Stardew Valley Gets Multiplayer News, Expected Release Window

Stardew Valley, the very well-received farming game from Concerned Ape, a single dev published by Chucklefish, has released more news about multiplayer features coming to the game.

Multiplayer, as well as a Nintendo Switch port, was announced back in February. Today, Chucklefish released a blog post to talk about progress made in the endeavor.

The multiplayer features have had a few technical issues, but they've recently found their way through them. Enough so that they shared how the mode will work.

"Shortly after you begin the game, Robin will offer to build up to 3 cabins on your farm. Each cabin will house a farmhand, controlled by one of your friends.

Farmhands can do almost anything the main player can do. They can farm, mine, fight, fish, forage, marry NPCs and take part in festivals. Each player has their own inventory. When a farmhand is not connected, their inventory can be managed through a chest in their cabin."

Certain decisions are strictly up to the main player, such as when to sleep, when to enter/leave festivals, and whether to open the town center or side with Joja Company. They also mentioned that running multiplayer will not require a server. Friends can be invited through Steam, with non-Steam versions' mechanisms still being determined.

Local multiplayer, split-screen and PVP has not been planned as of yet, but they said most of the work is complete and listed what's left to develop.

• Implementing the farmhand cabins
• UI and menus
• Events and festivals
• Multiplayer NPC relationships
• Polish, testing, and optimization

A beta for this update is expected by the end of the year, while the launch is expected early 2018 for Windows, Mac and Lunux. Consoles will be getting the patch too, though, shortly after the PC releases.