Talking about 'Our Cooking Dream' [#2]

 Hi!

It's been around 10 months since the previous post where i talked about the game, a lot of things have changed and i have thinking a lot about what i want the game to be. I'm writing this on my birthday, as i think this project is one of those things that makes me keep going, so i'll use this date to talk a bit more about it

Keep in mind that i'm mostly writing as im thinking, so this isn't very professional, and i may repeat or forget some stuff

Art Style

After a lot of time, i think the game will be in a pixel-art style, at first i was thinking that i could do it in a normal 2D art style, however, this would require a lot of effort to make it good, or even acceptable, and i think my pixel-art style has evolved enough where i can say that it works for the game.

Recently, i managed to finally make a sprite for Tamiko that i think looks really good, i'll show it below:

I was working on some concept art, when i started trying to add her to one as a way to make it look more interesting, and then i spent the next 3 hours perfecting the sprite. I think this may be how the characters look in-game, i really like this one, and i had tried to make her sprite before and i couldn't make anything that looked good.

Here's also the lobster in the same style!

World

One of the main challenges about creating this game, is that other than the main place where the game takes place, i need to make a world where these characters live, at the moment im trying to design, at least partially, a city, i have a general idea of the place, but not of the details.

Recently i changed the place where the restaurant is, i'm trying different colors and ideas for how it should look, so i won't show it for the moment, but hopefully by next time i can share more. During my vacations i'm looking at a lot of buildings and places so i can have a better idea of how to design a building, if i had to tell you how im working on this game, is that i have no idea what im doing.

Characters and Story

Tamiko is the one who is the most complicated for me, she is the main character, so that makes her the most important character, my main idea for her story hasn't changed a lot, but she has, i think i have a better idea of her personality now.

She has some outfits designed by now, some of them are already done in pixelart, but since things will probably change, i won't show any that will be in the game for now, that's why i usually post her in a few different outfits, im trying to decide which ones will stay.

Her design has not changed a lot from last year, the main changes are that my style has changed a bit, and that her hair is less purple, my idea was always to make her hair grey/silver, but in those first pixel-arts it looks way too purple, and it has been changed.

I have started with the character design for the 3rd character, i already had an idea of how she would look like, and of her personality, but its way more complicated to explain it or design it, not much that i can talk about her yet.

There is also a 4th character, that for the moment is not important as i don't think i need to work on it too much for now.

As for the story, would you believe me if i said i haven't written a chapter yet? A lot of the story is still missing from my idea, and i don't think i can talk about it without saying too much, i will try to have something done before the year ends.

Gameplay

I have said before that i want this to be a game where you can "relax" in some way, this is not designed as a game for anyone other than me, my general idea is that you can play it for 5 minutes without story, or play it for 30 minutes with some story, or play all the story in one sitting if you want (not recommended), if you are not ready to keep playing the story, you don't have to, or if you just want to interact with the characters, you also can.

This game is more of a visual novel than a game, i know people liked the cooking gameplay from that time i brought the original demo to an event, but the story will be the main focus, or i could say, the characters will.

I love when characters evolve, and you can see then change, or just see them interact in different situations, which will be one of the things you can do in this game, this will be a nightmare for me to have to write all those scenes and interactions, but i think once i get to the point where i can just make these characters work, the rest will be easy and fun to do.

Others

A few months ago, i changed the "temp" release date from 2027 to 2029, while i think that 2027 is still possible to release a demo with the first "chapter", i don't think it would be a good idea to say that "it will happen", i would end up trying to rush the game to have something to release, 2029 it is.

I do want people to know these characters earlier than 2029, so its likely that i may post some animations or comics with them before then.

For a time this has been my main focus, as in, this is what i plan to work on for the next 5 to 10 years, if im able to, i know this is not the best idea, as i could be making a game that will work, and im unsure if this will even be read by at least someone, but this project makes me happy.

I don't have much else to say for now, things are slow, but also getting better, im not sure how much will be done by next year, but hopefully i can finally show something closer to the final project.

I really want to talk about all my ideas, about the story and characters, but if i talk too much i will spoil a lot about the game.

See you next time!

-Isaac