‘Stardew Valley’ creator confirms quirky farming bug has been wasting your time

Stardew Valley creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has confirmed an odd farming quirk that’s been part of the game for the past eight years.

• READ MORE: ‘Stardew Valley’ creator Eric Barone discusses his life in music, concert tour, and ‘Haunted Chocolatier’

Later this month, Barone is due to release a “major” update for Stardew Valley and has been teasing what it will entail on social media by posting a random line from the yet-to-be-released patch notes.

The first revealed that Barone has “fixed bug where it was faster to harvest left-to-right than right-to-left”. The farming bug has apparently been a part of Stardew Valley since it launched in 2016. “The left facing harvest animation was 100ms longer than it should’ve been,” he confirmed.

“To clarify, the update will make them both equally fast, not equally slow (right-to-left will become as fast as left-to-right),” he added.

“I knew it. People said I was crazy,” replied one fan, with another adding: “Rest in Peace my favourite silly bug <3. Still going to farm left to right though, it just feels ~right~.”

…that was a thing?

i had 500+ hours on this game and i didnt notice

— ִ ࣪𖤐 Pau ִ ࣪𖤐 (@polengdownwards) March 12, 2024

The 1.6 update is set to launch March 19 for PC users, with console and mobile following quickly behind. “I really really don’t want a big delay between [them],” said Barone.

The last update for Stardew Valley came in 2020, before Barone pivoted to work on Haunted Chocolatier. Originally the 1.6 update was planned as a small undertaking that would mostly follow on mod support but the scope soon shifted.

In September, Barone teased the introduction of a trio of in-game festivals, with 1.6 also bringing with it more than 100 lines of new dialogue, new items, outfits and recipes as well as the ability for cats and dogs to wear hats.

As it stands Barone’s Haunted Chocolatier doesn’t have a release date. Speaking to NME, he confirmed the “life-affirming” RPG about ghosts and chocolate would be released whenever he’s satisfied with it. 

In other news, it looks like the successor to the Switch might be called the Nintendo Attach.