Space Chef News

[h3]Good food is made with love, which is why we've beefed up the romance options for NPCs ❤️

Read on to hear a tale of love, mystery, and some Steamy action![/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272290/Space_Chef/

[h3]Are You Ready for Love?[/h3]

Yes we are!

We're excited to announce that all 30 NPCs are now complete, boasting around 30,000 words of dialogue and a whole bunch of interesting sounds and emotions to go with their colorful personalities.



Each NPC has a distinct personality and storyline, with five of them being romanceable. The romance system has been expanded to include a unique progression path for each character - woo your favorites by gifting them their unique loved dishes.

Besides romance, each character has their own interests and plots and quests which also is a great way to get to know them better.



Each romanceable character has five unique dishes they love, with each person loving food in a certain category, ranging from "oh, I have that in my fridge" to "get ready for a neck-breaking quest to the farthest corner of the nebula for a Legendary ingredient that makes you question all your life choices."

It's up to you to talk with them and figure out what melts their hearts. Or if you like puzzles, you can take a peek at the images in the Gastropedia and maybe, just maybe, you can figure out what it is.



The romance system now comes with a heart-based visual indicator in the Gastropedia, making it easier than ever to track your progress with each character. Here’s how it works:

• Transparent Heart - You haven’t given this NPC their unique gift yet. Time to find out what they like!
  
• Normal Heart - You’ve given the NPC one unique gift, and they’re starting to warm up to you. This means that there are new dialog options available.
  
• Big Heart - You’re one step closer to becoming partners - keep those gifts coming!
  
• Pounding Hearts - You're now partners!
  
• When new dialog options are enabled, you need to choose your words wisely to advance your relationship. However, most of the time, you can always try again another day.
  

A friendly warning though…

Some choices you make might make the NPC and romance opportunity disappear for good, so be careful with your action...



Want to romance multiple persons?

Go ahead, we're not judging, but there might be someone watching with their big ears. We're not saying any names here…

[h3]A Mystery as Deep as Space[/h3]

We spent a good chunk of the summer indoors, behind our bright computer screens, piecing together the main story, and we’re thrilled to say it’s now complete! This grand tale will take you on a journey through shipwrecks, mysteriously abandoned restaurants, and deep into the corporate secrets of Galactic Burger.



We don’t want to spoil too much, but let’s just say the story involves uncovering long-buried [redacted], assembling a mysterious [redacted], and taking down a powerful [redacted] on the [redacted] planet.

The grand finale? Well, you’ll have to play to find out, but trust us - it’s big, it’s exciting, and it’s worth all the work you have to put into it to figure it all out!

(However, when the cutscenes arrive later, it will be even more exciting! Here's a sample from that!)



Hoffman and the Galactic Police Force arrives at the scene! What scene though?

[h3]Let's Get Steamy[/h3]

For those of you who love playing on the go, we’ve added full Steam Deck support! Whether you’re cooking up a storm on your commute or lounging at home, the Steam Deck offers a seamless Space Chef experience with all the bells and whistles.



We’ve also overhauled the quest tracker, making it more compact and less intrusive. No more cluttered screens - now you can hover over quests to see their descriptions or hide them with a simple right-click. Need to track a quest again? Just head over to Gastropedia > Objectives, and re-enable tracking.

And don’t worry about losing progress - our new backup system will keep your saves safe, even if the cosmos decides to crash on you. Although it doesn't restore automatically, we can help you in case it happens, and if it's a frequent problem, we'll probably automate it in some magical way!

[h3]Polish, Balance, and Bugs - Oh My![/h3]

The Space Chef kitchen is always busy, and we’ve been hard at work tweaking the game’s economy and balance. Item values, food pricing, and overall progression are constantly being fine-tuned to ensure the game feels rewarding without being overwhelming.

We’ve also increased stack limits, so you can hoard to your heart’s content without constantly juggling inventory space.

[h3]Music to Get You in the Munching Mood[/h3]

What’s a good meal without the right music? We’ve added a bunch of new tracks to set the perfect atmosphere, from funky tunes at the police stations, to karaoke night at Zlurkas, to the upbeat yet slightly annoying music at Galactic Burger.

Romance is in the air, too, with new music that plays during those heart-fluttering moments when you become partners with an NPC.

Even your home feels different at night, with mysterious tracks that set the tone for late-night cooking sessions or quiet moments under the nebula’s glow.

[h3]Our Big Makeover[/h3]

We’ve settled on a new logo that’s a bit sleeker, a tad less thick, but infinitely more fitting for the wacky, whimsical world of Space Chef. We believe it captures the fun, playful spirit of the game perfectly, and we hope you're as excited about it as we are.



