In a January 24 interview with NPR’s All Things Considered, Stardew Valley creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone discussed his debut game’s legacy nine years on, including his famous propensity for interrupting development on the upcoming Haunted Chocolatier to put out patches and new content for his 2016 farming RPG.
“I do take in a lot of what the fans are saying,” Barone told All Things Considered. “I pay attention to what their thoughts are, what their criticisms are. And the players are very important to me. I mean, I will never forget that it’s because of the players that I’m in this position, that the game was able to be popular, that my dreams as a game developer have come true.”
Even though he admits the sentiment “might sound kind of cheesy,” Barone characterizes his continued work on Stardew Valley as his way of repaying Stardew’s fans, both for materially changing his life and for responding to his fictional world with so much real love.
“I think a game can have too much content,” Barone added. “And I ultimately want Stardew Valley to be the best game it can be. So if I feel like it’s starting to become kind of overwhelmed with content to the point where it’s detrimental to the game’s entertainment factor, I would stop at that point.
“Another thing is, I do want to make more than one game in my life. Including the development time, I’ve been working on Stardew Valley for over 12 years now.”
Even still, Barone admitted he might never fully be done with Stardew Valley. “I don’t want to definitively say that the book is ever closed, because I think I will always have a desire to come back and maybe add a thing or two. You know, maybe even 50 years from now, I might add something.
“I like creating things. I don’t think I’m ever going to retire. I think it would be funny to release an update when I’m, like, 90 years old — if I live that long. Let’s hope.”
I certainly wouldn’t mind telling my partner about the latest Stardew Valley update while we’re both convalescing in an old folk’s home—hopefully by that point I’ll have finally played it for myself and can share in the excitement. For more on Eric Barone’s upcoming game, Haunted Chocolatier, you can check out our guide to everything we know about the supernatural confectionary RPG.
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