Support NeoGAF

[Stumpokapow]

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! NeoGAF OT
Purchase information: Steam, $12.99, Available now. Coming to various DRM-free platforms by the end of the year. PC only for now!
Early Reviews: Very Positive

I've Never Played Cook, Serve, Delicious! How does this game work?

In the Cook, Serve, Delicious! games you are a chef working at a restaurant. From the minute the doors open, customers will make their way in and ask for something off your menu -- and your job is to get their orders correct and on time. The core gameplay involves juggling orders which take a lot of background cooking time, orders which require intense focus to prepare properly, and chores to keep the restaurant clean and sanity. In Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!!, you play a freelance chef who can work in many different restaurants, each with their own menus, or set your own menu at your very own restaurant. Think you've got the handle of things? Wait until rush hour. CSD is a series where you can absolutely be a victim of your own success. Keep things fresh by trying out hundreds of unique recipes, each with many configurations. Yell at customers with long, indecipherable orders. Ruin a 200x perfect order streak when you accidentally over-fill a pint of beer. Get more chef stars, level up, and unlock decor to customize your restaurant. And if it's anything like the first game in the series, become a famous chef and make it on TV.​

Okay, but how do you actually prepare orders?

In general what you'll be doing is using your keyboard (or gamepad) to switch between orders and press buttons that correspond to particular ingredients or techniques. Preparing a meal involves looking at the customer's exact order and pressing the right buttons -- but which button goes with which ingredient takes some learning, and building up muscle memory. Playing on the keyboard feels a little bit like QWOP and a little bit like a typing test, but strangely compelling. It's a lot like this:

How many hours can I expect to get out of this game?

I got 40 hours out of Cook, Serve, Delicious! and this game easily has more content than the original. I think if you just want to do a casual beginning to end playthrough you're looking at 30-40 hours here. It's great value for money. In addition, these are fantastic streaming games, so if you like to share your gameplay with others, it's well worth checking them out.​

What's the right way to make a Beef Wellington?

It's really difficult to balance cooking the pastry outside sufficiently without overcooking the steak inside. Take a look at Gordon Ramsay's excellent video on the subject. You want a rare to medium rare finish on the meat!​

I play the hell out CSD1, what's new in this game?

- Over 800 unlockable decorative items
- Play as many different chefs (both male and female, many ethnicities represented)
- New holding stations let you master the power of mise en place!
- Start your own restaurant or play through over 30 restaurants with pre-set themed menus
- Over 180 foods
- Use the ancient art of Street Fighter to beat up robbers.
- Local co-op
- Holy shit, the food art is just incredible you will get so hungry just watching this oh my god.​

Who is chubigans?

NeoGAF's own chubigans, David Galindo, is this guy:

You can follow him on twitter here, DM him on GAF here (look how low that freakin' userid is daaaamn), or check out his developer blog here.

Two of his earlier games are on Steam:
The Oil Blue -- mechanically this is the same kind of rewarding task juggler as CSD, but it's themed around operating an oil rig. Great art, really fun, only $4.99
Cook, Serve, Delicious! -- The grandaddy of them all. No, actually, this is the second cooking game chubigans made. So it's more like the daddy of them all. It's the best game I've ever played on Steam, and if you haven't played it, it's nutso good. $9.99 -- of course, you might spring the extra two bucks and buy the game this thread is about.​

Mod abuse: Free tag of your choice to the first user who a) Buys the game, b) Posts a screenshot of their favourite dish from the game, and c) Posts a picture of a time they made that meal IRL.

 

[TrumanBurbank]

First game is amazing. Highly recommend it.

 

[truestatic]

Thanks for the OT Stumpokapow! Game is so great. Switching restaurants is humbling, but soon enough you start memorizing the new foods and falling back into the rhythm. I love the new holding station and sides features. Just an all around super good, tough as nails sequel.

 

[Tagg9]

Mod abuse: Free tag of your choice to the first user who a) Buys the game, b) Posts a screenshot of their favourite dish from the game, and c) Posts a picture of a time they made that meal IRL.

Wow, this is straight up bribery!

In all seriousness, I've been meaning to check this out because I love cooking games so thanks for the prod.

 

[Prototype Viktor]

boooo to the game being steam first

i said i would and i shall continue my faithful watch for the PS4 version Chubs

 

[Nabs]

I'm enjoying it so far. I've only been able to put in an hour so far, but I plan on playing a good amount this weekend. I already know it's going to be an insane value.

 

[cripterion]

I was really bad at the first game (bought on iPad) will get this one and try my hand on pc!

 

[Snagret]

It's out already? Oh hell yeah

 

[Stumpokapow]

 

[Nabs]

Look at that thing go.

 

[Striek]

I got almost 20hrs of enjoyment from the first, so in for this. Shit got super hard IIRC but it was addictive.

Also chubigans userid seemed super high, then I noticed theres people in this thread with 600,000+ wtf.

 

[Jeffrey]

I'm away from home. How does it run on integrated stuff?

Will it run OK on my surface pro 3?

