Game update: 25/03/15

Does your restaurant do a breakfast service? If not then it will now!

Notification for breakfast themed update

This week's update sees some breakfast additions which can add another dimension to your place. Everything is available to buy at level 16. Here's your customary list:

Tables:

• Deli Table - 6,000 coins

Floor decorations:

• Bagel Rack - 25 gems
• News Rack - 30 gems
• Deli Display - 25,000 coins
• Bagel Gal - 1,000 coins

Wallpapers:

• Breakfast Wall - 1,000 coins

Boxes:

• Easter Bundle* - 75 gems

(*) Available for iOS players only - Android players have the contents available freely in the market.

Update: Android players can access the breakfast themed items by downloading Restaurant Story: Bagel Cafe.

As well as this lot there are two bagel recipes have been introduced to the Basic Stove. Some more details on them is to come shortly.

Before that we need to dissect the unusual combination of new content. The lack of a wall decoration, floor tile or counter make this a sparse looking update, and the icing on the cake is the absence of a new chair to go with the Deli Table. When has this ever happened before?! It's a rare occurrence and may even be a first to get a table but no chair.

Update: The Deli Chair has now been released for 4 gems each!

And based on the Storm8 Blog preview picture for the update it doesn't appear this was the plan, as there is a never before seen chair advertised!

Items from update as shown on Storm8 Blog

Anyhow, let's kick off the analysis with that table. The Deli Table looks pretty good with it's smooth wood finish. Like last week's Sleek Table it can be used in lots of settings, and it's cheap! At 6,000 coins it is one of the cheaper tables in the market and is the first time in ages that a non-goals table has been available for coins rather than gems.

If you're at a loss without an accompanying chair for the Deli Table then I'd point you towards the Bean Stool. Also available for coins, it makes a fine combination. The credit for this match goes to one of my neighbours, metal food.

Also for coins is the Breakfast Wall. Another bargain buy, this wallpaper really bombs in my book. I've never been a fan of wallpapers with patterns consisting of objects and this one is no exception. It just lacks any realism and looks sloppy. In fact I'd go as far as to say it looks like somebody didn't like their cooked breakfast so flung it against the wall!

Now to the floor decorations, starting with the News Rack. I'm not sure if the scaling on the above image is incorrect (I don't have enough gems banked to check) but if so it's a real shame. The stand is clearly shrunk down and as a result is only 1x1 in size. For 30 gems that makes this an expensive item for little in return. At least it's a generic piece which could be used in plenty of environments - if it were cheaper I might consider it for my foyer section.

The other rack on offer is the Bagel Rack. Despite being 5 gems cheaper than the News Rack there are no scaling problems with this one. It consists of several shelves stacked with trays of different kinds of bagels. I like it, and the wooden frame helps to convey a traditional sort of style too. Certainly if I were to spend the gems on either of these racks it would be this one.

The Deli Display is - like the Bagel Rack - 2x1 and parades an array of deli delights. It looks the part and at 25,000 coins is a decoration I've already decided to add to my armour. The plate of bagels and the specials sign on top of the display are nice touches which help complete this impressive item.

Lastly there's the Bagel Gal. Carrying a tray of mini bagels complete with some sort of yoghurt (I think!) and a yellow cap, this girl is looking bright and cheery early in the morning. Following on from the BusBoy last week it's great to get a character for a low price - they can really help bring a diner to life.

Now to the Easter goodies. The straightforward half of the Easter bonanza is the Easter Chest. On sale at 20 gems, this box added last April is the one and only Easter box the game has to offer. You can get a glimpse of the stuff within via the Storm8 Forum. I do like this box - the prizes are lighthearted and jolly and would do the business not only for Easter but also for any Spring design.

There is more Easter content up for grabs too, but how depends entirely on your platform. If you are on iOS then these are available via a new bundle.

Notification for Easter Bundle

The Easter Bundle is a one-off 75 gem buy which gets you the following decorations:

Easter Bundle

If you're on Android then there is no bundle - instead the items are mostly on the market individually for 10 days. They are priced as follows:

• Egg Table - 4,000 coins
• Egg (Chair) - 1 gem
• Bunny Clock - 12,000 coins
• Pink Bunny Waiter - 20,000 coins
• Basket of Eggs - 13 gems
• Spring Chick - 7 gems
• Egg Stove - 10,000 coins

Many thanks to pixiegamer (aka. Whipped Cream) for providing all these details.

The other two components of the bundle, namely the Bunny Waiter and Egg Painting, are not included here. The former is a second prize in the Woodland Box (thanks to Sweet Delights for the tip!) and the latter is a second prize in the Easter Chest.

What a mess! I'm not sure if this is the gamemakers' way of making up for Android not yet having the bundles, but clearly there's a massive disparity. The cost of the bundle content at the Android prices is 24 gems and 58,000 coins, clearly much less than the bundle's 75 gems tag! Obviously you get the Bunny Waiter and Egg Painting thrown in as well with the bundle, but it's still a real gulf.

Update: The Easter stuff is now available freely in the market for iOS players! However there is no sale applied to them so everything costs 20% more than it does in Android!

As you might expect there have already been lots of theatrics over on the Storm8 Form regarding this inequality. Even as an iOS player I'm not getting my knickers in a twist quite so much. This is mainly a result of not being all that worked up about the items in the bundle. Other than the Egg Paining which Androiders can't buy anyway there's not really much to excite. Clearly missing out on getting the Egg Stove standalone is a blow to iOS users who haven't had a chance to buy it before. Fortunately for me I'm not in that bracket having bought it prior to its removal in my early days of playing.

Anyone who does get hold of the Egg Stove (iOS or Android) should note that the two special parts required in its construction - the Painted Egg and Bunny Ears - are not available to gift, so you'll need to rely on having part requests accepted.

Let's move on from this shambles with an overview of the two new recipes on the Basic Stove.

New Basic Stove recipes

The Lox Bagel and Bagel Sandwich are short foods so can't really be worked on overnight. However with so many recently added dishes on the Basic appliances there are plenty of alternatives to consider overnight. I just caught up with mastering the recent additions yesterday so am pleased to get busy with these two.

Here are the recipe ratings:

Lox Bagel
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
5	10	5	3	9	6.5

Bagel Sandwich
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
3	7	9	1	9	5.5

Mixed fortunes here. The 2 coins per plate pattern continues, with the last 16 recipes added now having this trait. This is troubling and is going to be addressed in detail in my Suggestions Box this weekend.

Fortunately both dishes do have one category they thrive in. The Lox Bagel musters 60 XP per batch which ties with three other foods for third best in the duration, only a fraction behind the White Chocolate Berries (Romantic Stove). When combined with some decent profit and portion numbers this bagel lands fourth spot in the overall stakes among 1 hour efforts.

Meanwhile the Bagel Sandwich earns a nine for portions thanks to its 700 plates. This is just 25 short of the leading NY Strip Steak and Black Pepper Chicken (both Basic Grill). For completeness the sandwich charts at 11th overall in the 2 hour duration - it is very much let down by its profit numbers.

That brings us to the end of this update post. I thought that without goals or a content removal this may be a more serene update but that's certainly not been the case! The iOS-Android contrast for the returning Easter items has sparked lots of high emotion and has overshadowed the fact that Easter is being covered at all! We've not had much Easter attention over the years so it should really be satisfying that there is at least something to look at!