Documentation + User guide

DOCUMENTATION + USER GUIDE

Documentation

1. Comparison between final game and the concept design

              As we can see in table above, there are some differences between concept design and final game. But though I think I managed to maintain the general idea of the game, I also managed to make the game much more fun and complex. By adding player that can be controlled, it lifted the feel of the game and added the reality of what the game is trying to mimic. Scoring system is same with what I had in mind initially, with the addition of combo system, just to make us more challenged to serve dishes faster. Lastly, though the game was inspired by Mini Merchant, now I can see many similarities with the Overcooked game, so in my opinion this game is more suitable to be included in Cooking Game genre.

2. Summary of feedback (Number of feedbacks gathered: 5)

• CONTROLS: Most people think that the description of gameplay on itch.io are difficult to understand and that the controls (incorporating keyboard and mouse clicking/dragging) are quite difficult.
• VISUALS: Everyone agreed that the visual is great and suits the game, though some people think that inconsistencies of the pixel size on some sprites bother them a bit. One of them says some fruits are quite confusing because they look similar.
• AUDIO: Most of them agreed that the background music suits the game, though some sounds are a little too loud. Some also suggest faster beat music.
• GAMEPLAY: Everyone agreed that the gameplay is fun and challenging, though 2 of them think that they will get bored easily. Most people also said that the number of dishes is already enough (right amount).

Some of them think that the game is too challenging for people playing it for the first time and suggested slow start and slower ramp up.

One person suggested a no-timer mode as well as a different system other than timer system:

“Maybe instead of a timer it could you can only miss a certain number of dishes, it could increase speed in how quickly orders come through over time and maybe introduce a points system for how long the dish order was waiting, then maybe you could have a high score system?”

There were also some confusions when the ingredients are put in the equipment, it was unclear whether the ingredients are correct/ incorrect.

• BUGS: Sometimes there are some ingredients that could not be clicked and dragged from the equipment. Also, some ingredients that are stuck on the equipment after finished cooking and cannot be removed.

What has changed based on the game testing feedback:

• Simplify the controls: originally, I used “Space” to start cooking, now the final game use same button “E” to pick up ingredients as well as to start cooking. I also prevent the ingredient to be picked up using mouse when they are still on the ground and supposed to be picked up by the character (hoping that this makes people follow the game flow better).
• Slight change on some of the sprites’ colors: made the apples look more red than the tomatoes.
• Adjusted some sound effect and music volume.
• Added combo system: when the dishes are completed within a certain amount of time, player will get combo multiplier. This will hopefully motivate the player to complete dishes faster and feel it more rewarding.
• Adjusted the speed of new order: make the speed slower at the start, then speed up when player has completed more orders.
• Added sound effect and UI dialog: when the player added ingredients into the equipment, there is an audio and UI dialog that shows what ingredient has been added into it.
• Implemented high score system.
• Pause the game timer and order when recipe book is opened.
  
• Fixing the bugs: Player now cannot put more than certain number of ingredients into the equipment, there is an audio that tells you that you cannot put ingredient anymore. This is important to fix the extra ingredient that is stuck after finished cooking.  Player also cannot move around the ingredients that have been put in the equipment. If you have put the wrong ingredients, the only way to reset it is by pressing “Q” which makes you lose some points. This is also important to fix a bug. The bug that causes player not to be able to pick up ingredients from the shelves have been around for long time, and it happens at random times on random ingredients. I tried to adjust the colliders around the shelves and the ingredients and change the Z position of the ingredient prefabs. This might or might not have fixed the issues. I have not encountered the bug since I fixed this, but not 100% sure.
• Added the How-To-Play screen in-game.

3. Asset List

a. Animations (folder)

                            - idle

                             - pick up: animation of player picking up ingredients from the ground

                             - walking: 4 directional animation of player walking

b. Audio (folder): all sound effects and background music

c. Fonts (folder): UI fonts that are used in the game (for recipe book and all other UI texts)

d. Prefabs (folder): ingredients and dishes prefabs

e. Scenes (folder): title screen scene and game scene

f. Scripts (folder):

 - ChoppingBoard2: checking if the chopping board has no more than certain number of ingredient and has correct ingredients listed for sandwich dish

- ChoppingBoardTimer: start and stop timer when start/finish cooking, then spawn the finished dish at the counter

- ClickAndDragIngredients: checking if an ingredient is on a slot, if it is then it allows the ingredient to be clicked and dragged to be put onto an equipment, otherwise the ingredient cannot be clicked. If the ingredient is released somewhere else other than equipment, it will go back to its original location

- ClickTheDish: allows the finished dishes to be clicked and dragged onto the counter and add money when an order is fulfilled or deduct money when wrong order is served. The script also destroys the dish after serving

- ClosedOvenScript: referencing closed oven game object

- CounterPositionScript: referencing the counter position

- DebugLogScript : showing and destroying debug message (for when ingredients are added into equipment and showing combo multiplier)

- EggOnPan: referencing EggOnPan game object

- Fridge: checking if the fridge has no more than certain number of ingredient and has correct ingredients listed for fruit sorbet dish

- FridgeOpeningScript: script to change closed fridge to opened fridge sprite when an ingredient enters the fridge

- FridgeTimer: start and stop timer when start/finish cooking, then spawn the finished dish at the counter

- Fryer: checking if the fryer has no more than certain number of ingredient and has correct ingredients listed for fries dish

