Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly News

Good evening!

We hope you all are enjoying the sequel of Coffee Talk 💖☕️

This year, we are again joining this cool event that celebrate narrative games by our friends at Fellow Traveller! This digital narrative games festival returns for its fifth year from May 4 - 8! Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly is joining together with other 43 narrative games. There will also be 16 great panels & fireside chats, 35+ demos and a massive story-rich games sale.



And on May 4th, 10 am PT, we will be showing a pre-recorded broadcast where the team behind Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly will share their stories about the development of the game, about their favorite characters, favorite moment in Coffee Talk, and their favorite drinks!

You'll meet Junkipatchi the lead writer of Coffee Talk Ep. 2, Andrew Jeremy the one who wonderfully composed all the soundtracks of Coffee Talk series, Lala who manage the social media accounts of Coffee Talk Ep. 2, Sarah Johana who's in charge of the marketing of Coffee Talk, and new addition to the marketing team Arya who will be moderating the chit chat!

Come and join our Coffee Talk Time here on Steam!
📅 May 4th, 2023
🕙 10 am Pacific
🎮 Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly Steam page

Don't forget to bring you favorite cup of warm drinks ☕️

- - - - -

Follow us on social media and join our community to get the latest information information about related events and announcements.



Stay safe and healthy, friends!
Brewed with love,

Coffee Talk Team :ctfreya:

[h3]Greetings, Cafe Regulars.[/h3]

[h3]Discover new drinks as you deliver them to the regulars, and expose the piece of the story to their hearts. [/h3]
In that one particular street corner of Seattle, a coffee shop called Coffee Talk opens late at night and continues its business after several years. The regulars have their own routines and still come to the coffee shop as they have more stories to tell. There are even new regulars who come and stay because of the Coffee Talk’s charm. It’s no other than the cozy vibes and the Barista’s magnificent brewing that makes people come back. Moreover, how one regular can unexpectedly encounter other distinctive regulars with their own tales to chat about.

Every drink you serve will tell a different story as you give them to different people. It’s up to you as the Barista to listen to their problems and hopefully can solve their problems.

Check out the release trailer here.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly is a standalone title, a sequel to the original Coffee Talk game. The second episode will feature new characters, new stories to tell, and new mechanics to treat with. In a time where people are isolated from each other, attending to their busy lives, Coffee Talk is a place where everyone can reconnect over a cup of warm drink. Relax and enjoy the much-loved coffee brewing, heart-to-heart simulator, by serving the regulars, old and new, that will resonate with you. Indulge yourself with even more hand-drawn pixelated art of Coffee Talk and new drinks you have never seen before.



Thank you for staying with us all these years to the point we are right now. The positive and continuous support from our community is what makes us keep going to make better games. At first, we didn’t believe we would make another episode of Coffee Talk and move forward to a different project. However, the community feedback and warm response is what pushed us to bring more content that you will enjoy. We wish you a pleasant experience playing the game as we intended it to be.

Revisit the Coffee Talk a few years later, where everyone has more different stories to tell. Serve warm drinks and immerse yourself once again in the relaxing atmosphere of Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly.

[h3]Coffee Talk Episode 2 is OUT NOW. Grab the game here![/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1663220/Coffee_Talk_Episode_2_Hibiscus__Butterfly

Follow us on social media and join our community to get the latest news and updates about the game after its release. We are excited to see your response about the game in the community please don’t hesitate to join us! Share your love for Coffee Talk, as we also will keep you updated for more news.



Please stay safe and healthy, friends!
Fully brewed with love,

Coffee Talk Team. ːctfreyaː

[h3]Greetings, Cafe Regulars.[/h3]
Another scoop of with our crews featuring one of the artists behind the art of Coffee Talk.

[h3]So, tell me, when you first think of Coffee Talk, what thing came to mind first?[/h3]

To me, it’s the pixelated grin of Freya asking for (yet another) three shot Espresso. Then all the details of the cafe unwrap; the bar table, which Freya and the rest of the customers lean upon, then beneath it, all the cups and equipment probably only seen by the barista, and finally, the brick wall of the cafe and its ornaments, including the iconic “drown your trouble in coffee” sign hanging by the big window (which, did you know, is available as a T shirt?!).

