Key Takeaways
- Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone has stressed that his next project, Haunted Chocolatier, will be a different experience.
- In a recent interview, Barone addressed comments about Haunted Chocolatier being a “copy and paste”, says those that make these claims “haven’t played the game, so they don’t really know”.
- Instead, Barone is hoping that the game’s boss fights and stronger focus on combat show fans how much he’s grown as a developer.
Haunted Chocolatier and Stardew Valley have quite a few similarities, which is understandable since they’re made by the same person. They’re both games that have you moving into a cozy little village full of interesting people, except one has you running a farm while the other has you running a chocolate shop. The two share a lot of DNA, but creator Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone has stressed that they’ll be different experiences.
In an interview with Nintendo Life, the conversation eventually moved onto the boss fights in Haunted Chocolatier, a feature that isn’t actually built into Stardew Valley. Barone described the process of designing boss fights as “a whole new ball game” to anything that he’s worked on in Stardew Valley, and that he was spurred on to create them as he “wanted a challenge because I want to keep growing as a game developer.
Haunted Chocolatier Won’t Be A Stardew Valley “Copy And Paste”
Barone then addresses comments from some about Haunted Chocolatier potentially being a “copy and paste” of Stardew Valley, which he believes is an unfair assessment, as people making those comments “haven’t played the game, so they don’t really know. Instead, Barone is hoping that fans “see my progression” as a game developer throughout the course of the game, while taking on the game’s many boss fights.
Of course, Barone actually has to start working on Haunted Chocolatier again, before we can see any of that progression. Stardew Valley has been at the forefront of the developer’s mind, as Barone explained back in August that he hadn’t touched Haunted Chocolatier in a while due to his “commitment to finalizing Stardew 1.6 first”.
Now that the update is out, Barone will likely go back to working on Haunted Chocolatier, although he’ll probably want to fix some nasty bugs that have made their way into Stardew with the latest update. For example, the game is currently suffering from performance issues due to pets wearing hats, while players are also getting rich quickly thanks to a new ability to duplicate an army of lobsters. Isn’t game development wild?
Haunted Chocolatier is a game in development by Stardew Valley creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone. Similar to its illustrious predecessor, you’ll have to build up and run a chocolate shop. Barone has said gameplay will be more combat-oriented.