Year in review 2014

Another 12 months have passed, and now it's time to take a nostalgic look back at some of the highlights (and lowlights) of another year in the life of Restaurant Story.

With January 1st landing on a Wednesday, we opened up the year with a New Year celebration. Headlined by the New Year Party, this update was welcomed by most despite coming after the real world festivities. This was because we'd been starved of New Year themed content the previous year.

Following on from this was the first goal set of 2014, which revolved around Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year themed section of The Garlic Tree

The January goals can sometimes be a little lacklustre since they fall between big themes, but this one was fantastic. I've never celebrated Chinese New Year before, but with the Dragon Dance in full swing in my foyer section I was certainly getting involved this time!

Amid the celebrations there was a not so pleasant development, with a Winter content removal seeing the range of Christmas stuff from 2013 being pulled. Mind you this was expected, and I think most players managed to buy everything they wanted before the big erase. Less predictable was the lack of any further removals in 2014. It's the first time there has been only the one wiping over the course of the year, and it means there's a wealth of Valentine's, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas items still hovering in the market.

Of course there's time yet for that to change! It was on January 4th last year that the Winter removal was announced with the deed done on the 7th. So keep your eyes peeled in the coming days!

After New Year additions came the Valentine's Day updates. There were plenty with four consecutive weeks of romantic releases, something which was not repeated again all year.

Notification for third Valentine's Day 2014 update

Admittedly things got off to a sluggish start with the opening update containing only six new decorations and the goals appearing only nine days before Valentine's Day. But the goals update was rich with stuff, and even the Valentine's box had some really desirable goodies.

In the end the only thing that was missing was a new edition for iOS players. In the earlier days of the game Valentine's Day would have been a shoe-in for a shiny new app, but unfortunately there's been a clear change of direction and new editions on iOS are non-existent now. You have to go back to Valentine's 2013 (just before this blog started!) for the last special version. At least there have been a fair few new editions for Android users throughout 2014.

Moving into March, and the big story was one that really grabbed the attention. We discovered that TeamLava had created a sequel game called Restaurant Story 2, and that it was already at the beta testing stage.

Original title screen for Restaurant Story 2

The game was already available to download for iOS in the Thai App Store with promises of more territories to follow. And so the wait for the big release began. And a long wait it was, with the general release not coming until near the end of 2014. I was made aware of the accessibility of RS2 in the week before Christmas, so am still climbing the early levels of the sequel game. However you can expect my comprehensive review at some point this month.

At the time of discovering the existence of RS2, I became concerned that regular updates to the original game would cease to be very quickly, but was proven very wrong indeed! Within a few weeks there were two notable changes made which indicated that our beloved game wasn't being placed on the back-burner just yet.

First up the level 100 club was emptied as the gamemakers raised the required XP to bridge the gap from level 99 to 100 from one hundred million to one billion XP. This didn't change anything for the vast majority of us (the mere mortals!) but did mean heartbreak for the select few who had climbed the XP mountain previously.

A much more positive alteration was the introduction of a blocking system. This feature allows users to block fellow players from posting on their wall if they so wish.

Blocked list

This is a godsend for anyone who has suffered from irritating messages - now they can close out the miscreants with just a few quick taps. An excellent addition from the point of view of safe gameplay, and also a good sign that RS2 wasn't going to result in the abandonment of the original.

Next on the agenda are the recipe ratings. I spent a long time pondering how to go about adding this element to the blog, but it was well worth it as analysing new dishes is now so much easier. And this component was introduced just in time for some heavyweight recipes! The Biscuits and Gravy joined the ranks of the Basic Stove in late May and immediately entered the newly launched Recipe Hall of Fame for its magnificent profit stats. I've cooked a lot of those biscuits since their release!

Another beauty added in 2014 was the Technicolor Cake on the Basic Oven. Part of an otherwise unremarkable update, this cake completely blows most of the other hundreds of foods in the game out of the water on the XP front. No other recipe of decent duration offers so much XP, and that remains the case right up to today.

One last dish worth a mention is the Cloud Cakes. Added to the Basic Oven, the cakes rated highly, although that's not why they are noteworthy.

Cloud Cakes

They are special because they marked the start of the great recipe famine. After the Cloud Cakes there was no new food introduced outside of goal updates for nearly three months, a starvation which became more difficult to deal with every week. Fortunately that ordeal is past us now, but we should be prepared for similar famines in the future, what with RS2 now living it large.

Throughout the remainder of the Summer there was no clear pattern to the weekly updates, except that they were all one week wonders! From Farmer's Markets and the World Cup to Pool and Ice Cream, there was something in there for everyone. The one constant was the guarantee of some really great goal content. The final prizes in particular have been outstanding this year, with the Pier Fishing and Pizza Toss my personal favourites.

The Pizza Toss was from the Pizza goals, whose update might just take my award for update of the year.

Pizza Toss in Italian themed and Kitchen sections
of The Garlic Tree

The Pizza Display and Pizza Delivery Bike were also superb floor decorations. I saw so many players refurbishing to include these pieces, which just shows how much they were adored by the masses.

Also critically acclaimed was the Ancient Egyptian update. It was a theme suggested many a time by players via the TeamLava Forum, and to see it finally be covered provided immense satisfaction to a lot of people. I was included in that bracket, largely due to the release of the Desert Sand floor tile. A plain sandy flooring for coins, this tile allowed for a real freedom when it comes to decorating in the style of the seaside, and crucially didn't cost a sackful of gems.