That memorable scene which we all adore is thanks to the art direction of Coffee Talk itself. Dio Mahesa–the lead artist for the first Coffee Talk–made sure that the game incites a certain warm, cozy feeling you’d get from hanging in a cafe, with a sprinkle of nostalgic feeling thanks to the modern yet retro pixel art style.



To know more about the art of Coffee Talk Ep. 2, what changes and the direction its taking, I’ve sat down with Dio and other artists responsible for making the sequel of our beloved game. So before we begin, prepare your warm cup of coffee, get comfortable, and please enjoy the interview!

[h3]1.) Is there differences in regard to art directions in the game, moving from Coffee Talk to Coffee Talk Ep. 2?[/h3]

I think the biggest, and the most obvious change from the previous game is the colortone of the game, especially for the promotional art. We mainly use blue and yellow color tones for the art of Coffee Talk Ep. 2 to represent the new characters of the game itself, and to separate Coffee Talk Ep. 2 from its predecessor.

[h3]2.) So is it alright to assume that there will also be differences in the arts inside Coffee Talk Ep. 2 itself?[/h3]

Of course! For starters, ]there will be more art collaboration with local talents from Indonesia, including Hendry Roesly, Kriswin Yuniar, Cairebell, Locoberi, and many more, as the late Fahmi–the creator of the first game–intended.

In Coffee Talk, we collaborated with local talents after the release of the game itself, as we put a dedicated section for collaborative arts in the game as the game updated. In Coffee Talk Ep. 2, we tried to put all those amazing arts made by the local talents in a more organic way that you will find out once you play the game.

Speaking of collaborative arts, while it’s amazing to have tons of different artstyle from various artists, we asked them to follow the main direction of the art of Coffee Talk, which is the retro, anime style. So hopefully, all that will provide a diverse, yet coherent visual that players are familiar with.

Other than that, there’s also changes here and there in the setting of the game; the cafe. It’s subtle, but I hope the players will have fun finding all the little differences in the cafe between the first game and this one.

[h3]3.) That is very exciting to hear! And what about the characters in the game? Are they also going through changes, like the cafe?[/h3]

Definitely. The time setting of Coffee Talk Ep. 2 is a couple years after the first game, so it is natural for them to go through changes. Like Junki mentioned, the overarching theme of Coffee Talk Ep. 2 is growth, and we want to emphasize that through the visuals of the characters as well.

We’ve shown some of the changes in the trailer, like how Lua now wears glasses and a new blazer. Every single character of Coffee Talk has changed here and there to show how they’ve grown during the time skip between the first and the second game. Some are subtle, while others might change so much you might not recognize them!*wink wink*

And just like the changes in the cafe, every character of the game has key visuals that we kept even with the changes, to keep the familiarity to the characters intact.

For example, Baileys, true to his namesake, has a certain element of Baileys (the drink) in his character, like how his shirt design is actually inspired by the drink. In the new game, we changed the brand of the drink we drew inspiration from, but the core element of “Baileys design is based on said famous drink” is kept intact.

We applied the same principle to the rest of the characters, so despite all the changes, they are still the same characters you know from the first game.



[h3]And that, dear customer, was the interview with Dio Mahesa, the art director of Coffee Talk Ep. 2![/h3]

So, which casts of the first Coffee Talk are you most excited to see again in Coffee Talk Ep. 2? Are you ready to find all the little changes in our beloved little cafe? Fret not, my friend, for the release of Coffee Talk Ep. 2 is very close upon us now!!

As always, thank you for coming, and I’ll see you again in your next visit!



In the meantime, you can follow us on social media and join our community to get the latest information information about related events and announcements. It's just exactly a week before the release of Coffee Talk Episode 2, we're extremely excited to see your reaction and comments when the game goes live. Until then, see you next week when the game is released!

