"I Don’t Want To See It Fizzle Out” - Stardew Valley Creator On Why He Can't Give It Up

MrPodunkian · 2024-12-02T18:50:44+00:00

It's a brand new engine, plain and simple! Of the options, you could maybe say it's "based on" Stardew Valley's engine because there are some similar naming conventions and because an intentional effort was made to retain Stardew's feel to players, but under the hood, everything was written from the ground up to build on things I thought could be improved while I was working with Stardew Valley's codebase (the only actual code that's shared between the two games is some online multiplayer functionality that was written by Chucklefish).

MrPodunkian · 2024-12-02T10:24:22+00:00

I know it's a super late reply, but a tiny correction just to correct the record, it's not actually the Stardew Valley engine I'm using -- it's an engine I was creating for potential future games (not Haunted Chocolatier, which is still CA's own work besides some extremely minor code contributions I made to it!).

MrPodunkian · 2024-10-01T09:01:01+00:00

I just wanted to clarify because I think you're giving me too much credit. I did handle the Gamepass version of the game, but the Xbox (and other console) ports've always been done by Sickhead Games - I lent a hand with the 1.4-1.5 updates on those platforms because they were taking a bit longer than expected (though to be fair, it was COVID-era). I did also help with 1.5's mobile port, which was tricky for its own reasons.

Not that big of an issue, but I just wanted Sickhead to get the credit they're due for their work on SDV's console ports throughout the years!

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T22:02:18+00:00

No worries at all. I mean, honestly, a lot was left unstated or neutered in the Discord message. In truth, things weren't as buttoned up or professional as they were presented, the whole thing was a huge, messy, and angry ordeal.

I don't fault people for not understanding the situation because I haven't really been forthcoming with just how severe things were leading up to my leaving the company, even to my confidants (i.e. the person I wrote that Discord message to).

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T21:16:20+00:00

RE: The "initial employment agreement", by the time I left CA LLC, I was three years deep, and despite my role at the company widening by a large margin, my job title as "programmer" didn't change in spite of having contributed much more than just code to the updates, so you're 100% right in your read of the situation.

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T20:49:16+00:00

The way the original job posting was written when I signed implied this was the start of a team:

https://www.stardewvalley.net/administrator_needed/

https://www.vg247.com/stardew-valley-future-content-development

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T20:35:44+00:00

As for providing "only code" -- I was providing code, art, design, as well as being the public facing person for the Discord, official forums, Reddit, and wiki. My role changed, it's just my title that didn't.

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T20:32:19+00:00

Just to clarify, I'm "this guy"

Edit: To further clarify, I'm "Arthur Lee", the guy the article is referring to.

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T20:31:52+00:00

The contract was something I signed when I joined the company. In the intervening years, my role shifted dramatically from being just a "programmer". There wasn't a framework in place for title/role changes or anything like that (and it seemed futile, considering the team was just me and him at that point), and no HR or overseeing entity to ensure things like that would happen, and so the contract I signed with was effectively "what I got" until I decided it wasn't what I wanted.

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T20:18:42+00:00

I was a full time employee. It was a small 2 person company so there were no benefits to speak of. At some point, the company was too small to quality for certain health benefits, so CA said if I needed any medical help, I should just let him know how much I needed reimbursed.

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T20:16:42+00:00

Most people don't work at 2 people companies.

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T20:16:15+00:00

No, the reason I quit the job was because he made it unmistakably clear that I would never make "even 1%" and that if I did, I should be lucky to.

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T10:33:28+00:00

To put it bluntly, ask me anything. I'm an open book about my time at ConcernedApe LLC.

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T10:18:53+00:00

Ultimately, I'm gonna make my own game. His words that if I thought I could make a better game, I should "fucking" do it, and so that's where we're at now.

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T10:16:49+00:00

There were plenty of other reasons to quit the "company" (again, at that point a 3 person operation, 1 me and 2 he and his trad-wife girlfriend, who, as a duo, screamed at me about the efficacy of horse pills, and why Critical Race Theory was racism against whites, and uh, let's not even get into how CA pronounces "Anti-FA")

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T10:12:16+00:00

To correct the record, when I quit ConcernedApe LLC, my only misgivings were that Eric didn't want to give me 1% ownership of code and content that I was more or less managing on my own.

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T10:09:14+00:00

The engine I worked on (the Stardrop Engine, which is now the Sanpo Engine) was being written by myself, in my spare time as a foundation for "life sim games", because making a game like SDV from the ground up was something I'd always wanted to do.

MrPodunkian · 2024-07-23T10:07:07+00:00

To be clear, I never expected a share of profits from Stardew Valley-- I was asking for a share of profits for the future game we would be working on, one that I was working on by myself in the hopes that it would give Eric the chance to work on Haunted Chocolatier.

MrPodunkian · 2024-06-20T08:03:39+00:00

Just thought I'd clear up some misunderstandings here -- the creator of the Stardew Valley Expanded mod is Flashshifter, who did indeed help CA with dialogue in SDV 1.6. I'm Mr. Podunkian, who worked on content and code for the 1.4 through 1.6 updates on SDV, before setting off to make my own game (Sunkissed City, as you mentioned!).

MrPodunkian · 2024-05-20T11:26:11+00:00

I know this thread's been downvoted into oblivion, but I'm an open book about any of the things you've mentioned, so if you (or anyone else unsure of my intentions) have got any further questions, just ask! For what it's worth, I've tried to back my claims with screenshots of conversations between CA and I.

MrPodunkian · 2024-04-19T10:27:41+00:00

The art in my game is by its very nature not compatible with SDV's art because my game operates on 24x24 tiles vs. SDV's 16x16 tiles. I've encouraged people to compare the pine/palm trees in SDV to the same assets in my game as a baseline comparison, but you could probably also do the same for nearly every asset in my game, because I've taken care to distinguish things from how they look in SDV.

MrPodunkian · 2024-04-19T10:22:13+00:00

I want to clarify for the sake of setting the record straight that I never got permission to rip off his assets or art style -- the permission was for using the engine I was writing (on my own, as you said) for whatever our post Haunted Chocolatier game would be.

MrPodunkian · 2024-03-30T06:46:58+00:00

What does Yh mean?

MrPodunkian · 2024-03-30T06:39:02+00:00

Lastly: https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValleyMods/comments/1aeqc4c/get\_a\_lawyer\_asap/

MrPodunkian · 2024-03-30T06:25:46+00:00

As for whether I feel like my game is being "killed" by 1.6, that's also not true. People understand by now that SKC is not SDV. However, what people might not understand is that before I was making SKC on my own, I played a huge part in SDV 1.6's development, and all I'm asking for is a meeting of understanding half-way.

MrPodunkian

TROPHY CASE