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Coffee Shop Tycoon News

The Roasting update is now live!

Hello everyone, after a year full of work, challenges, and fun times, we are officially releasing the Roasting update right now! For those that have been following along and playing the beta, some of these features are already known to you. For those who don't, we'll go into detail about each new addition to the game. We will also talk about the upcoming updates and share an updated development roadmap. Without further ado, let's talk about roasting!

Roasting


Roasting is the significant new feature we are adding to this update. Roasting allows you to create unique coffee from over 1000 different green coffee beans from all around the world. This coffee can then be roasted from your store and used to brew any drink you like.

Roasting is unlocked when you buy your first company as part of the mission objectives in Akihabara. Mr. Danger will contact you and tell you about the new roaster in your HQ.

You will see a new roasting section from your HQ where you can create roasting profiles, unlock new bean varieties, and complete roasting challenges.









A roasting profile is like a recipe that will allow your employees to roast coffee back at the store. You are in charge of making this roast profile for every new coffee you want to sell. You make a roasting profile by controlling the roaster temperature to achieve different tasting notes. You can control time and restart any time you like to help you get the specific flavors you are looking for.



Your coffee will be graded based on the score of each tasting note, the bean variety, and your employee roasting skill. Unlocking new bean varieties and leveling up your employee will improve your grading considerably.



No coffee would be complete without great packaging, so after obtaining your coffee grading, you can continue to create a unique design for your bag. We'll go into more details of how this works further down.

So, you have created your first coffee, now what? Wellโ€ฆ now it is time to roast the coffee in your store and brew drinks with it. Back in your store, you will be able to buy a Roaster. Just like a working station, you can assign employees to it. Roasters can only be used by one employee at a time, so no need to hire a ton of new employees.



After you assign an employee to your roaster, click on the roaster. From here, you can roast the coffee that you just created. Ensure that the employee you assign to the roaster has the same roasting skill or higher than the one used to create the roasting profile. Otherwise, you won't be able to roast with that employee.



After the coffee is roasted, you will see it along with any other beans in the supply screen, and you will be able to use it as such.



If you look closely, quality stars are gone from coffee beans. Now, they all have a grading, starting with 70 for the regular beans and 80 for imported beans. You will only be able to go past 80 points with custom coffee, which will play a crucial part when increasing your store reputation.



Coffee Bag Creator


Now we'll go back and talk a little bit more about the new coffee bag creator. We are very excited about this addition to the game. Initially, we were worried about how we were going to pull this off, especially how to give you a lot of creative freedom and not make the process too tedious as you will likely be creating many roasting profiles. We think we have achieved this by giving you the option to save and load designs.





The bag creator works similarly to other image editing programs that you might have used in the past, we don't have a free draw option, but you can add different shapes and patterns to your bag and use any color you like. Additionally, you can add your company logo and several text labels to your bag.

Text labels are interesting, they will take directly the properties of the coffee you just created, so if you add a label for the name, another one for tasting notes, and maybe one for the origin, they will always match the properties of the coffee you just roasted. This saves time and is very useful when loading designs as they will have the information of the new coffee. We also have custom text labels, so you can also write anything you want. All these properties work like layers, so you can arrange what draws on top of what.

We are looking forward to seeing all the amazing designs you will create. If you do, please tag us on Twitter @RiffStudios, and we will retweet your design.

Roasting Challenges


Another important part of roasting is roasting challenges. There are two types of challenges: milestones and regular challenges. You can complete milestones to unlock all the new machines and roasters. They are also used to unlock the four coffee-producing continents in the world.



On the other hand, regular challenges reward you with a new valuable currency, roasting points. Roasting points are used to unlock bean varieties, to roast high-quality beans, and to refresh the available green coffee stock. You can have three challenges at a time, if you don't want to deal with a particular challenge, you can skip it, and a new one will take its place.



New machines


So, what exactly are the new machines? We are adding three new Brewers, three new Espresso machines, one new Grinder, and 3 Roasters with this update. With the changes to coffee beans and grading, it is now more important than ever to upgrade your machines along your journey to become a Coffee Shop Tycoon.



Machines now have a max brewing quality property that specifies the maximum quality that the machine can produce, so if a coffee has a grading of 90 points, but the machine's max brewing quality is 80, customers will perceive the coffee flavor as if it was worth 80 points.

Through the roasting milestone challenges, you will be able to unlock a Brewer and an Espresso that can produce coffee up to 100 points, so it is worth investing time on unlocking these new machines. Plus, they look super cool, to be honest. ๐Ÿ˜‰

New reputation system


The reputation system also has some changes. Now, after reaching Bronze Bean, you will need to complete another requirement to level up. To achieve Silver Bean, you will need to sell 20 coffee drinks with at least 85 points, 90 for Golden Bean, and 95 for Diamond Bean.

