Dev Update #04: Writing Recipes
[p]We're making Cook, Serve, Delicious: Re-Mustard!, a brand new remake of our original game! So what's new narratively for CSDR? Find out in this guest blog by Cook Serve Delicious series writer Nicholas Kraak.[/p][p]It's hard to believe it's been over a decade since we released Cook Serve Delicious. Before I started working on Re-Mustard I went back read through everything we wrote for the original (which felt pretty nostalgic). CSD1 doesn't have a conventional story like Cook Serve Delicious 3 or Cook Serve Forever, but instead creates a sense of place through the spam emails, food/equipment descriptions, and little things like the phone app.[/p][p]For Re-Mustard, the goal is simple: keep what works, improve what doesn't, and add new things tonally consistent with the original. [/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h3]Emails[/h3][p]For the in-game emails, this means crowd favorites are still there (such as the bickering coworkers Dennis & Leo), but it also means we've written hundreds of new emails![/p][p]It was fun putting on my email-writing hat again - something we haven't done since CSD2. With the benefit of hindsight, we've also been able to add some emails to better tie the game in with CSD2 and 3. There's also plenty of new emails that influence gameplay by awarding customer patience, buzz, money, or just rewarding you for putting certain foods on your menu.[/p][p][/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]A phone app example from the original Cook, Serve, Delicious![/p][p][/p][h3]Phone Apps[/h3][p]One small feature in the original that got a lot of love was the phone. In CSD1, you could date people by sending them flirty/positive messages, and 'like' photos on social media to give you some extra buzz. Both of these are back, but we've also added extra phone apps to influence gameplay:[/p]![]()
[/p][p]A sneak peek at the new menu redesigns for Re-Mustard.[/p][p][/p][h3]A Bunch of Quality of Life Improvements[/h3][p]We've also been working hard on improving the UI to make things easier to read. One feature I'm really happy with is how we've tweaked the food purchase and upgrade pages. Of course, the fun food descriptions are there (in CSD1, they're less about history and more written from the perspective of a company encouraging you to put them on your menu), but we've also refreshed the layout so it's easier to read at a glance. It's super easy to see what ingredients upgrades will add, or see the impact of boosters and detractors![/p][p]I know how much CSD1 means to people, so we're really treating Re-Mustard with the love and care it deserves. I hope you enjoy the game as much as we've enjoyed making it![/p][p]Cook, Serve, Delicious: Re-Mustard will be released early 2026![/p]
- [p]What's on the Menu? Customers will ask if you're serving a specific food: answer correctly and you'll earn some bonus buzz, but answer incorrectly you'll lose some.[/p]
- [p]Restaurant Reviews! Customers will post single-sentence reviews of your restaurant online. Quickly skim them and give a thumbs up if they're a positive review, or a thumbs down if they're a negative one.[/p]
- [p]Quiz! Re-Mustard is a bit of a celebration of the Cook Serve Delicious series, so Quiz will test your knowledge on the original trilogy, from questions about gameplay, to the lore, to the origins of foods themselves. Of course, we recognize not everyone will have played a CSD game before, so it's a fun little low-stakes feature for fans of the franchise. There's over 70 questions all up![/p]