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Jammy Desserts + summer hiatus announcement
🕑 Added 2024-05-19 22:52:15 +0000 UTCLast month I shared the latest art for desserts, but those won't be the only sweets you can make. Introducing a line of jam-themed desserts below!
To make these desserts, you'll need to convert your ingredients into jams. Jams are made by combining any ingredient with Sugar. (I wrote a little more about it in this post)
You can then merge these jams into Jam Cookies, which then merge into Scones, which finally merge into Tarts. These are more buttery and down-to-earth than regular Desserts, but both types are delicious!
I'm hoping this will add a little more complexity on top of desserts and drinks, but honestly, I just really wanted a way to get scones in the game because they are such a quintessential part of afternoon tea. Jams themselves can also be used to make more complex cakes and entremets.
Also, while I refer to all the jars collectively as jams, the item names will change depending on the ingredient. For example, Chocolate jars will be referred to as Ganache, and Citrus jars will be Curd. Just makes more sense that way!
(Again, this is all placeholder art and I'm hoping I'll have the bandwidth to make the tarts look more personalized.)
Mini-Hiatus Announcement
Sadly I must announce that I am going on another mini-hiatus and I will pause all payments from June to August. I am continuing to work on game design and coding updates for Sugarplum and I don't think I'll have anything interesting or final to share for a while. I've actually been coding since February but I had a backlog of new art visuals to share, and unfortunately that backlog is running low.
I got some feedback from players that they got bored because merging doesn't change over time. Personally I intended for the game to be mindless, but I agree that the current merging mechanic depends way too much on waiting and I didn't want this to be an idle game. So I have a few ideas I wanna prototype.
1) Switch to a match-3 mechanic instead of merging. Match-3 inherently has more of a challenge to it because you can't move your ingredients freely. I had actually coded a prototype of this, but to be honest my heart is still tied to the idea of evolving desserts and discovering new desserts by merging. So I want to try coding a prototype that keeps the merging but focuses on the second idea below.
2) Focus on narrative deduction. I can't shake the idea of your customers giving you "tea" in exchange for the tea parties that you serve them and I'm honestly wondering if this would be more fun as the main focus of gameplay. This was the kind of game that inspired me in the first place (the tea minigame from Professor Layton) and playing similar deduction games like Strange Horticulture and Wax Heads really got me thinking I could do that but make it literally sweet. I think if merging is just a secondary mechanic to create desserts, but if you need recipes to figure out which ingredients to use, and to figure out those recipes you need to gossip with customers...maybe there's something there. Maybe it's a combination of both 1 and 2.
3) Scale down the scope and make an idle collector. This game can easily become an idle collector but this is my last resort. There are already plenty of great idle collectors out there (Usagi Shima, Neko Atsume) that I don't think I'd offer anything new to that genre. If I can't make a fun prototype that makes merging fun, then I think I will just make an idle collector so I can get a game out there.
If you are interested enough in this game that you'd like to help play some prototypes, I'm always looking for people who are willing to lend an ear so please reach out. You will need a PC as I can't provide Mac builds at the moment.
In the meantime, I'm hoping that three months will give me enough time to prepare something that is worth updating you on. In terms of art to look forward to, I did receive a Sailor Moon-related commission so I will be working on that during the summer hiatus as well!
As always, thank you for your support!
