Checkpoint 6 - Updates and Planned Updates

Weekly Devlog

CHECKPOINT 6 – Updates and Planned updates

I joined a game testing on 18 October 2024 and gathered some feedbacks of the game.

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).
• 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.
• 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.
• Adjust 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.

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.

What has changed based on the game testing feedback:

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.

Planned updates:

- Keen to add a mode that was suggested on the game testing: no timer mode, game ends when you fail to fulfill certain number of dishes

- Might add different types of achievement/ rank when you reach certain points