"The first few months were nuts," Barone tells SYFY WIRE. Everything from the pixels to the music was solo created, and that, plus the gameplay, really resonated with curious players. Developed over the course of four and a half years, Stardew Valley was a passion project meant to improve Barone's coding skills. He wanted a farming game that got back to the basics, and so he got to work. He had long been a lover of Natsume's Harvest Moon series, but felt it had lost its heart as the years and titles went on. No one could have predicted that Stardew Valley would take off like it did, least of all Barone. To celebrate Stardew Valley's five-year anniversary, SYFY WIRE spoke with the game's creator and one particularly dedicated fan to get to the bottom of what makes an 8-bit farming game so attractive. Now, five years and 10 million sold copies later, Stardew Valley has grown not only in the scope of gameplay but in the gaming community itself, with players logging hundreds and even thousands of hours puttering around their farms, fishing at the docks, and befriending the local blacksmith. What was originally created because Seattle-based developer Eric Barone wanted to try and make a game has long since become a cornerstone of cozy gaming such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons and A Short Hike. Upon release, Stardew Valley sold 2 million copies in just the first month. Originally released by then-unknown indie developer ConcernedApe, what started as a solo-coded game in C# has become a star of the video game world with countless dedicated fans. It's a formula that has worked for decades - think Story of Seasons, Harvest Moon, and My Time at Portia - but something about Stardew Valley was different when it was released on Feb. Yet despite all the comforting bells and whistles, Stardew Valley begins as many farming sims do: Your customizable character inherits a piece-of-junk farm in a small town filled with all sorts of quirky townsfolk, and it's the player's job to make a life and help build up the community. Whether it's deciding on the right product to manufacture at your farm, which animals to adopt, or slowly building up relationships and creating real connections with the people around town, this is a game that draws you in with a warm blanket and a familiar style. Everything about Stardew Valley is low stakes. This open-ended country-living roleplaying game is about creating the life you want, all while accompanied by a soothing soundtrack and quite a few supernatural surprises and colorful characters. Ever wish you could pack up, leave the corporate world, and run off to an idyllic valley with a farm of your own? Well, in Stardew Valley, you can do just that.
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