Running the Shop with New Features and Improvements
Posted by: That One Guy Loki from That One Game Studio
Hey everyone,
This update is focused on expanding what it means to actually run your shop day to day.
A lot of the recent work has been about making interactions feel more hands-on, giving you better control over your space, and continuing to build out the systems around customers and shop management.
A More Interactive Checkout Experience
The checkout process has been updated to feel more physical and engaging.
Customers now pay with cash, and you’ll handle transactions directly instead of the previous glorified calculator system that was not great. The goal here is to make the checkout process feel far more of an immersive interaction.
Staff Room and Backroom Management
To help manage clutter and improve shop organization, a new Staff Room has been added.
This space allows you to:
Store extra order boxes on shelves instead of leaving them on the shop floor
Keep your storefront clean and maintain a higher ambience rating
Access a staff-only workbench to work on cars away from customers
It adds a bit more structure to how you organize your space and gives you a dedicated area for behind-the-scenes work. I plan to expand this area with upgrades and new activities to unlock as well in the future. 
More Control Over Your Shop
Several new additions give you more control over how your shop looks and feels:
Editable shop sign, allowing you to name your shop
Dimmable lighting, with a light switch to adjust the atmosphere
These changes are small individually, but together they help make the shop feel like your space.
Customer Interaction Improvements
Customers are now more interactive.
You can:
Ask if they need help finding something
Check if they’re ready to head to checkout
This begins to shift customers from passive visitors into something more interactive, giving you more ways to engage with them during a shop day.
The Cat Update Continues
The shop cat has received a very important upgrade.
You can now:
Pick up the cat
Hold the cat
Pet the cat while holding it
This changes nothing and everything at the same time.
In-Game Feedback Tools
I’ve also added a built-in way for players to submit feedback directly from the game.
From the pause menu, you can now:
Submit bug reports
Send feature requests
Attach a screenshot
This should make it much easier to gather useful feedback during playtesting and continue improving the game based on real player experiences.
Looking for More Playtesters
With these systems coming together, I’m getting close to the point where I want to bring in more players.
I’ll be opening up the playtest to more people over the next couple of weeks.
If you’re interested in jumping in early, helping test new features, and shaping the game as it develops, now is a great time to get involved. I'll be opening up the ability to sign up for the playtest through the Steam Storepage.
Moving Forward
This update is another step toward building out the full shop experience while continuing to move toward a polished demo.
As always, thanks for following along and for all the feedback.
Feel free to drop your thoughts in the discussion section.
And if you haven’t yet, wishlisting the game really helps support development.
More updates soon.
— That One Guy Loki
That One Game Studio