Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are taking
a really close look at a game that started small,
almost like a side project. Right, a resume project
actually. Exactly, and it just exploded into
this massive cultural thing. We're talking about
Stardew Valley. It really is more than just a
game, isn't it? It's this incredible story of
solo dedication, really thoughtful design, almost...
countercultural in a way. Totally. I mean, the
numbers alone are wild. Over 41 million copies
sold. And it's spent off into cookbooks, actual
orchestral symphonies. It's kind of amazing.
It really is. And the core thing, the fact that
just anchors this whole deep dive for me, is
that the first version, the initial release,
it was all one person. Eric Barone. Or Concerned
Ape, as most players know him. Yeah. He was the
designer, the coder, the animator, the artist.
He did the music, wrote everything. Everything.
It's just mind -blowing. So our mission... Today,
for you listening, is to really unpack that journey.
We want to understand what drove Barone, you
know, what sparked it all. Right. The kind of
desperation almost that led to the project and
how his specific design ideas created a game
that feels so charming on the surface. But has
this surprising depth, maybe even a critique
of like modern life packed in there. Exactly.
OK, let's get into it. But first. We really need
to grasp the scale of that effort, his sacrifice.
Yeah, this wasn't just a quick thing. No way.
He put himself through this intense crunch, 10
hours a day, seven days a week. For four and
a half years straight. That adds up to, what,
almost 16 ,000 hours. of just him working alone
before it even launched. It's staggering. You
just don't see that in the big studios, right?
Where you've got huge teams, maybe hundreds of
people. This kind of singular focus let him pour
his own vision into every tiny detail. And I
think that's a huge part of why the game feels
so cohesive, so personal. That personal touch
is definitely key to its charm, its staying power.
Absolutely. So let's dig into where that vision
actually came from. OK, so Eric Lorenz Barone,
born in L .A. back in 87. But the place that
really shaped him and where Stardew Valley was
born was the Pacific Northwest. Auburn, Washington.
Seattle's suburb. Exactly. That environment,
you know, access to tech education, a certain
kind of culture. It was important. And it seems
like that creative spark was there way before
the coding really took over. Oh, yeah. sources
mentioned he was really into music not formally
trained but played in bands bands doing what
like rock a real mix apparently everything from
new metal wow okay to experimental pop so quite
a range that's interesting it shows a willingness
to experiment definitely and what's really telling
is how early he mixed creativity with tech his
very first game attempt wasn't even stardew oh
What was it? It was back in 2008. He made this
point -and -click adventure, kind of LucasArts
style, called 17CF Quest. Okay. And he made it
specifically to promote an album for his experimental
pop band. No way. So that blend of coding, music,
art, it was his thing from the start, not something
he figured out just for stardew. Exactly. It
was like his natural way of operating. So he
had this dual background. the tech guy and the
self -taught creative, but the actual game idea,
the farming sim. That came from somewhere else.
Pure nostalgia, pretty much. He talks openly
about loving the Harvest Moon series as a kid.
A classic. Absolutely. It was something that
stuck with him, something he wanted to see evolve,
you know? But getting from loving Harvest Moon
to making Stardew Valley... wasn't straightforward.
There was a major hurdle. Yeah, the career crisis
right after college, that was the real turning
point. He graduated from University of Washington
Tacoma in 2011, computer science degree. Should
be set for a job, right? Especially in that area.
You'd think so, but he just couldn't find work
in the tech industry. Ouch. That's tough. A lot
of grads face that gap between the diploma and
the job offer. Exactly. And that's why Stardew
Valley started. It wasn't some grand artistic
vision initially. It was practical. Totally practical.
He just wanted to practice coding and see Char
build something impressive to put on his resume.
So it was literally meant to get him a job. Yeah.
The ultimate portfolio piece. To show employers,
hey, I can actually build stuff. And instead,
it became this life -consuming marathon. It really
did. Let's talk about that dedication again.
Four and a half years, 70 -hour weeks. That's
grueling, especially with no money coming in.
How did he even manage that? Well, for a big
chunk of that time, she lived with his parents
to keep costs down. Then, when he moved to Seattle,
things were still really tight. His girlfriend
at the time, Amber Hagman, she worked two jobs.
