Suggestions Box (Mar 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...

 #211: Provide greater communication

I'm making this a special edition of sorts, with the focus on ideas that Storm8 may wish to consider at this tricky time for the game following the laying off of half the workforce.

We start with a fairly simple suggestion - the game's developers need to provide a greater level of communication with the players. I've already discussed it extensively of late, but this really is the single most simple thing Storm8 could do right now to help the situation.

The news of the redundancies at Storm8 Towers was not very well publicised, and consequently there's been a lot of uncertainty and downright mystery regarding the future of the game. Naturally speculation starts to spiral out of control and there begins to be some animosity towards the gamemakers due to the lack of news.

 Previous Suggestions Box posts

 25/02/17 February 2017
 28/01/17 January 2017
 10/12/16 December 2016
 19/11/16 November 2016
 15/10/16 October 2016

Many players have invested a small fortune into Restaurant Story over the years and many more have invested huge amounts of time into it. At least for these loyalists, there is a sense that Storm8 have a duty to show them some respect in keeping them up to date with the current situation. And to their credit, the game's developers have done that in the last day or two, with a member of staff posting on the Bakery Story section of the Storm8 Forum news on what's happening right now. You just need to look at the positive reaction to this in order to get a sense of how appreciative we'd be of some more clear-cut communication.

 #212: Find a set schedule for updates

It had become something of a trademark of the game that at the same time every Wednesday you could expect to open the app and find some form of update waiting for you. For me it's part of the charm of it - that anticipation as update time arrives. But following recent events, updates have been dropped at seemingly random intervals, with the Mardi Gras goals coming on a Monday, the St Patrick's Day sale on a Tuesday and yesterday's Citrus Crate on a Friday.

I can understand the timings going a little awry at this time, but I also don't think it would be that difficult for the gamemakers to stick to a set schedule for releases. Even if that means a launch coming well after an update is ready, I think the players would like to see some calm amid the chaos. It need not be a Wednesday, but at least pick a specific day for releases and run with it, whether that be once a week, once a fortnight or even once a month.

 #213: Add mini goals to win box prizes

This suggestion was forged by blog favourite, Nibble and Noms. Clearly resources are stretched at the moment at Storm8, and as a result we've not had the frequency of update everyone would like. As a compromise, how about some mini goals which reward us with box prizes?

A nifty pair of examples Nibbles provided to me was this: cook x Fresh Carrots to earn a Carrot Patch or cook X Egg Salad to earn an Egg Painting. We're not talking here about full blown quests - just little goals in a similar vein to the daily tasks and Lani's goals which have been seen over in Restaurant Story 2.

Example of Lani's goals in Restaurant Story 2

And likewise the prizes don't need to be over the top either. As much as we'd all love to see leading items from crates offered, there would still be plenty of motivation if it were some of the better third and fourth prizes which we were gunning for. This entire concept is not too difficult for Storm8 to implement and would keep players interested at a time when shedding users must be a grave concern.

 #214: Share updates with Bakery Story

If the situation is bad enough that maintaining all of the Storm8 fleet is not feasible, then I suggest that some crossover is applied in order to keep as many of the games alive as possible. It goes without saying that in the case of Restaurant Story the natural partner is Bakery Story.

Both titles have the same game engine, with the only differences being content related. And we have seen decorations being shared before - take the Pie Rack, the Potted Plant and the Wooden Pillar. All of these have been released in both games without anyone complaining, and the same can be said of a select few recipes too. Sharing updates is a decent idea in my view, and if that is what it takes to keep both games rolling then it is surely a no brainer.

 #215: Put added emphasis on sales

Now we get into the worst case scenario area. Let's say that regular updates are just not going to happen. If so, then I reckon that rather than just leaving the game to wilt, the game's developers should focus on going out with a bang. How do they do that? By putting added emphasis on sales.

St Patrick's Day 2017 sale items

The St Patrick's Day sale was the perfect example of how to do a sale. In the absence of regular updates, Storm8 should look to do plenty of big discounts on removed content. After all there's no shortage of stuff in the game that we'd like to see get embroidered with the famous orange frame. Be it decorations which haven't seen the light of day in many moons, seriously expensive gem items in the market or those dastardly boxes, there's plenty of scope here.

And on top of all that, why not be creative with some of the deals? We could have 'buy this item for 20 gems and this item for 10 gems and you get this third item for free!' And perhaps 'log in seven days in a row and you get a half price box dip of your choice!' Doing some creative specials like this could really help keep players hooked, even if fresh content has dried up.