Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley’s sole creator ConcernedApe aka Eric Barone has been reasonably busy these past few months, following the success of his indie title. The indie sensation has revealed that his Harvest Moon-styled game will soon be getting some exciting changes. One of these changes is the introduction of cooperative multiplayer, something that fans have wanted all along.
Although the designing maestro has been known for being a one man army, he has agreed to let the publishers ChuckleFish take the reins and handle some of the more fastidious programming duties.
In this update, Barone stated the plans he has for Stardew Valley’s future, and they’re pretty exciting. Along with the aforementioned cooperative multiplayer, the future has the following in store for the fans of the farming simulation role-playing video game
- Co-op Multiplayer
- Localizing for non-English regions
- Mac/Linux Ports
- Console Ports
- Merchandise
There’s obviously a huge amount of work involved to achieve all this… and I am just one person. I know in the past I’ve been very adamant about doing everything myself… and I still am, when it comes to game design and content. However, I’ve decided to seek outside help for some of the more technical things listed above. More specifically, I’ve accepted an offer from Chucklefish in which they will handle the porting, localization, and the technical side of multiplayer. This will allow me to focus on creating new game content for version 1.1, which I will continue to do entirely on my own.
Although the designing maestro has been known for being a one man army, he has agreed to let the publishers ChuckleFish take the reins and handle some of the more fastidious programming duties. He states that the team-up will be beneficial for everyone as it results in reduced workload for him, while retaining artistic control over the game. In addition to this, he states that this will result in faster overall development.
The above-listed changes are not to be expected anytime soon, but the upcoming 1.1 update brings the following changes with it:
- More late-game content
- New farm buildings
- New crops
- New artisan goods
- New advanced farming/producing mechanics
- Shane and Emily will be marriage candidates. They will also have more events and dialogue as a result.
- More marriage content for all spouses
- More events for the non-marriage NPC’s
- Improvements/Additions to mining and combat
- Ability to move buildings and other convenience features
- More bug fixes
- More secrets
- More small, fun touches to the world
Source: Eric Barone’s official statement
