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Cowtastic Cafe

A small game about a Barista which wants to grow big! · By Noa3, Preggopixels

My thoughts on the game, and some questions/suggestions

A topic by lutnut215 created Mar 06, 2023 Views: 617
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(1 edit) (+1)

(Note: this post is about the Feb 8, 2023 update.)

I'm very impressed with what's in the game so far! For only the third update, it feels like a lot more development time went into it. I also have a few more specific things to say about it.

  • First, the good things:
    • The gameplay loop is simple, but fun. It definitely feels like an arcade game!
    • I like the idea of setting your own difficulty by choosing how many ingredients you want to stock. 
    • The cosmetic options are nice to have, and they add more incentive to earn money outside of just buying ingredients and upgrades.
    • Most larger-scale NSFW games tend to have cheap presentation, even in the later stages of production. This game's UI looks like a lot more production went into it than others.
    • I'm assuming the milk uses particle effects - they don't look half bad!
  • Next, some suggestions that aren't directly tied to any criticism:
    • I think that this gameplay loop works even without the NSFW stuff - if you removed the milk mechanic, replaced the barista's happiness with general customer happiness, and had happiness increase more with finished drinks, you could probably sell a version with extra features on Steam Early Access in order to fund development.
    • I'd add a counter to track how much money you've made in total. Maybe even counters for more statistics, like how much milk the barista's produced total, shortest time taken to make drinks of certain complexity levels, and more.
    • Another person suggested the idea of improving the barista's max capacity without increasing size. Personally, the idea of a girl producing more milk than it looks like her breasts should be able to hold interests me, so maybe that could be another upgrade, maybe to replace the one to reduce production? 
    • Many games of this sort have gallery or free play modes, where you can view character progression without worrying about gameplay. This could be a good addition.
  • Third, some areas that could be improved, and suggestions on how to do so:
    • The mechanic of chocolate syrup starting concentrated and getting less so as you fill the glass was a bit confusing for me at first - I thought it was a glitch. (If it is, it definitely makes things more challenging as things go along - keep it in, please!) Maybe it could be conveyed to the player a bit easier, maybe by adding a tooltip? 
    • There doesn't really seem to be much in the way of replay value - you can do practically everything in a single playthrough, maybe two if you want to do both modes. Maybe there could be more cosmetic options that unlock as you clear the game more? (Could even add more max size in Normal Mode if you clear Hard Mode...)
    • Some of the barista's comments got a bit repetitive. Maybe there could be an unlockable cosmetic option to change her personality? An oblivious one who's wondering where the sudden weight came from and thinks her breasts aren't that big, a grumpy one who just wants the pay, a growth addict who only cares about size and getting bigger, a lovestruck one who couldn't care less about the farm and just wants to be with you, etc.
  • Finally, a few questions:
    • How far would you say the game is from being complete?
    • Do you have a roadmap for what you plan to add? If not, are there any details you'd want to share on future updates?
    • If the normal game is labeled as "Arcade Mode," will there be other modes added too?
    • Would you be open to other contributors lending support, whether it's music, writing, code, extra art, or voice acting?
    • Will you be monetizing the finished game, or leaving it free?
    • Is there a social media page fans can follow to get updates, or maybe a Discord server?

Keep up the good work on the game!