Hey everyone! We've been workin' hard on the next redesign for CSF, and we are at a place where I'd like to share some prototype images and talk about where the game is headed.
Note that the image below is very much subject to change- there's a lot of placeholder assets and text but is a general idea of what the gameplay is right now code-wise.
Keep the Chill, Add Some Thrill
The first thing I want to stress is that we're leaning more into the narrative story based aspects of the game along with keeping the "chill" vibes of CSF- my intention is not to turn this into a fast paced action game like the CSD series.
At the same time I know that the gameplay was lacking a bit with our original concept, and now that I'm the lead programmer I can really get into the game's mechanics in a way that wasn't possible with our original release. I think the fundamentals were there, but there were a lot of aspects that slowed the game down that wasn't very fun (such as holding down buttons and releasing them too early).
What I'd like to do with this new redesign is create more opportunities for players to get better at the game. To do this, we need to add some more mechanics that let the player essentially get ahead of the game in a way that's fun and rewarding. By that I mean, think of the holding stations in CSD 3 that allowed you to prep food before the next stop- it was a totally optional mechanic for some foods, but players were rewarded for it if they chose to do so. There's nothing really like that in CSF right now- you basically press the buttons and are rewarded instantly, which is fine for a time, but that kind of gameplay will start to drag the further into the game you get.
The gameplay shot I posted breaks ingredients down into types of prep, and allows the players to "combine" like prep segments. For example, if you have two burger orders and two meat patties to make, you can do so by completing the button sequence on both, or you can combine the two ingredient preps together and do them at the same time. This cuts down on time, which is now how we determine if a food is "delicious, good, average or bad".
The timer starts to tick down the moment you start prepping a food, but you can combine ingredients without the timer starting- which means you can go through each order, combine like prep orders, and get it all ready to go before you start smashin' keys and prepping cheese.
There will be two modes in the game- "Chef Mode" and "Story Mode," much like the Standard and Chill modes of the previous games. Chef Mode has the timer and food rankings mentioned above, with the chance to fail a day. Story Mode removes the timer and allows the player to play at their own pace without fear of failure, perfect for those who just want to progress through the story. I'm also changing the way holographic stickers are earned, so that there's less grinding. In fact there's going to be much less grinding in general- I want the game to progress thru the story at a good pace so that you're always getting new story bits with each day played.
Speaking of which, for the next few updates you'll be hearing from our artists, writers and directors on how they've been shaping the game's story with VO, cutscenes and lots more. I'm so excited for y'all to get the next chapter of the game and once I get further along in the gameplay side of things I'll be sharing some gameplay videos and lots more!
Thanks again for all the support!
-David