How one person made this game.

[Bodady99]

This game is so fun it is very impressive for one person to make this game all by their self and it took 6 years for this person to make stardew valley and all that hard work paid off if you agree with me like

[Caerbannog]

An incredible work ethic, a love of gaming, and a very supportive family who believed in him while he made the game. Since he handles everything himself, he can make all patches or bug fixes himself (like the December patch he rolled out was FAST). He's good to the game's fans, and keeps rolling out free updates for everyone.

Plus, the modding community that has greatly extended the playability of the game! He fully supports the modders, actively helps them with their issues, and gives updates to make it easier for them.

He's exemplary and I wish more game developers were like him.

[Queen Droxxanna]

Concerned Ape is a very creative and hard working game developer, that is for sure, he even composed all the music for the game and last year had a world concert tour that was sold out everywhere months before each event.
On top of that he has published a cook book of the recipes in the game,

and with over 5 million copies of the game sold, his hard work has certainly paid off.
on top of that he has given full support to mod creators and users for the game.

I am sure when he finally releases his next game, we will all flock to buy it as well.

[PichuYang]

Originally posted by Bodady99:

This game is so fun it is very impressive for one person to make this game all by himself.

Eric Barone's girlfriend, Amber, deserves credits too. From both financial and mental support. It is very hard to walk through a rough terrain without any form of support. Someone who supports another's dedication without any questions, is a true hero.

[red255]

he made the game with dated graphics.

these AAA gaming studios take more time because they spend 4 years making his res textures of walls. backgrounds landscapes.

like you look at Dragon Age the veilguard, its obvious the money went into landscapes and vistas.

also you don't need to waste time with HR when its just one bloke.

you see people make these Rom hacks for Super Mario Bros it doesn't take them that much time. for very small teams.

its the modern stuff with their 3D gaming studios and 4k backgrounds, fully voiced dialog, and developing the engine.

like If a group of people wanted to bang out a Mod for Fallout New Vegas in the existing engine add a DLC level area with no voiced dialog and reusing existing game assets, 6 months seems like it would be enough.

you look at them trying to do Oblivion in skyrim engine, the whole time consumption of the process is basically the graphics for the maps.

[ChrillBill]

Dated graphics or not, I think what I like most with creators like ConcernedApe is that they breathes life into their vision as they see fit. And it works out really well for some, but certainly not for all and this is also something I feel many don't understand. I often hear people saying they wish more developers were like ConcernedApe.

What they fail to realise is that those type of creators already exist, and there are many of them! Still, that doesn't mean that they can do what CA did in terms of success. There is no clear "recipe" for success here, unfortunately. Also, when you are working for a big studio, you don't have the same freedom as you would have as a single developer. And it's not as easy as to "pack up and leave to do your own thing". You need something to fall back on and with todays economy, I think many are holding on tight to their jobs.

On the other hand, the main downside with many big studios today is that they seem to struggle with direction - it is not quite working out. You have too many people working on the same stuff, and they all have their own take on things, which is also what I think you can see in Veilguard for example. It is clear (to me at least) that there were many struggles during production and the end result was quite mediocre. It's a good example where the visuals are absolutely stunning (like wow!), but the writing isn't on that same high level.

Skyblivion is a very ambitious project and offers great insight in how much work it actually takes to produce those type of games. Just my few cents.

In the end I am both happy and proud of ConcernedApe, but I will not pretend that all single developers out there can achieve what he has. However, I think ConcernedApe is a great source of inspiration when it comes to creativity and following your dreams.

[EleventhStar]

In amount of labor (e.g. if yo count all the textures in the game and stuff like that.) it doesn't seem that hard/much to do in 6 years. It's not that uncommon for single people to make a game over the duration of a few years.

im going to guess he also made it parttime in addition to having a regular dayjob.


it's the creative decisions where he struck gold. maybe the timing in the market too.

[red255]

https://youtu.be/4-k6j9g5Hzk?si=LElWAEz864oZYlPp

https://youtu.be/v0OsW8HSqA8?si=LfxRrhBVTeNbLYgj

second one was the one i watched actually

[DasaKamov]

Originally posted by red255:

these AAA gaming studios take more time because they spend 4 years

CA worked for 10 years on this game, in total. Not sure how 4 years from AAA gaming studios is "more time".

[red255]

Originally posted by DasaKamov:

Originally posted by red255:

these AAA gaming studios take more time because they spend 4 years

CA worked for 10 years on this game, in total. Not sure how 4 years from AAA gaming studios is "more time".

because 1 man for 10 years is 10 years man hours. and 4000 man for 4 years is 16000 years man hours, and 16000 is more than 10.

and if you do an Uh actually to that, you won't look any smarter.

[Sstavix]

Stardew Valley is an amazing success story, especially from one person. And it's incredible that he continues to work on the game from time to time, not because he wants to make more money, but simply because he wants to make a great game. There need to be more people like that in the game industry.

[DasaKamov]

Originally posted by red255:

because 1 man for 10 years is 10 years man hours. and 4000 man for 4 years is 16000 years man hours

That is some incredible mental gymnastics.

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by red255:

because 1 man for 10 years is 10 years man hours. and 4000 man for 4 years is 16000 years man hours, and 16000 is more than 10.

and if you do an Uh actually to that, you won't look any smarter.

The problem with that calculation is that it essentially boils down to 4 years of man hours, per person. So, ConcernedApe still put more time into his game than all those 4000 did individually. Not trying to look smart or anything, but that's the truth.

[red255]

I told you not to do it, you did it anyways.

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by red255:

I told you not to do it, you did it anyways.

I don't remember you telling me anything of the sort?

But even if you did, this is a discussion, you know.

I understand what you meant, by the way. I just found that it didn't support your initial claim very well. And the calculation you made was indeed in favor for ConcernedApe when you look at the individual work. A game doesn't really need that many people working on it, it is just made possible because someone has the funds to hire all those people to do even the most trivial work for them. Isn't that also why you hire people in the first place? To have others do the work for you, and move things along faster?

Even you must be able to acknowledge the benefits that comes with a bigger studio, such as more resources, money and staff. With that in mind, isn't it more likely that it is the other way around? That games actually take less time than they would have if only one developer was working on it? Also, 4 years in production isn't really that long for bigger game titles at least. I am not saying that you do this but I think many people often assume that work begins as soon as there is an announcement and/or trailer reveal.

Prior to that there has usually been years of planning as well as development. Dragon Age was also brought up as an example. It was in production for way more than 4 years. It probably didn't need to be but like I mentioned, there were certain struggles within production that most likely lead to it being stuck. The same thing has happened in the Final Fantasy franschise as well. People leaving, getting fired and all sorts of drama which in the end leads to the actual product suffering from all of this. It's quite sad.

[Queen Droxxanna]

bigger company with more staff to make game = more expensive game for players.

Concerned Ape gave us is complete dedication, worked 12 hours a day until he had it ready and has not stopped working , but gave us the game at very reasonable price and has never asked us to pay repeatedly for updates or additions to the game. He is still here supporting us.

another game I love to play had a team of 3, but the team broke up and we have heard nothing from any of them for years = no updates , nothing, even though there were promises of fixes.