Suggestions Box (Feb 2016)

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.

You can share your own suggestions too via the comments. If I like them, I may even include them in the next instalment!

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

 #146: Fix the latest app update

Suggestions don't come more simple than this. On Monday 8th February version 1.7.8 of Restaurant Story was released for iOS devices, promising a replacement of the account transfer feature with the option to save progress with Facebook or the Game Center. Many players were straight on to it, but little did they know they were unleashing hell into their games. There have been a number of bugs and glitches endured, but the one which is the most detrimental is the apparent loss of your game.

App update to version 1.7.8 on iTunes App Store

Like many others, following this update I opened up the game to find that my level 99 diner which has quite literally been years in the making was gone. In its place sat a level 1 starter game, complete with a Garden Salad ready to be served. There is little as unnerving as this, and it has left me unable to play on my iPad.

Luckily for me my main account is still breathing on my secondary device, but this is certainly not ideal. I was even smart enough to not sync up my iPad with iTunes, thus allowing me to revert back to the previous version which still has the account transfer feature. But the damage appears to be terminal - dialling in the details for my main place only results in the starter game reloading itself.

So, my request to Storm8 is pure and simple. Fix the mess and fix it soon. Many players are completely locked out and are understandably teetering on the edge of quitting. Why the account transfer feature is seen as insufficient is beyond me (indeed it's admired as one of the best additions there's been!) so even reverting back to the previous version until the kinks are ironed out would be a sufficient solution for now.

And failing this, could we at least get some communication from the game's developers? It's been long enough now that there should have been some more solid correspondence via the Storm8 Forum from someone in the know. Enough players are affected in a big way that a line of some description from a gamemaker is long overdue. Even if it's just to say that the issue is known about and being worked on would be nice. Stop us from floundering aimlessly around in the dark!

 #147: Add a black tie party theme

After that rather serious suggestion comes something a little more light-hearted courtesy of Nibbles and Noms.

It would be really cool to get a black tie party theme. There's been plenty of party based décor the years, but very little of it has been of the mature variety. There's nothing wrong with the cheery and colourful shindig content, but it would be nice to see something a bit different, and I suspect some dapperly dressed bots would do the trick.

Let's have the guys flaunting their pristine suits and shiny shoes and the girls dazzling in their fancy cocktail dresses and higher than a kite heels. Let's have them schmoozing and sampling delicate canapés. And let's have them throwing off the shackles and boogieing the night away on the dance floor.

There's so much scope for this theme, and perhaps most importantly of all it would fit snugly into a restaurant. It's definitely a gap in the market and it would be fantastic if Storm8 were to fill it.

 #148: Fix the overlapping lamp post bug

It's another bug fix request! I touched upon this in the Valentine's Day showcase last weekend, but this glitch has been present ever since another appalling iOS app update last June. When I take a photo of my restaurant (or indeed anyone else's) the lamp posts on the street outside somehow manage to overlap the walls of my place, causing a sight not for sore eyes.

Overlapping lamp post glitch

This is really frustrating as it does on occasion ruin the scene being set in the restaurant. As someone who obviously takes a lot of snapshots in the game, I could really do with this being fixed. It's bad enough having these great ugly lamp posts intruding in my own diner, but posting images of other folks' places with these monstrosities is something I really dislike.

So the game's developers need to come up with a fix. I realise I could just take screenshots using my device rather than the in-game tool, but that would then require the manual removal of all the on-screen graphics which I shouldn't have to do. This has been an issue for long enough and it's about time something was done about it.

 #149: Introduce changing food

It may be a minor detail, but in Bakery Story 2 when food is preparing on your appliances the appearance changes over time. It's nothing revolutionary, with dishes jumping from one stage of the evolution to another instantaneously, but it does add something dynamic to proceedings.

Changing appearance of Muffin during cooking in Bakery Story 2

Seeing a similar element in Restaurant Story would be really nice. At the moment everything is a bit lethargic in the kitchen, mostly because the app doesn't support the level of animation that the new generation games do. That's just not right as the kitchen should be a hive of activity. This addition would go some way to remedying that, and crucially it would do so without Storm8 having to transform the game's engine. I'm just talking here about a change of graphic halfway through the cooking process to indicate that a recipe is into the second half of its preparation. 

 #150: Add more collectible sets

Thanks to Jantiene Witzen for coming up with this one (I can't believe I hadn't covered it before!)

At present there are five collectible sets to work on, and that's almost been the case ever since they were first introduced in September 2011. I say almost because we did have another added a little over a year ago, but it didn't last long.

So I'm calling on the gamemakers to concoct some more collectible sets. There's only so long you can gather Golden Utensils before going mad, so let's have some more variety. That short-lived set in 2015 was earned by buying certain decorations, and I think there's definitely scope to do that again, but better.

 Previous Suggestion Box posts

 23/01/16 January 2016
 19/12/15 December 2015
 21/11/15 November 2015
 31/10/15 October 2015
 26/09/15 September 2015

Some improved prizes would be a good start. This might actually be a good place to include new divider designs since you stand to complete the collectible set many times. Hundreds of Golden Utensils and Diner Tables is not at all useful, but a large volume of dividers can be. Plus if there was a prospect of gems or really rare décor as prizes that would really invigorate what has become a tired and often forgotten feature of the game.