MrPodunkian is a game dev that helped work on some of Stardew Valley’s updates alongside ConcernedApe. Since then though, they’ve parted ways and MrPodunkian is working on a life sim of his own using an upgraded version of the game engine that he wrote and calls Sanpo.
To say that it looks fantastic would be an understatement.
MrPodunkian breathes so much life and energy into every object in every scene. He creates interesting, unique, and endearing characters, and he’s giving us so many updates. It’s hard to know where he’s making the time to do all of this.
So let’s take a look at some of his updates that I’ve found most exciting! If you’d like to see more, be sure to follow MrPodunkian on Twitter/X.
Customize Your House
The structure isn’t fixed in this game! You can shape your home with a really intuitive-looking tools. This feature has me extremely excited.
Although everything about it will need refining (this is all day-one work), this came together a little faster than I was expecting. Basically, yes of course, you can expand your homes in my game, but you can also REALLY expand your homes too !! pic.twitter.com/kDeFGcMqpM
— Arthur ‘Mr. Podunkian’ Lee (@MrPodunkian) November 7, 2023
And decorating your house looks much easier and more flexible.
To wrap up my week on home customization, I finally got rid of the furniture shop and incorporated it directly into the decoration mode. You can also customize the trim on your walls, which is minor, but is an extra thing for aspiring decorators to play with! pic.twitter.com/kl1HyIGMKe
— Arthur ‘Mr. Podunkian’ Lee (@MrPodunkian) November 13, 2023
And if that wasn’t enough (it was), you can put photos you’ve taken in your house!
As promised, you can now put up your photographs. I used my house customization feature to build a cool little gallery! I save some metadata with the photos in the game, so eventually NPCs might even be able to react to them !! pic.twitter.com/RTsUJBU2vl
— Arthur ‘Mr. Podunkian’ Lee (@MrPodunkian) November 9, 2023
Extreme Character Customization
This was something I always wanted more of when playing Stardew Valley, and it looks like he’s getting really creative with it.
For the longest time, ponytails and buns were their own hairstyles, but now they’re modular parts that you can add to any of the customizable styles in the game (in addition to bangs and “sides”). More excitingly though, you can blend your hair color using the new ombré option!! pic.twitter.com/Nnb84v5A9I
— Arthur ‘Mr. Podunkian’ Lee (@MrPodunkian) December 2, 2024
Upgrade Systems
Upgrade weapons, armor, and items!
The UI needs a little bit more art polish, but the item upgrading is feeling pretty fun already! It can be used to upgrade weapons and armor using a variety of items in the game to grant them debilitating effects, buff their attributes, among other things! pic.twitter.com/sePIwNExqW
— Arthur ‘Mr. Podunkian’ Lee (@MrPodunkian) November 17, 2024
Automation
You can build launchers and conveyor belts to automate tasks like smelting ore!
People on the discord’ve seen this already, but this weekend, I worked on the game’s automation. This is a little shed I created for smelting ores. While playtesting, I realized I needed a way to move stuff over other stuff, and so I made the Launcher. https://t.co/o9ony8E9hi pic.twitter.com/E1M6K1gHvP
— Arthur ‘Mr. Podunkian’ Lee (@MrPodunkian) October 22, 2024
More Leveling Up
It looks like we’re going to get an opportunity to level up a bigger variety of skills, which I think will add a lot of fun to the game.
You’re gonna have to level up your Eating skill a bit before you can fully appreciate spicy foods… pic.twitter.com/wI2BzX360q
— Arthur ‘Mr. Podunkian’ Lee (@MrPodunkian) July 28, 2024
Here’s a look at a large number of the skills we’ll be able to level up.
Yeah, there are a bunch of different skills all with their own little skill upgrade trees. You can even level up “Sleeping,” a skill I have yet to master in real life. pic.twitter.com/E0OdlTcfS5
— Arthur ‘Mr. Podunkian’ Lee (@MrPodunkian) July 28, 2024
When’s the Release?
MrPodunkian is the sole developer for the game. Which makes this sort of information difficult to determine. But he’s still doing his best to estimate the release date. Initially, he’d aimed for a 2024 release date. Aggressive deadlines are meant to push us and 2024 went by, but we saw a lot of progress. When asked again, he replied saying “It won’t slip into 2026, but I just don’t feel confident enough to cite a specific quarter just yet.”
However, as of November 26, 2025, he’s updated us that the 2025 window has slipped. Dang. That’s okay though. We’ve all waited longer for things. So look forward to 2026.
What to do while we wait?
Keep an eye on the official SunkissedCity.com website (the .net site is not official and has inaccurate AI generated information). It says its “Coming Soon”. However, if MrPodunkian needs any help with that website while he focuses on what he does best, he can definitely reach out to me on Twitter or my Web Design Agency website! 🤞 😅
Okay! Shameless plug over! More seriously, you should go wishlist the game on Steam!
Follow MrPodunkian or join his Discord server for updates!
I’ll keep updating you guys when I see anything that really excites me. Did I miss any features that you’re stoked about? Comment them below!