 

[kiguel182]

After playing the first on my tablet I just discovered this one controls with the keyboard (on a tablet you just tap stuff). I'm still getting this but it will be an adjustment for sure!

 

[kulapik]

The game is a bit lacking in the building your restaurant mode right now but the Chef For Hire levels are very fun, and much more levels than what I toyed with on CSD1, so it's not a big deal for me.

 

[kiguel182]

Building the restaurant was my favourite part of the first, that's a bummer.

 

[Crab Milk Mickey]

Windowed mode being an actual window instead of borderless (which is centered and can't be repositioned) would be a nice change. Kind of annoying.

Outside of that, great game. Really pushes you into the deep-end from the get-go unlike the gradual upgrades in the original, however.

 

[Fluloco]

I loved the first one, but I'm kinda concerned that the reviews on Steam are saying that there's no progression in the game.

How are you guys finding that?

 

[kulapik]

I loved the first one, but I'm kinda concerned that the reviews on Steam are saying that there's no progression in the game.

How are you guys finding that?

Basically the game is divided in two parts: building your restaurant, and Chef for Hire, where you do preset levels of increasing difficulty. By going this and getting medals, you get money, win decoration for your restaurant and new foods.

The problem is that the "progression" is tied between the two modes, and the new leveling system is tied into your stars rather than the old "do certain objectives" way. That way you could do plenty of the chef for hire levels and have a 5 star restaurant even if you haven't played anything on your restaurant.

There's also the fact that chubs found a game breaking bug an hour before the game launched so he had to temporarily disable some features, all of related to the building your restaurant mode, so for now you can't see the buzz your restaurant has nor use the email system.

Plus there's not an upgrading system, instead the foods get more recipes as you level up. So the game feels less of a restaurant managing game and more of a button mashing to make food game. It's still a very good game nonetheless.

 

[Deleted member 125677]

Look at that thing go.

How far wobble technology has come since mario kart 8

 

[Nezzhil]

I loved the first one, so of course I bought the sequel at day one. I'm having a lot of fun with the Chef for Hire game, but I understand that some people miss the old progression system.
As the new updates are released, I hope the bad/mixed reviews become good ones. Awesome work Chubigans!

 

[iiicon]

I'd forgotten how terrible I am at CSD. I don't think I have the time to get passably okay at this right now, but I still bought it because the first game is arguably one of the best value per dollar games on Steam, providing me hours upon hours of entertainment for, literally, a dollar. Hopefully by the time I can dive in, these early launch issues will be addressed.

 

[Noogy]

I saw this up on Steam, congrats chubs! I enjoyed following development, all that realistic looking food!

 

[JBourne]

Any news on what other platforms are planned? I put most of my time with the original on a tablet, despite owning it on PC first. After using touch controls, it's hard to go back to keyboard.

 

[Berordn]

I would just like to add that the Chinese Restaurant is EVIL.

PURE EVIL.

 

[border]

I loved the first one very much! I have nearly 40 hours of playtime in it.

I bought the new game and I'm getting a kick out of it. Not having mouse support was a bit of a bummer though -- I'm glad it was quickly patched in. Calzones are my favorite new dish to make.....there is a fun sort of rhythm to it, and they aren't one of those "Here's an endless list of ingredients that you must input" items like pizza.

I'm not sure if I enjoy how incredibly frequent the chores are now -- they don't make the game any more difficult, they can just be kind of annoying.

 

[KenOD]

Well there goes what little free time I had left.

 

[Kientin]

I played it briefly but D:OS2 came out and that's eating my free time. I definitely enjoyed what I played though and will be hitting this right when I'm done with the other game.

 

[Sober]

Bought it, can't wait to try it out!

 

[Froyo Love]

Played a lot of the original and am already really enjoying this. The holding stations are inspired. I have plenty of gripes though.

The Menu UI seems really underbaked. As soon as I use the mouse on a menu screen, I can't use keyboard commands anymore? Where can I find item prices on the menu-creation screen for my restaurant instead of having to look everything up in the food catalog? This is at its worst when you're changing the look of your restaurant, which is painfully cumbersome to allow for gamepad inputs.

Restaurant management is either less interesting than the original or way more opaque. CSD1 had menu composition mechanics like staleness and effects from rainy day foods, healthy or unhealthy foods, trash-generators, etc. CSD2 doesn't show any of that (although it does mention foods being trashier than others in a tutorial screen, it never shows how you would find this out). So, I might as well find the most expensive items that I can get good at preparing and serve those exclusively. For example, why bother ever making macaroni as a side dish once I have roast cauliflower in my pantry? Same price, one extra button press on the cauliflower, but the cauliflower yields 10 servings to macaroni's 6, which is a big deal for a side dish! For that matter, why couldn't that "number of servings prepared" stat be on the food catalog screen? There's plenty of room, and while practice mode is handy, it's annoying to load it up and prep a dish just to find out how many pretzels you get out of a batch or whatever.

 

[border]

I have been enjoying this a lot -- especially trying to go for gold at all the Japanese restaurants and Slappy's BBQ.

