ConcernedApe

ConcernedApe is Eric Lorenz Barone (pronounced buh-ROH-nee; born December 3, 1987), the creator and lead developer of Stardew Valley, as well as the name of the company he founded to continue game development. Born in Los Angeles, California, he grew up in Auburn, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, and studied computer science at the University of Washington Tacoma, graduating in 2011. From 2012 to 2019, he was the sole developer of the game (except the multiplayer networking code in 1.3) and created all art, sound effects, and music, working roughly 10 hours a day, seven days a week, over the four and a half years it took to finish it. He currently resides in Seattle, Washington. In early 2019, ConcernedApe formed a small development team to continue updating the game. The 1.4 update of the game was developed by ConcernedApe, Arthur Lee (a.k.a. Mr. Podunkian), and Alex Erlandson (a.k.a. zillix). The 1.5 update of the game was developed by ConcernedApe and Arthur Lee. See Stardew Valley for more info about the game's development.

In late 2021 he announced ConcernedApe's Haunted Chocolatier, a new game still in development. ConcernedApe began work on this game in late 2020 as the sole developer.

Trivia

• Setting the favorite thing when starting the game to "ConcernedApe" will trigger special dialogue upon consumption of a Stardrop.
• When launching Stardew Valley, if the player clicks on ConcernedApe's face, he will open his eyes or remove his sunglasses and a 'splat' or honk sound will play. There is also a 2% chance that the screen and ConcernedApe logo will turn green and have leaves fill the screen, similar to the effect when drinking the Forest Magic potion.

See also

• Developer Blog
• Stardew Valley

External links

• Interviews:
  • Interview with Eric Barone, Creator of Stardew Valley, Kristi's Blog, 07 October 2012
  • One on One, Metagamingtv, 02 March 2013
  • Show Us Your Rig: Stardew Valley's Eric Barone, PCGamer, 05 January 2016
  • Stardew Valley: Pushing The Boundaries of Farming RPGs, Cornell Sun, 23 February 2016
  • GI Show, Game Informer, 10 March 2016
  • The creators of Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon talk to us about farm games, PC Gamer, 01 December 2016
  • Valley Forged: How One Man Made the Indie Video Game Sensation Stardew Valley, GQ, 20 March 2018
  • Stardew Valley's Creator on Self-Publishing, the "Everything" Update, and His Future as a Solo Developer, USgamer, 08 October 2019
  • Auburn native develops beloved, bestselling video game (with video), King5 News, 15 April 2020
  • How Stardew Valley Keeps Building On Success, GameInformer, 08 September 2020
• ConcernedApe on Twitter
• ConcernedApe on YouTube
• Eric Barone on Wikipedia