Stardew Valley's latest update features some important technical changes for modders
There are some general fixes in the update as well.
Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone has released a new update for Stardew Valley on PC, and it contains some important technical changes for modders, quality of life changes, and some bug fixes.
For modders, update 1.5.5 contains architectural changes. Basically, the update migrates the games from XNA (.NET 4.5.2) to MonoGame (.NET 5) which will "futureproof" the game allowing mods to access more than 4GB of RAM. Various internal changes were also made for mod authors.
Some of the quality of life changes include the ability to purchase craft stacks of up to 25 items at a time, settings now defaulting to what they were the last time saved the game when creating a new save, farm buildings can be moved to or built onto artifact spots, and you can now buy back any items you may have accidentally sold during the same shopping session.
You can also expect some localization, cosmetic, and general fixes
There is also a 1.5.6 update in the works which will add more modding support to the game, including some "long requested 'holy grail' changes" which should make some aspects of modding much easier in the future. ConcernedApe and the rest of his team are working alongside PathosChild, creator of the popular modding tool SMAPI, to help accomplish this task.
According to the blog post, there may be some new content in 1.5.6 as well, but ConcernedApe said "it’s not going to be anything huge like 1.5." which added a new island, split-screen co-op, and quests.
Stardew Valley has sold over 15 million copies on all platforms since its initial release in 2016, and its creator is working on a new title called Haunted Chocolatier. Not much is known about it at present, only that it will “explore more fantastical possibilities,” and features a haunted castle, and ghosts. We can also expect it to be "positive, uplifting, and life-affirming."
Haunted Chocolatier isn’t the only game ConcernedApe is working on. Back in 2020, he revealed he was working on two new games, but both were a long way off from completion.