Suggestions Box successes

On Saturday my monthly Suggestions Box posts reached a notable milestone with the 200th entry. It's now been over three years since the feature debuted, and so I thought it was about time that we sorted through the ideas spawned over the three years to deduce whether Storm8 actually pay any attention to them.

Of course any concepts I aired on here which were then addressed in-game may be a pure coincidence, but there is a small chance that the game's developers have taken on board my ramblings in these cases.

Let's start with some content suggestions. In 200 entries there have been a fair few focused on decor proposals, but interestingly the majority of those which can be linked to later additions to the app are from the earlier days. I read this as Storm8 needing time to go through the design process for new content, and hence my more recent notions have yet to be unveiled. At least that's my far from neutral perspective!

Perhaps the most significant suggestion that has undoubtedly been taken on board is suggestion #9, which called for more kitchen themed stuff. In this entry I called for

'...common kitchen items such as a fridge, sink and dishwasher'

and accepted that if a selection of kitchen themed items freely available in the market was not reasonable then

'...even a box dedicated to kitchen items would have me tempted.'

Low and behold, in September 2014 the Classic Kitchen box was released and quickly achieved critical acclaim.

Items from Classic Kitchen as shown on Storm8 Blog

Thoroughly enough an Industrial Fridge and Dishwasher are among the prizes within, which gives the impression that my suggestion may have been considered.

Another big success in the land of content which could be credited to the Suggestions Box came in September 2014 when the game's developers released an Italian themed goals update. This was a very popular update, with the final goal prize - the Pizza Toss - recognised as among the finest goal prizes the game has witnessed.

Suggestion #29 revolved around my desire to see Italy given some coverage considering the rich variety of delicacies the country enjoys but which at the time had yet to be tapped into in Restaurant Story. Those goals update changed that, and in some style. And not only that, but with the Wood Burning Stove in that update providing three pizza recipes, suggestion #15's demand for

'...a pizza oven appliance which churns out a wide selection [of pizza]'

was recognised. Admittedly three dishes probably doesn't constitute a 'wide selection' but it was certainly better than nothing and good to see Storm8 covering a nation which boasts such a great food culture.

On we go and I've had some decent success with demands for certain floor tile designs. Suggestion #40 revolved around the need for a plain grass flooring, with Storm8 going on to fulfil my wishes in August 2014 with the Summer Grass tile. And some straightforward snow was on my agenda with suggestion #71 - the gamemakers obliged when the Reindeer Tracks arrived in the Christmas goals update for 2014. I like to think that both of these floor tiles have really opened up the game, with their generic nature allowing players to use them as a foundation for their wondrous creations.

There are quite a few other examples of propositions from the Suggestions Box getting results, including my requests for more door designs (made at a time when there had never been an alternative door), the introduction of a Gran-Gran figure (that one took a very long time to come off!) and a black tie party theme (the fine dining stuff earlier this year fits the bill).

Items from fine dining update as shown on Storm8 Blog

As I mentioned earlier, I've enjoyed far fewer successes with suggestions relating to the gaming experience. Perhaps this is down to the greater difficulty in implementing such ideas compared to decor design, or maybe the game's developers just aren't fussed about making any changes to the overall appearance of the game. Or, just maybe, Storm8 are not listening to me on this front.

Take my calls for more special sales in the Black Friday format and for better sorting of the gift list. Both of these have gone on to be given the treatment to some degree - we've seen superb wide ranging sales in each of the last four months while some recurring parts have recently been moved towards the front of the gift list where they are more accessible. But my proposals were made many moons before we saw these changes, which leaves me feeling that this is simply a coincidence.

The same goes for a now topical suggestion made in May 2015 about the re-release of old goal sets for new players. We have of course seen this, but only in the recent past. Hopefully my proposition this month regarding ensuring that these goals are available to players who started them but didn't finish won't take quite so long to be acknowledged!

Having said all that, I did score a bullseye when I asked for more expansions. This was just after the first new expansion for years had been released, and I was greedy enough to beg for more.

Notification for new expansion

Storm8 didn't disappoint, with two more coming in the following months. Maybe this was a fluke, or maybe I was responsible for the maximum diner size reaching 26x29!

So all in all I think it's fair to say that the Suggestions Box has had mixed results. From 200 entries, only a small portion have truly translated into successes, with the majority of these being new content ideas. However the ones I've outlined in this post do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive list, and there may be some others which are not mentioned but do fall into the successes category.

In truth I can't say I'm surprised. For a start there are quite a number of my ideas are rather outlandish and would never have a sliver of hope of being implemented. But over the years I've also witnessed how poorly Storm8 have taken on board the feedback from the players. Time and again we've seen threads set up over the on the Storm8 Forum specifically for suggestions, only for the brilliant concepts delivered by the players never to see the light of day in-game. This is something the developers need to address.

No matter how you view this rather self indulgent post, I do like to think that Storm8 are reading this blog, at least occasionally, and have at a minimum discussed some of my ideas in meetings. It's great to think that I may have affected the game's progression with my input, even if there is a strong possibility that I'm just imagining it!