Eric Barone, creator of Stardew Valley.

My guest today is the American game designer and musician Eric Barone. Born in Los Angeles, he spent his childhood in the suburbs of Seattle. In 2011 he graduated from the University of Washington Tacoma with a degree in computer science, but was unable to find employment. He started developing a video game to hone his programming skills. Supported by his girlfriend, and an evening job he took as an usher at the Paramount Theatre, for four years my guest worked on his game, a farming simulator.

In 2016 he released Stardew Valley, which became an overnight success. To date, it has sold well over thirty million copies, while continuing to evolve via regular updates. In 2021 my guest announced a follow-up, Haunted Chocolatier, which casts players as the owner of a chocolate shop.

He once described video games as “a powerful form of art, a peaceful escape from the chaos of modern life, and a way to have experiences that are impossible otherwise... Through these means, games have a powerful and growing influence on culture.”

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