- FryerTimer: start and stop timer when start/finish cooking, then spawn the finished dish at the counter

- GameOverManager: script to show game over panel when the game timer reaches zero and show restart button to load game scene again

- HowToPlayPanel: show how to play UI panel when clicked

- ObjectGrabber2: allow player to grab ingredients from the ground when the player is near the ingredient, then move that ingredient into an empty available slot on the shelf

- OrderSystem: script to generate random order and remove them when an order is fulfilled or expired. This script also manages combo system, adding order faster when more dishes have been fulfilled

- Oven: checking if the oven has no more than certain number of ingredient and has correct ingredients listed for apple pie dish

- OvenTimer: start and stop timer when start/finish cooking, then spawn the finished dish at the counter

- Pan: checking if the pan has no more than certain number of ingredient and has correct ingredients listed for omelet dish

- PanTimer: start and stop timer when start/finish cooking, then spawn the finished dish at the counter

- PlayerCooking: checking if player near equipment and equipment has correct ingredients. If both conditions are met, player will start cooking and equipment will start their timer. This script also allows player to destroy ingredients from an equipment if they are near the equipment and deduct the money when player does so

- PlayerMovement: 4-way player movement and its animation

- RecipeBookUI: script to show the recipe book UI panel by clicking and hide it again when X button is pressed, as well as pausing the game timer and order when recipe is open

- ScoreManager: managing high score system

- TimerScript: script for game timer, showing the timer UI and opening game over panel when the timer reaches zero

- TitleScreenManager: change title screen into game screen when UI button is pressed

- TreeProduces: spawn random number of ingredients when trees are clicked

d. Sprites (folder): sprites for player, vegetables and fruits, trees and plants, kitchen equipment and environment, as well as outdoor environment, title cover, UI button sprites

e. Tiles (folder): tilemap for outdoor and restaurant (kitchen) area

4. Source List

Sprites: 

Fruit and vegetables sprites https://zeschpix.itch.io/pixel-foodfruitvegetables

Dishes sprites https://ghostpixxells.itch.io/pixelfood

Player, kitchen tilemap, and kitchen equipment sprites https://limezu.itch.io/moderninteriors

Outdoor tilemap as well as apple tree, orange tree, and peach tree https://limezu.itch.io/serenevillagerevamped

Crop sprites (potato, onion, tomato, lettuce, chicken) https://bagong-games.itch.io/hana-caraka-crops-pack

Audio:

Background music https://www.zapsplat.com/music/fields-of-joy-an-upbeat-happy-and-positive-track-...

Title screen music https://www.zapsplat.com/music/north-wales-at-dawn-birdsong-along-country-lane-w...

Sound effect – picking up ingredients https://www.zapsplat.com/music/cartoon-bubble-popping-or-other-pop-7/

Sound effect – expired order https://www.zapsplat.com/music/game-error-tone-7/

Sound effect – dishes ready https://www.zapsplat.com/music/single-ring-on-reception-desk-bell-1/

Sound effect – money added https://www.zapsplat.com/music/50p-coin-set-down-on-other-coins-handful-of-loose...

Sound effect – click button https://www.zapsplat.com/music/bright-button-click-3/

Sound effect – sending wrong order https://www.zapsplat.com/music/game-sound-percussive-negative-lose-fail-tone-1/

Sound effect – pan and fryer when cooking https://www.zapsplat.com/music/bacon-frying/

Sound effect – fridge and oven when cooking https://www.zapsplat.com/music/closing-a-small-fridge-door-1/

Sound effect – chopping board when cooking https://www.zapsplat.com/music/celery-chop-with-knife-on-wooden-chopping-board-s...

Sound effect – putting ingredient in the equipment https://www.zapsplat.com/music/cartoon-pop-or-plop-version-2/

Sound effect – achieve high score https://www.zapsplat.com/music/game-sound-bell-keys-win-or-success-tone/

Made my own title screen.

Fonts:

https://datagoblin.itch.io/monogram

Scripts:

Most of the scripts are firstly generated from ChatGPT to help me understanding how most of the syntaxes and functions work, then I edited them to implement them into the game and linked them with each other scripts. I have zero programming experience, so using ChatGPT in the making of this game is extremely important, from understanding IT logic, syntax, Unity functions, as well as fixing errors in the game.

5. User Guide

FARM to PLATE

Description

Farm to Plate is a cooking game where you as a chef sourcing your own ingredients from your farm. You will be busy harvesting the ingredients from the farm and cooking food to serve your customers. Firstly, you need to know the recipe for all your dishes, then look at your orders and grab the required ingredients. You have limited storage space in the kitchen, so you need to be mindful and grab only what you need. You have limited time to do all that, the goal is to get as much profit as possible in 5 minutes.

1. LEFT-CLICK trees/crops for resources (Once you harvest them, you need to wait for certain period of time until you can harvest again).

2. WASD key to move player near fruits/vegetables you want to pick up,.

3. E key to pick up fruits/vegetables.

4. LEFT-CLICK and DRAG ingredients from shelves to equipment (could be Chopping Board, Oven, Pan, Freezer, or Fryer)

5. E to begin cooking when player is near the equipment or Q to clear the equipment from ingredients (YOU LOSE MONEY EVERYTIME YOU DO THIS!) You are free to walk away from the equipment while they are cooking, except for chopping board.

6. LEFT-CLICK and DRAG them to the BLUE COUNTER to serve.