
Valley Forged: How One Man Made the Indie Video Game Sensation Stardew Valley - benbreen
https://www.gq.com/story/stardew-valley-eric-barone-profile
======
adriand
I really love stories about people who become totally, utterly absorbed in
something, to the point where they obsessively spend time on it, in a kind of
natural sense that does not require checklists, reminders, etc. It's just
always their top priority, like an addiction, except with meaning and depth.

I envy the absorption in a creative activity and also the growth they
experience in terms of their skills. Think about it - at this point this guy
isn't just a great programmer, he is also an accomplished designer, artist,
writer and musician. A true renaissance person.

I'm quite focused compared to many people and I don't waste a lot of time with
social media, television, etc., but I'm nowhere near like this guy.

About four years ago I decided I wanted to learn a second language and I
poured a lot of effort into learning Spanish over a three year period. I got
to the point where I could carry on a conversation with a Spanish-speaking
person quite naturally, read the news in Spanish, etc., but I never felt
entirely _fluent_. Then things got busy and my attention shifted and now, a
year after I was last really actively learning, I know my skills have
deteriorated.

I want to get back into it but I'm struggling to find the motivation. It feels
like work and I already work hard. And truthfully, it _always_ felt like work,
it's just that I really wanted the experience of understanding and being able
to speak another language. I got to that point, but I don't feel like I took
it far enough - and this seems true of so many things in my life. Pretty good
programmer (at one point), decent enough entrepreneur, not a bad father, solid
writer, crappy musician but having fun with it, kind of fit but not terribly
so, etc. In short, jack of all trades, master of none.

I realize I'm rambling a bit, but to tie it back to where I began, obsession
seems like a bit of a cognitive shortcut to me, a path to excellence that
feels less like work and more like addiction. Is that true or am I just
intellectually lazy? I want to dive into something, to find something that
holds my attention raptly for the long term and generates true personal growth
along the way, but I don't know what that would be, and in four decades of
living on this planet I don't think I've ever come across anything that fits
that bill.

~~~
dboon
Wow. I understand what you mean completely, in my gut. The feeling of throwing
yourself into something completely, not to better yourself or to prove
anything, but simply because you must, is probably the greatest feeling in the
world for me.

~~~
random_kris
I used to be like this when I was younger. I remember spending my summer break
in my room learning a 3d modeling software just to make some stupid
animations... It was this internal drive that I want to accomplish this that
waned through the years I think

------
driverdan
Eric is not only a genius who made a fantastic game but he's a nice, down-to-
earth person. I met him once. He had a table at one of the PAX cons and was
hanging out with fans, many whom had him sign stuff. This was after it had
sold enough copies to make him a millionaire. He didn't have to be there, he
choose to do it.

~~~
foobarbazetc
I think I met him at the same PAX. Really nice guy. Happy for his success.

------
sireat
While it is great to admire the care and dedication that went into this game
let's not draw conclusions that Eric's approach is a widely applicable recipe
to long term wealth and healthy relationships.

This is classic survivorship bias.

There are countless stories of one person obsessing over some project, making
progress, sometimes even shipping the project yet not getting the
recognition/fame/money.

Meanwhile they are losing relationships and health in the process.

The great novel is a common culprit, but the great app is a fast rising
contender.

The main thing to remember is "building/shipping is not enough".

In fact the one intriguing thing glossed over in the article is how he managed
to get a distributorship deal.

~~~
baud147258
See that story: Did I just waste 3 years? [0] on a failed indie game.

[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18092108](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18092108)

------
stevenwoo
Wow, this is amazing and old school - doing the art, sound, music,
programming. I think the only advantage he had was he could look up anything
on the internet and _possibly_ find an answer to technical road blocks, he
still had to polish and rework for five years (and not feel pressure to get or
work a regular 9-5 and keep his relationship going, though it sounds like it
may have been a close call there towards the end with the three playtesters
helping immensely).

~~~
romwell
On that note, I highly recommend Papers, Please[1].

It's a one-person project as well, and a truly amazing work of art.

Played it with my partner to get _all_ the endings and achievements; it's been
an amazing experience.

[1][http://papersplea.se/](http://papersplea.se/)

~~~
mercer
What I loved about Papers, Please is that it was actually a proper, fun game.
Depressing too, but fun. I rarely come across 'art project' style games that
pull their weight game-wise.

~~~
romwell
It really does have excellent gameplay.

Although I wouldn't call the game depressing - I found the satire funny as
hell.

------
l33tbro
Good read. But kind of underwhelmed how the author glosses over how the steps
of how developer finally connected with the real world and got his creation
out there.

I think many of us can relate to the obsession with detail, but hearing how
the publisher discovered him and their impressions of his work would have been
a nice pay-off.

