Allô! Artisan!
I am Thep, the only developer of this vintage food simulation (or "The Cheese Game" as people call it).
It's been 4 months and several days since I start this project, and 3 months since I launched this Steam page. The current game version is "PRE-ALPHA 3b" which will be ready to be released as demo in the next few months.
So, I think the time is extremely ripe - maybe too ripe - for me to write this milestone announcement, so that you know if the game is right for you - at its current state.
Ahem... Starting my presentation!
Not much game present first-person kitchen experience, let alone the one that features artisan products like cheese, wine, and a lot more.
I know that fact very well. So, after 5 years of trying and failing, I am proud to present this game to you: Artisan Acre!
I define this game as "Artisan Culinary Simulation", which mean exactly what it says.
To be more precise, this game, at this version, offers you...
First-Person Kitchen/Workshop
Place the pot. Add the milk. Pick the spoon up and stir the pot. Oh! the table is off for 2º! Let's pick it up and adjust it!
Not every real-life kitchen is perfect and capable of making cheese, wine, and stuff. This game will be your virtual kitchen - a workshop, where you control everything happening inside.
And that's my goal! I want players to experience the artisanal craft, and the feeling of owning the place where they're capable to do so.
Every production included in this game was mirrored from the real-world.
And you can move almost all of the thing in your workshop!
Artisanal Food Production
Cheese, wine, bread, and a lot more that was not already planned
The mentioned products are all my passion (although cheese is my most loved content!).
And I assure you, with this game, you will be able to put on the boots as a person who work with these things.
And as you may have known producing these products depend on various factors aside from the ingredients, which you will have to master too along the journey, including... (Go to the next section I meant)
Temperature and Seasonal Changes
Temperature and season extremely affect the production of almost everything.
Let's say it's a cheese called camembert. In this game, it needs to be aged at around 12-21ºC for 4 months. If the temperature is outside of range, the process may stop, and the cheese might be overrun by unwanted yeast and mold before it's ready, effectively spoiling it.
I know it might sound intimidating at first, but I assure you, you don't have to remember this thing at first.
One method to control temperature is very direct; Just put your stuff on stove, the temperature will increase. Take it out of the stove, it will cool down.
Another is the star of Artisan Acre: Artisanal products are notoriously dependent on changing season - time of year, mostly for their aging/affinage stage that could take from 3 days to full 3 years!
With that as the reason, you may need to plan your production of a product according to the season.
Mold and Microbe
Mold and microbe extremely affect the production of almost everything too.
Many production processes need them, like yeast for dough proofing, blue mold for blue cheese, and so on, and so on.
You can simply add one in from a packet or manipulate them. There will be various way you can get your desired mold for the cheese or anything.
But as you may have suspected, not all mold is a good guy.
Failure to eliminate any bad one and let it through the production may affect the product in a bad way, or even worse: to the customer, because... you can guess the reason!
Roughly, some mold and microbe that exist in the game includes:
White mold (Penicillium candidum)
Blue mold (Penicillium roqueforti)
Creamy mold (Geotrichum candidum)
Food poisoning bacteria (E. coli and others)
Baker's yeast for bread (and beer brewing in the future!)
And various planned mold and bacteria, largely related to cheesemaking and winemaking
Planned Food Products
In my plan, the earliest release of the game will include the following food products:
La Fromagerie (Cheesemaking)
Curd your milk with rennet. Settle your curd with stove. Mold or press the curd. Age the wheel in the cellar.
Cheese is why this game or even its ancestor was born. It was my greatest passion.
You will start from curding your milk to aging your cheese.
The curding stage needs direct temperature control, with your stove.
The aging stage needs planning: season, time of year, type of cheese.
But one thing greatly dictates the outcome: THE MOLD. Wrong mold, the outcome changes.
Currently at this version, there are 4 cheeses, including:
Camembert made with soft curd and white mold.
"Firm Blue Cheese" mirroring from French Roquefort, made with firm curd and blue mold.
Cheddar made with pressed cooked curd.
"Crumbly Large Blue Cheese" mirroring from British Blue Stilton, made with pressed cooked curd and blue mold.
At least 10-36 type are planned (very large range of number for my safety hehe). Most differ from each other by their milk type, curd stage, molding method, size, and mold type.
As for the milk, there will be cow milk, ewe milk, goat milk, and buffalo milk.
There is milk quality, which roughly represent protein and fat amount. This value will differ depending on supplier relationship and time of year; Milk has more fat in winter.
As for the mold, mainly, there will be white mold (Penicillium Candidum), blue mold (Penicillium Roqueforti and P. Glaucum), and creamy mold (Geotrichum Candidum). Don't worry, you don't have to remember that long name.
As you see, some cheeses use generic name. This is because most cheese names are protected by the law like EU's PDO or PGI. While I am able to mirror large part of the production processes into the game, I respect the law and the producer/seller exclusive rights to use the name.
La Boulangerie (Bakery)
Make dough with flour and water. "Add" the yeast. Shape it. Proof it. Bake it. Sell it quickly!
Bakery is the simplest product in the game at this stage.
It is easy to make, as mentioned. But it needs to be made day-by-day, else it will stale!
Currently, the bread include:
Baguette
Boule Bread (Circular bread)
Flat bread
A lot more is planned, including laminated dough like croissants, or the richer and decorated one like Panettone!
La Vinothèque (Winemaking)
Wait for the grape! Order it! Sort it! Crush it! Press it! Ferment it! Age it!
That comical paragraph describes how complex the winery part of Artisan Acre will be.
Grape is available only at an exact period of year. Each year's harvest differs.
There are several varieties of grape, like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.
And there will be processes and temperature that affect the final outcome.
I can speak much about the winemaking part for now, as it's in extremely early stage.
Boutique - The Shop
Sell it! Sell it! Sell it!
In short, it's where you sell your stuff.
Customer will place their order. The order will include both things that you got in hand or not.
As planned, there will be special character that you can interact and talk to.
Realism?
The gameplay is realistic, yet simplified.
Although some mechanics and processes are simplified or removed, they're design to at least contains the crucial part of their real-world counterpart.
If you know how to do something in real-life, you can probably do it in the game, and vice versa.
Which mean if you learn how to do stuffs in the game, you will have at least the basic knowledge framework on how do it in real-life.
In short, you can consider this game an educational game!
Moving Train
*whoooooooooooooooooooosh*
So yep, that should be all notable feature and... fact? - something like that, in this current version.
Sorry for not posting anything here since the launch of this Steam page. (TBH it affects me more haha)
I will try to post more fun thing here from now as I see how much entertaining it is to work with the format!
And thank you for reading this. It means a lot.
You can ask any question in your mind, I am more than happy to answer, and opinion too! Those will help my development a lot.
Merci Beaucoup!
Thep