That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles [GxB, BakeSim] (Hiatus)

[SusanTheCat]

I just tried it out and I noticed a bug. I set my text speed to instant and the game kept skipping over lines of dialogue. I noticed it specifically during the first conversation with Josh and Xavier. I stopped playing after that.

And I thought Terry was a boy too.

Susan

[NeonCowboy]

Hey! Sorry if some of my feedback is redundant from things that people have said earlier in the thread... Just take it as reinforcement that more people are catching it, I guess.

I think your writing is really solid. It's polished. This game has a lot of potential and you've got a lot of potential, so I'm looking forward to seeing this series continue!

Here are my thoughts...

1. What is "Panaderia's infamous grapevine"? Google makes me think it is a bakery in Vancouver, but I had to look it up. I think it's cool to incorporate real locations into your game, but you need to give it a little context for people who won't have any idea. You could rephrase to "The grapevine of Panaderia, Vancouver's best bakery" or something like that...

2. I didn't mind the character intro boxes in the beginning, but I also didn't expect to remember any of it. It's more interesting to introduce characters as they appear, so I would drop this part and just let that happen. If it means beefing up the scene of every character in their first appearance, or making a first appearance for every character mandatory, so be it... Nobody said pilots were easy.

That being said, it's always better to show than tell, and events that prove what characters are like will always be better than, "Oh, this is so and so - he/she is TOTALLY like this." You already do this in some places with some characters, but I think you should consider it for all of them...

After the first two scenes with this 'choose a person you've never seen and hear more about them' thing, I started to get into the flow of the game a LOT more...

Maybe the issue is that it would be tough to introduce so many characters - all I can think of there is that maybe you should just cut some of them, or not have them show up until much later on? It may be that you're just jamming everyone into the demo, and actually plan to spread out the structure a lot more down the line...

3. Would be cool if the baking screen or a tutorial said '25 Items MAX' - it wasn't terrible to find it out on my own, but I had no idea up-front if I would terrify all the staff into quitting or not...

4. My first day results were terrible! My parents were right! Do you want people experimenting from the ground up like this, or would it make more sense to start them off with a few more hints on how to at least not be awful?

5. What does the star ranking system mean?

6. I really like the random losing of an item because it came out wrong... It's a nice little realistic touch that also throws just the right amount of randomness into the gameplay.

7. Maybe show pictures of the dudes the first time you choose to hang out with them, instead of just the list of names?

8. I'm learning all these different recipes, but why does it matter? It'd be neat if every item had some kind of bonus image of it, and there was some sort of 'gallery' that I was unlocking items in every day... Something to tap that completionist urge, if nothing else.

9. If I use the same list over again, does it need to prompt me to save it again? Seems redundant.

10. I think the game needs some sort of main story that acts as a continuous thread all the way through it... The easiest one would be that they'll lose the bakery if she doesn't make X dollars, but even better would be one that connects with having to form relationships with the various people to save the place. You need to give players some imperative to do that, as well as feel like they're a part of something overarching generally... You kind of quickly gloss over in the beginning that Elise's parents wanted to sell the place for being unprofitable and that they gave her a chance to turn it around. I think that needs to be blown out a little more...

This would also give the game a sense of meaning to space and time. While playing this, I feel disoriented because I don't know when the game will be over, or what milestones I'm trying to reach... Could I just bake forever and ever?

11. I've never met a business major in my life who was off-handedly familiar with characters from Romeo & Juliet.

12. I played through three stories: Xavier, Aaron, and Alfonse.

I liked Aaron, and was intrigued about his facial recognition problem... That's a neat little hook, and it does make you want to know more. He's also obviously the nice guy, so for him to have to deal with a tough flaw has a lot of story possibility...

I think it would actually be funny to have Alfonse's *entire* plotline be about trying to get the cat to like him. You could even make it comedic by having all of the girls pursue him shamelessly while he continues on with his campaign to win over the cat.

I was least interested in Xavier, maybe because I knew he had broken up with Terry but I had never encountered Terry herself. Maybe they could pass each other by with contempt in his first scene, or something like that...

