Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone (aka ConcernedApe) briefly took the stage at the New York stop of Stardew's Festival of Seasons concert tour to talk about his music and thank the audience. The opening statement was shared on Twitter by aftermath Co-Founder Nathan Grayson.
“Thank you everyone, this is my first time ever in New York City and I appreciate the warm welcome,” Barone told the crowd. “You know, growing up I always wanted to be a composer, but no one ever wanted to hear my music.
“After many years of failure, I finally discovered the secret: all I had to do was create an entire video game from scratch, and then you would finally hear my music!”
It was charming restraint from Barone, but his music definitely struck a chord with Stardew fans: Festival of Seasons it is almost completely sold out, even during his extensive international career. However, there is good news for Stardew fans in Australia, Thailand, Italy or Singapore: you still have a chance to secure a ticket.
Stardew's soundtrack has become an icon of gaming music itself, with peaceful, nostalgic tracks that feel like they should be part of a lost relic of your childhood – for my money, that Winter theme In particular, it's really some bleak, icy world core stuff.
Barone's story reminds me a little of folk musician and Mountain Goats founder John Darnielle – although for Darnielle it was his poetry readings that no one paid attention to, which led to him accompanying his lyrics with an acoustic guitar. Maybe you can learn a lesson here, not just in making an entire game to get people to listen to your music, but in finding the perfect medium that suits your artistic sensibilities.