[h3]WIshlist and Follow Coffee Talk Episode 2 on Steam[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1663220/Coffee_Talk_Episode_2_Hibiscus__Butterfly/



Please stay safe and healthy, friends!
Fully brewed with love,

Coffee Talk Team. ːctfreyaː

[h3]Greetings, Cafe Regulars.[/h3]
A special scoop from our crews, just a few weeks before the release of Coffee Talk Episode 2.

Hey hey! Aul here, Human Resource Manager of Toge Productions, somehow ended up writing Toge Productions’ devlog. Why, you ask? Well, who knows... But I hope you’d stay and see through this journey of Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly regardless!

Now, before delving into the topic indicated by the title of this news, here's a little anecdote about Coffee Talk and myself. I came across Coffee Talk during a sort of “Dark Night of the Soul” period in my life. I had just been made redundant by the previous company I was working for due to the pandemic, and like how we all were at that time, I was in a bad mental state when I stumbled upon the trailer of Coffee Talk for PS4 on Youtube.

At first, it was the lo-fi rendition of Clair de Lune that caught my attention. But soon I became captivated by the art and concept of the game. Being a coffee and café lover who got robbed of the pleasure of chilling in a coffee shop due to the lockdown, I immediately bought the game and fell in love as I delved even deeper into the story of Coffee Talk. The quirkiness of the character designs (I mean, to this day, Lua is still my video game crush of all time), their relatable stories, and the interactions I had with them was an experience that helped me through my bad time during the early pandemic.



And fast forward a couple of years, with the help of the universe aligning my path with that of Toge Productions, here I am, sharing my stories with you and more importantly, the sequel of the game we’ve all played and hold dearly in our hearts! (Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here reading this, right? XD)

Now, as we all know, the most important part of Coffee Talk —being a narrative-driven visual novel—is its story. Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly have a high bar to clear in order to match its predecessor. So I sat with the game’s Narrative Designer and Lead Writer, Junkipatchi (or Junki for short) and asked her about all of Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly’s story and narrative development.

Now finally, let’s hear from her in this interview with Junki!

[h3]1.) What is the Overarching theme of Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly?[/h3]

Although from the surface it looks like the theme of Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly is ‘Social Media and the internet’, to me, the overarching theme of Coffee Talk Episode 2 is about ‘Growth’— which encompasses endings, beginnings, with all the goodness and pain it brings. The Social Media topic is, more or less, a catalyst for the actual theme– ‘Growth’– itself. We also chose to incorporate both Social Media and the Internet as a part of the main theme because they're something that most of us have probably very used to, particularly during the pandemic.

Speaking of the pandemic itself, however, we made a conscious decision not to include it in the game's storyline. This way, Coffee Talk can stay true to its calming and chill nature.

[h3]2.) How long does it take to write the story for Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly?[/h3]

Oh wow, I guess the process itself started back in 2020 when Toge commissioned Kosmik to write a new character for (at that time) a Coffee Talk DLC, so, I guess, 2-3 year-ish? Hahaha.

As we were writing the Coffee Talk DLC, Toge realised the potential of the story, so they decided to expand the DLC plan from 5 days to 7 days long, and then our console publisher, Chorus Worldwide, proposed extending it to 9 days. We continued to keep expanding the DLC until they ultimately decided to go big and turn it into a full-fledged sequel…

And so, after the decision was made, it was only natural to expand on various aspects of the game, including new features. As a result, the story underwent another revision to ensure that it supported these new features and was cohesive both in terms of story and features.

[h3]3.) Is there any radical change from the first draft of the DLC to Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly itself? Characters that didn’t make it into the game, perhaps?[/h3]

Actually, yes! Initially, a human character named Rhea was created for the Coffee Talk DLC, who was a "aesthetic wellness and health" social media influencer. However, as the game plan evolved, we decided to split Rhea into two separate characters. One of them is Lucas, the boisterous satyr influencer, who took on Rhea's influencer side and turned it up to the max. The other is Rhea, who was renamed to Riona, a banshee with a dream.



