Hi there, purring pal🐈!
First of all, we just wanted to mention that Cat Cafe Manager is showing up on the ✨Steam Home Page✨ today, which is a pretty big deal for a small developer like us! This extra featuring also comes with a discount, so for those who don't own a copy yet, you can get it -65% off for the next 24 hours!
And here is the rest of our newsletter about Cat Cafe Manager 2: Big City Bliss! 🩷
To begin, we want to thank everyone who shared their thoughts, excitement, and questions so far. It's very helpful for us to hear how you feel about our still developing game. Keep in mind that everything we show in our newsletters is still a work in progress. 👷🛠️
🏊♀️Concept Artist Deep Dive
For this Deep Dive, we'd like to give the mic to Esmeé, one of our talented game artists. She's been busy designing colorful kitchen appliances you can use to prepare any sort of delish dish for your customers. Let's learn more about her workflow in ✨Esmeé's Art Atelier✨!
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🎤 Hi everyone! I'm Esmeé, and I create concept art for Cat Cafe Manager 2 alongside our art director, Carmen. In this newsletter, I'd like to show you what I've been cooking up. And yes, I mean that quite literally, because I've been working on kitchen appliances!
💛Let's Get Cookin'!💛
In Cat Cafe Manager 2, you'll be able to create all sorts of dishes. With the right ingredients, you can follow different recipes by using a variety of machines.
My particular design challenge was to make each machine look as if they would actually be able to create your envisioned dish on their own. That way, the player (you!), can tend to other things that need your attention (like serving customers or scratching your favorite cafe cat behind the ear).
Concept Art of a Wok Pan
💛Needs More Whimsy!💛
A microwave is just a microwave, so looking up references for an appliance like that is easy. But in the world of Cat Cafe Manager 2, some appliances need a more 💫whimsical touch💫. Sometimes, I need to come up with unique machines, which is a lot of fun but can also be tricky. I don’t know about you, but personally, I don’t have a candy machine in my kitchen to use as reference. So… how do you go about designing one?🤔
Concept Art of Everyday Cooking Appliances
💛Making This Thing Work💛
In the case of the candy machine, I researched how real candy is handcrafted. I sketched everything out and noted each step (from kneading to pulling, and so on). I then put every step of the handcrafting process together, combining them all into one big monstrosity of an appliance. Not because that's the design I want to go for, but because it helps me visualize which elements would actually be needed in order to have a functioning candy machine.🍬 After that, I take a step back and ask myself which parts of the process I can simplify or remove.
Candy Machine Research Sketches
Once that step is done, I pick a sketch I like and create a few variations of the object. While doing so, I keep in mind the angle from which I want the player character to approach and use the machine. When working on these appliances, I love drawing inspiration from Play-Doh playsets and Habbo Hotel furniture.🩷
Concept Art of Possible Variations
Final Concept Art, Ready to Be Exported as an Image (in PNG Format)
After receiving a round of feedback from lead artist Carmen and/or creative director Rick, I refine the sketch we like best. Depending on the complexity of the object, I also draw a side or back perspective for our 3D-modeller Mischa and add some notes.
🍭And... TADA! that is how you end up with a Candy Machine design that looks both fun and functional! :-) Below, you can see what it looks like when these 2D concepts are translated to 3D!
The 3D Model of the Candy Machine!
... aaand From Another Angle! Yay!
Thank you so much for reading Esmeé's Art Atelier! I hope you learned something new and that it got you excited for all the cool appliances that are still in the works.
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🍰
Aside from Esmeé's hard work on the kitchen appliances, our programming team has been just as busy creating buzz in the cafe kitchen! We recently finished the basic foundations of cafe gameplay, which is super exciting! We can't wait to show you more once we've refined the rough edges, dusted off some surfaces, and added a few cherries on top! 😸
🫶Games We Love & Support
We want to congratulate our friends from Crinkle Cut Games, who very successfully launched their game Discounty last month! In this fun RPG, you get to manage your own supermarket. Get caught up in small-town drama, organise and plan your shop's layout, and strike lucrative trade deals as you expand your secretive aunt's business empire. Go check them out if you're interested in not just opening a cat cafe, but a discount supermarket, too! 🛒
😽Cats Awareness Sale
Both Cat Cafe Managerand Cat Cafe Manager 2: Big City Bliss have been selected to be part of the Cat Awareness Sale on Steam, organised by our friends at Devcats! This celebration will run from September 8th - 18th and features a wide variety of cute cat games for you to play. Go check it out once it's live, for there is no such thing as too many cat games. 🐈
We hope you enjoyed this month's newsletter! Until the next one in November, you can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, BlueSky, Reddit, and Discord & wishlist Cat Cafe Manager 2 on Steam! 🥰
Let's talk more soon!🫶
- Claire & Irene (and the rest of Roost Games🪺)
Connect with us:
"Day 3 of renovations. Bonner found this postcard in our new attic. It looks... quite old. And quite mysterious. I shall have to see what else I can dig up!
-G"