And there was another floor tile added in the Summer which had me jumping for joy for similar reasons. The Summer Grass flooring was a straightforward grass tile again up for coins. Another world of outdoor possibilities was opened here, with you no longer having to put up with a pattern of any kind on your grass.

In the very same update history was made courtesy of the Summer Dreams Door. This was the first ever seasonal door design, and several more have followed on from this pioneer, reaching a crescendo with the Autumn Door which was for coins! This was a serious gamechanger! Now players are able to move their original door without having to spend any gems, and the option of having multiple doors and feeding pens to improve cash flow is available.

The Autumn Door was part of the first Autumn update, which didn't come along until November! We didn't suffer in the wait for fall items though because the Classic Kitchen box was a treat!

Items from Classic Kitchen as shown on TeamLava Blog

Added in September, this crate was the talk of the town. The contents are all realistic and fit perfectly in a kitchen section, which is something a lot of us have. Moreover there's not really a weak item in there, making it a formidable box. So it's all the more surprising that I still haven't opened it! But I think I will eventually...

Into October, and Halloween was expected to be the order of the month. The goals came punctually, but then there was the shock of the Firefighter Crate being added in the following update. Unlike the Classic Kitchen this box was a massive dud with the prizes not of the standard you'd expect for a 24 gem investment. The Axe Bookshelf and Boots and Cats were particular low points.

We had to wait until the last of the October updates for more Halloween additions, but it was worth the wait! There was a deluge of stuff including a number of re-releases of content from previous years. The Haunted House was among them and was a must buy for me having championed it so much in the lead-up to Halloween. It went brilliantly with the Trick-or-Treaters goal prize.

And another of the re-releases was a real surprise - the Eyeball Stew made a return for one week only, with a 'supercharged' XP to boot. This bonus gave players a chance to advance several levels in just a few days, a real goody. And it also provided my fine neighbour Fat Bear with an excellent attraction - for some time the stew refused to spoil on the Basic Oven, even well after it had been removed!

The game's developers were full of extra treats in the latter part of 2014. Not only did the Eyeball Stew make a re-appearance, but the Prime Rib and Stuffing were also re-released on the Basic Oven.

Prime Rib and Stuffing on Basic Oven

Christmas goal recipes from 2012, the majority of players had had to stare at their padlocks for the duration of their time playing the game, but this offering opened them up for a limited time. Mind you it was a very limited time - there wasn't long enough to master them both! Fortunately TeamLava re-released them again following some disgruntlement so everyone's a winner!

Another exciting development last year was the re-release of selected decorations and appliances. A poll on the TeamLava Forum was quickly put to good use, with box first prizes such as the Reflecting Pool and Koi Pond getting a limited airing, albeit for extortionate prices. This represented a fabulous opportunity for players to grab a coveted decoration (or some long lost recipes in the case of the re-added appliances) which they'd otherwise find very difficult to obtain.

The same should have been the case on Black Friday which has always been a highlight of the year. But this time it was a total shambles, with the timers on the discounted decor being incorrectly displayed. As a result there was mass hysteria when the content was seemingly pulled early. The gamemakers quickly attempted to remedy this by returning the stuff for the remaining time, but the damage was done. A lack of box prizes available and a skewing towards Christmas items added to the disappointment on what should have been a memorable day for very different reasons.

 Year in review posts

 28/12/13 Year in review 2013

At least there was a new feature keeping us from rioting. Starting with the immensely popular Autumn Gift Box, TeamLava tempted us with a 25% off sale on selected boxes, one week at a time. Several other crates have also been offered at a discount, including the Winter Wonderland box at the start of December. For 18 gems this was a deal not to be missed for me, and so the Dogsled Team and Snowy Fountain were welcomed into my place!

The Winter Wonderland offer was included in the first of the Christmas updates, while the long forgotten Holiday Box was the special deal in the goals update. A box from way back in 2010, this may have been the first time this crate had seen the light of day since! The other headline from the goals update was the Reindeer Tracks, a floor tile for coins which featured snow. Like the sandy and grassy flooring earlier in the year, this made outdoor decorating for the chilly season much easier - no more Clouds tiles in sight!

Then the greatest Christmas gift of all. Perhaps to make up for the Black Friday fiasco, there was a special sale with 30 items up for grabs.

Christmas 2014 sale notification

This time there was much greater variety with regards to the related themes and the types of pieces. There were high placed box prizes, LTOs and removed decorations available, along with some existing members of the market at reduced rates.

I needed to break out my emergency gems for this sale! In all I purchased four premium items and planned to add the Winter Clydesdales once I earned some more gems. I've got plenty of gems built up now, but have opted against buying the ponies. With no more recipes to master I'm feeling really miserly with the gems these days, so am belatedly going to turn down the Clydesdales (I'm still eyeing the Classic Kitchen!)

When Christmas Eve came around it was difficult to see how this sale could be topped, so the game's developers decided not to try and instead produced a New Year theme. Taking us full circle from that opening update in January, the items in this one were glitzy and high end. Generally the prices were also high end, although it was nice to broaden the range of stuff in the market suitable for a New Year party. Plus it always helps to get the chance to decorate for New Year before the event!

So there it is. Another packed year in the exhilarating thrill ride that is Restaurant Story. With RS2 now fully up and running there lies much uncertainty ahead of us in 2015, but whatever happens we can't say we didn't have some wonderful goodies in 2014. Thanks to TeamLava for continuing to deliver the goods time and again. Here's to many more happy years!