Suggestions Box (Apr 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...

 #156: More country based themes

This week's update brought with it an Australian theme which I really enjoyed, and I'm not the only one. Indeed one neighbour told me it was their 'all time favourite' (Dingo Diner, that's you!) There's something enticing about themes which are based on different countries and cultures, partly brought on by the learning curve that they often invoke. So I'd like to see more done.

Items from Australian update as shown on Storm8 Blog

We've not been short of such updates, with Greece, New York, China, India, France and London all visited in the last 12 months. But the world is a big place and there's undoubtedly scope for much more.

I've called for a Scottish based update before in the Suggestions Box, and there are plenty of other locations which I'd love to see. How about a Spanish siesta, a German beer festival or a Scandinavian fishing trip? And further afield (at least from where I am!) how about a Brazilian carnival, a stiff drink in Russia or some mountaineering in Nepal?! The possibilities are endless given the size of our world, and I really think these themes would be original and refreshing.

 #157: Decrease wallpaper and flooring costs

This one was suggested by Laura Beth a while back, but given my recent experiences has come to the forefront of my mind too. The coin costs of wallpapers and floor tiles is excessive, and needs to be addressed.

If your restaurant is fully expanded you will have 55 wall panels to coat. Considering the price of many of the coin wallpapers in the market, this means the cost of applying a wallpaper around your entire diner can be mighty expensive.

As an example let's take the Snowy Field wallpaper that I utilised for the Ice Age stop of my time travelling story. It is actually a removed wallpaper, but the magic of iOS means I was able to buy more, and ended up with 34 for the area I needed them. At 4,500 coins this is by no means the most dearest wallpaper available, and yet this modest purchase cost me over 150,000 coins.

Ice Age at The Garlic Tree including Snowy Fields wallpaper

And it only gets more painful for the coin balance when we look at flooring. A fully expanded place has 754 floor spaces, and if we take the Summer Grass floor tile (a common one for players to cover their restaurant with) at 2,000 coins a pop, that amounts to over 1.5 million coins! That's a huge cost to incur just to gain a new floor!

So let's have future wallpapers and floor tiles being a little cheaper. There are some less expensive ones around on both fronts, but not enough. The need to spend big on wallpapers and floor tiles has contributed massively to my expenditure of around 10 million coins since starting my time travelling tale, and has left me with fewer funds than I'd anticipated at this point.

 #158: Place goal appliances at start of market

This entry comes courtesy of Lucilleie, and is is a pretty simple yet very effective suggestion. At present when a new set of goals are released, the prizes which are initially locked are located at the end of their respective tabs of the market. This includes the two appliances, and given that most players go on to buy several of each we have a problem.

 Previous Suggestion Box posts

 26/03/16 March 2016
 20/02/16 February 2016
 23/01/16 January 2016
 19/12/15 December 2015
 21/11/15 November 2015

Excessive tapping to reach the goal cookers is not good for the fingers, and it does seem unnecessary. When we get a regular update the new content can be found at the start of each tab, so why not do that with goal items, especially the appliances? It would save time for us, and would also put a stop to the inevitable complaints from players who can't find the goal appliances.

 #159: Run special offers through forum

Of late there have been a lot of special deals, be it limited time offers of box prizes, Value Packs (for iOS only) or 50% off offers on boxes. This has been excellent, especially the very generous crate sales. But I can't help but feel that the game's developers are missing an opportunity.

Notification for this week's Crystal Gift Box sale

There have been occasions in the past when the Storm8 Forum has been used by the gamemakers as a platform to allow players to vote on which items they'd like to see put in a special appearance. This is a great use for the forum and really encourages players to get involved in the running of the game. This can only be good for everyone - we get what we want and Storm8 get free market research of sorts which is likely to help draw players into the game.

This is definitely something everyone would be receptive to, and I'd also recommend that Storm8 should include a notification in-game to let folks know that there is a poll for limited time offers taking place online. Only a fraction of the community visit or are even aware of the forum, so increasing awareness could be great for all parties.

 #160: Give in-market previews of items

I've kind of touched upon this before, but on that occasion it was more focused on the boxes. Jantiene Witzen came up with the idea of in-market previews of items, and I endorse it!

At present it is possible to get a glimpse of a decoration by dragging it from the market out to the restaurant floor, but this is a flawed process for a couple of reasons. Firstly an unfortunate slip can lead to the accidental purchase of an item, and for expensive gem décor this can be rather demoralising. Plus after doing this several times you won't have enough gems to get a certain item, and thus the dragging technique no longer works.

So let's have a simple pop up when you first tap an item which shows a larger version of it. There need not be anything complicated about this, but it would make things so much smoother for everyone.