I've never played Stardew Valley, but it was coded, designed, and published by a solo dev. It's one of the best selling games ever, selling as many copies as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. According to this video, it took him 4.5 years to develop while being supported by his parents and his girlfriend. I end up admiring a lot of indy game devs for this simultaneous skill depth and breadth - it rarely manifests in other types of software.
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153 sats \ 1 reply \ @OneOneSeven 8 Aug 2024
My wife loves this game. It's been out for 8 years and holds up very well.
He still works on it and releases large updates for free, while working on his follow-up project, Haunted Chocolatier.
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189 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 8 Aug 2024
It's one of my wife's favorites too.
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122 sats \ 0 replies \ @riberet19 8 Aug 2024
Until recently I thought that this developer loved his game, his story fascinated me the first time I heard it, especially because he programmed everything by himself, a genius.
BTW I love Stardew Valley, so much hours played with my lil brother :)
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121 sats \ 0 replies \ @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears 8 Aug 2024
There's a great chapter on Stardew in Jason Schreier's Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made. Yeah, doing this solo was an insane undertaking.
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22 sats \ 0 replies \ @TheMorningStar 9 Aug 2024
https://m.stacker.news/44619
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131 sats \ 5 replies \ @grayruby 8 Aug 2024
I think artists often fall out of love with their work once it is completed.
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146 sats \ 4 replies \ @k00b OP 8 Aug 2024
It's probably something like it being hard to enjoy a sausage once you know how it's made.
When you're obsessed with a project like this, part of the obsession is the sense that everything matters and needs to be perfect. It's a lot like body dysmorphia. In order to release it you have to accept all of its imperfections.
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131 sats \ 3 replies \ @grayruby 8 Aug 2024
One thing I always loved about music as a creative outlet is you can spend a couple hours writing a song and if you like it you keep it, if you don't you scrap it and start a new one. I can't imagine enduring a 4.5 year process and being your own harshest critic along the way.
I am sure you experience some of this in long term product building. To me building a business is much different than building/designing a product.
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71 sats \ 2 replies \ @k00b OP 8 Aug 2024
It probably depends on the business. For software, it seems like it's always been a weird blend of art and business.
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31 sats \ 0 replies \ @DrStacker 8 Aug 2024
That's likely what happened to the Mutiny CEO
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 8 Aug 2024
That makes sense.
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31 sats \ 0 replies \ @Asara 8 Aug 2024
Stardew Valley is one of, if not my favorite games of all time. It is a testament to the ideas presented in the game itself, community and support.
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31 sats \ 0 replies \ @nout 8 Aug 2024
I played it... it's pretty good, but it sort of requires you to have good chunks of time for playing the game, which is hard to find these days.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Satosora 8 Aug 2024
Does anyone remember Reckful and his game?
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24 sats \ 2 replies \ @Coinsreporter 8 Aug 2024
Ouch! It's surprising! The game is so good but may be good developers are like this! They want to do much more better than the best.
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32 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b OP 8 Aug 2024
You've played it?
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124 sats \ 0 replies \ @Coinsreporter 8 Aug 2024
I didn't. I used to play Farmville and my colleague and roommate told me that it was a copy of Stardew Valley. I used to see him playing. I liked it but because it wasn't free, I never went on to purchase one. Those days, I couldn't just spend money on video games.
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