App update: 10/08/17

It may be over a week ago now, but I thought it would be a good idea to review a rare app update on iOS for Restaurant Story.

Version 1.8.0 was released on 10th August and reported to include 'bug fixes' and 'performance improvements' which is not the most insightful of descriptions. Having had a good scout of the game since updating, it appears to me that there is only one notable change, but it is very much notable.

A '2x coin boost' feature has been added which gives players the opportunity to earn double the coins for a limited time period. It's an interesting concept and is a change which can only have a positive impact.

So how does this mechanism work? Well, upon tapping the '2x' icon positioned towards the top of the screen, a window will pop up:

Double coin boost window

Here the feature is briefly explained - once active it will double your earnings over a two hour period. There are two ways to initiate this, these being paying up 5 gems or watching a video. There's no way I'd ever blow my precious gems on something like this, but I'll quite happily sit through a 30 second ad in order to access the boost!

And the feature works, although this may not be all that clear. I say this because the first time I used it I returned after two hours to find that the number of coins reported as being earned by the usual 'welcome back' pop-up window was the typical amount I'd earn without a double boost. But luckily I had taken a studious note of my total coinage prior to closing out of the app, and so a quick calculation revealed that I'd actually earned double what the pop-up had suggested.

So this feature has not been added without some glitch, although fortunately the concept itself does work correctly.

An alternative option is to make use of the boost when you return to the game. The 'welcome back' window has integrated a double coins button, which will instantly double your earnings since your last visit.

Welcome back window with new double coin boost button

If used strategically this could really help build up coins - the best time to make use of it is when loading up the game for the first time in a while, perhaps first thing in the morning or when you get home from work or school in the evening.

I'm not yet sure exactly how much you can use this boost, or indeed if there are any limits at all. It would make sense for there to be, but I've not used it enough yet to form any conclusions.

All in all though this is a cool new feature which may prove really helpful as I continue the long and treacherous expansion quest which is so coin hungry. It's just a shame that it is not available to Android players - we can certainly hope that it is rolled out eventually to the other main platform, but given the existing disparities between iOS and Android I don't think we can be too optimistic for that. Nevertheless, it's nice to have some evidence that Storm8 are still thinking about the game!