Suggestions Box (Nov 2017)

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...

 #251: Make bonus goal prizes clear

We kick off with an issue which I feel needs urgent addressing. The bonus goals which have been included with the quests in recent months are a fine prospect, more than anything because they give players the opportunity to get hold of additional content, usually in the form of goal prizes from the distant past.

But the requirements for each task in these additional chains tend to be hefty. That in itself is not a big concern for me (it's nice to have some really challenging goals alongside those which are fairly doable even within the 15 day timeframe) but not knowing what the rewards are going to be from the outset is an issue.

It is only once the bonus goals pop up around halfway through the main strand that we get a view of what we're shooting for, and even then there's no indication of the intermediately prizes, and indeed whether there are any. So I'd like to see a brief window appear at release giving a glimpse of what we're fighting for. If you want to get the bonus goals done within the time allotted then you have to reach their release point pronto, so it would be nice to be able to opt out early doors if the prizes were not of interest.

 #252: Add a trash all button

It's frustrating enough as it is when you fall asleep on the sofa and wake up in the middle of the night thinking you are in your bed (just me?!) Then you realise that your batch of Kale and Ricotta Pizzas are undoubtedly ruined. But then just to rub your nose in it, you have to trash each of those fly infested pizzas individually and hopefully not fall into a gem trap in the process.

Manage appliance window

I'm not only calling for a shot of caffeine but also a trash all button, much like how there is an existing button for recovering all the duffed dishes. This would instantly remove the irritation of binning all of those rotten dishes one by one.

Of course such a move would lower the odds of a player accidentally spending gems, and given that the consequences of doing so could include the player making a gem purchase to make up for the loss, this addition would perhaps not be all that favourable to Storm8. But who knows - this tool could make all the difference between a player carrying on and quitting the game in a huff, so it's well worth it in my view!

 #253: Return to original update time

This entry sees me stand on the soapbox on behalf of all my European comrades. For many years the weekly update was released on a Wednesday at 18:30 GMT, which was fine and dandy for everyone on my side of the big pond. Get home, get food, get blogging. That was my Wednesday agenda and as someone who likes structure and planning, it was bliss.

 Recent Suggestions Box posts

 28/10/17 October 2017
 23/09/17 September 2017
 26/08/17 August 2017
 22/07/17 July 2017
 24/06/17 June 2017

Now the updates are all over the shop, with Wednesdays and Thursdays most favoured of late, but other days very possible for releases too. I can just about deal with this as it was made clear to us a long time ago that releases would no longer be made on a strict schedule. But recently the time of updates dropping has got later and later, with the most recent ones coming at around 01:00 GMT.

I realise that this time is probably perfect for North American users, but in a moment of pure selfishness I'm going to ask the gamemakers to get back to those earlier releases. Believe it or not I refuse to write a blog post in the middle of the night, and so of late I've had to publish update posts the day after - not exactly hot off the press. A return to the earlier times would make this ranter very happy.

 #254: Use shorter recipe names

The Thanksgiving goals which are currently ongoing include the Cauliflower and Asparagus Tart. An 8 hour dish on the Leaf Oven, this - at 30 characters - is the longest recipe in terms of name ever to appear in Restaurant Story. It surpasses Dr. Acula's Tomato Juice which at 24 characters was only added last month in conjunction with Halloween.

Cauliflower and Asparagus Tart

Should we be raising our glasses to celebrate this momentous era for recipe name lengths? Eh no. The doctor's concoction was at the limit of what the recipe list could handle, with the tart breaking the system. Ellipsis at the end of the word asparagus indicate that the tart is just too elaborately named - it cuts off even sooner when tapped on whilst cooking or on a counter. In fact, the only way of catching the full title is in the relevant goal step - if this were a non-goals recipe (I know, hard to imagine these days!) then we'd have no idea if this was a tart, quiche or flan!

So going forward let's steer clear Storm8 of recipe titles which are beyond the capability of your beautiful game.

 #255: Ensure gem skipping amounts are visible

Here's another textual tantrum, with this one relating to the bonus goals and having potentially more far-reaching consequences. You may have noticed on more than one occasion that the skip with gems button on the last bonus goal step can't cope when the number of gems goes into three figures. Here's the edition from the second Halloween quest as an example:

Final step of bonus chain in second Halloween 2017 goals

On this occasion skipping the Boiled Lobster and Handburger tasks would require at least 100 gems each, but with some ellipsis once again present, we can't see exactly how many gems. Now I realise that the number of players who would ever choose to skip with gems for those sorts of fees is bordering on negligible, but from a moral standpoint I feel that the game's developers are not being transparent with us here.

And that leads me on to the concluding step from the most recent goals:

Final step of bonus chain in Thanksgiving 2017 goals

In this case all seems fine at a glance. But the Handburger is a 12 hour recipe - is skipping this task for 12 gems correct? I think not. It is much more likely that the number is actually 120 gems, which could leave you catastrophically out of pocket if you were expecting a 12 gem outlay. This is outright false information that Storm8 are providing and needs to be dealt with quickly - either cap the skipping number at 99 or stretch the button out to allow a three figure number to be displayed.