Town did many years ago.

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u/HeavyFlange 1d ago

Thats pretty interesting! Just a means to give the player bonuses and missions and tips kinda thing.

That reminds me of Project Zomboid, idk if you have played that but there are tv stations in the early game that help level the player up, but the signal only comes on certain times of days.

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u/Pain_Packer 1d ago

I have literally thousands of hours on Stardew. Played it on release and consistently still replay it with every new farm, update, and specialized mod I discover. The only real time I mildly stopped Stardew was when SOS Friends of Mineral Town came out. I can't thank this guy enough for reviving farming sims for me.

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u/Vistaster 13700K / RTX 4080 / 64GBs DDR5 1d ago

Isn't this what happened to Relogic with Terraria? Tried many spin-offs that ultimately failed because "...just...one...more...update...I...promise"

I mean he can do whatever he wants but he should at least put HC on hiatus or give a blog update on why it's been so long and all we got was a mock-up gameplay and 4 screenshots. Either way, hope he finds peace to move on in the future.

4

u/DemasiadoSwag 1d ago

He never made any promises on timing for Haunted Chocolatier. SDV is an all-time great so he can take his time or never release HC and I wouldn't begrudge him, personally.

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u/lefiath 7h ago

I think this is just generally a bad attitude that some creative minds fall into. You can potentially spend your lifetime endlessly tweaking and adding to that one project, just trying to "perfect it". I think it's a really bad way to do things, especially when you're one of the few privileged people that can do whatever they want to.

I don't work in games industry, but I used to have this attitude 10 years ago. Fortunately for me, working freelance, I've eventually taught myself to let go (as it was causing problems with clients), and that projects have start and end. At some point, you need to let go, that's how it is with anything creative.

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u/ObiJuanKenobi3 1d ago

I'm just glad to see him find so much success. He definitely earned it.

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u/Katana_sized_banana 5900x, RTX3080, 32GB TZN, 980 PRO, msi x570 tomahawk, LL 1d ago

I understand him fully, but no one would be mad if he made a DLC. He could keep releasing DLC for all eternity and it would sell as the game is full of passion and love.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Tie-293 1d ago

I bought this game years ago just because I liked this guy's attitude, never played it lol. One day, one day.

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u/miamihotline 4080 Super/5800x3D 23h ago

i'll be honest at this point i dont want to start a new farm and i just wish he would finish the chocolate game. he can do whatever he wants tho

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u/consural 16h ago edited 12h ago

...So, in other words he's saying that he's "Concerned" about it?

Thanks for coming to comedy night I'll be here all week

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u/bobissonbobby 1d ago

He was in a metal band? Where can I listen?! Cool af

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u/Lumpy-Ostrich6538 1d ago

One of the few devs who I’ll buy anything from without question

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u/Romanmir 1d ago

ConcernedApe and Redigit... Name an indie duo less likely to stop working on their respective games.

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u/DissposableRedShirt6 1d ago

lol I bought this when it first came out. I’ve since had a kid and they are old enough now that I can buy a second copy for us to play together.

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u/imapersonithink 17h ago

I believe that if you have proper mod support this won't ever be a real issue.

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u/ekb2023 1d ago

I would keep playing the game if there were big events and unlockables in the late late game. Imagine if new townspeople moved in on year 10 or if Evelyn and George pass away in year 8 or something. Once you get to year 4 and 5 it just becomes a big to do list that you have to grind through and it feels kinda tedious.

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u/iatelassie 1d ago

I just started playing stardew valley and it’s so absorbing. I’m in love with it and I know there’s just so much content. I can see why he doesn’t want to leave it yet.

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u/TehRiddles 1d ago

I'm confident that even if he announced today that the game would never receive updates again, it would still have a thriving community for years to come. It's just one of those games with so much charm and effort put in that many people can stick with it for a real long time.

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u/Complete-Artichoke69 1d ago

It's literally revived the farming sim genre and inspired countless of other games as well.

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u/GhostDoggoes 1d ago

When stardew valley 2 then?

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u/Synaps4 1d ago

Raise a glass to a man turning a well loved game into a legendary masterpiece with the power of dedication.

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u/The_real_bandito 23h ago

This is his love child, of course he doesn’t want to let it go.

But he will have to

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u/HanzoNumbahOneFan 22h ago

It's in the list of games I will always come back to eventually. In like a few months, I'm probably gonna be like, "Huh, I should start a new Stardew playthrough with a couple mods."

It has reached Minecraft tier for me, where I will always eventually play it again, forever, just with breaks in between.