~~~
koonsolo
This piece is mostly about the emotional side of it, and kind of romances the
whole thing. I don't think you can take away much practical advice with such
articles.

For example, when I read "working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 4 years",
that's just impossible.

And a Kotaku interview confirms this ([http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2016/03/21/the-
past-present-and-futu...](http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2016/03/21/the-past-present-
and-future-of-stardew-valley)):

>> Kotaku: How did you avoid burning out? How did you avoid coming to hate
Stardew Valley?

Eric Barone: There were periods where I had an idea or something that I was
really passionate about, and in that moment I would work like crazy. I
actually just literally wanted to see that thing come to life as quick as
possible because it was fresh in my mind. I had this fire to create that.

Then there would be other periods where I just kind of didn’t feel like
working, so while I would sit there and attempt to work I probably did a lot
of alt tabbing and just browsing Reddit and stuff like that. I would waste
time, and I would be a lot less productive. <<

So he's human like all of us, but it's still really impressive what he was
able to pull of, no question about that. He's an inspiration for all lone game
developers.

I'm just saying, take all these articles with a grain of salt. It's
journalists doing their journalist thing.

~~~
kumarvvr
This is a great point.

The moment I read "12 hrs a day, 7 days a week" I felt very disappointed with
my own style of working. I usually work at max around 1/2 to 1 hour a day,
even though I spend 3 - 4 hours on the PC. But during binges of feverish
thoughts, I lose track of time in work, and can easily not notice 4 - 5 hours
consumed.

~~~
l33tbro
Don't be too hard on yourself. 12 hours a day is likely an overstatement. If
not, going over 5 hours of intense "flow state" each day would bring
diminishing returns.

You can be disciplined at staring at the screen, but you still need that
genetative tide. That comes from what's yielded by not being obsessed by the
immrdiate. So, again, in my experiencr, spending time present in the real
world is beneficial for your ventures.

------
eindiran
This was a really nice read. In the past, I've read or seen pieces detailing
the personal story of a particular indie game developer, and often I walk away
feeling kind of grated by their personalities (See "Indie Game: The Movie" for
a particularly high octane example). But after reading it I felt warmed by how
much you could see the artist in his art.

------
keithnz
I recently started playing it multiplayer with my son ( 7 ). I had watched him
play it solo before but didn't think it was my type of game. But boy, the
amount of detail in the game is fantastic.

------
fhood
Wow, I didn't even like Stardew Valley very much, but there is a level of
polish to that game that is unbelievable for a single person to have
accomplished.

------
ansible
It'll be interesting to see if switching to Rust will enhance the already
remarkable productivity of this game studio.

[https://www.rust-lang.org/pdfs/Rust-Chucklefish-
Whitepaper.p...](https://www.rust-lang.org/pdfs/Rust-Chucklefish-
Whitepaper.pdf)

~~~
thrower123
Stardew Valley is built on Monogame. Also Chucklefish is the publisher, not
the developer...

~~~
steveklabnik
Their new game is in Rust, not Stardew Valley. And you’re right that they were
only the publishers for it.

~~~
thrower123
Is there anything approaching the XNA/Monogame content pipeline in the Rust
world? Something like Stardew Valley is hugely data-driven, and being able to
leverage that tooling, not to mention solid cross-platform support, looks like
a huge force multiplier.

~~~
steveklabnik
I don’t _think_ so, but it’s not an area I’m always the most up to date with.
I’m guessing if it existed I’d have heard of it, though.

“Amethyst” and “piston” are the two engine projects. I’m not sure if studios
are using them or I’d they're building something in-house.

------
almostdeadguy
I wish nothing but the best for this guy, but I think it's kind of sick how we
romanticize and valorize people who do nothing but obsessively work and
neglect their relationship with their partners and magically pull off their
project in the end to become rich. It's a gross fantasy. At least this doesn't
have the "vindictive and abusive" genius aspect of these stories you typically
hear like in the Steve Jobs archetypes or whatever. He seems like a nice
person and I really like his game. I just think its incredibly sad that this
is perceived to be something to aspire to.

~~~
peteforde
I don't think that the developer could have possibly imagined that he would
get rich. I'm sure that he was scared that he wouldn't break even with a
living wage until it already in the market.

While I agree that it's uncool to ignore your partner to an abusive degree, it
sounds to me like they communicated about it and she was consciously and
proactively supportive. (I would support her owning a significant cut of the
profits, even if they ever split up. She sounds incredible to me.)

The main reason that I hit reply, however, is that when it comes to having a
passion project that consumes you, it doesn't feel like work. Some of the
happiest moments of my life have been when I've been able to shut out the
world and focus 100% of my energy on something I am deeply committed to. I
think that it is pure, noble and for people like me, the way in which we are
most fulfilled. It's not a job but a calling. I 100% get it. I also appreciate
that it's not for everyone.

However, just because you don't understand it does not mean that it's somehow
less than the ways you choose to spend your time. What you see as sick, I see
as privileged.

------
stuxnet79
I found out about this from reading Blood, Sweat and Pixels [1]. What really
struck me about this whole story is the fact that his partner was able to
support him for the entire duration he was working on the game (close to half
a decade). That's a tough sell for any relationship, and if you ask me the
real hero of this story is his partner who believed in him enough to support
him all the way to the end. I would love to be in that kind of relationship.

[1] [https://kotaku.com/i-wrote-a-book-about-the-making-of-
unchar...](https://kotaku.com/i-wrote-a-book-about-the-making-of-
uncharted-4-star-wa-1792635169)

