Eric Barone

Barone was born on December 3, 1987, in Los Angeles, California, and spent his childhood in Auburn, Washington, a suburb in the Seattle metropolitan area. He has cited the Harvest Moon series as a childhood favorite that continued to influence him into adulthood.

Although he had no formal musical training, Barone played music from a young age and was a member of several bands, including a nu metal band and an experimental pop band. For the experimental pop band's album he created his first video game, a LucasArts-inspired point-and-click game.

Barone graduated from the University of Washington Tacoma in 2011 with a degree in computer science, but did not at first consider game development as a career. Unable to find work after graduating, he began developing Stardew Valley as a way to practice programming in C#, intending to show the finished game to potential employers on his résumé.

Early projects (2008–2014)

In 2008, Barone released a game, 17CF Quest, a promotional tie-in for the music group 17 Colorful Feathers; its main character later appeared as a piece of furniture in Stardew Valley. In 2011, he created a comic strip series, Wumbus World.

In 2014, during the development of Stardew Valley, Barone took a month-long break to assemble a small mobile game for Android. Titled Air Pear, it was released on March 6, 2014; players guide a purple pear on a hoverboard between obstacles while competing for a high score.

Stardew Valley (2012–present)

Development and release

Barone began working on Stardew Valley in 2012 and released it in 2016. He created the game on his own, serving as its designer, programmer, animator, artist, composer, and writer, and worked an average of 10 hours a day, seven days a week, for four and a half years to complete it, a schedule that Game Developer described as self-imposed crunch. During this period he supported himself with part-time work as an evening usher at the Paramount Theatre.

While developing Stardew Valley, Barone moved from his parents' home to Capitol Hill, Seattle, with his girlfriend, Amber Hageman, who worked two jobs to support them.

In a November 2024 interview, Barone said that he was a member of a Seattle-based steelpan band.

In May 2021, Barone funded upgrades to the Giving Garden on the University of Washington Tacoma campus, including watering systems and a greenhouse, and his donations established a paid student coordinator position; according to the university's 2021 report, the garden donates more than 200 pounds (91 kg) of food each year. In 2024, he was listed as a donor of at least $25,000 to the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works to conserve the 1,500,000-acre (6,100 km2) corridor running from Seattle to Ellensburg along Interstate 90. In December 2025, MonoGame, the C# framework Stardew Valley uses, announced that Barone had supported the project with an initial donation of $125,000 and a commitment to donate $1,250 monthly.