Wow. Two jobs to support them both. Yeah. While
he was coding all day, and he also worked a part
-time job himself in the evenings. Doing what?
He was an usher at the Paramount Theater. Taking
tickets. Man, you have to picture that. Coding
this beautiful, peaceful farm escape all day.
Right. In a basement or a tiny apartment. Knowing
your partner's working double shifts and you're
off to the theater later just to keep the lights
on. It adds this whole layer, doesn't it? It
really does. It makes the game feel less like
just a product and more like this testament to.
personal sacrifice and mutual support absolutely
yeah and that lack of budget that pressure it
directly impacted how he built it right the tools
he used for sure no money meant finding accessible
software the pixel art he did that using paint
.net which is free yeah yep and for the music
and sound effects which are amazing by the way
he used reason studios powerful software but
something one person could realistically manage
so Literally built from the ground up with affordable
or free tools, he started coding in C -Shark
with MicroKoft XNA. That's right. But XNA, while
it got him started, had limitations down the
road. Limitations how? Well, years later, long
after the game was a huge success, he actually
went back and did this major technical overhaul.
He moved the entire game engine from XNA to Monogame.
Why bother? The game was working, selling millions.
Why change the engine? It sounds technical, I
know, but it was really important for the game's
future. XNA had this technical ceiling, especially
with how much memory RAM it could use. It often
capped out around 4 gigabytes. Okay, which is
fine for simpler games, but... But Stardew Valley
lives and breathes because of its modding community.
People create these huge, complex mods. Right,
like Stardew Valley Expanded adds tons of new
stuff. Exactly. Those big mods were starting
to hit that four gigabyte limit, causing crashes,
instability. Ah, I see. So migrating to Monogame
wasn't about fixing current bugs. No, it was
about, as he put it, future -proofing the game.
Monogame doesn't have that same RAM limit. It
lets mods use way more memory. So it was an investment
in the community. ensuring people could keep
adding to the game for years. Precisely. It shows
this long -term commitment. So looking back at
this whole origin story, the job crisis forces
him into this intense focus. Which leads to this
massive game. And even after it's successful,
he's still meticulously refining the core tech
to support the players who embraced it. Yeah.
And because he did everything himself, that scarcity
forced him to understand every single part of
it. Every pixel, every line of code, every musical
note. He knew it inside out. Which leads directly
into the very deliberate, very intentional design
philosophy of the game itself. Right, it wasn't
just a copycat. The design choices feel really
purposeful. He was trying to solve problems he
saw in the genre. Absolutely. His main target
was the Harvest Moon series, which he loved but
felt had. Well... Kind of lost its way after
Harvest Moon, back to nature. What did he think
went wrong? He felt the later games got too complicated
and maybe a bit confusing. And critically, they
added too much time pressure. Ah, the deadlines.
I remember those in some of the older games.
Like, you had two years to achieve X, Y, and
Z. Exactly. And Baron specifically wanted to
avoid that. He made Stardew Valley completely
open -ended. No hard end point? No failure state
if you don't get married by year three or whatever?
Nope. No final whistle. And that one decision
drastically changes how you play. It encourages
relaxation, immersion. Instead of just chasing
goals against the clock, it lets you breathe.
Right. It's about building a life at your own
pace, not beating the game. And the core gameplay
loop supports that slower rhythm. You inherit
this rundown farm near Pelican Town. And the
goal is just bring it back to life. Restore the
land and maybe the town itself. The community
center is key there, right? That's kind of the
main progression driver. It is. Restoring the
community center involves collecting specific
items, stuff you grow, forage, mine, or fish.
Completing those bundles unlocks new parts of
the game world, new activities. Like that whole
new island they added later, Ginger Island. Exactly.
That came from completing the community center
path. But it's not just farming. You're juggling
a lot of different skills. Yeah. Five core skills
that level up independently. Farming, foraging,
fishing, mining, and combat. It creates this
really diverse little economy for yourself. The
combat is the surprising part for some people,
I think. They expect pure tranquility. Right.
But the mining involves going deep into these
caves and they're full of monsters. So you're
switching between your pickaxe for ores and your
sword for slimes and bats and stuff. Yep. It
adds this whole action RPG feel, which mixes
things up nicely. That mix is cool. But let's
talk about the design choices that really push
immersion over just like raw efficiency. The
animals are the first big one. He made a very
conscious decision. You cannot butcher your farm
animals for meat. Really? So cows just give milk.
Chickens give eggs. Pretty much. There's no gameplay
incentive to, you know, turn Bessie the cow into
burgers. So they're not just resources, they're
pets almost. Yeah. You name them, care for them.
Exactly. It encourages an emotional connection.
It subtly shifts the game away from pure... optimization
and towards maybe a more humane perspective on
farming, even in pixels. That's fascinating.
And the cooking system does something similar,
right? It discourages pure profit -seeking. Oh
yeah, this is super clever. He deliberately designed
it so that selling cooked dishes is almost always
less profitable than selling the raw ingredients.
Oh wait, really? Usually crafting or processing
stuff is where you make the big bucks in games.
Now here, Barone flipped that. In Stardew, cooked
food gives you temporary buffs. Buffs? Like what?
Bonuses to your skills. Maybe you move faster
or mine quicker or get luckier finding items
or your fishing bar is bigger. Things that help
you do stuff in the game. Ah, so you cook the
spicy eel not to sell it, but because it gives
you speed and luck for a dangerous cave dive.
Precisely. You're incentivized to use the food
to enhance your experience, to explore more,
engage deeper, not just to make more gold. It's
like behavioral design, nudging you away from
the spreadsheet brain and towards just... living
in the world. Yeah. He knew some people would
still min -max, but the system gently pushes
most players towards immersion. It's brilliant,
really. Okay, shifting to the people. The relationships
with the townspeople are a huge part of the game.
Central. There are over 30 characters in Pelican
Town, each with their own schedules, personalities,
likes, dislikes. And you build relationships
by talking to them, giving them gifts they like.
Right. Thoughtful gifts matter. As you get closer,
you unlock more dialogue, special cutscenes,
learn their stories. And this leads to marriage,
eventually, with some of them. Yep. There are
12 specific characters, bachelors and bachelorettes,
that you can romance and marry. And this is where
the game got a lot of positive attention, wasn't
it, for its inclusivity? Definitely. A major
point was that you can marry any of the 12 candidates,
regardless of your own character's gender. And
the game treats it completely normally. No gameplay
difference, no awkward commentary? None at all.
Which, back in 2016, was still pretty forward
-thinking for a mainstream game. Major outlets
like the New York Times, Washington Post, Eurogamer,
all praised that positive LGBTQ plus representation.
That's great. Was there any criticism around
representation? There was some discussion, yeah.
While the same -sex marriage options were praised,
some critics noted a lack of racial diversity
among the marriage candidates specifically. Okay,
so good progress in one area, maybe room for
growth in another. It's nuanced. It often is.
Finally, let's touch on the sort of underlying
social commentary, the whole JoJo Corporation
thing. Ah, JoJo Mart. Yeah, this is where you
get those analyses like from Paste Magazine calling
the game anti -capitalist. Why is that? What's
the deal with JoJo? Well, when you arrive in
Pelican Town, it's kind of struggling. And the
big looming corporate presence is Joja Mart,
this generic soulless supermarket on the edge
of town. Okay. And JoJo's basically trying to
take over. They offer convenience, but they're
pushing out the local businesses, like Piers
General Store. And you, the player, get caught
in the middle. You get a fundamental choice.
You can either restore the rundown community
center, the heart of the old town, by collecting
all these different bundles of local goods. Which
takes a lot of time and effort, gathering specific
crops, fish, minerals. Right. It's the path of
community effort, localism, rebuilding tradition,
or... You can just buy a Joja Mart membership.
And what does that do? If you buy the membership,
Joja basically bulldozes the community center
and turns it into a warehouse. And then instead
of collecting bundles, you just pay Joja large
sums of money to fix up the town's facilities,
repair the bridge, the mine carts, etc. So it's
the easy way out, but it means letting the corporation
win. Exactly. It's convenience versus community,
corporate takeover versus local restoration.
