years ago, as a way of improving his CV. Juggling game design, bills and a job at a local theater, he put his coding skills to the test by singlehandedly creating
Stardew Valley—the farming simulator RPG that was released in February this year. It’s since sold several hundred thousand copies. “Now I feel like a wizard because I understand the magic.”
Raised on the console classics of yesteryear, Barone spent much of his youth obsessed with his family’s Super Nintendo, spending hours in front of Mario Kart, Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana. Back then, headmits, the thought of making a game didn’t cross his mind all too often, although he recalls occasionally tinkering with Basic on his parents’ PC. One game captured his heart, and would go on to heavily inspire his debut venture some way down the line.
“I guess there was a period where I stopped following current games and just kept playing old ones,” says Barone. “And I spent countless hours playing
Harvest Moon. I loved it.”
In 2011, Barone graduated from the University of Washington-Tacoma with a computer science degree,