Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone has detailed some of the new content for the forthcoming update to Stardew Valley on his Twitter account.
some things I've added for the new content update: *new "town event" in winter *new type of collection that you can start in your first winter *Signs (can display any item on them) *More outdoor decorations (some change w/ season) *More NPC "events" *A way to re-spec professions
— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) December 20, 2017
Currently, Stardew Valley is building out its multiplayer feature, a long-requested part of the game. Details of how exactly the multiplayer would work were revealed in August of this year with a beta expected to begin before the end of 2017. Unfortunately, the beta was delayed until the first quarter of 2018 because the team wanted to get in a bit of extra polish and ensure that the update went through the proper quality assurance checks.
Aside from the multiplayer feature in next year's update, Stardew Valley will also see new content added by ConcernedApe. Some of the images released at the time of the delay announcement indicated an aquatic theme of sorts, and now we've got some words from the man himself (though no images) to flesh out some more of what we can expect.
There will be a new "town event" during the Winter season, and there will be something new to collect that can be started in your first Winter season (likely indicating a Winter-specific item). Signs that can display any item on them are being added, which should make for organizing things a bit easier. We'll get more NPC events (which is always nice) and a few new outdoor decorations that will change as the seasons of the game progress. The last one will be a way to re-spec the game's professions, specializations which you select as you level up the different skills in the game. (My money is on some kind of wizardry and/or witchcraft, a popular choice for changing aspects of your life after the fact in the game.)
When exactly we'll get these new goodies is still up in the air, and ConcernedApe had previously stated that he'll be keeping some of the new things secret because it's "more fun" that way. The multiplayer update for Stardew Valley will be available for PC, Mac, & Linux first with the consoles to follow.
What do you think of the new content ConcernedApe has outlined for Stardew Valley? Are there any items or features that you feel the game is particularly lacking? Let us know in the comments below!