Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone is a rather peculiar developer, despite being the father of one of the biggest titles of the decade. Stardew Valley has become a cultural phenomenon that has long since transcended the PC monitor and made the leap to consoles and mobile devices, as well as being adapted to other formats such as concerts or a board game. Be that as it may, the Valley remains the jewel in ConcernedApe’s crown, and the recent Update 1.6 is just one more sign of their commitment to the game’s community.
But Barone has another major project in the works, Haunted Chocolatier, which hasn’t been heard from for a long time. The developer is aware that he needs to calm things down on this front as well, so he has provided a development diary in which he explains where he stands with the game and where it is at the moment.
For starters, the most reassuring news: Haunted Chocolatier is still in development, and nothing is going to change those plans. Barone is aware that Stardew Valley has interrupted progress with the haunted, ghost-run chocolate factory game for many months, but he is back to his routine of working on it, doing it his way: Alone and in complete isolation. “My preferred method is to disappear and work in isolation, and only emerge when I have something complete and worthy,” he says in the post.
“However, just like with Stardew Valley, I’m not doing any “early access”, crowdfunding, or pre-orders, so I don’t feel a ton of external pressure to finish the game on a timeline (…) I won’t release a game unless it’s complete and I’m very happy with it, and I think that’s what most people would want, anyway.”
Eric Barone also claims that he has tons of finished content for the game, and even a rough cut (a “vertical slice”) that he now has to go through and whose parts he has to connect coherently. At this point, the words of the creative (who is handling all aspects of the game from scratch and programming it in #C) make it clear that Haunted Chocolatier is still a long way from release. But it’s good to know that it’s still there.
Finally, ConcernedApe has released a few very interesting screenshots of the game, all unpublished and subject to change, but which give an idea of certain aspects of the game. For example, the character equipment menu, house modelling and lighting, a confrontation with a group of monsters (Slimes?) and also two images of NPC characters.
These in particular have triggered fan theories that Haunted Chocolatier and Stardew Valley are more connected than originally assumed, as the (unnamed) characters clearly resemble Stardew’s neighbours Abigail and Alex in more adult versions. There is only one person who can confirm or deny this, but it looks like we’ll have to let him work alone for a while longer until we have more details.
Are you looking forward to the release of Haunted Chocolatier?