I didn’t know Concerned Ape ever had help.
From the Stardew valley faq:
Stardew Valley 1.0 was developed completely solo by ConcernedApe (Eric Barone), over the course of 4.5 years. It was released on February 26th, 2016.
-The 1.1 update was also developed solo by ConcernedApe.
-Starting with 1.3, there have been others that helped with the updates, including:
Arthur Lee, “Mr. Podunkian” (1.4 & 1.5 updates).
Tom Coxon (Multiplayer net code in 1.3).
Alex Erlandson, “Zillix” (1.4 update).
Sickhead Games (Console ports).
The Secret Police (Mobile ports).
…and more. Full credits can be found in the game’s title screen.
I thought so as well, but apparently ConcernedApe started enlisting help around the 1.3 update. Before then it was all solo work by him.
The referenced dev from the article contributed to the 1.4 and 1.5 updates from the Stardew wiki.
Even then, by my understanding, that was mostly for the port and bug fixes. CA was very reluctant to give any control and did all art, musical, feature, and overall directional development himself.
I’d argue it was a recipe for burnout and generally a bad idea but this is what I remember from when I obsessively read his update blogs back then
Does the dev have permission to use Stardew Valley assets, or are those placeholders?
