Stardew Valley players waiting on the bit 1.6 update to drop got a little something to hold them over this week with the game’s creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone sharing some concept artwork from the game’s earliest stages. The artwork in question which consisted of one old, wrinkled page from a notebook had players quickly enamored with the early designs and prompted them to ask for more which they got soon afterwards after Barone shared a few more examples.
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The first of these bits of concept art was shared in the tweet below which showed the forest spirits known as Junimos that players can interact with in the game by completing bundles for rewards. This concept art shoes different variants of them showcasing various expressions as well as the hut they’re associated with. Some notes within the concept art offered a peek into the thought process that went into these.
“What do they do with the bundles?” Barone pondered in the notes. “Maybe return them to their proper place for you. Or bring them to their hut, then when you’ve completed a broad goal, they bring out a glowing star and add it to the plaque.”
As one might’ve expected, players were quick to ask for more. Barone answered those requests with a few more pages like one that showed off an early version of Morris from Stardew Valley. Another couple of pages depicted early concepts for the layouts of the various mine levels players traverse as they descend through the mines.
Earlier in the year, Barone shared some concept art for Haunted Chocolatier, too, which is the new game that he’s working on now. Bits and pieces of that game have been shown off in the past, though its release is still some ways away especially after Barone said that the 1.6 update coming to Stardew Valley was tied to a break from the new game.
“There is going to be a Stardew 1.6 update. It’s mostly changes for modders (which will make it easier & more powerful to mod),” he said on Twitter recently. “But there is also new game content, albeit much less than 1.5. I’m taking a break from Haunted Chocolatier to work on this at the moment. Then back to HC.”
