A former Stardew Valley developer is now working on their own life sim game, this time set in a bustling California city instead of Grandpa's farm.
As highlighted by myPotatoGames over on Twitter, the currently unnamed city life sim is being developed by Mr. Podunkian, who previously assisted with some of Stardew Valley's development alongside the game's original developer Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone - which is why the two games appear to have very similar feel to them.
According to Mr. Podunkian, they were hired by Barone to help with the farming sim's 1.4 and 1.6 updates - assisting with everything from bug fixing to developing new features like the tailoring system and fish tanks - giving Barone more time to work on their upcoming game Haunted Chocolatier - not to mention the other secret project they've also got in the works.
This indie developer worked for ConcernedApe on Stardew Valley and is now off to making his own game. A farming and life sim game that takes place in the California area. Villagers, Farming, Gathering and crafting and so much more! Show Mr. Podunkian your support as he makes this… pic.twitter.com/38pNv0eaN0July 29, 2023
Geez, I'm sorry you had to be fielding questions like this yourself. CA did indeed make SDV all by himself. I was hired by him to help with the game from the bug fixing 1.4 update to playing a bigger role the island update to taking on 1.6 with PathosChild so he could focus on HCJuly 30, 2023
Mr. Podunkian's game is still fairly early in development, hence why it doesn't quite have a name yet, but we can get a pretty big insight into the upcoming project via the developer's Twitter account. The game's world is so vibrant with buildings like coffee shops, salons, restaurants, and more decorating the city. It's also got a variety of characters, all of which also sport the pixel-art art style we're now used to seeing from these Stardew Valley-likes.
A full list of the game's features is yet to be revealed, but we do know that it's being built in the programming language C#, as well as a "heavily modified" version of the software MonoGame. As revealed by the developer: "The engine was developed while I was [ConcernedApe's] employee as a generic engine for Stardew-like games. He graciously allowed me to continue using it after I left the company as it was written entirely by me!"
We might be waiting a little while before we can play this one for ourselves, but it's definitely worth keeping tabs on the developer to see where the game ends up in the future. In the meantime, why not take a look at these other Stardew Valley-likes: Everholm, Roots of Pacha, Cleanup on Isle Goblin, Sun Haven, Coral Island, and Kynseed.
Find even more similar titles with our games like Stardew Valley list.
