Game update: 30/07/14

This week's update puts us up with the clouds, as we take in a cloud theme.

Notification for Clouds update

Here's a list containing all the new additions, which are unlocked at level 72...

Tables:

• Cloud Table - 2 gems

Chairs:

• Cloud Stool - 2 gems

Wall decorations:

• Cloud Clock - 34,000 coins

Floor decorations:

• Cloud Loveseat - 71,000 coins

Wallpapers:

• Clouds - 27,500 coins

Floor tiles:

• Clouds - 7,500 coins

Counters:

• Cloud Counter - 5 gems

As well as these seven items, there is a new recipe on the Basic Stove, with more on that later. With so little new content, you get the sense this is very much a filler theme, ahead of a probable goal set next week. And as I'm about to discuss, for me it's not a very good update either.

The surprising element here is the gem triple of table, chair and counter. I can't remember the last time this happened - usually at least one is in the market for coins. The Cloud Table continues the trend of tables which consist of some themed design beneath a circular panel of glass. How boring! And the Cloud Counter is similar, with the usual glass box, this time filled with clouds. The game's developers need to stop being so lazy! At least the Cloud Stool is original, consisting of nothing but a cloud. It's not quite groundbreaking though is it?

Fortunately the rest of the additions are for coins, which is nice to see. It means you could devote a corner to a cloudy theme if you really wanted, without the tables and chairs. The Cloud Clock is fine enough with the clock mounted on overlapping clouds.

The Cloud Loveseat is pricey at 71,000 coins considering you're essentially just getting a white blob. There's not enough changes in tone to give a three-dimensional effect in my opinion.

The Cloud wallpaper and Cloud floor tile inexplicably have different coloured skies - the wallpaper has a darker shade of blue than the flooring. I'm not sure what else to say about these two. They are relatively simple and appear as you'd expect.

Overall it's a bland sort of update, but I guess that's what happens when you do a theme around a bland object like a cloud. Not the greatest choice for my money, and indeed I won't be investing any of my earnings in it.

Perhaps the new dish can turn my negative thoughts on their head?

Cloud Cakes

The Cloud Cakes are located on the Basic Oven, and have the following recipe ratings:

Cloud Cakes
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
6	10	7	8	3	7.5

Some good numbers there, with particular strength on the XP side of things. The cakes narrowly top the Cheese Spread (Basic Stove) as the highest XP gain of 3 hour recipes. Otherwise both dishes are identical on the statistical front, and so have the same overall rating of 7.5. But the slight edge for XP does mean I'm ranking the cakes above the spread.

However they don't quite match the brilliance of the Biscuits and Gravy (Basic Stove). This is the only 3 hour food that does better than the Cloud Cakes for profit and portions, but does so substantially, which is why those ratings are in the green than flirting with purple. But all is not lost - the cakes have done enough to earn an honourable mention in the Recipe Hall of Fame.

We've had a fair few strong recipes added recently which is good to see when the goal efforts are often so poor. But of course the non-goal updates of late have been accessible at the upper levels, which means there's an increasing importance attached to levelling up swiftly.

Forget cloud nine - this update dropped to cloud zero, but the quality new recipe at least brings us up to somewhere in the middle. We'll call that cloud four then!