[h3]Want to keep up-to-date on the latest cosmic cuisine? 🍲[/h3]

Then don’t forget to mosey on over to our Discord to shoot the breeze with us and follow our exploits on social media at @SpaceChefGame 💬

[h3]Howdy there fellow Space Chefs 👩‍🍳[/h3]

Firstly, we owe you a galaxy-sized thank you for joining us on this interstellar adventure. It's been quite a journey since our humble beginning in 2019 with a mere spark of an idea. Who knew that spark would ignite the creation of the galaxy's greatest Interstellar Culinary Action-Adventure Game. Try to say that 5 times fast with a Sweat Potato in your mouth 🍠


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272290/Space_Chef/


[h3]🚀 Looking Back at Our Cosmic Journey[/h3]

Rewinding back to 2019, we started with nothing but a wild idea about a person waking up on an abandoned spaceship. And somehow that turned out to be a chef. Fast forward to 2021, and we have this incredible community supporting us and our vision. Thanks to you, our dream began to take flight at warp speed. Now, here we are in 2024, amazed by how far we've come together.

[h3]👾 Squishing Bugs on the Culinary Frontier of Space Chef[/h3]

As we navigate through the cosmos of game development, we're thrilled to say that all the major features of Space Chef are nearly complete! But, as with any grand space expedition, there are obstacles - in our case, about 4298 bugs. Ok, there aren't that many bugs, but it's still a decent amount that we need to squash.

Picture this: one minute you're squishing a bug that took a mere 5 minutes to fix, feeling like a Galactic Bug Warrior. The next minute, you're wrestling with a code-beast that's determined to play hide and seek for 5 days straight. It's like cooking a complex dish, where adding a pinch of salt somehow turns the soup into jelly.

In the wacky world of game development, every fix is a new adventure. It's a bit like whack-a-mole, but with keyboards and a lot more caffeine. One moment everything's running smoother than a Graffle on a hoverboard, and the next, you're watching a beautifully rendered Beefle do the cha-cha instead of walking, sliding around like it's on ice. Ah, the unexpected joys of game development!

[h3]👩‍🚀 What's Cooking in the Development Kitchen?[/h3]

We're hard at work squashing these bugs and going over each and every small and big part of the game to ensure your experience is out of this world. While we might not be at the finish line just yet, we're closer than ever, with our thrusters set to 'polish and perfect' mode.

We've also finally been starting to play the game from the start, to make sure that everything from tutorials to progression is logical and isn't confusing. This will be improved in several steps after playtesting, that we will start when most major issues have been fixed.

[h3]🌌 What’s New in the Nebula?[/h3]

Tasty Tweaks to Cooking Minigames: Sharpen your knives and get your flipping skills ready! We’ve made the cooking minigames more engaging and skill-based. Precision cutting for top-notch quality and timely burger flipping on the grill are now key to culinary perfection.




A well grilled and seasoned Ratoid is actually a lot tastier than some "food critics" seem to think.



What do you mean "skill based"? This knife is dull, isn't it?


NPC Dialogs and Quest Enhancements: We've expanded the universe of Space Chef with a bunch of new dialogues and quests. Alongside these additions, we've introduced several intriguing NPCs scattered across the galaxy. Your mission? Find these characters and tantalize their taste buds with your culinary creations! Succeed, and you'll unlock essential tools that will aid in your deeper exploration of the planets, to find even juicier ingredients.



Nebula’s Lost Decor: Ever wondered about the galaxy’s abundance of abandoned restaurants? Well, now you can scavenge through these cosmic ghost kitchens for unique decorations and furniture!

Home Base Upgrades: Your home base has received a major makeover! Easier customization, size adjustments, and even doors to keep nosy aliens out. Your personal space is now truly yours. You can also have your bed in the middle of the station. We promise we won't judge.

[h3]🌟 Time for a New Year![/h3]

At the end of 2023, our team took a well-deserved break to recharge our rockets for an explosive 2024. We’re over the moon with excitement for what the new year holds and can’t wait to share more culinary adventures with you!

Happy New Year to our wonderful backers! May your 2024 be filled with joy, adventure, and, of course, delicious intergalactic cuisine.

[h3]Want to keep up-to-date on the latest cosmic cuisine? 🍲[/h3]

Then don’t forget to mosey on over to our Discord to shoot the breeze with us and follow our exploits on social media at @SpaceChefGame 💬

You better grab your aprons, equip your homemade gas guns, and start working up an appetite, because it’s time for another update!

In this update, we’ll be revisiting the barren deserts of Cyclonia, talking about the weather (everyone’s favorite topic), and introducing a few new mechanics that we’re sure will make your transition to an interstellar lifestyle even smoother.

Over the summer, we’ve been cooking up a storm (Quite literally. We don't recommend bringing an umbrella). Here’s the cosmic scoop on what we’ve achieved in the past two months.

[h3]Of Maps, Monsters, and Meteor Craters[/h3]

Cyclonia has gone through a lot of changes and innovations since our original Kickstarter demo, which we’re very excited to share with you!



