ConcernedApe shares a new development update about the haunted chocolate maker

Stardew Valley creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has revealed his next game, The chocolate maker is hauntedback in 2021. Since then, we’ve only had the odd development update over the years, but this week, we got another one — though that one confirmed that they I will still have to wait a while.

Shared in a new blog post above Haunted Chocolate websiteBarone stated that Stardew Valley update 1.6 took up most of his late return (naturally), so his next match had to be pushed back. That said, in the meantime, he’s still plugged into the awesome chocolate-making sim:

Although Haunted Chocolatier has only been revealed publicly to a very small extent, in my private world it is a special place and I am very attached to the characters, themes and ideas. Also, I’ve done a lot of work on the game. Before taking a break for Stardew 1.6, I created a “vertical slice” of Haunted Chocolatier, essentially a skeleton of the game with most (but not all) of its skeletons.

The creator notes that his next task is to “adjust the existing bones until I’m happy with them, add all the remaining bones, and then add all the required assets in the game”. A pretty big task then, but, as Barone explained, “I’m addicted to the grind.”

The update also reconfirms that this is another solo project from ConcernedApe. The creator is coding the whole thing in C# from scratch because that’s how he feels most comfortable working — and hey, it worked for Stardew. “I might get help later on with some technical issues,” Barone clarified, “but I want the game to be basically complete before I think about anything like that.”

So, any idea of ​​a release date? Well, the blog post clearly states that it “will still take some time”. Maybe it’s not the news we want to hear, but Barone declared: “I won’t release a game unless it’s complete and I’m very happy with it, and I think that’s what most everyone wants it.” Honestly, fair enough.

I know a lot of people are excited to play Haunted Chocolatier and may be disappointed to hear that it will still take a while or that I’ve spent some time working on Stardew Valley. I get it. I will be very happy when the day I can finally release Haunted Chocolatier comes. However, as with Stardew Valley, I won’t be doing any “early access”, crowdfunding, or pre-ordering, so I don’t feel like there’s much outside pressure to get it done. complete the game according to schedule. The main source of external pressure was the fact that I announced this game quite early (I had a reason to do this), which created excitement, meaning that if I dragged it out, people could become Sad. And that’s really a pressure for me. But ultimately, I won’t release a game unless it’s complete and I’m very happy with it, and I think that’s what most people want.

The blog post ends with the announcement that updates may not come as thick and fast in the coming months, but that doesn’t mean everything is canceled: “if I don’t post for a while, it That doesn’t mean I’ve given up on the game.”

“My preferred approach is to disappear and work in isolation,” Barone continues, “and only show up when I have something complete and worthwhile, rather than sharing a bunch of unfinished stuff.” bad and therefore not consistent with the final vision.” That said, he said he’ll still post occasional updates and reaffirmed that “the game will eventually be finished and launched.” Phew.

You can go to Haunted Chocolate website to read the latest update in full and take a closer look at the new screenshots (which Barone claims are “‘work in progress’ and subject to change before release”) that we’ve inserted above.

However, Haunted Chocolatier is still only 100% confirmed to release on PC at the time of this writing. initial announcementthe creator noted that he has “every intention” of bringing it to other major platforms as well. Considering how well Stardew has performed on the Nintendo hybrid, we’re betting that Haunted Chocolatier will likely release on Switch… dare we say ‘Switch 2’?

For more information from ConcernedApe, you can check out our recent coverage interview with the creator of Stardew Valley in the article below.