Suggestions Box (Jun 2014)

Every month I list five things I'd like to see added, altered or abolished from the game. Because even though my long time of playing Restaurant Story clearly shows I love it, that doesn't mean it's perfect. Some of the ideas I'll air will be significant game changers while others will be low-key and irrelevant in the eyes of many of you readers.

In no particular order, here are this month's entries...

 #46: Box item previews

When a new box is released, there's lots of investigating needs to be done to find out its contents. In my case this amounts to relying on neighbours to gamble on the box, neighbours of neighbours to gamble on the box, and TeamLava to provide some clues of their own. The latter of these was very helpful with this week's box.

Items from Cowboy Crate as shown on TeamLava Blog

Usually the size of the items gives away the tier of prize they're attached to, so here we can identify the second prizes (3x3), the third prizes (2x2 and 2x1) and the fourth prizes (1x1) quite easily. But even here we're still left with a question mark hanging over the first prize.

I'd like the game's developers to provide a preview of the box items so that we can be sure of what we're risking gems for. I've touched on before that this could involve filling Stormie's Store with the box's decorations when it is first released. Alternatively (and most ideally) we could have a window appear when a box is tapped on in the market which shows the items in all their glory. This would also eradicate the issue of accidentally spending gems on a box, which is why this second option is less likely.

Failing either of these suggestions, it would just be nice to have the box content posted online by an official gamemaker at the time. This has happened very occasionally in the past, but needs to be a regular thing.

 #47: Return to previous update structure

We've had lots of themes in updates over the last year, but of late the manner of the updates has altered. Previously the goal theme would be the first of the month, with two or three more to follow in the next few weeks. The month would then sometimes end with a one week only theme.

But recently this formula has been thrown out the window with many more single week themes. For example, the Spring updates have been punctuated by Fairytale, French and Rustic updates. Meanwhile some goal weeks have been standalone, such as the Basketball and Beach themes. Although it's nice to get some variety, I prefer the knowledge of what's coming. This gives me a greater indication of whether or not to deck out in a theme, since it's easier to do this if there's going to be more relevant content added in the next couple of updates.

I do wonder if this change of style is a product of the upcoming release of Restaurant Story 2. I'm sceptical about whether or not we'll get regular updates once the sequel has its global launch, and TeamLava may just be clearing out the cupboards of all the stuff they've completed the development of, resulting in a lack of structure to updates.

 #48: More badges

If you've been playing the game for a long time, you may take a moment to realise what I'm talking about here. The Badges are the last tab on the Messages section off the Main Menu, and are an excellent opportunity to earn some gems in the early days. But once they're complete they just sit there.

Badges tab of Messages window

I think it would be nice to see some new challenges added here. It would give veterans extra motivation to continue playing and (of course) would be a new source of gems. Some new badges could be locked until you reach a certain level, and we could even have a new badge occasionally added as part of a weekly update. Anything to keep the game fresh and ticking over!

 #49: More interaction of customers with items

Last month I discussed how I'd like to see more animation of the customers. Continuing this train of thought, let's have some more interaction of the bots with the surrounding items in the restaurant. If there's a couch let them take a lie down. If there's a beach let them sunbathe for a while. If there's a band playing let them dance!

 #50: More dividers

There aren't really that many dividers in the market. We've got 16 active in total with 10 for coins and six for gems. That might sound like plenty at first, but in reality it's not a lot when we consider that many of them are specific to certain themes and seasons (take the Valentine Divider for example), and that to some players such as myself they play a key role in partitioning the restaurant off into separate sections.

Dividers actively available in the market

So let's have some more dividers! Ultimately I'd like to see one added every week which ties into the update's theme, although this may be asking too much. Instead some generic dividers of different colours would be appreciated. I'm using the wallpapers and floor tiles as a guideline here - solid colour dividers would be simple enough to design yet when given the right environment will flourish.

Price-wise I'd obviously prefer these plain dividers to all be for coins, but the truth is that I'd accept some being for one or two gems. As long I don't have to fork out 15 gems for a single divider (see the Rose Bush Divider in Bakery Story!)