If you think about Barron's own story, feeling
pushed out by the system, wanting to build something
authentic, the theme of rejecting the corporate
grind and building something meaningful yourself
really shines through. It's like the ultimate
fantasy of opting out. Pretty much. A quiet rebellion
wrapped in a charming farming game. And that
quiet rebellion, that incredibly personal project,
it just... Absolutely took off. The launch was
huge. Huge is an understatement. It came out
February 26, 2016, just for win days initially.
And the sales velocity was insane, wasn't it?
Completely insane. In the first two weeks alone,
it sold 425 ,000 copies within two months. Over
a million for one guy working out of his apartment,
basically. That's almost unheard of. It clearly
struck a chord. people were hungry for this definitely
valve saw it immediately they listed it as one
of the top 24 highest grossing games on steam
for all of 2016. the stardew valley effect was
real right from the start and the community reaction
was so positive even beyond just buying it yeah
there were these amazing stories reported people
who had you know pirated the game initially felt
compelled to buy it because they loved it so
much and respected the solo effort that's amazing
goodwill And others were offering to buy copies
for people who couldn't afford it. It just generated
this wave of positivity. Which was backed up
by critical acclaim, right? Absolutely. Critics
loved it. It started getting called one of the
best games ever made. Barone landed on the Forbes
30 under 30 list in 2017. Deservedly so. Gom
Sutra called him a top developer of 2016, specifically
for single -handedly reviving the whole farming
sim genre. And the ultimate compliment, perhaps.
Came from Yasuhiro Wada, the guy who created
Harvest Moon in the first place. What did he
say? He praised Stardew, saying it carried on
the spirit of his original games, especially
that sense of freedom, which he felt some of
the later Harvest Moon games might have lost
touch with. Wow, that must have felt incredible
for Barone. I can only imagine. But, okay, here's
where the story gets a bit more complex. Turning
this solo hit into a global business. Right,
because he couldn't handle everything himself
anymore. Publishing, ports, localization. Exactly.
That's where Chucklefish came in. They're a publisher.
When did they get involved? They actually approached
him way back in 2013 after the game got attention
on Steam Greenlight, which was like a way for
indie games to get voted on to the Steam store.
So before it was even finished. Yeah. They offered
help with things like setting up the website,
hosting, managing a wiki, the behind the scenes
stuff. Did he take funding from them? No. Importantly,
he didn't take development funding. And he made
a key choice early on. No steam early access.
Meaning he waited until it was fully finished
to release it. Right. He wanted version 1 .0
to be polished and complete, which probably helped
that massive positive launch reception. Smart
move. So after the Windows launch, Chucklefish's
role grew. Massively. Starting around May 2016,
they handled the huge job of localizing the game
into other languages. Which is essential for
global sales. Totally. They also managed the
ports to Linux and Mac OS, which came out just
a couple of months later, July 2016. And then
the consoles started rolling out. Yep. PS4 and
Xbox One landed in December 2016. Then the big
one, Nintendo Switch, in October 2017. They canceled
the Wii U version for that, right? They did.
Good call, obviously, given the Switch's success.
Stardew became huge on Switch. They even did
a PlayStation Vita port in May 2018. Wow, Vita
2. They covered everything. What about mobile?
Mobile was handled by a different company, actually,
called the Secret Police. iOS came first in October
2018, then Android in March 2019. And they did
that cool thing where you could transfer your
save file? Yeah. You could move your PC farm
over to your phone. Super player -friendly. Shows
Bayron's focus on convenience for the players.
But eventually, Bayron wanted full control back,
didn't he? Even from the publishers who helped
him expand. That seems to be the case. It aligns
with his whole solo developer ethos, wanting
complete independence. So starting around late
2018, early 2019, began the process of shifting
to self -publishing. Was it like a messy breakup?
Doesn't seem overtly messy, but it was definitely
a complex multi -year process. It wasn't just
flipping a switch. How did it work? He regained
the publishing rights platform by platform under
his company name, Concerned Ape. He took back
PC rights first, I think in late 2018, then Switch
rights in October 2019. So negotiating with Sony,
Microsoft, Nintendo, Google, Apple, one by one.
Pretty much. It highlights how complicated game
publishing is globally. Each platform holder
has different contracts, different requirements.
When did he finally get full control back everywhere?
