Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone has now taken over full publishing responsibilities for Stardew Valley. While Chucklefish was handling the job on Android, Barone has taken over that, too.
The developer has marked the occasion by hosting a question-and-answer session on Twitter, with some decent titbits emerging. Barone reiterates that, yes, there may be more Stardew Valley updates. However, if one does happen, don’t expect it to be as large as update 1.5. If you’re interested in the publishing side of things, Barone shares that working with Steam is the easiest, as “if your game has issues, that’s on you”.
Naturally, some people have asked about Barone’s next game, Haunted Chocolatier. There is a connection between Stardew Valley and the upcoming PC game, though Barone won’t reveal what that is just yet. If you were wondering, the Haunted Chocolatier creator is indeed a fan of chocolate. “I do enjoy [it], but I also think chocolate and candy-making in a dark, snowy town sounded like a fun and cosy thing to do with a lot of room for imagination and magic,” he says.
Barone also spoke about the challenges of work-life balance. “It can be difficult and I fail at it often,” he says. “But what helps the most is if you make a game that you are very excited about, and try your best to have fun while making it. Everyone needs some leisure time but if you can have fun in your work you can fudge that a bit.”
To be fair to the Barone, he has a lot on. Alongside Stardew Valley and Haunted Chocolatier, he’s also got another new game he’s working on. If you’re looking for something else to try while Barone gets to creating, you can find our guide to the best games like Stardew Valley here.