Hello again!
We know it's been a while since the last update on Star Chef Simulator. But as we recently announced, we've been cooking behind the scenes. The full version of Star Chef Simulator is out now!
Over the past few months, I've overhauled the game's core systems for improved, smoother gameplay. For example, I rebuilt the entire cooking and dish preparation system to be less glitchy and easier to understand.
In addition we've collected and addressed all the Early Access feedback, so hopefully you give the game another try!
You'll find the full patch notes at the end of this post - they're long!
I've built a whole new tutorial for the game, better explaining how to prepare a dish using the new system and the overall gameplay. And Walter was added as an NPC character!
As mentioned in an earlier post about the game's development, we replaced all the AI profile pictures with MetaHumans. Although we're still using AI for translation, troubleshooting, log review, etc., we've decided to take a step back from AI slop for our own good.
The game now uses Lumen for Global Illumination instead of deprecated standalone ray tracing, so the overall looks and graphics improved massively! And finally, the ghosting and black reflections on metallic surfaces are fixed!
We've added a new mechanic to the game: The more you use a knife for cutting and slicing groceries, the less sharp it becomes.. At some point you'll need to sharpen your knife using the new knife sharpener in your kitchen, including a small minigame.
As mentioned already, there is a new system for preparing dishes. We call it "Dish Assembling".
You pre-select the dish you want to prepare for your crockery. After that, only items required for this specific dish can be added and transfered to the plate.
All item positions are pre-set depending on the specific crockery and dish, you everything you cook looks beautiful! No weird and glitching physics anymore, but everything's animated smoothly. Enjoy!
With overall improved weather visuals, there's actually snow on the ground now! Screen weather effects for outside the restaurant have been added as well.
There's many more new stuff to explore, so check out the patch notes below if you want.
Before the patch notes, I want to say thank you!
Thanks for supporting us by purchasing and playing the game, giving feedback.
Thanks to all the people supporting me behind the scenes, family, friends, but also my 3D artists, 2D artists and publisher.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed bug of fridge sizes only updating on the next day after upgrade
Fixed bug that cam motion couldn't be deactivated sometimes
Fixed that you were able to put all items into trash
Fixed MetaHumans having black stripes on their skin
Fixed personalization widget being glitched on startup
Fixed some knives having weird shadows
Fixed that you've dropped the knife when leaving the cutting mode
Fixed items on spatula not being aligned sometimes
Added missing description for Wasabi powder and sesame
Fixed knives being wrongly placed on knife block
Fixed buttons looping their animation in save game creation screen
Fixed bug of subtitle widget not disappearing at the end of the tutorial
Fixed alarm clock not having any tooltip or description
Fixed birds being visible in minimap
Fixed some pedestrians glitching into objects
Fixed bug of order display not updating cam motion setting instantly
Fixed camera stuttering with less than 30FPS
Fixed broken dishes falling through the ground
Fixed tooltips appearing while having the tablet open
Fixed the gradient texture in UI
Fixed light leaking through some background buildings
Fixed content overflowing in dish tooltip widget
Fixed dish tooltip widget updating every frame (led to worse frame time)
Fixed payment for drink always being $10
Fixed bad resolution of level up animation
Fixed package boxes randomly re appearing
Fixed day ending too early for last customers to spawn
Fixed order not disappearing on kitchen display if customer left
Fixed saving symbol not disappearing if game was paused
Fixed fire extinguisher sound playing while loading
Fixed weird stretching of spice decals
Improvements:
Groceries now take longer to cool down
Huge engine upgrade from UE5.3 to 5.6
Material optimizations
Improved MetaHuman rendering
Improved widget updating efficiency
Improved NPC navigation
Completely reworked the animation of grabbing/dropping items (much smoother now)
Added animation when placing knives on knife block
Added smooth progress bar animation for cutting mode, transfer bar
Reworked profile picture selection
Reworked design of subtitle widget
Reworked dish rating widget design
Reworked and replaced some icons
Improved charts (display negative values now)
Moved the mop to the storage room
Removed the feature "falling items"
Decreased delivery costs to $15
No negative ratings for not enough menu variation in lower Levels
Increased overall XP gain for dishes
Decreased customization & upgrade Costs
Decreased salary for employees
Decreased costs for hiring/firing employees to $125/100
Increased size of tooltip description and added auto scrolling
Shop locks groceries if their dishes aren't available yet
In GameMode Sandbox the level is displayed as "∞" now
Consistent translation for recipes
Startup personalization now instantly applies chosen theme
Loading screen now waits until PSO precaching is finished
Added Lumen support for Global Illumination (default)
Added settings toggle for Global Illumination method
Added settings toggle for reflection method
Added settings toggle for Anti Aliasing method
Added settings toggle for Anti Aliasing Quality
Added LODs for background buildings
Added two new windows to the restaurant building
Tooltip menu widgets now have a delay to close them
Updated input action tooltip
You now instantly put crockery back to the dish cabinet when interacting
Added animation for water liquid
Light mode for UI is now blurred glass (change to dark for better visiblity)
Added average star rating to statistics and payments app on tablet
Added small randomized delay for lights turning on or off in the restaurant
Accessibility crosshair color applies to cutting minigame dots now
Added tooltip when unlocking employees and restaurant customization
Slightly increased probability for rain, thunderstorm and snow weather to appear
New metal mixer and improved mechanic
Pots and pans snap to gas cooker plates now
Fryer baskets snap to fryer now
Spice shakers snap to holder now
Mixer container snaps to mixer now
Dishes snap to microwave now
Linux version of the game natively runs on Linux runtime 3.0 (sniper) now
Reworked customization system (save game reset, sorry!)
Added light shaft for sun
Improved weather effects on surfaces
Added weather effects in HUD
Added actual snow on ground
Improved level loading
Updated personalization widget on startup
New crosshair design when interacting
Settings widgets now adjusts size to fit
Increased probability of tips
Display in kitchen shows remaining patience of customers now
Added difficulty level display for dishes
Added banana peel
Decreased probability of employees being sick
Fires spawn once only per kitchen machine per day
Reworked the tutorial
Added Walter as NPC to the tutorial
Light switcher actives restaurant fans as well now
Spice decals align with the surface now
Features:
Added salt and pepper shaker to tables
Added new drinks "Titanium White" wine and "Lemore"
Added 2 new hair color variations for customers
Replaced old AI profile pictures with MetaHumans (trying to avoid AI :D)
Added new knife models for better visiblity
You can now edit the name and profile picture of your restaurant afterwards
NPCs look at you now when you look at them
You can now speed up the credits with holding the space bar
Added foot IK to NPCs (their legs react to the ground now)
Completely reworked dish assembling system
The player now has a flashlight
Use the new call bell for telling waiters to get your dish
Added knife sharpening mechanic
Your feedback is crucial to the further development of Star Chef Simulator. If you have any suggestions, comments or discovered bugs in the game, please feel free to share them with us using the Steam forum or our Discord server.