The last piece fell into place in March 2022
when he regained the Android publishing rights.
That officially ended Chucklefish's involvement
with the game. So a four year process just to
become fully self -published for the game he
built alone. Wow. Yeah. And since around 2019,
to manage this huge ongoing operation, he has
started working with a very small team. There's
another designer involved now helping with updates
and stuff. But he's still the main creative force.
Oh, absolutely. It's still very much his vision
driving it. And the result of all that work,
that control, those massive sales numbers. 41
million copies sold as of December 2024. It's
just phenomenal. Let's break that down again.
PC is the biggest chunk. Yeah, 26 million on
PC alone, which really speaks to the power. of
that platform, the modding scene keeping it fresh
forever. And Switch is next. Nintendo Switch
is huge, too. 7 .9 million copies sold there.
It really found a perfect home on that console.
It just shows the game crossed over from being
a PC indie darling to a genuine mainstream global
hit. And a big reason for that lasting success,
those continued sales, is that Burrow never really
stopped working on it. The game keeps growing.
It's not just sitting there static since 2016.
Not at all. Multiplayer is a prime example. That
was something he wanted for launch, but it was
just too much for one person. Right. Coordinating
multiple players on one farm. arm, technically
complex. Extremely. So it came later. The PC
beta was April 2018, official PC launch in August
2018. Then consoles followed. And how does multiplayer
work? Up to four players can share one farm.
You share the land, the money, the house upgrades,
but you can work together or separately. So one
person can focus on mining, another on fishing.
Exactly. One tends the crops, one deals with
animals. It adds this whole cooperative layer,
turns the solo escape into a shared project.
Very cool. But the updates go beyond just adding
multiplayer, right? He's still adding significant
content. Oh, yeah. The 1 .6 update is the most
recent big one. Hit PC in March 2024, then consoles
and mobile later that year, November 2024. What
was in 1 .6? A ton of stuff. New festivals, new
items, dialogue, secrets, major support for modding,
quality of life improvements. It was huge. So
big that IGN actually re -reviewed the game.
They did. In July 2024, eight years after launch,
they gave it a perfect 10 out of 10. Wow. They
cited how it had just kept growing and evolving
into this undeniable modern classic. Getting
a perfect score years later is almost unheard
of. It really shows commitment. And he's still
looking forward. Seems so. We know a version
for the Nintendo Switch 2 is planned for fall
2025, keeping the Valley alive on new hardware.
And a huge part of keeping it alive is that modding
community we mentioned. It's crucial, especially
on PC. The creativity there is just wild. Like
Stardew Valley Expanded. Over 3 million downloads.
Yeah, that one's massive. Adds whole new areas,
dozens of characters, tons of content. It's practically
an unofficial expansion pack made by fans. Shows
how much people love the base game that they
want to build on it endlessly. But sometimes
that fan creativity bumps up against... corporate
realities, right? There was some legal drama
recently. Ah, yes, the Baldur's Village incident.
That was interesting. What happened there? Okay,
so in March 2025, a fan made this really popular
mod that themed Stardew Valley around Baldur's
Gate 3. Okay, missing two huge games. Yeah. Sounds
fun. Yeah, people loved it. But then... Lawyers
representing Wizards of the Coast, they own Dungeons
and Dragons, and thus the Baldur's Gate IP, they
issued a DMCA takedown notice. So they legally
forced the mod offline. Initially, yes. Standard
corporate IP protection move. Right. But the
reaction was really interesting. Sven Vinke,
the head of Lorraine Studios, the guys who actually
made Baldur's Gate 3, he publicly praised the
mod and basically said, hey, this kind of fan
creation is cool. Maybe don't be so aggressive
with the legal stuff. So the developer liked
it, but the IP owner's lawyers shut it down.
Awkward. Very awkward. Fortunately, Wizards of
the Coast backtracked pretty quickly. They apologized,
said the DMCA was in an error and the mod was
allowed back up. Phew. Happy ending. But it shows
the tricky line, Barone's Game Walks, being so
open to mods. Definitely. It's a balance between
fan freedom and external IP rights. Moving beyond
the game code itself, the music has taken on
a life of its own. Oh, hugely. The soundtrack
is beloved. You hear it on game music radio shows
all the time. And Barone, the self -taught musician,
took it further. Orchestral albums. Yeah. In
2020, Symphonic Tale, The Place I Truly Belong,
came out. recorded by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra.
