With Stardew Valley now released on or coming to every major platform, fans are wondering what’s next for the game’s creator, Eric Barone a.k.a. ConcernedApe. Barone has recently stated he will soon be starting a new solo project, a game set in the same universe as Stardew Valley.
Questions have been raised recently about Barone’s involvement in a new game from Chucklefish, Stardew‘s publisher. Developers have only released a few teaser images, but we know the game is a pixel art magic school RPG simulator that is said to be “something like Stardew Valley meets Harry Potter.”
Despite the inspiration from Stardew, Barone has denied any collaboration with Chucklefish on this project — or any of the studio’s projects for that matter — in the below tweet. In stead, he will be working on a new game on his own after the Stardew multiplayer update is finalized.
Just to clarify: I'm not involved in the magic school game or any other Chucklefish project. My next game will be another solo undertaking
— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) September 13, 2017
Barone said in a followup post, “It won’t be a Stardew Valley 2, but it does take place in the same ‘universe’. That’s all I’ll say for now, don’t wanna get ahead of myself.”
So same universe but not a sequel. Perhaps a new type of RPG / sim game with a similar world and familiar mechanics? A town building sim in the same vein as Stardew Valley would be right up Barone’s alley, but maybe I’m just Animal Crossing-deprived…
Whatever this new project turns out to be, Barone promised to keep fans updated on his Twitter. And of course, we’ll keep you updated at A9K with the latest news.
What do you hope ConcernedApe’s next game will be? Let us know in the comments below!