Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Chapter 3: Stardew Valley

The third chapter of Blood, Sweat, and Pixels covers Stardew Valley, and thus the dream of every indie developer in the business: a smash hit. The brainchild of one Eric Barone, better known by his online nickname “ConcernedApe,” Stardew Valley may perhaps be one of the purest (and in a way, most literal) examples of the book’s title: a one-man band, building a game from the ground up with minimal outside influence. The game, developed solely by Barone over many years, was released to widespread critical acclaim and massive commercial success, grossing millions of dollars almost on release.

It sounds like a dream, and for the most part, it is. However, operating as a single-person team has just as many drawbacks as advantages, and certainly comes with enough headaches. On the positive side, being the sole developer and designer means there is no inconsistency of vision. That is, the game design is purely one’s own, without the possibility for any miscommunications, inconsistencies, or conflicts on the design front. It also eliminates much of the weekly overhead that comes from developing a game, such as paychecks and profit splitting, and the nonexistent studio structure (as in, one person is everything) makes keeping track of progress and controlling versions much simpler.

Unfortunately, this all comes at a hit to efficiency. One person can only do so much work so fast; by its nature, all aspects of design and development are bottlenecked by the lack of manpower. Additionally, the absence of anyone else on payroll necessitates the need to seek third party options if help is ever required, for whatever reason, and the inconsistency of said help may complicate or slow development even further. And, of course, there is the ever-looming threat of burnout: that dreaded feeling of “I really don’t want to do this anymore,” that plagues solo development hopefuls the world over.

It’s no secret that burnout is a massive problem, whether someone is part of a AAA studio team or a solo indie, but it’s especially problematic for the latter category. Under a studio, there may be the option of vacation time, or other possibilities for shifting responsibilities and getting back into a proper mindset without a massive blow to development. For a solo developer, that isn’t possible. Development begins and ends with the sole worker on the project; if that person burns out, everything grinds to a halt. That makes managing mental health and dealing with burnout a top priority.

Personally, I would posit the best way to deal with burnout is to prevent it in the first place. That means being generous (but not excessive) with allowing time to step back and take breaks, as well as occasionally swapping between ongoing tasks to break up the monotony of working on the same system or asset for however long. In the event that burnout does start to take hold, engaging in these strategies becomes even more important, as shaking it off as quickly as possible is key.

Success, too, has its headaches. Being suddenly thrust into the spotlight of a global community must be an ordeal, to say the least. I doubt I would be able to handle it without a heavy dose of anxiety, though ideally I would be able to set up a system of receiving comments and messages, and seek financial counsel to ensure all is well and secure. Beyond that, I’d look to capitalize on the new spotlight by adding new content, or working on something new entirely, according to audience opinion. It’s impossible to say just how success would go in any given case, however, so it’s also impossible to say precisely how such a thing could be navigated. One thing is for certain, though: Eric Barone put his heart and soul into a gem, and it hit him the jackpot.