The Perfect Bowl News

March Update Post:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2976790/view/532094139769030049

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If you take a look at my update schedule you might have noticed that I missed out on last month oops. I apologize for that but I went on a short break and now I'm back ENERGISED. Thanks to the break I was able to come back with fresh eyes, new perspectives, and new ideas!



[h2]"Ailment" System[/h2]
I was able to come up with the idea that I think would work to help tie the narrative closer to the gameplay.
I intend to bring forward narrative part about "helping customers" and "changing their emotions" by treating it almost like a doctor-patient relationship except that you get to choose what ailments you cure with your ramen.

When conversing with customers before serving ramen, there will be critical moments during dialogue options that essentially forces you to choose which ailments to affect the customer. I believe this would be a suitable abstraction of the moments in real life conversations where someone opens up and shares their troubles and worries.

It is then the goal of the player to "cure" or ease these ailments through their selection of toppings.
Eventually later in the game, customers can also make specific requests that needs to be fulfilled. For example, they need to have carrots as one of the toppings.

[h2]Reworked Flavour System[/h2]
From playtests and with the addition of the "Ailment" system I have also decided that I would reduce the number of flavour options to just Hearty, Light, Intense, and Smooth. This not only reduces the amount of writing work needed but balances well with the new "Ailment" system.

The function of the flavours remain the same which is to unlock dialogue options after serving the ramen bowl which can change the story ending of the customers.




[h2]Overhauling Store UI[/h2]
To be honest looking back at the previous version of the Shop UI, I could have put a lot more thought into it which is why I reworked its UI. I am much happier with this version as its a lot easier to understand (taken inspiration from shop menus from other games like animal crossing) and also incorporates the new icons and graphs for the upcoming features.


[h2]Overhauling Assembly UI[/h2]
I had a similar problem with the assembly UI but the feedback on this was more prominent. I'm trying for a more sleek solution taking inspiration from MacOS and other games like Tiny Glade
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January Update Post:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2976790/view/497186807117513295

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With the addition and changes stated from my last update (December Update), The Perfect Bowl is at a state where I am proud of. I think it has a pretty good foundational gameplay loop and play testers have validated that theory. There are still many things to polish and fix but seeing such progress is really exciting and motivating.



[h2]Reworked Flavour System[/h2]

Unfortunately, this part will still need more time to cook. The biggest issue is that the mechanics are not tied closely enough to the narrative as much as I want. That being said, I'm still pretty happy with how this turned out and has gained me valuable insight on how I can possibly move forward.

In this iteration, the player is required to hit a threshold of any of the flavours based on the toppings used in the bowl. This unlocks dialogue options for the player in response to their customers'
conversation. Each dialogue option is different in the way they approach their customer.

Eg: A hearty dialogue option would make the main character respond in an assertive way.

[h2]Favourite Bowl of the Day Mechanic[/h2]

This is a replacement/extension to the photography system in the game.

The photography system still acts as a preset system to allow players to quickly spawn a ready made bowl but is now also used to "present" it to the main characters Dad at the end of the day who then responds with a unique dialogue based on the dominating flavour of the bowl. In addition, the player unlocks special toppings only obtainable through this interaction.

My hope is that this system would encourage players to be creative and assemble a beautiful looking bowl and also be a nice mechanic to cap off the game loop.

[h2]Better Noodle Physics[/h2]

One of the fixes I am particularly proud of is having better noodle physics. In previous builds of the game, the noodles was a huge pain in the butt to both code and play with the game. It took quite a while to figure it out but the solution was really quite simple.

So now not only do I have a really smooth running game, but also fun looking noodle physics as well.


Huge thanks and appreciation to play testers. Through their playtests, I gathers quite a lot of insight on what I should change and improve on.

• Viewport size transition speed adjustments
  
• Soup refills less fast
  
• Optimized systems to achieve a constant 60fps
  
• Stream jiggles noodles
  
• Condensed tutorial created
  
• Items that are over the trash button shrinks as a visual indicator
  
• Button interactable hints are more obvious
  
• Topping validity checks have improved
  
• Softbody physics have been made more efficient
  
• Dialogue has been cut down and edited to make playtesting smoother
  
• Soup function has been reverted to not applying it automatically
  
• Moving of bowl can be done as long as hovering over any front facing portion of the bowl
  

Another big thanks to play testers for being able to find bugs to fix.

• Toppings now get added back to inventory when trashed
  
• Only currently selected topping changes emission color
  
• After trashing toppings, selecting an existing topping adds it again in the credit panel
  
• Trashing bowls does not reset noodles in the credit panel
  
• Clearing table accidentally removes flavour thresholds
  
• Fixed scaling being snapped
  
• Soup spilling effect got broken but is now fixed
  

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December Update Post:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2976790/view/532085430055602329

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