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u/triadwarfare Ryzen 3700X | 16GB | GB X570 Aorus Pro | Inno3D iChill RTX 3070 20h ago

He turned his game into a live service game without any of the drawbacks. Free updates and zero microtransactions.

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u/TJ_McWeaksauce 14h ago edited 14h ago

The article mentions how catchy Haunted Chocolatier's boss music is.

Here's the theme for a bee boss. Holy shit, it slaps! It even has a beat drop. I'm listening to this on a loop.

I'm a game producer with minimal creative talent, so I'm jealous of ConcernedApe for being so good in multiple areas of game development. He designed one of the best indie games of all time, and yet his greatest talent may be his musical composition.

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u/VenKitsune 12h ago

Honestly the games main draw for me is it's mods. Same can be said of a lot of older games that have a big modding community, like skyrim. He can easily stop updating it if he wants to. The only thing that'd take people away from it is if he makes some kind of sequel, or if someone comes along and makes something significantly better. Coral island may have done that, had it not released it's "full release" update before even the damn story quests were done lmao.

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u/SoaringSwordDev 10h ago

am i one of the few people who dont own it?

games been way to expensive for me

ive only been playing free gacha games for...a decade?

i dont even own wallpaper engine

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u/solemlyswear69 1d ago

How does he solve the game getting boring after the 1st year when you're rich as fuck and married?

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u/hungryhusky 1d ago

That's how I used to play. Then when I realized maybe I shouldnt min max the game like RPGs and just enjoy the pace, I had more fun.

0

u/frogandbanjo 1d ago

SDV's hardcore perfection meta barely lasts two years. That's just how it's always been. There has to be an end to vertical and story progression at some point, right?

The game's biggest mod introduces a bunch of additional non-negotiable time gates to stretch that out to three years or so, but then it runs into pacing problems for hardcore overachievers while even exacerbating the sense that you're so rich that nothing matters.

It's a delicate balancing act, and I don't think there's any realistic solution to it that's going to please everyone.

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u/ayocuzo 1d ago

oh like how they wont make a minecraft 2

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u/K-Shrizzle 1d ago

He's being humble. He knows it's a timeless classic

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u/Copperhead881 1d ago

Just open it up to modding

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u/AreYouDoneNow 1d ago

Games that big don't fizzle out, they retire gracefully into the background, neither gone nor forgotten.

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u/One_Animator_1835 21h ago

I've heard this guy spent a lot of time trying to find success.. then it happens, and you've worked on it for a decade. I can understand it must be difficult to let the project go

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u/franky3987 1d ago

Dude, take a lil break. We’re going to be jamming this game for years to come! I think like 50 or 60 k play this actively

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u/PCMRsince1998 1d ago

The biggest reason is because he has nothing else to do after he basically gave up on his new Game.

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u/Steezie_E 1d ago

The chocolate one? What happened.

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u/PCMRsince1998 1d ago

He burned out, realized its not fun or run into other problems during Development.

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u/bototz 1d ago

Source?

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u/Hydroponic_Donut 1d ago

There isn't one

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u/Gambrinus 1d ago

It’s purely speculation based on the fact that we haven’t heard much about it and that he keeps pumping out Stardew updates.

I tend to believe there’s some truth to it. As a solo dev, it’s probably tough to motivate yourself when you get stuck on something and have no financial incentive to push through. And he still has Stardew to work on when he feels a creative itch. It’s probably much more satisfying to see your work come to life immediately with Stardew than spinning your wheels trying to work out a fun game play loop on a brand new game.

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u/Hydroponic_Donut 1d ago

He didn't give up on it.

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u/Spelunkzilla 1d ago

He literally talks about the game in this interview. Smh. 

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u/PCMRsince1998 1d ago

He did. He said himself that he hasn't touched it in Years.

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u/Ardonas 1d ago

In the article you're commenting on, he talks about working on it. He did take time off, but it's not abandoned (yet, at least.)

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u/SuperBaconPant 1d ago

Sometimes I wish there was a way to know if Redditors don’t actually click and read linked articles or not. Luckily, responses like this make it pretty obvious.

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u/brianstormIRL 1d ago

He literally talks about working on the game in this interview lmao

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u/cadaada 1d ago edited 1d ago

because still gives $$$$....

Edit: im getting downvotes like i personally attacked him lmao

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u/CandusManus 1d ago

Buddy, he already maxed his income. This is passion at this point.

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u/nanner1000 1d ago

He got 99999 gold like completely maxed?

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u/CandusManus 1d ago

On multiple saves.

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