The intention to bring multiplayer features to last year"s popular farming simulator RPG, Stardew Valley, was revealed earlier this year but with a lack of any details on how it would be implemented into the game. Today, in a blog posted on the game"s official website, more details on the approaching mode were announced, even including a release window.
The multiplayer mode will be restricted to online play only, with the developer saying that "Local multiplayer, split-screen and PVP are not planned at this point."
Players will be able to invite up to three others into their world, each taking the role of a farmhand, with the ability to do most things the main player is able to 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," the developer added.
However, only the host will have a say in certain decisions, such as when will the crew go to sleep, when to start and end festivals, among others. Player-to-player marriage is also a planned feature but will work differently to the game"s normal method of marrying NPCs.
The developer elaborated that implementing multiplayer into a game that was initially built from the ground up to be a single-player title "is notoriously hard", saying:
"Effort so far has been focused on overcoming the biggest technical hurdle: synchronizing multiple games over the Internet. Almost every source file has been touched, and 15,000 lines of code have been rewritten."
Even with all this progression, the multiplayer mode is still some ways off, with the developer expecting to launch the mode for Windows, macOS, and Linux in early 2018. Before that, however, there will be a multiplayer beta that will be available for Steam users, to help the developer test out the feature.
Stardew Valley multiplayer is also heading to the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, but only after its debut on PC.
Source: Stardew Valley
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