It's no secret that Stardew Valley developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone devoted his heart and soul to creating and refining the beautiful life-sim game. But like most things, this dedication can be a double-edged sword. 

"[Fan expectations] definitely put pressure on me," Barone says in an interview with Aftermath, but when it's ready to delay a really good game rather than a bad game on time, that's when I release it. I don't have much to do with pressure. As for the haunted chocolatier, I feel like I don't owe anyone anything. It's a game I'm determined to make. I don't need to make it."

Recently, Barone took the time out of working on Haunted Chocolatier development to focus on the 1.6 update for Stardew Valley.  "I can't release a technical update because I feel like people will be disappointed if I say there's a new Stardew Valley update and there's literally no new content," so it was a desert festival at first, but I have this problem that I can't stop once I start. I'm thinking, "Oh, this is not enough." It's really cool to add this. I would like to add this.

Even after the patch was released, Barone said, before returning to work at Haunted Chocolatier, a little "until it's bug-free and comes out on all platforms," "When I reopen Stardew's book, I always want to add more, make it better, cooler, and make people happy." "It's exciting," says Barone. Everything I'm adding, I'm thinking about how people are trying to play this, talk about it and love it. It will be part of their experience. It can make memories that they may cherish forever."

There's definitely a lot of pressure from fans to get excited about all the little new details about the Haunted Chocolatier, but most fans are sure things will only get better when they see Barone continue to do what he wants to do. "From Stardew Valley, I can see how much he loves the game and its community, and I know that he brings the same energy to Haunted Chocolatier," one player said in a Reddit thread. Honestly, I'd be happy if Haunted Chocolatier turned out to be half the game in Stardew Valley.