The split allowed us to keep up with and play around with one of the core pillars of the Coffee Talk series, which is all about "Breaking the Stereotypes." For instance, Riona, as one of Banshees in Coffee Talk's alternate world, is ‘known’ for their terrifying wails and bad luck, but still aspires to be an opera singer anyway. Similarly, Lucas, a loud, slightly brash and vivacious satyr-influencer, may have his own layers that you'll gradually discover as you play the game ;)

Other than that, there was also an incomplete concept of a dwarf character that was supposed to be included in the second DLC far in the future at that time.

However, Toge decided to add only two new characters for the sequel because we felt the need to explore more of the old friends from the first game and emphasise the theme of growth, showing how the passage of time affects everyone. That's why we pulled the brakes on new characters for now.

[h3]4.) Finally, as the writer for Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly, is there anything you want the players to be excited to find?[/h3]

The story "branchings" in Coffee Talk Episode 2 are probably more intricate compared to the first game, haha. What I mean by that is that your favourite patron may have layers of thoughts on their situation, and there are more than a couple of ways to discover them, if that makes sense.
Additionally, there are plenty of world-building elements in the storyline that we hope will enrich the Coffee Talk universe in your mind, not to mention the return of old characters, ready to tell you what they've been up to.

We really hope all of the new elements, along with what we've cooked up for the game design (and everything else in between) will give an engaging experience that leaves a lasting impression for anyone who picks up the game.

Following up on the success of the first game was personally quite a daunting task, considering how special Coffee Talk is to many of its fans… but we loved writing it, working on it, and hope that we can meet everyone's expectations with this sequel!

[h3]And that, everyone, was the interview with Junki, the story writer for Coffee Talk: Hibiscus and Butterfly! [/h3]

Hopefully, this little interview will rouse your excitement for Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly. And if it hasn’t, then worry not! This interview is only the first part of a dev blog series that will cover other aspects of the game. I’ve interviewed everyone on the Coffee Talk team about their journey into making Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly, so just wait for what everyone has to say about the game!

Thank you for coming, and I’ll see you again on your next visit!



In the meantime, you can follow us on social media and join our community to get the latest information information about related events and announcements. See you next week, when we will drop another devlog interview with another crew from Coffee Talk team. We are eager to see your comments about this devlog and the what's to come.

[h3]WIshlist and Follow Coffee Talk Episode 2 on Steam[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1663220/Coffee_Talk_Episode_2_Hibiscus__Butterfly/



Please stay safe and healthy, friends!
Fully brewed with love,

Coffee Talk Team. ːctfreyaː

[h3]Greetings, Cafe Regulars.[/h3]
An exciting news for our friends at United States, we're coming to PAX East 2023.

[h2]Coffee Talk Episode 2 Serving You at PAX East 2023[/h2]


Toge Productions will attend PAX East 2023, which will be happening from March 23-26 at Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Visit our booth and play our recent and upcoming releases this year. Also, please take a look at our exclusive reveals and a chance to get a cozy treat. Don't forget to say hello to our crews, we will be waiting for your arrival.

[h3]Come and visit Toge Productions at booth 15111![/h3]
From the NintendoVS Arcade booth, go straight ahead towards the area with more smaller booths until you find PAX Rising Showcase, then you can find us around there.

Try some of Toge Productions' published and developed games, such as:
ːsteamthisː A Space for the Unbound
ːsteamthisː Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly
ːsteamthisː Kriegsfront Tactics - Combat Demo
ːsteamthisː Vanaris Tactics

[h3]WIshlist and Follow Coffee Talk Episode 2 on Steam[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1663220/Coffee_Talk_Episode_2_Hibiscus__Butterfly/

Follow us on social media and join our community to get insight into our latest events and announcements. We look forward to seeing you next month when the release date for the sequel will come out. Get ready for more teasers and announcements that will make you comfy and prepared for another round of Coffee Talk stories.



Please stay safe and healthy, friends!
Fully brewed with love,

Coffee Talk Team. ːctfreyaː