The success of Stardew Valley, an indie farming and lifestyle sim, caught a lot of people off guard when it launched earlier this year. This one-man passion project, a spiritual successor to the Harvest Moon franchise, quickly topped Steam’s sale charts when it was released, selling more than a million copies. Now that the post-launch madness has died down a bit, creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has had time to recuperate and look forward to the game’s future, which will involve co-op multiplayer, loads of new content, and console ports, according to a recent developer blog update.
Updates until now have focused on bug fixes and quality of life, so the upcoming version 1.1 will be the first major infusion of new content, focusing particularly on the late game. The full list of planned features (which is, of course, subject to change) includes:
- More late-game content
- New farm buildings
- New crops
- New artisan goods
- New advanced farming/producing mechanics
- Shane and Emily will be marriage candidates; they will also have more events and dialogue as a result
- More marriage content for all spouses
- More events for the non-marriage NPCs
- Improvements/additions to mining and combat
- Ability to move buildings and other convenience features
- More bug fixes
- More secrets
- More small, fun touches to the world
In addition to 1.1, Barone also plans to add support for co-op multiplayer, as well as ports for Mac, Linux, and consoles. Publisher Chucklefish will be handling the ports, freeing up solo developer Barone to focus on adding new content to the game.
“This will allow me to focus on creating new game content for version 1.1, which I will continue to do entirely on my own,” said Barone. There is no word yet on a time fame for either version 1.1 or any of the additional promised features and versions.
