Game update: 18/09/13

After the Old West goals last week, we're already moving on.

Notification for Autumn update

Summer is behind us and Autumn is arriving. So what goodies are up for grabs? Here's a comprehensive list of all the new items:

Tables:

• Leaf Table - 79,400 coins

Chairs:

• Leaf Chair - 2 gems

Wall decorations:

• Fall Leaf Lamp - 9 gems

Floor decorations:

• Sunflower Garden - 49,000 coins

Wallpapers:

• Sunflower - 27,200 coins

Floor tiles:

• Autumn Floor - 5,000 coins

Counters:

• Autumn Counter - 6 gems

There's also a new recipe which I'll get to in a minute.

I'm a tad disappointed that the Western theme has been put on the backburner after just one week. I expressed my satisfaction last week of that theme and commented that there were so many possibilites for further additions.

But it's understandable that TeamLava want to move on to Autumn. Last year the Autumn theme was almost lost as it was crammed amongst a rich helping of Halloween and Thanksgiving content. Hopefully this year Autumn will get the full treatment prior to Halloween taking over. However there isn't a whole load of stuff in this update - perhaps this is because many players are still working on the Old West goals.

Regarding the new items in this update, I'm slightly confused. To me Autumn means dark oranges, deep reds and earthy browns. But instead we've got bright yellows and greens. Which screams spring and summer to me.

In defence of the game's developers, sunflowers are a late Summer and early Autumn plant, so are apt for this time of year, but there's no excusing the Leaf Table and Leaf Chair which despite looking good make me think of Spring. After all they are very similar in colour to the Spring Table and Spring Chair released earlier in 2013.

But looking beyond this, the content is appealing. The Sunflower Garden in particular excites me. It is available for coins and is 2x1 in size. This is good to see. The Sunflower wallpaper is also up for coins, looks cheery and makes a great backdrop to the Sunflower Garden.

In contrast, the Fall Leaf Lamp lacks value at 9 gems, and the Leaf Table is the latest table to become the most expensive, weighing in at 79,400 coins. Buying several of those will set you back a lot of money. The Autumn Floor is also dear - the Balloon floor tile is the only one greater in price.

After a little consideration, I opted to buy two of the Sunflower Gardens and display my garden section for the first time.

New garden section in The Garlic Tree

I've had it in the works for some time, and feel that with the new content released this week, now is the right time to give it some space in my restaurant. Unfortunately the Steampunk Counters which are leftover from the Steampunk theme previously housed in this area contain a lot of food - there's over 100,000 coins worth of Panpipe Asparagus on one of them! - so I can't really swap out the counters at present.

Admittedly, the Sunflower Gardens are the only content from this week's update that are actually included in my garden section, but the Playful Parasol and Picnic Painting make up for that.

On to that recipe I teased earlier:

New recipe for Basic Oven

It's great that TeamLava continue to release new recipes on the existing appliances rather than creating new appliances just to house up to three dishes.

Statistically, the Pumpkin Cheesecake far outperforms most 8 hour recipes, which is quite an achievement as they're a competitive bunch. The 126 XP is the third best out there after Escargot with Lamb (Basic Grill) and Coconut Cake (Cruise Ship Stove). The 1,450 portions is also third best after Tomato Bisque (Basic Stove) and Plum Pudding (Basic Stove). The 4,230 coins profit is the best.

Overall I rate the Pumpkin Cheesecake marginally better than Escargot with Lamb as the top 8 hour recipe. So if you want XP, profit, and portions to fill your counters, then this cheesecake is the best recipe to set off overnight and serve to the hungry customers in the morning.

It's great to get such a top performing dish after the mixed bag thrown up by the Old West appliances.

So in conclusion, although I'm a bit hacked off that the Western theme has been binned already, it's replacement - an Autumn theme - is nice too. I just hope we don't move on quickly from it as well...