Hello, amazing Space Chefs!
We’re back with a fresh batch of updates, improvements, and sneak peeks to share with you. Your feedback and support have been fantastic and are helping shape the final version of Space Chef.
What’s next: Polish, polish, polish!
We’re thrilled to announce that Space Chef has officially entered a proper Alpha stage, meaning that all main features and content are complete. There are still a lot of bugs to squash, and even more polish to be made.
We're also doing tweaks to the UI and feedback, to increase the satisfaction when you've worked like crazy to get a unique and mythical recipe to another happy customer.
The delicious Shimmerspores on Caveron can only be harvested by walking nearby and triggering an explosion. But watch out, the Splittler isn't too happy to see you in the caves!
Right now we’re focusing on making the first 30 minutes of the game as exciting and engaging as possible, and giving a taste of the rest of the game. We want every player to experience an adventure packed with exploration, cooking, and a few surprises along the way.
Gameplay improvements & challenges
We’ve been paying close attention to feedback on our death and inventory mechanics. Many of you suggested adding a "Keep Inventory" setting, which we added, but we're still discussing it - should it be left in the game, or should we replace it with a "drop stuff where you die, so you can go back and pick it up" feature?
We want a perfect balance of challenge and fun and make it feel rewarding for risk-takers without making it too easy for the faint of heart. Balance, balance, balance…
Another feature we recently added is the "I'm about to die" UI effect that covers the edges of the screen. A similar effect is shown when you're about to freeze to death or get cooked by the Cyclonian heat. And don't forget about dying of lack of oxygen or getting poisoned. There are so many ways to die, and we can't wait to see you try them all out!
Notice the red outlines of the screen? You will if you keep fighting wildlife with that Dull Knife!
Ultra wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide update
One of our goals is making sure Space Chef looks great no matter where you’re playing - from a small Steam Deck screen to the widest of ultrawide monitors. We’ve refined our UI to make everything look crisp and fitting seamlessly across different resolutions.
See more on the sides on a wider screen, as we're supporting up to 21:9 monitors. Even wider monitors work of course, but will have black bars on the sides, to avoid spoiling too much...
New delivery UI and special orders
To make it more worthwhile to discover and deliver new dishes, and always keeping your menu fresh, we're currently working on a new system that keeps track of what you serve.
This has the effect that if you just keep serving those Beefle Skewers, after a while, you will get less and less reputation for each order, until your customer won't order anything from you. Guess what, it's time to refresh your menu!
To visualize this and to make it clear when you're doing something great, we've added this new bouncy delivery report that shows the quality and the popularity of what you just served, among other things.
We're also planning on adding stats to Gastropedia, so you can easily keep track of what's hot and what's not and what you've been delivering so far.
Work in progress of the new food delivery stats
Another thing to keep things fresh, is that we’re working on adding a variety of Special Orders that come with special bonuses. Think rush orders, pirate encounters, VIP orders and even long-distance challenges.
Every now and then, an order comes to keep you on your toes, with opportunities to build even more reputation and meet new customers across the void of space.
Mysteries await: Ancient ruins
A little tease for the explorers among you! Some planets have mysterious ruins that you may have come across. At first glance, they’re inactive, but apparently, there is some way to activate them… What could be lurking there? Delicious ancient food? Ancient spoiled food? Whatever it is, it's ancient, and you'll have to play to find out!
If only you could hear the mysterious sound they make, I guess you'll have to come visit the Hum Dum Ruins.
More Localization!
We want Space Chef to reach as many players as possible by localizing the game in various languages. We've been hard at work putting each and every word and dialog in a giant database, and it currently has nearly 50,000 words!
We're still working out which languages the game will be available in, but we'll update you more on that later.
Sound design and dynamic music
Sound really makes you feel immersed in a world, and you can hear everything between a Gnibbit's yawn to a Graffles honk, or even the satisfying "plop" of UI icons popping up.
Our excellent sound designer Hugo, and our brilliant composer Paul have been working together to make Space Chef sound really good.
Nothing beats the sound of sizzling Ratoids on the grill
Did you notice that the music in your home is subtly different between day and night? And as you get further into space, the music changes as well. And we've recently added a special soundtrack when your restaurant is open.
Every detail matters in making Space Chef feel alive!
Gotta cook 'em all!
If you're one of the players who love unlocking achievements and finding everything there is to find in a game, we've got good news for you. We have hidden mysterious recipes and secret weapons, and we will also be adding lots of achievements later.
All this for you completionists who want to go all out and complete everything Space Chef has to offer.
So many empty slots. Wait, what, 144 recipes? I gotta cook 'em all!
Want to keep up-to-date on the latest cosmic cuisine? 🍲
Then don’t forget to mosey on over to our Discord to shoot the breeze with us and follow our exploits on social media at @SpaceChefGame 💬
