Star Chef

After tinkering with the story, we decided to go with the following flow for the tutorial / introduction of the game with the first draft for our game narrative, keeping in mind that for now all the planet and characters name are placeholders:

"Just another regular day at Galactic GrubGrub, where the clients are stinkier than a space skunk and the food is about as appetizing as an Alien mud pie. Finn’s Station food truck is parked at the most thrilling spot in the universe: Route Station 98. Yep, you guessed it, nothing ever happens there, I was being sarcastic.

Finn is running on autopilot, whipping up dishes that could make a black hole lose its appetite. It’s been a year since he last made something he could even remotely call ‘edible’. But today, Finn’s luck is about to do a 180-degree backflip.

Suddenly, a traveler who looks like he’s just crash-landed from a ‘Planet name here’ goes inside the station, plunks down a couple of coins and asks for… Wobble Berrie Juice. Finn, being the culinary daredevil that he is, heads over to his barrel of questionable liquids and concocts a juice with a color that can only be described as ‘radioactive purple-orange’. He serves it with a smile as forced as a Botox facelift.

The traveler takes a sip and his face contorts in ways Finn didn’t know were possible. Clearly, he’s never tasted anything so awful. But before Finn can apologize or hide, the traveler pulls out a mysterious herb from his backpack, tosses it into the juice, and bam—the drink turns a bright, glowing blue. The traveler takes another sip and exclaims, “So much better!” Finn, curious about the herb, asks what kind of space magic this is.

Turns out, the herb is from Planet name here, a place so far out that even space GPS gives up. Intrigued, Finn asks if he can try it himself. One sip and—OH MY STARS—it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted.

The traveler, now in a chatty mood, starts regaling Finn with tales of his intergalactic adventures and the exotic ingredients he’s discovered along the way. Finn’s eyes widen with every story, and a wild idea begins to brew in his mind.

Why stick around serving sludge when the universe is brimming with culinary wonders? With a dramatic flourish, Finn closes up the food truck, ready to embark on an epic quest for flavor. Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, he’ll snag that coveted Michelin Space Star someday."

*Summary of what happens next:

After closing the restaurant, Finn sets the coordinates for the planet where the traveler found the special herb. 

• The map opens up and we select the planet 

• After that we can have a loading screen for the planet selected 

• Once he arrives at the planet, the traveler who told him about the herb is waiting for him outside the space station - 

• They talk for a little, more like info about the planet 

This is our initial idea, but now we are working on additional concepts that we would like to incorporate into the narrative.

As we delve into the characters, visuals, and world-building, we've compiled a list of questions to help us brainstorm more effectively. This will allow us to deepen our understanding of what we want for the game and minimize unnecessary back-and-forth.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vHXnFSE7GmdcoA6mLQo58pHmHaIV8ZG4kYWiZiNbLGU/edit#heading=h.su076ny63ix4 

Character Design

We knew we wanted a character for the "first point of contact". This character would be the catalyst for why the player sets off on their culinary journey.

The following are rough sketches of what the first point of contact could be:

We knew we wanted a character for the "first point of contact". This character would be the catalyst for why the player sets off on their culinary journey.

The following are rough sketches and ideas of what the first point of contact could be:

Stylized Characters (original 6 & added 4): Realistic Characters:

We started with a scratch pad to jot down notes about how funding will go:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eCUx7p2KEIrWwSJLXmiQBsh1I4-50BEpJBchRVIGDjA/edit?usp=sharing

Then, we measured how games like Star Chef did in terms of revenue.

• Stardew Valley - ConcernedApe

• No Man’s Sky - Hello Games

• Undertale - Toby Fox

• Astroneer - System Era Softworks

• ARK: Survival Evolved - Wildcard (now Snail Games USA)

…And compiled it in a Spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lxTLaquzDKkjaOrg8ZNGwVmqUu6iG6lVaEtVeAbVi_U/edit?usp=sharing

After accounting for Steam’s cut (30%), refunds, and tax, we made an estimate of how much profit each game would make. At the bottom, the actual sales were documented. For example, Stardew Valley was projected to make more than $6 million by the end of the third year after release: 2016-2019. However, this did not calculate general trends in game genres, nor did it account for the soon-to-come pandemic (nobody had a Magic 8 Ball at hand). In reality, by 2024, Stardew Valley has sold 15 million units, accruing over $161 million in revenue. In other words, our calculations play it safe, and don’t account for unexpected popularity. 

Star Chef is estimated to make $425,571 by the end of the third year after release on Steam. Again, this is compared to other games with similar genres. The hope is that we under-project.

Indie games tend to do well on Kickstarter. This is seen by games such as Undertale and Puffpals (Island Skies), who made well over what they originally asked for. One word of caution was that if you are too ambitious with what you ask for, you will not get any of the donations (e.g., if people donate $4,500 of your $5,000 ask, you will not get any of that money). Because of this, it was very important for us to be modest with our earnings from the get-go (hence the low-ball spreadsheet calculations).

A roadblock we ran into was theme. I felt like the direction we were going towards didn't feel cozy enough, and it worried me because the market research and everything we had done thus far for the game had the cozy genre in mind. Some of us were imagining an Animal Crossing / Stardew Valley-esque game, with soft colours and quirky characters. The development of the game seemed like it was going for a more realistic route (evident in the contrast between styles as seen above with the character design). I felt it was necessary to put my foot down on the theme because we had discussed it previously and I did not want to let our efforts go to waste (with all the market research and financial estimates).

Somewhere along the line there was a misunderstanding that led me to believe that we were going for an art style like Animal Crossing, so it was confusing to see large structures and more realistic vision for the game. When I converted all the assets in my mind to how I figured they would look in a softer tone, and they did not look right. I was worried that I wasn't compromising on the theme and was being stubborn with the "cute style"; I felt it was important so that we have a clear message to send to players. Cute themes have worked well in the past on Kickstarter (i.e., Island Skies) and it is important for me that we find funding to make this game real. 

Then, after yet another talk about theme, I realized it was a misunderstanding: a cozy game to me entails cute characters and art. A cozy game to others entails no combat and pacifist routes. Both are generally true for cozy games, but it wasn't until we had our last talk that I realized we were not on the same page about the look of the game. It was confusing to see the trajectory of the game heading in a certain direction after I had thought that I had communicated openly, so at a certain point I realized that communication alone was not enough -- I had to learn how to communicate better. I think a good communicator would have been more clear about the vision of what a cozy game is as soon as they realized some of us don't avidly play them, and I definitely failed my team by not being more straightforward. I learned, however, that it's necessary to push through this, especially because it not only takes up my time and energy, but it also takes my teammate's time and slows down the pace of production. Not being direct about something that needs a clear outline ultimately hurt us in the long run. Still, I feel extremely lucky to have two amazing teammates that actively listen to my concerns, and the fact that they stuck by my poor communication skills was indicative of just how great of teammates they are.

TL;DR:

In the "end", we settled with using No Man's Sky as a reference. Some of us were opposed to having a style like Animal Crossing or Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, as they felt it was too child-like. I didn't realize this was an issue (I am thinking this is what caused everything to be confusing). I've learned that compromise is incredibly important in a team setting, so I am trying to be open to this idea.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons & Alba: A Wildlife Adventure compared to No Man's Sky: