Eric Barone makes $125,000 donation to the C# framework Stardew Valley makes use of, in addition to ‘an ongoing month-to-month dedication’ in what the workforce behind it calls an ‘extraordinary present of assist’

Eric Barone, the developer behind all-time nice farming sim Stardew Valley, has had his head down engaged on the upcoming Haunted Chocolatier because it was introduced in 2021. However he is additionally flirted with a little bit of gaming-minded philanthropy, publicly musing about whether or not he’d save the Minecraft-like Hytale earlier than it was bought again to its unique homeowners; and right this moment, the open-source C# framework MonoGame introduced it obtained a large donation from Barone that kicks off a long-term relationship.

MonoGame introduced in a submit on X that Barone “has made a really beneficiant preliminary donation of $125,000 and an ongoing month-to-month dedication to the challenge. This extraordinary present of assist, alongside ongoing contributions from different studios and people, helps guarantee MonoGame continues to be the open-source C# framework that recreation builders of all sizes can depend on.”

Whereas Stardew Valley wasn’t initially constructed utilizing MonoGame—it switched to the framework from XNA in 2021—it has been used to make all kinds of indie hits. You will discover an inventory of video games that make the most of the framework on its web site, starting from reverse-horror recreation Carrion to Celeste to cutesy RTS Tooth and Tail.

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I can not converse to the precise benefits supplied by XNA or derivatives like MonoGame as I’m no programmer, nevertheless it looks as if a web optimistic for potential recreation builders to have open-source choices like this win the assist of figures like Barone. It jogs my memory a little bit of when the Terraria dev dunked on Unity by donating to open-source recreation engines Godot and FNA.