[CheeryMoya]

Sorry for the late replies everyone. Rest assured we read your input and we'll have Easy, Medium, and Hard gameplay modes. I'm half tempted to call Easy "Cakewalk" mode but I'd have no idea what to call the others >_>

Hello! I've played the demo and the game's really nice! The characters are well-drawn and everything seems incredible. I really love that little Alfonso. XD You must make this game a reality!!!!!!!!!

H-his name is Alfonse.

Is the full version going to cost money, or free?

It'd take a stack of essays and a lot of bribery to convince me to make this a commercial project since it's also a bit personal at some parts, plus I know the woes of seeing this sweet game you want but it's out of reach because you don't have a way to pay for it. In other words, it'll be free.

I just tried it out and I noticed a bug. I set my text speed to instant and the game kept skipping over lines of dialogue. I noticed it specifically during the first conversation with Josh and Xavier. I stopped playing after that.

And I thought Terry was a boy too.

That's actually not a bug and just me spamming the {nw} text tag D: I guess some people prefer all the text to appear at once so I'll probably take these all out in the full game. Also, how can Terry be mistaken for a boy? She's probably one of the more feminine characters at first sight unless it's the name >_>

1. What is "Panaderia's infamous grapevine"?

By grapevine I meant the rumors and gossip sort, not a literal one >_> People there have a bad habit of not being able to shut up about each other, like Renee, so people have to be wary of what information they take seriously.

Maybe the issue is that it would be tough to introduce so many characters - all I can think of there is that maybe you should just cut some of them, or not have them show up until much later on? It may be that you're just jamming everyone into the demo, and actually plan to spread out the structure a lot more down the line...

Yeah, a lot of people have said that already. I should have made it clearer that the demo begins a week after Elise gets the bakery.

Questions 3-6

The baking sim portions are still getting balanced out so try not to stress over how easy it is to screw up :C Right now I'd probably equate this to Hard mode so don't worry. The stars indicated how popular an item was which means customers are more likely to buy it.

7. Maybe show pictures of the dudes the first time you choose to hang out with them, instead of just the list of names?

I actually want to have an imagemap for it like an overview display of the cafe, and everyday you'll see each character at a spot or gone because they're unavailable that day. If we do that, it'll be one of the last things we finish up.

10. I think the game needs some sort of main story that acts as a continuous thread all the way through it... This would also give the game a sense of meaning to space and time. While playing this, I feel disoriented because I don't know when the game will be over, or what milestones I'm trying to reach... Could I just bake forever and ever?

The final game will span 6 months, from July to December 2012 (suddenly that feels like so long ago). Rest assured there is an overarching story, but since it's slice of life it might be mundane to some people at times. Hopefully I don't run out of jokes OTL

11. I've never met a business major in my life who was off-handedly familiar with characters from Romeo & Juliet.

I actually have no idea why I like making all my characters Shakespeare aficionados D: It's not like Santos didn't read his high school literature.

Question 12

Ahhhhhh you noticed that thing about Aaron. It may or may not be what it seems.

And yeah, Al will be trying to win Tyb's affection all throughout the game but only in his good route will he succeed. It's alright not to like the hipster some of the characters at first, I'm actually trying to make sure you guys have a tough time deciding whether you agree/like with them on some level. Relationships should be about whether you can get along with someone despite your differences, methinks. Thanks for your feedback Neon!

---

Writing is slower than I'd like since I picked up a bunch of other projects to help with so I've been trying to finish those up. That and spending time with family gave me less time than I thought, ugh :/ We're definitely not on hiatus though.

On a side note, I'm pretty sure no one wants to deal with ordering ingredients along with dealing with possible equipment breakdowns, right? Kinda like in the old Lemonade Stand game, if we made you guys bother with this you'd have to either restock a lot in one go or buy daily. I'm really against it because that'd mean you have to order stuff like allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ground ginger, sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar, flour, wheat flour, oil, eggs, milk... Yeah.
Still, I have no idea what you guys think. Would anyone be interested in that would should we avoid it like the plague?