15 tracks given the full orchestral treatment.
That elevates it, doesn't it? Shows the quality
of the compositions. Absolutely. And he also
leaned into the game's relaxing reputation with
a lullaby album. A lullaby album? Yeah, part
of the Prescription for Sleep series. They give
piano and saxophone remixes of game music. The
Stardew one came out in 2021. Ten remixes plus
a brand new track Barone wrote just for it called
Beauty in the Seasons, done in that calming style.
That's amazing. From new metal bassist to composer
of orchestral scores and lullaby. Quite the journey.
And the music isn't just recorded anymore. It's
being performed live. Concert tours. Two different
ones, actually. There's the Festival of Seasons
tour, which started announcement back in late
2023. And then a second one, Symphony of Seasons,
announced late 2024, featuring a 35 -piece orchestra.
So Stardew Valley music is now like actual classical
concert repertoire. Pretty much. It shows the
depth and appeal of the score. And the expansion
isn't just music. There's physical stuff, too.
Board games, cookbooks. Right. Stardew Valley.
The board game came out in 2021. It's cooperative
players work together to save the valley, kind
of like the community center quest. Did people
like it? Loved it. The first printing sold out
almost instantly. Huge demand for that shared,
cozy experience in a physical form. And the cookbook.
That feels like the ultimate crossover. The official
Stardew Valley cookbook came out May 2024. Barone
co -authored it. Over 50 recipes based on the
food items you cook in the game. So you can finally
taste those pancakes and survival burgers. Exactly.
It bridges that gap between the digital world
and your actual kitchen. All of this, the updates,
the music, the merch. It just builds this incredible
legacy. It really does. Industry folks widely
credit Stardew Valley with sparking this huge
resurgence in farming sims and the whole cozy
game genre. It opened the door for a lot of other
games. Definitely. And culturally, its impact
is just massive. NME ranked it as the number
one game for stress reduction. I can believe
that. It has that therapeutic quality. Totally.
And it pops up in unexpected places. Burrown
did animation for an Alvarez music video. The
indie band. Cool. He voiced a character in Hollow
Knight, Silksong, the game's playable in Teslas
now. In the car. Yep. Tesla Arcade. Yeah. And
even fan tributes get recognition like that Lego
model of Pelican Town that won an award at BrickCon.
It's just everywhere. Scardew Valley isn't just
a game anymore. It feels more like a cultural
touchstone. Proof that one person's dedicated
vision can resonate incredibly deeply. Hashtag
tag tag outro. So, yeah, if we kind of wrap up
this deep dive. Yeah. It's just this amazing
story, isn't it? Eric Barone facing unemployment.
Right. Starts a project just for his resume.
Pours four and a half years of intense. solo
work into it with his partner supporting them.
And creates this game that's not just fun, but
full of these really thoughtful design choices.
Yeah, the open -ended play, the way cooking works
against pure profit, the relationship options,
that subtle Joja critique. It's all so deliberate.
And that care translates into this massive success,
which he then carefully manages. taking back
publishing control to protect his vision leading
to you know 41 million copies sold symphonies
board games cookbooks the whole package and he's
not stopping we know he's working on his next
big game haunted chocolatier and apparently he's
doing it the same way again coding it drawing
it pretty much all from scratch himself that
same commitment to the singular vision that's
incredible dedication yeah but he has said haunted
chocolatier will have more focus on combat Right.
More action. He has, which brings up an interesting
question for you, the listener, to think about.
Well, Stardew Valley built its legacy on being
this ultimate cozy, relaxing, stress -free escape.
If Haunted Chocolatier leans more into combat
and action, how might that change the feel? Will
it still have that same comforting appeal that
defines the Concerned Ape brand? Hmm. Will the
next escape be as peaceful or something different?
More challenging. Exactly. Something to ponder.
Definitely something we'll be watching closely.
Thanks for joining us on this deep dive into
the valley. Yeah. Thanks, everyone. What will
your next deep dive be?