Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone still feels "like an amateur" even with nearly 50 million copies sold, but he hopes that'll help Haunted Chocolatier keep its "indie soul"

After 15 years of development, 10 years of post-launch support, and an adoring fanbase in the millions, you might think that Stardew Valley creator Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone would now feel like an accomplished game developer. Not so, apparently – he still feels like an amateur, and he's hopeful that sentiment will keep Haunted Chocolatier's indie spirit intact.

"I'm a very amateur developer," Barone tells IGN. "I still feel that way. I'm just a total amateur." That's why, he says, bringing in more developers to help with Stardew Valley on things like localization and multiplayer has been so helpful, but he still describes his approach to making games as "very scrappy."

"I've never really become super professional in the way I do things," Barone continues, "but I think in a way it's part of what gives Stardew Valley and hopefully Haunted Chocolatier it's a, you might say indie soul, is that it's not too professional. There's a little bit of rough edges around it."

Barone covers a wide range of topics in his big interview with IGN, including talk of Stardew Valley 2, an "infinitely replayable" but AI-free dream for the farming RPG, and still-hidden secrets. But even as the article notes that Stardew Valley is nearing 50 million units sold, it seems that "indie soul" is in little danger.

"My mindset is that I never think of myself as a master of anything," Barone concludes. "Pixel art, I feel like I'm bad and I need to always get better. I feel that way about every aspect of the game. I'm not good enough. I need to improve. To me, that's a helpful mindset because that inspires me to always want to strive to improve and not just think, 'Yeah, I'm perfect. I don't need to do anything else.' It's like I always need to be working to improve and get better at every aspect of development."

"I am not going to abandon Haunted Chocolatier," says Stardew Valley's Eric Barone: "I know, I shouldn't have announced the game so early."