Yeah, you heard it right, Diamond bean. Diamond bean is the last reputation level and is reserved for the best coffee managers. We also added a new achievement just for that. ๐Ÿ˜Š



New location


No major update would be complete without a new location. For that reason, we are adding "Emerald City," this is the 5th location in the game and is the largest by far. In "Emerald City," you will meet again with Mr. Latteau and become the ultimate coffee roaster. We wish you good luck and good brews.



22 new Items


We are also adding twenty two new items! This includes a new working station with space for four coffee airpots, new sugar tables to match each working station, many new decoration items, and new tables and chairs. This is probably the most significant addition of decoration items since we launched in early access. Hopefully, you will enjoy all the new plants, lamps, and other items such as columns or a massive copper cask.



New floors and walls


You will also find three new floors and three new wall paints that are a great fit for the industrial look of "Emerald City."



23 new achievements


We are almost doubling the number of achievements on this update, now with a total of 55 achievements! Most of the new achievements are related to the new features, but you will find a couple of fun ones that you can achieve from the start of your coffee journey.



Bug fixes and other changes


Finally, but not least, we have fixed several top issues that you have posted on the forums and addressed some top crashes.

  • Added help topics for roasting
  • Trends no longer reset when going to the HQ.
  • Fixed an instance where the Reviewer score didn't match the comments.
  • Fixed pathfinding bugs in Akihabara, now the glass door from the balcony is an actual door.
  • Employees with supply specialization will now order lower quality beans, ingredients, and food if the higher quality tier has not been unlocked yet.
  • Fixed text typos.
  • Some changes to the calculation of idle income to accommodate the new bean ratings
  • Updated the third shop's final objective to Bronze Bean instead of Gold Bean as that can't be achieved until roasting.
  • Added more objectives to Akihabara that are related to roasting.
  • Fixed some crashes.


What's next


Now that roasting is finally out, we are ready to share with you more details about the upcoming updates.

[h3]Localization Update[/h3]-End of February-March

This update will focus on finishing the localization efforts for the game. This will help bring the game to new audiences and increase the community around the game. We are excited to reach more players and let them enjoy the game in their language.

[h3]Economy Update[/h3]-Q2
  • Adding option to set prices
  • Have prices affect expectations
  • Investigate how to fix the $1000 coffee problem.
  • Improve item rotation
  • Add search box to Help screen

[h3]Fan System + Customer Summary Screen + Customer Feedback improvements[/h3]-Q2-Q3
  • Add fan system
  • Customers require you to meet certain expectations to become fans, harder by level
  • Fixing bugs with employees' thoughts and turning them into "review tags" that can be aggregated for a summary screen.
  • Adding bubbles above employees for important notifications "Coffee is stale" "Not enough services"
  • Limit active marketing campaigns
  • Add staff rename option
  • Add AI behavior to use sugar tables

[h3]Other updates[/h3]-Future
  • Update Du Latte Awards
  • Add pedestrians and cars to relevant locations
  • Add more employee models
  • Gamepad Support
This list can change at any time, and may not represent the final features added to the game.

Final words


Thank you for reading this far. And thank you for supporting us while we built this update for you, we are very excited to see what you will roast next! If you have any problems, please reach us out on Discord, Twitter, or send us an email at [email protected]. We wish you happy holidays and good brews. As always, enjoy your coffee.

You can follow us on Twitter @RiffStudios for more updates.

if you love Coffee Shop Tycoon, and want to get some cool new logos for your shop join our discord! ๐Ÿ˜Š
[h2]Join Discord[/h2]

New update for the Roasting Beta, now you can unlock all the new machines!

Happy Friday everyone!

We have a new update for the Beta branch, this update includes a new tutorial that will guide you through the roasting mini-game and additional information for several roasting screens.

You can also find a total of 12 Roasting Milestone Challenges which can unlock all the new machines and continents when completed. This means that you can finally achieve Diamond Bean rating in your store and complete all the objectives of the new location.



We had to make some changes to support the milestone challenges. For that reason, some of your existing roasting challenges might not work anymore. We recommend using the "Skip" option for these challenges, newly generated challenges should work as expected.


This update marks a massive step towards releasing roasting for everyone, we still have some things to do, but we are getting closer every day. Here is a list of the remaining tasks:

  • Add story dialog for the new location
  • Sound treatment for Roast result screen
  • Add option to speedup/skip animations on Roast result screen
  • Add new help topics
  • Add notification when roasting challenge is completed
  • Burnt coffee should not give you points for the tasting notes
  • Bug fixes
Warning about Game Saves


Your game save will work with the Beta of the Roasting update, and your progress will not be lost once the full update is out. However, a save that has been upgraded to the roasting update v0.8.0 can't be used in the old version of Coffee Shop Tycoon, trying to do so will reset the save without warning. We know that this is not ideal, and unfortunately, the old version works like this, but we will improve this going forward and warn players about unsupported game saves.

For now, if you play the Beta, please stay on the beta branch until the update is fully released, otherwise, you can potentially lose your progress. If you want to keep a copy of your game save, you can follow these steps. That way, if you want to go back to the non-beta build, you can use that backup to restore your old save. That save will not include any of your progress while playing the Beta.