~~~
mattigames
Well, let's be honest here; it really depends on the job she has, for example
if she is an anesthesiologist is exponentially easier to support her partner
than if she has a low-paying job like barista or something alike.

~~~
kayoone
it's not only about the money young fella. A long and uncertain project
without any income like that is a tough sell for any relationship.

~~~
dEnigma
You say it's not about the money, but then you mention income again. What is
it about then?

~~~
romwell
>it's not _only_ about the money

~~~
dEnigma
Yes, I saw that. But saying something like that and then mentioning nothing
but money (income) is a little confusing.

------
NegativeLatency
I dont think it’s accurate to describe Auburn Washington as “semi-rural”

~~~
ksenzee
Yeah, Auburn itself within the city limits is Seattle/Tacoma suburbs, so that
sounded weird. There are definitely semi-rural areas with an Auburn address,
east of Highway 18, and maybe that's where he lived.

------
kumarvvr
What is the software he is using to create pixel art?

~~~
thrower123
In the photo in the article, about halfway down with the tree, it looks like
Paint.net

[https://www.getpaint.net/](https://www.getpaint.net/)

------
forkLding
I love the game and loved Harvest Moon, I thank Eric for his work and his
dedication.

------
forgot-my-pw
It's pretty impressive that he worked on it alone, including art and music.

------
cheunste
Man, I really wish there were some more detail on Eric's workflow. After all,
one man creating all these assets and managing all this sounds like a
nightmare without some sort of organizational system

------
rootw0rm
my ex loved this game. i'm a sucker for gamer chicks.

------
subjectHarold
I know it isn't the point of the article but...damn, this guy couldn't get a
job. Like the easiest thing was to spend thousands of hours developing this
game? Hm, kind of sad.

~~~
peteforde
I feel like you are, indeed, missing the point: this guy wasn't successful
despite his passion project. He was successful because of his passion project.

For those of us who know exactly what they would do with the opportunity to
spend thousands of hours on a calling, this guy is an inspiration.

~~~
subjectHarold
It wasn't a calling, it was something he did when nothing else worked. I am
sure he enjoyed it, he wouldn't have done it otherwise...but that isn't my
point. My point is that it isn't inspiring...at all.

It would be interesting to know what he actually thinks but I know because I
have actually been in that situation (unf, more than once). It isn't fun, it
is soul-destroying to pour your being into something you love with no reward.
Even if you are "successful", that initial experience of feeling trapped
taints it (indeed, the whole point is that you are immune to notions of
success/failure and the experience changes your notion of success...if you
come into thinking about success then you will get washed out in a few
months).

And he was successful despite it. He would have done okay whatever he did. It
is just a little unfortunate that he had go down that path, imo.

~~~
peteforde
Is it possible that we read a completely different article?

He was a huge fan of Harvest Moon and he wanted to make a spiritual successor.
Paragraph 3: “I think it makes sense that I worked entirely alone,” Eric says.
“I wanted to do all the music, the art.”

The article does talk about how he was not getting hired for the jobs he
wanted, and he knew he'd have to level up his skillset. However, it's also
self-evident that within a year he'd secured a publisher and taken an
advance... so his job search became an educational pursuit which became an
opportunity to build something that by any sane definition is a labour of
love.

I'm not weirded out that you're not inspired, because it doesn't sound like
you're the sort of person that would become inspired to create something like
what's described. And that is fine, right?

Many of us, however, are inspired by stories like this. It's not just video
games, either... but Braid comes to mind as an example of something that could
never have come from Electronic Arts. It's also the only game that Roger Ebert
conceded constitutes art.

For what it's worth, I'm sorry that your projects didn't work out. Arguably,
if doing something you love isn't its own reward, then you might be doing the
wrong thing.

