Eric Barone, also known by his alias ConcernedApe, is an American video game developer, video game designer, artist, composer, and musician. He is best known for creating ''

Stardew Valley ''Stardew Valley'' is a simulation role-playing video game developed by Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone. Players take the role of a character who takes over their deceased grandfather's dilapidated farm in a place known as Stardew Valley. The game wa ...

''.

Early life and education

Barone was born in Los Angeles and spent his childhood in

Auburn, Washington Auburn is a city in King County, Washington, United States (with a small portion crossing into neighboring Pierce County). The population was 87,256 at the 2020 Census. Auburn is a suburb in the Seattle metropolitan area, and is currently rank ...

, a suburb in the

Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. It contains the three most populous counties in the state—King, Snohomish, and Pierce� ...

. He cites the ''

Harvest Moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...

'' series as his favorite as a child. He attended the

University of Washington Tacoma The University of Washington Tacoma (UW Tacoma) is a campus of University of Washington in Tacoma, Washington. The UW Tacoma campus opened in leased space in 1990 and opened its permanent campus in 1997. History Following the establishment of T ...

and graduated in 2011 with a degree in computer science. Barone had practiced basic programming but did not consider making video games as a career. Unable to find employment after graduating college, he initially began developing ''Stardew Valley'' in order to practice programming in C#, and planned to put the game on his resume for potential employers.

Career

Stardew Valley

Barone began working on ''

'' in 2012 and released it in 2016. He was praised for creating the game independently, as its sole designer, programmer, animator, artist, composer, and writer. To complete the game, Barone worked 10 hours a day, seven days a week, for four and a half years; living in

Capitol Hill, Seattle Capitol Hill is a densely populated residential district in Seattle, Washington, United States. One of the city's most popular nightlife and entertainment districts, it is home to a historic gay village and vibrant counterculture community. His ...

for part of that time, he was supported by a part-time job as an evening usher at the Paramount Theatre. Barone initially released ''Stardew'' on the PC before later developing it for other consoles. By March 2022, he had sold over 20 million copies. In 2017, he was named by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' magazine in their list "30 Under 30: Games" due to his work on ''Stardew Valley''. Since 2019, Barone has been assisted on ''Stardew Valley'' by another designer.

Other projects

In 2020 Barone announced that he was working on several new games, with one of them set in the ''Stardew Valley'' universe. In February 2021, Barone and board game designer Cole Meideros released a

cooperative board game Cooperative board games are board games in which players work together to achieve a common goal rather than competing against each other. Either the players win the game by reaching a pre-determined objective, or all players lose the game, often b ...

adaptation of ''Stardew Valley''. After the first printing of the game went on sale, it quickly sold out. Sales were later reopened with several changes. In October 2021, Barone announced that a new game titled ''

Haunted Chocolatier ''Haunted Chocolatier'' is an upcoming confectionery store simulation game by ConcernedApe, the developer of ''Stardew Valley''. It has no set release date. Gameplay ''Haunted Chocolatier'' is a simulation game with action role-playing elem ...

'' was in development, with no set release date. In the game, the player will run a chocolate shop. It will have a greater focus on combat than in ''Stardew Valley''. Barone stated that "almost everything in ''Haunted Chocolatier'', including the combat, is completely coded (and drawn) from scratch." Barone collaborated with

Norihiko Hibino is a Japanese video game composer and saxophonist. Biography Hibino was born in Osaka. He graduated from the Osaka University School of Human Sciences in 1996. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1997, he moved to Kansas City to s ...

on an album series ''Prescription for Sleep''. The series remixes video game soundtracks with piano and saxophone. The ''Stardew Valley'' album was released in May 2021. It includes 10 tracks from the game's original soundtrack and one new track called "Beauty in the Seasons". Barone collaborated on an animated music video with indie pop band

Alvvays Alvvays (pronounced "always") is a Canadian indie pop band formed in 2011, originating from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and currently based in Toronto, Ontario. It consists of Molly Rankin (vocals and guitar), Kerri MacLellan (keyboard ...

for the band's song Many Mirrors. Barone is responsible for the video's animation and it was his first time working with 3D animation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barone, Eric Video game developers American video game designers Musicians from Seattle American composers Living people Artists from Seattle University of Washington alumni 1987 births Video game composers Video game artists