The full planet map has now been implemented, but will be shrouded in a fog of war. Or should we say a fog of please-explore? (Nailed it).

Every step you take, every move you make…will be tracked by unknown cosmic forces and result in a Location Discovered pop-up. Every time you find a new location, you’ll earn precious XP! That XP will automatically be sprinkled onto your Exploration skill, so you’ll be a well-seasoned space-traveler in no time.

But all of this exploration would be nothing without strange and horrifying alien creatures to meet with (and possibly make meat out of)!



From sentient cacti to two-headed snakes, Cyclonia is now rich with life. All of the local wildlife has now been added to the planet, so you’ll never be short of creatures to study, hunt, and run away from.

Each creature has its own unique behaviors, with some being nocturnal and some being diurnal. That’s a very fancy way of saying that some come out at night and others come out during the day. Don’t even ask us what crepuscular means.

We’ve also added a feature where special and legendary creatures will only spawn once you’ve reached a certain level, so you’ll have to up your game if you want to take down big game.

Alongside the biodiversity, we wanted to really spice up the terrain on Cyclonia, so we’ve dotted meteor craters, hot springs, natural bridges, and spaceship wrecks to give you that added sense of life-endangerment.



It’ll also allow you to climb to higher parts of the map, where you’ll find the Hornagle and their notoriously delicious eggs. We’ve heard they make an omelet worth dying for (which we’re sure will make for a comforting final thought when the Hornagle mother is eviscerating you).

[h3]From Gas Planets to Windy Planets, a History of Far Out Flatulence[/h3]

Remember when we made that joke earlier about “literally” cooking up a storm?

It’s finally time for the punchline!



From calm skies to raging sandstorms, we’ve introduced a weather system to Cyclonia. After all, everyone knows that the real key to developing a chef’s delicate palette is to constantly have a mouth full of sand. Certain areas of the map will also feature strong winds, which will challenge your navigational skills (and leave you wondering what kind of diet the locals have adopted to produce such an…explosive breeze).

[h3]Not in Your Element[/h3]

You might think that rigid and dogmatic Health & Safety laws wouldn’t apply in the vast expanse of space.

And you’d be wrong!




Introducing our new elemental warning system. These handy symbols are designed to let you know key things about your current environment, such as when you’re overheating or when you’ve found yourself in a space station that has no oxygen. In retrospect, we realize that last one might be somewhat redundant, since by the time you’ve seen the no oxygen warning you’d already have, you know, suffocated…

Whenever the player enters an area with elemental hazards, the warning symbol will start to fill up. If you leave it for too long, it will begin flashing in a way that’s totally not stressful or anxiety inducing. Once the symbol is full, the player will start losing health and stamina. The only way to combat this is to either leave the area, which will result in the symbol slowly disappearing, or through the medium of…

Fashion!

Who needs to worry about subzero temperatures when you’ve got a nice coat?

Over time, you’ll be able to unlock elemental wearables, such as the Explorer’s Hat that will shield you from the blazing Cyclonian heat. This won’t remove the danger entirely, but will help you to withstand these elemental hazards for longer. If your budget doesn’t extend to the season’s latest trends, there will also be perishable items you can use to help with your weather woes. For example, eating Frostberries will cool you down (and have the added bonus of giving you perpetual brain freeze so you’ll have no energy left to think about how overheated you are).

If you’re fashion-less and Frostberry-less, however, there’s no need to panic. You’ll still be able to use food items to restore any health that you’ve lost as a result of elemental hazards. That being said, the last thing you want to do is end up munching all of the ingredients you risked your life to harvest!

[h3]Introducing (Un)Civil Ships[/h3]

We’ve made a few tweaks to the various spaceships you can find (for a small fee) throughout the universe, so they all handle slightly differently.

But what about the space-faring public?



You’ll now encounter civilian ships as you navigate through the vacuum of space. Just in case the ship design and engine exhaust doesn’t immediately give it away, you’ll be able to tell which direction they’re going in based on the trails behind them, so you can easily move out of their way (or stalk them, we won’t judge).

If you happen to get in their way, there’s a chance they will honk at you, and they may even make a witty comment as they drive by. If you crash into them, they will certainly have something to say about it, so all the more incentive to collide with your neighbors and see what hilarious commentary they will make as they are engulfed in the fiery wreckage of their beloved spaceship.

Also, as you become more famous, the chances increase that people will actually say something really nice to you.

[h3]Don’t Just Pass Gas, Harvest It![/h3]

When you’re not busy crashing into the locals of Rusty Town, you’ll probably want to harvest the vast array of delights that space has to offer.

That’s why we’ve added some handy tools, so you can extend mankind’s desire to aggressively sap vital and limited resources into the final frontier!



