Game update: 10/02/16

Roses are red, violets are blue, and on it goes... It's Valentine's week in Restaurant Story!

Introduction to Valentine's Day 2016 goals 

There's not long left until the day when people all around the world profess their love for that special someone, and you can get in on the action with a brand new set of goals. We'll start with a look at the new content introduced in this update:

Tables:

• Sweetheart Table - 14,000 coins

Chairs:

• Sweetheart Stool - 12,000 coins

Wall decorations:

• Neon Hearts - 16,000 coins

Floor decorations:

• Rose Garden - 56 gems (LTO)
• V-Day Bouquet - locked by goal
• Sweetheart Basket - locked by goal
• Sweetheart Cafe - locked by goal

Wallpapers:

• Sweetheart Print - 8,000 coins

Floor tiles:

• Sweetheart Tile - 1,000 coins

Appliances:

• Cupid's Oven - locked by goal
• Cupid's Fountain - locked by goal

Counters:

• Sweetheart Counter - 9,000 coins

As well as all these new items there was a corker of an app update released for iOS players on Monday. I'll eulogise about its beauty later on!

Sticking with the game update, let's set off with the teaser provided by the Storm8 Blog.

Items from update as shown on Storm8 Blog

With the exception of the limited time offer, everything is shown here. I'll hold off on analysing the goal stuff until I drop the goals content report early next week, but we can go ahead and take a look at the remaining items.

The Sweetheart Table is heart-shaped which is not a first. There's already the Red Heart Table (currently part of the Valentine's sale) of this format, and there may be others long since removed that I'm not remembering! What I quite like about this table is the colour. It's a really pastel pink in tone, and that's pleasing given how much Valentine's content introduced over the years has been a rich pink or red. This is less imposing, and provides a truly alternative option.

Then there's the Sweetheart Stool which has the same satisfying colour. There's also another heart shape, and I like to think that it's a good shape for a bottom! But the red and white striped sides take away from the peaceful pastel feel, making me less impressed by this one.

Moving along, the pastel colours continue to blossom with the Sweetheart Counter. The light pink is again present, but so is a soft yellow on the top. This is what I daresay many players will describe as a 'cute' counter, and I tend to agree. It's got an innocence and a cheeriness to it which make it very appealing.

To the walls and the Sweetheart Print features a pattern of hearts. The muted tones are again on the go, but this time I'm going to complain. Not about the colouring, but about the lack of originality. We've had our fair share of wallpapers over the years with hearts stamped on them, and I'm pretty tired of it. Think up something new Storm8!

The floor tile on offer also features hearts, but they're smaller in this case. The choice of pink, blue, yellow and green allows the soft styling to continue, and this tile is all the better for it. I'm generally not a fan of loud and in-your-face flooring as it tends to draw the eyes away from everything else, so this mellow effort will do a good job of setting a scene without overpowering it.

The last standard addition is the Neon Lights. Consisting of a flurry of oriented hearts with a warming glow, this is an impressive floor decoration. Given that there are a few other items for the wall which it will match with beautifully (see my foyer set-up at Christmas for suggestions!) it won't be difficult to squeeze this piece in. Having some of the hearts rotated really helps shake this item up, and could even put you in mind of a swarm of butterflies given the way they're set. It's not often I say this about wall décor, but the Neon Lights may be my pick of the update!

The only other decoration available to buy without the need to embark on the goals voyage is the Rose Garden, which is a limited time offer.

Rose Garden limited time offer

This is the first prize in the Rose Crate, added last June, so if you really like it now is the time to buy! It isn't cheap at 56 gems, although that's kind of unsurprising given the rarity of this piece.

This is the first true LTO we've had since July and is hopefully the start of a rejuvenation. It's particularly exciting that it's a box first prize the gamemakers have opted to make available, even if we did see some of that last year. There are definitely a few crates I'd love to see the top prize made available from, and given my lack of parting with gems recently I'm well equipped to spend if necessary.

The remainder of the new additions are behind the goals padlock, so that brings this post to a close... or does it?

For some of you the last 24 hours have been among the most stressful you've ever experienced in Restaurant Story. And I count myself among them. On Monday a new app update (1.7.8) was made available to iOS players.

App update on iTunes App Store

This is only the second new version we've had since the now infamous update which contained too many bugs to list, but most of all rendered the 'gift back' button useless. We're still waiting on a fix for that, and now there are even bigger bugs finding their way in. Many users can no longer access their game. From what I gather anyone with multiple accounts that they've played on the same device by making use of the account login feature is in trouble, with this feature removed in the latest app update. And this is not a situation exclusive to iOS users - Android players have also reported it.

The description of the update suggests that the account login feature is going to be a thing of the past, with Facebook and Game Center used to save progress. I can only assume this means one game per Facebook account or Apple ID, but as ever Storm8 are choosing to keep their cards held tightly to their chest rather than be open with their loyal players about the situation.

Whatever's going on, a lot of folks are either stuck in a secondary account or have been left with a level 1 starter game. On my iPad and iPod Touch it's the latter which is the case, and there is little more disconcerting than loading up your epic three-and-a-half year old empire to find it replaced by a Garden Salad on a stove.

Luckily (and for reasons unclear to me) my iPhone still allows me to enter my main account, despite having also upgraded to version 1.7.8. And even on there I'm suffering thanks to a bug relating to the Jewel Mania Valentine's edition download goal. It appeared yesterday and I decided to get myself those six gems on my iPhone. Except that having completed the downloading step the 'buy a chair' goal just keeps refreshing. When I say keeps refreshing I really mean it. Best case scenario it's every 15 seconds; worst case scenario it's every 2 seconds. I'm not exaggerating here. Even after quickly completing the second step (if the time interval permits) it just refreshes, takes the gems back, and gives the goal all over again.

 Valentine's Day 2016

 03/02/16 Love boats

Pop-ups are a pain at the best of times when you first log in, but at this moment Restaurant Story has become unplayable. There's a sentence I thought I'd never write! What angers me most is that bugs in new versions is nothing new. I mentioned the shocker that was 1.7.6 earlier, and it really irritates that the game's developers don't seem to bother with sufficient testing to deal with these issues prior to rolling out the update. I don't seem to suffer with these problems when I use any other developer's games, so there is absolutely no excuse for amateurish releases like this.

I've said my piece for now, but the discussion is far from over. I've started a thread over on the Storm8 Forum under the Bugs and Issues section which I strongly urge anyone suffering with a similar predicament to visit and post on.

Update: The moderators have seen fit to close my thread so you can't add your woes to mine anymore. It's almost as if Storm8 don't want us to be able to get our games fixed...

If we can get everyone's problems listed together complete with details on device and game versions hopefully a fix can be forged sooner rather than later. For now though my Valentine's cards for Storm8 will be going unwritten.

It's a real shame because this drama has taken the shine off a very good weekly update. With Valentine's Day covered so much in the past it's difficult to be novel, but with the colour scheme for this year's goals update I think the gamemakers have been original. And with it not being too sickly pink and red it hopefully appeals to a wider spectrum of the playing community and even gives us a first hint of Spring.

Now go and sort out those bugs Storm8!