On Windows, go to this path, and copy all the folder contents to a safe location.
C:/Users//AppData/LocalLow/Riff Studios/Coffee Shop Tycoon/

On Mac, go to this path, and copy the folder contents to a safe location.
~/Library/Application Support/Riff Studios/Coffee Shop Tycoon/


How to play the beta


Instructions about how to play the Beta and whats int the update can be found HERE

Known Issues


  • Some bean properties like long names and processes can overlap other UI elements.
  • Animations on roasting challenge screen replay after a challenge is created or completed.
  • Employee information screen does not refresh after training completes or employee levels up.
  • Some times the reviewer's comment does not align with the score given
  • Coffee bag design can crop in certain aspect ratios
  • Supply specialization to order beans is not working for 2 star beans
  • Trends can disappear when traveling to the HQ


Thank you for reading this far, we hope you are having fun with the beta, as always, enjoy your coffee.

You can follow us on Twitter @RiffStudios for more updates.

if you love Coffee Shop Tycoon, and want to get some cool new logos for your shop join our discord! ๐Ÿ˜Š
[h2]Join Discord[/h2]

Roasting Beta - Hotfix Nov 5

Hello, we hope you are having a great time playing the Roasting Beta! We have been looking at the crash data and bugs this past week, and we just released a patch that will address the top issues.

We are still working on the remaining content for the beta, but we believe it was essential to fix these problems first to give you a smoother experience while playing.

Here is a list of the bug fixes:
  • After unlocking roasting, going to any store before opening the HQ would crash the game.
  • On the Continent detail screen, clicking the continent icon crashed the game. This was never intended to be a button.
  • The Supply specialization didn't order 2 Star beans anymore. This now works as expected. We have remaining work that will update the specialization screen to reflect the new bean properties.
  • Fixed a bug where the Roasting challenge generator could freeze the game after playing for a long time on the same location or HQ.

We hope you are enjoying the Roasting beta. We'll be back next week with more content! Let us know any suggestions or bugs through the Steam community, our Discord, or social media, we usually reply very quickly, and it helps us build a better game together. Thank you, and enjoy your coffee.

You can follow us on Twitter @RiffStudios for more updates.

if you love Coffee Shop Tycoon, and want to get some cool new logos for your shop join our discord! ๐Ÿ˜Š
[h2]Join Discord[/h2]

Roasting Beta now available for Mac

Hello everyone, the Roasting Beta is now finally out for Mac! We have also updated the list of know issues and we'll be working on fixing some of those bugs, top crashes, and adding more content for the next build. Same as Windows, here is a warning about your game save that is important to consider when participating in the beta.

Warning about Game Saves


Your game save will work with the Beta of the Roasting update, and your progress will not be lost once the full update is out. However, a save that has been upgraded to the roasting update v0.8.0 can't be used in the old version of Coffee Shop Tycoon, trying to do so will reset the save without warning. We know that this is not ideal, and unfortunately, the old version works like this, but we will improve this going forward and warn players about unsupported game saves.

For now, if you play the Beta, please stay on the beta branch until the update is fully released, otherwise, you can potentially lose your progress. If you want to keep a copy of your game save, you can follow these steps. That way, if you want to go back to the non-beta build, you can use that backup to restore your old save. That save will not include any of your progress while playing the Beta.

On Mac, go to this path, and copy the folder contents to a safe location.
~/Library/Application Support/Riff Studios/Coffee Shop Tycoon/


How to play the beta


Instructions about how to play the Beta and whats int the update can be found HERE

If you missed our Livestream


If you want to know more about the development of Coffee Shop Tycoon and how the new mechanics work, check out this video!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Known issues
  • Some bean properties like long names and processes can overlap other UI elements.
  • Animations on roasting challenge screen replay after a challenge is created or completed.
  • Employee information screen does not refresh after training completes or employee levels up.
  • Some times the reviewer's comment does not align with the score given
  • Coffee bag design can crop in certain aspect ratios
  • Supply specialization to order beans is not working for 2 star beans
  • Trends can disappear when traveling to the HQ


Thank you for reading this far, we hope you are having fun with the beta, as always, enjoy your coffee.

You can follow us on Twitter @RiffStudios for more updates.

if you love Coffee Shop Tycoon, and want to get some cool new logos for your shop join our discord! ๐Ÿ˜Š
[h2]Join Discord[/h2]

Halloween Livestream 12pm PDT! Come play the Roasting Update Beta with us

Hello everyone! We'll be playing the Roasting Update Beta this Halloween (October 31st) at 12 pm PDT.

Come join us directly from your steam library or our brand new twitch Riff Studios Twitch.

We'll be talking about the new mechanics in the latest update and answering any questions you may have. We hope to see you there and celebrate Halloween together. We'll be dressed as sleep-deprived developers. We hope you like our costumes ;)