How a stolen car led the creator of mega mod Stardew Valley Expanded to "every modder's dream" of working with Eric Barone on update 1.6

gamesradar.com:

One of the most wholesome stories about Stardew Valley's 1.6 update launch was that the developer behind the farming sim's most beloved modding project, Stardew Valley Expanded, helped make it happen. And yet that might not have come to be if FlashShifter hadn't fallen on hard times after an unfortunate brush with car theft.

Speaking to GamesRadar+, FlashShifter explains the series of events that led them to officially work on the game they had been modding. Both they and Stardew Valley creator Eric 'Concerned Ape' Barone live in Seattle, though, while it was always a "dream" to work on the game, FlashShifter "never asked him for anything" as they "just figured it was off-limits because he's a guy who does everything himself."

"I had always wanted to work for him after modding his game for a year," they say. "It was always kind of a dream of mine, but I never asked him even though we both live in Seattle. The odds of that are kind of crazy. The guy who has the largest mod for your game also lives in the same city as you."

Things would change, though, after FlashShifter fell on hard times.

"Sometime last year, I kind of ran into some financial trouble," they say. "My car got stolen. I had to get a new one and I was living off my mod income, which was Patreon and PayPal donations. 

"Having your vehicle stolen – I didn't have theft insurance, I was an idiot – I was kind of screwed. I kind of panicked and I ended up meeting with him one-on-one at his office and I asked him if he would hire me. He knew who I was, but I never asked him for anything because I kind of just figured it was off-limits because he's a guy who does everything himself. Why would he need someone like me? But I asked him and he did end up pretty much immediately hiring me a couple of days later after that. I've been working for him ever since and also making sure that my mod is ready for the huge update."

Stardew Valley Expanded has reached 2 million players on Nexus Mods! I'm humbled by all of your