Suggestions Box (Feb 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...

 #206: More communication on the future

With no in-game update provided this week, many players have been left puzzled and concerned. It's not a healthy mood for the community, and is exactly the sort of atmosphere which the game's developers should look to deal with by releasing a statement of some description to clarify the situation.

Of course, Storm8 have not done that. Instead they have sat on their hands and left us all stumbling around in the dark. I understand that losing so many employees may result in the focus these past few days being far from public statements, but given the competitiveness and saturation of the mobile gaming market, the gamemakers would be wise to consider that it is their dedicated customer base they are alienating.

 Previous Suggestions Box posts

 28/01/16 January 2017
 10/12/16 December 2016
 19/11/16 November 2016
 15/10/16 October 2016
 10/09/16 September 2016

The longer we go without any communication (or a return to the normality of weekly updates) the more players will leave the game behind. It goes without saying that this is not in Storm8's interests, so unless the intention is to wind the game down, some news for the loyal players would be greatly appreciated. And even if we are approaching the end of the road, those of us who have quite literally supported Restaurant Story for years deserve to be told of this.

 #207: Keep place in market when re-opening

On to some less serious suggestions now, starting with my latest innovation for the market. On many occasions over the lifetime of the Suggestions Box I have put forward an idea for improving navigation of the market, but this may be the simplest yet.

Rather than rearranging any aspect of the market, how about just saving your place in whichever tab you are last in when closing out? This already happens in Restaurant Story 2 and to some extent in the original title - the tab you last visited is maintained. By doing this we can cut down the number of cases where categories in the market (particularly the floor decorations) have to be tapped through frantically to get back to the spot that was being viewed prior to leaving the market.

This is a simple solution and I can't imagine programming the game to save your place would be that difficult.

 #208: Make gem appliance recipes epic

The last update saw the addition of the Founders' Oven, an appliance which costs 5 gems. This is only the third gem cooker to pop up in the game, and as you'd expect it was not met with a great deal of enthusiasm. Cooking food is the core activity of the game upon which everything else revolves, so to require the premium currency to be spent in order to make dishes is dangerous.

Appliances available for gems

Personally I'd not have gem appliances at all, but if they must happen then how about giving the recipes on-board some epic statistics. This has happened before, albeit only once - the Eyeball Stew was brought back for Halloween in 2014 for a limited time with a 'supercharged' XP, making it an excellent resource for boosting your level.

Something similar on gem cookers, but on a permanent basis, would make the 5 gem investment more worthwhile. It would also provide some encouragement to the more well-off players who may be hesitant to purchase more than one of a gem appliance. And that would certainly be beneficial to Storm8.

 #209: Release more differently shaped counters

I don't tend to get that excited about counters, and I think the reason for that is that they tend to be very box shaped. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of worthy box counters out there, whether it be the Aged Brick, BBQ Counter or Hay Bale Counter. But some more innovation in this field is necessary.

There are some really nice round counters out there such as the Bean Bag and Dynamite Counter, but they are sparse. I'd like to see more original designs such as these which are relevant to the theme they come with. The wooden boxes are getting tiring!

 #210: Allow recipes to be 'favourited'

If you're like me you'll have a small pool of recipes which you are particularly attached to and cook on a regular basis. For me these are Roast Chicken, Kiwi & Cake and Biscuits and Gravy, which when worked together offer one of the best returns coins wise. My problem is that all three are located towards the back of the relevant recipe list, and that means lots of scrolling to reach them.

Artist's impression of recipe list with 'favourited' recipes

So it would be great to be able to 'favourite' some recipes on the basic appliances, thus meaning that they are placed at the start of their respective recipe lists. I came up with a similar concept for the market many moons ago, but think a similar concept could definitely be applied to great effect with respect to recipes too.