I experimented with Japanese-inspired textures to offer Yatai Grasp a cozier really feel. For gameplay, I attempted to make dish high quality rely on components, cooking, and participant decisions—hoping small selections would really feel significant on this little avenue meals simulator.
Redesigning Yatai Grasp’s aesthetic and high quality system
Visible Redesign
In the course of the early phases of growth, the sport’s interface used stable, clean colours, following a useful however considerably chilly aesthetic. That was the impact I used to be aiming for—one thing easy, minimal, and austere. Nonetheless, because the mission progressed, I felt the necessity to add a hotter, extra inviting contact, one thing that evoked the feel and ambiance of bodily supplies.
That is after I started experimenting with a visible dithering sample subtly impressed by conventional Japanese designs generally known as “wagara“—ornamental motifs utilized in materials and clothes like kimonos.
Apparently, this alteration wasn’t the results of deliberate planning however somewhat a collection of informal experiments whereas exploring the brand new options of Pinta 3.0, a free, cross-platform picture editor that aspires to be the “Paint.NET” for all working techniques.
This model of the software program launched dithering instruments, which permit making use of halftone patterns to coloured surfaces. Whereas enjoying with this characteristic, I found a texture that vaguely resembled material or burlap, providing a softer, extra artisanal really feel—excellent for the spirit of the Yatai.
I consider this dithering provides some “visible persona” and helps break the rigidity of flat colours, making a extra intimate and fewer digital ambiance. I hope this alteration higher represents the concept of a small avenue stall, sometimes made with humble supplies but stuffed with character.
Rethinking High quality
Once I began creating my sport, one of many first mechanics I outlined was dish preparation. I envisioned that components would have a “high quality” ranking, and clients would consider the meals based mostly on that. At first, it appeared like an easy resolution: assign a price from 1 to 10 and calculate a median. Completed. How arduous may or not it’s? Seems, fairly a bit…
Many Variables
As I built-in extra components—correct cooking, options like Quick Cooking, components with totally different attributes—the standard scoring system stopped being a easy sum and have become a small decision-making machine. What if a participant makes use of solely glorious components? Learn how to penalize poor cooking with out being unfair? And how one can stop dishes with extra components from having an unfair benefit merely because of extra parts?
I quickly realized {that a} good scoring system not solely has to work, but additionally should steadiness the sport and clearly talk to the participant what’s occurring. It’s not nearly numbers however what these numbers signify: effort, decisions, errors, and enhancements.
After a number of changes, I ended up constructing a system that considers:
- The ingredient’s base high quality.
- Whether or not it was cooked accurately (sure, even that provides or subtracts).
- A particular adjustment if the participant makes use of quick cooking (Quick Cooking).
- And a last mapping that converts the technical rating right into a understandable analysis: Poor, Good, Glorious, and so on.
Markets and High quality
One of many components I used to be most excited to design was the market system. Identical to in actual life, not all components come from the identical place, nor have they got the identical high quality or worth.
In Yatai Grasp, every market provides totally different components with variations of their base high quality, which instantly impacts the ultimate dish’s rating.
Shopping for a higher-quality ingredient normally means paying extra, however that doesn’t assure success—it additionally must be cooked properly, have enough inventory, and require price range administration with crafty.
However, choosing cheaper components might permit for extra dishes to be ready however with a decrease high quality rating… and that may have an effect on buyer satisfaction.
With this mechanic, I aimed to simulate the day by day selections of a small meals enterprise proprietor. And this, with out totally planning it at first, helped me extra deeply join gameplay with the expertise of working aYatai.
Chances are you’ll by no means see all these calculations as a participant, however they’re there, making each resolution matter. Probably the most attention-grabbing half is that I by no means imagined how advanced designing one thing as seemingly easy as a rating could possibly be.
Is it value all this effort for a quantity? I believe so.
Thanks for studying this far.
