The co-op features were a big selling point for the eventual release ofStardew Valleyon Nintendo Switch and mobile platforms. While these platforms couldn’t utilize local multiplayer via split-screen, they are still the perfect platforms to play online with friends. Even on optimal platforms though,Stardew Valley’s multiplayerleft much to be desired thatHaunted Chocolatiercan stand to resolve or at least address.
Ultimately for multiplayer inStardew Valley, it was a host’s world that other players could help contribute to. Additional players could have their own housing and character on the host’s farm, but outside of that, the host was mainly in charge of progressingStardew Valley’s story and companion relationships. This meant that additional players were somewhat limited in the tasks and contributions they could perform. Not giving other players the level of authority that the host has inStardew Valleywas likely a way to avoid some messy complications, but it still could have given a little more leeway to additional players.Haunted Chocolatieris expected to carry over a lot ofStardew Valley’s multiplayer elements, yet there’s plenty of room to expand on the existing features as well as learn from other multiplayer games.
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How Haunted Chocolatier Can Improve Upon Stardew Valley’s Multiplayer Experience
There are a few features thatHaunted Chocolatiercould explore to provide a favorable co-op experience compared toStardew Valley’s multiplayer. For starters, it was very easy for players that weren’t the host to be back seated whenStardew Valley’s storycame to major events. Majority-vote authority in the grand scheme of the world would be a significant improvement. Otherwise, elaborating on Host privileges with a list of settings is a must-have forHaunted Chocolatier. While looking to solveStardew Valley’s multiplayer limitations could prove to be a worthwhile effort, there are still plenty of other options thatHaunted Chocolatiershould consider.
One route thatHaunted Chocolatiercould look into is implementing private server-based multiplayer, instead of client hosting. This may not address some of the particular limitations ofStardew Valley’s multiplayer elements, but it could prove plenty useful for groups of all player counts. Being able to contribute and play without relying on the host being online would be a healthy change of pace betweengames from the ConcernedApe developer.
An option that could provide a lot of spice and variety thatStardew Valleymissed out on is to differentiate the playable characters. InStardew Valley,players could customize the appearance of their characters down to the clothing colors and hairstyles but their unique potential stopped there. Being able to choose from different skill buffs or unique attributes could help players to streamlineHaunted Chocolatier, and it could carry over into helping solo players as well.Don’t Starve’s different playable charactersare a perfect example of what different playable characters can offer to add additional replayability and variety.Haunted Chocolatiershould learn from the different positive attributes and unique tools that differentDon’t Starvecharacters provide to each playthrough, while ideally steering clear of the negative tradeoffs.
Borderlands 3’s distinguished cooperative modes are also something that might be worth looking at. Even though they are drastically different from recent mainstream games in the genre,Stardew ValleyandHaunted Chocolatierare looter games at heart. Different from pastgames in theBorderlandsfranchise,Borderlands 3gave players the option to either share loot drops or earn them individually, known as “competitive and cooperative” multiplayer settings. In essence,Borderlands 3’s cooperative multiplayer setting allowed each player to benefit from loot sources. Implementing a feature like this inHaunted Chocolatiermight call for a fully customizable list of the kinds of items that could be shared, but it would be plenty useful in any capacity.
Haunted Chocolatieris in development.
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