First off, thank you for a wonderful launch week! I appreciate all the support and it's been fantastic watching streams of everyone playing the game. Since launch there have been two sizeable updates and some minor hotfixes, but I wanted to show the big update I have planned for October based on your feedback. Current Game Status A lot of people have been enjoying the new campaign structure I've implemented for the sequel, and I just want to start off by stressing the fact that all of these new features are not impacting the new "Chef for Hire" mode or the CSD mode that is currently in the game now (more on that in a sec). These are simply fun new additions that I think enhance the game even more, but if you want to continue on your quest for all golds, go for it! These new features will not be implemented in that mode in order to preserve the balance I wanted from the start. I am, however, constantly monitoring player feedback to make sure that there aren't any "impossible" levels in C4H, and will update levels accordingly (in the last two patches I've balanced the difficulty on a few levels.) New CSD Modes: Classic and Stress Kitchen The current "Cook, Serve, Delicious!" mode where you place your foods on the menu and play is now called Standard Mode. Nothing changes here from the game now: you can create some menus and hop right into a day without worrying about menu balancing, buzz, etc. The second mode, Stress Kitchen, opens all 14 prep stations and 8 holding stations (which can be turned off or on), and allows you to adjust the buzz to whatever percentage you want (from 0% to 200%). You cannot earn any money, crates or YUM progression from this mode- it's just a fun way to experience the game. Finally, the biggest new mode is called Classic. This is a unique mode that allows you to place foods and earn buzz, just like Standard mode. However, you will need to keep in mind several new features. The first are the additions of boosters and detractors.
These are traits that all 180+ foods have in the game. Some traits add buzz on your menu instantly just by serving the food, but others can decrease patience or buzz. If the weather outside is rainy, you may consider some Rainy Day foods that boost your buzz up temporarily. It's a whole new way to play that is expanded on from the first game. While some of these traits are already in the game (but are invisible to the player), I'm adding even more traits than I originally intended to to make the game that much more varied and fun. Another feature is the addition of Equipment Upgrades. Like the preview pic above, you can upgrade your Toilet/Dishwasher/Trash/etc. by using the money earned in CSD or Chef for Hire modes to increase the amount of foods you can serve before triggering these chores, all the way up to level 10 on each piece of equipment. Some items allow you to add a base amount of patience, like a super cooling air conditioner, and others actually act as level modifiers, such as a scent booster that increases tips at the cost of patience. These kinds of upgrades can be toggled off and on, and all of the equipment upgrades are available in Classic or Stress Kitchen only. Finally, the addition of a new Email client in the main menu will help provide you with what's going on around the tower. Most of the time it's random people just chattin' it up, but other times it could be a VIP reservation for a celebrity who was sighted to head up to your restaurant, or a food critic-bot that is scheduled to be arriving at a specific time. These people/bots don't have time to waste and have zero patience, but if you can pull off a perfect order, you will gain a ton of extra buzz! And if you don't...well, best not to focus on that too much. There are hundreds of emails that will be delivered to you between days, done by the same team of writers that did all of the food descriptions in the game, and as you can imagine they contain a lot of info, lore, or...weirdness is probably the right word. Even More Features There are more features in this patch that I'll be sharing before it's released. Because I've expanded the scope of the email and booster/detractor system more than I initially planned due to player feedback, this update is going to take me a little longer than I originally planned (I'm now aiming for an early October release). Until then I'll also be releasing some smaller patches that add some new features by fan requests and fixes up any remaining bugs that have been reported. Once this patch hits I'm going to be adding even more requested features such as key binding support for all 180+ foods and prepping the game for localization options, so watch for that! I can't wait to share more about this big update in the near future, and you can expect a ton more new content, Chef for Hire levels and foods in the weeks and months ahead!