It’s always interesting to see video games in their embryonic state. Stardew Valley’s sole developer, Eric Barron, had been working on his smash farm hits for years prior to its 2016 release, and yesterday he found his old notebook and started sharing some sketches and doodles he made while planning his feature.
Barron started by sharing his “original community center concept”:
Was going through some stuff and I found my old notebook with the original community center concept pic.twitter.com/cXPI77kxpt
– ConcernedApe (ConcernedApe) April 21, 2023
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This got a great response on Twitter, and Barone tweeted more photos in response to the requests. This includes an early doodle of JojaMart Morris’ owner:
I found this: pic.twitter.com/ZJjOO9AoZe
– ConcernedApe (ConcernedApe) April 21, 2023
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Mine Levels Planning Plans:
Mine levels: pic.twitter.com/h8I0XaDVzl
– ConcernedApe (ConcernedApe) April 21, 2023
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And a mixture of approximate plans for different city buildings:
– ConcernedApe (ConcernedApe) April 21, 2023
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Barone’s next game is Haunted Chocolatier, which looks like a sweet, spooky cousin to Stardew Valley. He is currently taking a break in order to work on another free update for Stardew Valley.
I played Stardew Valley for the first time on Wednesday. Please send me tips because I spent the entire hour worrying that I was focusing on the wrong things and that I was going to miss something.