For many, Stardew Valley is a cosy escape from the hellscape most of us have been enduring over the last year. As it turns out, even its own creator has been using Stardew Valley as a means to connect with friends and unwind from… presumably developing Stardew Valley.
ConcernedApe (aka Eric Barone) shared a cute tweet yesterday to commemorate finally getting 100% completion on his own game, five years after first releasing it. "I've been playing Stardew online co-op with a group of friends for just over a year," the tweet read. "Was a great way to stay in touch during a strange year. Finally got 100%. Just tweeting this to commemorate the event."
Barone also threw in a screenshot, with his farmer (pictured back left) and his six farmer friends. The picture got people thinking he'd installed mods for his own game, but turns out raising the player cap for co-op is as simple as tweaking a line of code. Is it still technically modding your game? Sure, but it was nice of Barone to share a way of doing it without installing Stardew Valley mods.
I've been playing Stardew online co-op with a group of friends for just over a year. Was a great way to stay in touch during a strange year. Finally got 100%. Just tweeting this to commemorate the event pic.twitter.com/J906DSYxVMMay 20, 2021
It turns out Barone's own playthrough also influenced a lot of the most recent 1.5 update. When asked how often he thought about things to add during his playthrough, Barone replied "all the time. We actually started while 1.5 was still heavily in development so a lot of ideas from the playthrough made it into 1.5."
It's quite nice to see Barone using his own game as a way to chill out. You'd think he wouldn't want to go anywhere near a game he's spent over half a decade pouring his talents into, which if anything is a testament to just how great a game Stardew Valley is.
Last year, Barone said he wouldn't commit to a 1.6 update just yet, though he still anticipates more updates in the future, and possibly even a sequel.
