Sugarplum Updates: design changes, un-changes, and re-changes

Given that my Patreon break was dedicated to working on Sugarplum, I should probably fill you in on where the game is currently at!

Where we left off, I had some doubts about the game design due to some feedback from some players that the gameplay was tedious. The game loop at the time was something like: tap baskets to get ingredients -> merge ingredients into desserts -> find dessert combinations -> collect customers who like the combinations -> wait for baskets to refill -> repeat. There were two pain points in this loop that I spent the hiatus on. The first was the trial and error needed to find combos which I tried to address with an in-game hint system - I wrote about it initially here, but I'll save the updates I've made for next month's writeup.

The second was that waiting for the baskets to refill was boring. I was hoping players would be able to fill this time by testing flavor combos, but this didn't work as testing combos was dependent on ingredients, which was dependent on the baskets.

I'm ashamed to say that I spent a month completely revamping the game design, only to scrap it. I tried to switch from merging to a match-3 puzzle, so you had this grid where you could collect ingredients by matching them and it would endlessly refill with ingredients. Then instead of merging to make desserts, you would simply craft them when you had enough ingredients.

The problem was that, as you can see from the top left, it was dependent on a move counter that refilled over time. Since you had to wait for moves to refill it was the problem with basket wait times all over again. I also found myself missing the concept of merge lines and how desserts slowly get more and more complex. I was always more of a merging fan than a match-3 fan. So despite all the time I spent coding a new mechanic, I decided to go back to the original one...

I did change some stuff about the original mechanic. For one, I discovered a new way to code drag+drop that I think runs faster than before, or at least cleans up my code nicely. I was feeling pretty shitty about scrapping a month's worth of work, so I decided to focus on making the game as aesthetically pleasing as possible. This meant moving the original merging grid to a separate room, so now you would have a dedicated kitchen for making desserts. (This is just a mockup, so excuse the sketchiness. The books in the corner are an unused feature I'll write about next month)

Baskets and tools are now separated out so the grid is only for desserts, which should make things look less cluttered. You can also see the customers' orders through the window, although you'll have to go back to the actual cafe (by clicking the up arrow) to serve and talk to them. I was inspired by this dumpling restaurant where you can see the chefs make dumplings behind a giant window!

More importantly, baskets no longer have wait times. The focus will be on discovering flavor combinations to meet new characters, so you can craft desserts without limit. Tools will still take time to make stuff, but I think it's ok as you'll be able to make other desserts while you wait for tools to do their thing.

I'm a little concerned about having to go between rooms to serve, but I think it adds to the immersion, so I'm curious to see if it works out in playtesting. You'll still see all the desserts on the grid when you are in the cafe, and you can continue to merge desserts there; you just can't put baskets and tools on there. My intention is to eventually turn this into a little display case of desserts like an actual bakery would have, again, for the immersion.

I've also come to agonizing terms with the fact that I've designed a free mobile game, which sounds silly as I write this because to you it was probably very obvious that it was a free mobile game. After all, 99% of merging games are on mobile and free. I'd always planned to launch this on both PC and mobile, but I'd always wanted this to be a paid game without any additional in-game microtransactions. I guess I thought that if I could make it good enough I could launch it as a paid game and people would be willing to pay for it. But I'm starting to think that's not very possible on mobile.

So I think the current strat is to release this as a paid game on PC, and then offer it as a free game on mobile, but the free version will have the basket timers etc. Then there would be a single payment option to remove these timers to make it the same as the unlimited PC game. Something like that. It means the price point for this game will probably be lower than what I originally wanted, but maybe having a free game will help with visibility on my first ever game? I'm still kinda reluctant about it, but I probably don't have to worry about it for a while.

I understand the current UI doesn't look very mobile friendly as everything is too small for a phone screen. For me it's easier to tweak the UI than to code gameplay, so I will worry about redoing the UI once I've finished coding the main gameplay.

So this is Part 1 of where the game's at; Part 2 will be next month but honestly this was the bigger part. Although I will be trying to bring a build to a gamedev meetup, so hopefully I'll have some updates on that in Part 2!