[Ran08]

Looks... great. I'm downloading the demo. I'll answer the questions later. Teehee. Also, I'm... not yet 16, but I'll be one this year, so...

[NeonCowboy]

By grapevine I meant the rumors and gossip sort, not a literal one >_> People there have a bad habit of not being able to shut up about each other, like Renee, so people have to be wary of what information they take seriously.

Oh no, I know what you mean by grapevine... I'm asking about Panaderia. I'm now thinking that maybe it's the name of the town that the game is set in? Anyways, you should know that apparently it is also an actual bakery in Vancouver:

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/14/1445370/ ... -Vancouver

... And a latin-themed bakery at that! Looks good to me.

I actually have no idea why I like making all my characters Shakespeare aficionados D: It's not like Santos didn't read his high school literature.

My first guess would be that you do it because you like Shakespeare!

But, in addition to the improbability of all of your characters being aficionados of anything - even something as universally recognizable as Shakespeare - I knew many a B. Comm in university, and after a few months they remembered as much about high school English as I remembered about high school chemistry: Not much.

I'm not saying Santos can't or shouldn't like Shakespeare - in fact, something improbable can be a strong part of a character - I'm just saying you should probably have your protagonist note it as something a little bit odd, exceptional, and maybe even attractive? I get the sense that being smart and aloof is sort of his thing, so it would make sense if he was a bit of a polymath...

But having everyone know Shakespeare doesn't ring true. All that being said, not everyone is striving for stark realism, so take it as you like it.

On a side note, I'm pretty sure no one wants to deal with ordering ingredients along with dealing with possible equipment breakdowns, right? Kinda like in the old Lemonade Stand game, if we made you guys bother with this you'd have to either restock a lot in one go or buy daily. I'm really against it because that'd mean you have to order stuff like allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ground ginger, sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar, flour, wheat flour, oil, eggs, milk... Yeah.
Still, I have no idea what you guys think. Would anyone be interested in that would should we avoid it like the plague?

I don't think it would be fun, no. If anything, the combinations I'd like to see implemented would be stuff like matching different kinds of coffees to different pastries, or stuff like that... Challenging the player to combine not ingredients, but finished things, and gaining bonuses for putting things together in ways that make sense.

The funny thing is that doing stuff like this probably wouldn't be too different, mechanically speaking, than mixing ingredients - but I think it would seem more satisfying.

Also, in support of this, I think maybe a way to break up 'chapters' of the game (if it has them) would be to have the bakery take on little extra nuances as it grows and becomes more successful... Like at the beginning it's just a bakery, but then they start to sell coffee, and then maybe sandwiches and what-not, and then.... Booze? I dunno.

Maybe it can even be part of the story that things start to get too complex, and there is a push to bring the place back to its 'roots' - just being a bakery.

[EchoLove]

A baking otome game, that sounds really good c:

[WickedRaccoon]

I have been stalking this game for a while now, and I'm really curious in playing a VN based on baking. But seeing that it's been a while since anybody commented, I wanted to ask is the game is still in progress...

[CheeryMoya]

I have been stalking this game for a while now, and I'm really curious in playing a VN based on baking. But seeing that it's been a while since anybody commented, I wanted to ask is the game is still in progress...

Sorry for the late reply, TWCC is currently on hiatus (but certainly not scrapped) since the other TTG members have been busy. Life, you know? My own focus has been on my other projects (mainly LoC and NatH updates, as well as Dream's Dénouement). I've been working a bit each day to get these projects done and I'd like to be able to return to TWCC by fall. By then we'll all be a bit more experienced.

Trust me, I want this game to be as good as it can be. As a first project it was far too big, but with more than a few games under our belts, it'll get done eventually.

[VampAyano]

Downloading~

[thelateknight]

what a great game! I really liked the baking aspect of it--such a neat twist on the typical stat-raising dating sims. Even though this is on hiatus, I still wanted you to know that I really enjoyed it and am eagerly awaiting updates

[JuniPOP]

I am interested in trying this game out, but it seems you cant download the demo any more. If any one can re-uploaded it please do. I am interested in trying it out.