The drill has been updated, so you can harvest precious rocks and minerals from a total of nine different asteroid types with ease, if you got the right drill that is. We’ve also added the gas skimmer, which will sap various types of gas straight from the atmosphere and into your inventory. It’s a tool that is sure to come in handy, whether you’re traveling through a gas cloud or simply dealing with the fallout of a bean binge.

But why should you want to be all gassed up?

Because gas is a very valuable resource! For example, carbon dioxide will add the fizz to your soft drinks, while propane can be used to fuel your grill. Or guns, but we don't recommend that. Unless you're a very violent person.

[h3]Please Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds[/h3]

Are you one of those people who could spend hours feeding the ducks at their local park?

Then we’ve got just the mechanic for you!

Except the park is a dangerous otherworldly planet, the food requires hours of strenuous labor to harvest, and the ducks are colossal extraterrestrial creatures with teeth the size of your head.




So why should you be risking your life to give these alien beasts a snack?

While they’re distracted, you’ll be able to harvest valuable ingredients from them, such as the turthats shown on the back of the Turtosaurus (shown above) or the deliciously vague substance known only as “cream.”

[h3]Warp-Speed Deliveries: Unlock the Power of The Ring Gates[/h3]

When you’ve just received an order from the Inner Zone but you’re all the way out in the Far Zone, how are you ever going to make the delivery in 8 minutes or less?

With the help of portals, of course!



These portals will start off disabled, but will be activated as part of a key NPC quest. Once you’ve discovered all 4 portals, you’ll be able to navigate across the galaxy with ease!

[h3]Made to Order[/h3]

To encourage players to serve a wide variety of delicacies, rather than just the same recipes over and over, we’ve added a special order mechanic!



These special orders will be unlocked once you reach a certain level, so you won’t be challenged too early on in your culinary journey. But what makes these orders so special?

The tricky thing is that the special order is always something that you don't have on your menu, you’ll get an extra whole 5 minutes of time, which should allow you to hunt down the new ingredients, cook up the new recipe, and deliver to the hungry customer. Sounds easy right? If you rise to the challenge, you’ll receive twice the reputation and double the amount of money as you would get from a normal order. That’s double the reward, double the fun, and double the increase in blood pressure!

[h3]Keep Your Tongue on the Trends[/h3]

You know what’s so hot right now?

No, no you don’t. But you will, with the help of your handy radio!



Once you get past a certain level, you’ll also unlock tips for all the trendiest treats. Every week, you’ll be informed by a random NPC via radio about that week’s trending food item. Much like Special Orders, if you accept and fulfill orders for that week’s trending recipe, you’ll receive double reputation and double the money. Now you’ll be able to carry on the grand corporate tradition of exploiting customers’ fear-of-missing-out in exchange for cold, hard cash.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this latest update, but there’s still plenty more to come.

Stay tuned on your space radio for our next transmission. In the meantime, we’d like to once again thank all of our backers for their ongoing support and we hope you’ll forgive us for making so many fart-based jokes in this update. We promise we’ll hold them in next time!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272290/Space_Chef/

Want to keep up-to-date on the latest cosmic cuisine? 🍲

Then don’t forget to mosey on over to our Discord to shoot the breeze with us and follow our exploits on social media at @SpaceChefGame 💬

We're travelling all the way across the cosmos to visit one of our favourite places: Tokyo!

We are excited to show Space Chef at Tokyo Game Show this year!

Tokyo Game Show is being hosted at Makuhari Messe between Thursday 21st September and Sunday 24th September.



If you’re at the event, come find us on the Kwalee stand in the Indie Game Area to chat with our team and get stuck into our demo!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272290/Space_Chef/

Want to keep up-to-date on the latest cosmic cuisine? 🍲

Then don’t forget to mosey on over to our Discord to shoot the breeze with us and follow our exploits on social media at @SpaceChefGame 💬

[h3]Guess who’s going to be crash-landing in Tokyo 🛸[/h3]



We’re excited to announce that Space Chef has been selected by Tokyo Game Show to feature in their Selected Indie Games 80 Showcase!

Out of thousands of applicants, Tokyo Game Show chose just 80 indie games to feature both in the online showcase tomorrow and the physical event in September. Against extraterrestrial odds, Space Chef has made the cut 👽

Tune into the Tokyo Game Show YouTube channel on Tuesday 29th August at 18:00 JST (10AM BST, 5AM EST, 2AM PDT) to see Space Chef featured!

As part of the showcase, you can vote for Space Chef to be a finalist of SOWN2023 based on your opinion of its “sense of wonder.” The voting lasts until Tuesday September 12th and you can vote by following the link here.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272290/Space_Chef/

Want to keep up-to-date on the latest cosmic cuisine? 🍲

Then don’t forget to mosey on over to our Discord to shoot the breeze with us and follow our exploits on social media at @SpaceChefGame 💬