But yeah, the main progression seems strangely aimless. I don't know how I'm really supposed to maximize my earnings other than serving expensive stuff at my own restaurant.

I'm almost thinking of putting the game down for a few weeks because it seems clear that there are major updates coming very soon.

 

[bman94]

My only complaint so far is that the controller controls are way harder in this game.

In the first you could reallg get a rhythm going like making stuff like bugers or lasagna to the point where muscle memory took over.

Now because the recipes are much more intricate I'm slowing down a lot mentally having to Switch triggers for different ingredients, having to press B to cycle through the different pages, and having to press after finishing chores and prep.

I'm only two hours in but after play Cook, Serve, Delicious! 1 for 24 hours total, it's a hard and uncomfortable switch with the new controls.

I'm fearing that the further I get in the game the worse I'll end up performing because of the new controls. Cause it got pretty intense im the first one by the 4/5 star rankings.

 

[Chairmanchuck]

Anyone knows why you should buy food? From what I see you get all the food for free in the campaign this time for each level/restaurant.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Just bought it! Love to support chubigans, and loved the first game. My wife eagerly awaits a mobile version but this might get her on Steam for the first time!

 

[Sober]

Curious to see how the progression mode will play out, or if there will be a way to buy better quality food recipes like in the first game.

For curiosity's sake I tried something like Sashimi in practice mode and wow everything is there as an ingredient. Kind of overwhelming even in practice mode. Would prefer to have it so maybe you initially buy the recipe and you maybe only have Salmon but as you upgrade you get more ingredients which makes it cost more and give more buzz and stuff but makes it more insane to prepare.

Not that it is really too difficult to acclimate cause I put in 30+ hours in CSD1 but I could imagine someone new being completely overwhelmed by the new menu here. That plus there aren't any stats for food or what benefits there are on having it in the menu during certain conditions during the day or whatever. Hope those are coming back. Otherwise I've started and I'm having a lot of fun with it especially with all the new additions like holding stations. They are a bit confusing even with the tutorials but I think it starts to click when using them for real.

 

[Birgitte2004]

So is it just RNG that can make creating a holding station item fail, or is there actual skill involved with it, that I do not know and thus am doing wrong?

Edit: I feel dumb, I completely didn't remember that holding items have recipes in spite of doing the tutorial like an hour ago. Nevermind.

 

[chubigans]

Aw man thanks Stump for the awesome thread, this is great. XD

Thanks everyone for all the support! It's been a crazy few days but I've been getting a lot of feedback and I can understand how people can feel a little directionless with the game. I plan on outlining the first major content patch this week that will show off the new features and progression system that will be separate from the main campaign mode right now (so that you don't have to stop playing in fear that you're going to miss out on any content). I think y'all are really going to enjoy it, as it brings back some of the classic CSD 1 elements for those who aren't fond of the new progression system in this game, or want something more rigid.

Thanks again!!

 

[Spacecowboy77]

Picked it up yesterday, loving it so far

The added holding stations mechanic is really cool but yeah, the progression system in the campaign is weird.

 

[Dr.Phibes]

Aw man thanks Stump for the awesome thread, this is great. XD

Thanks everyone for all the support! It's been a crazy few days but I've been getting a lot of feedback and I can understand how people can feel a little directionless with the game. I plan on outlining the first major content patch this week that will show off the new features and progression system that will be separate from the main campaign mode right now (so that you don't have to stop playing in fear that you're going to miss out on any content). I think y'all are really going to enjoy it, as it brings back some of the classic CSD 1 elements for those who aren't fond of the new progression system in this game, or want something more rigid.

Thanks again!!

So there's a chance we'll get e-mails in the future?

Also I'd be whipping up some rote Grütze in a heartbeat if I weren't stuck at work for the next 11 hours.

 

[Littlefang]

So I've got 25 hours on this so far... I'm really loving it. I know quite a few people dislike the level system vs. managing your own restaurant but I'm enjoying it. I'm definitely finding this game more challenging than the first which I love.

The higher levels are crazy chaotic. I'm still working on committing all the recipes to muscle memory so right now I'm physically not fast enough for some of the levels. Like the last 2 ice cream shop levels I am just legit not quick enough to gold medal because you don't get a time buffer from cooking food.

Also the food all looks delicious and I get hungry playing the game.

 

[Nezzhil]

So there's a chance we'll get e-mails in the future?

Also I'd be whipping up some rote Grütze in a heartbeat if I weren't stuck at work for the next 11 hours.

If I understand correctly, the emails are in the game but blocked until some bugs are fixed.

 

[Crab Milk Mickey]

Aw man thanks Stump for the awesome thread, this is great. XD

Thanks everyone for all the support! It's been a crazy few days but I've been getting a lot of feedback and I can understand how people can feel a little directionless with the game. I plan on outlining the first major content patch this week that will show off the new features and progression system that will be separate from the main campaign mode right now (so that you don't have to stop playing in fear that you're going to miss out on any content). I think y'all are really going to enjoy it, as it brings back some of the classic CSD 1 elements for those who aren't fond of the new progression system in this game, or want something more rigid.

Thanks again!!

Any chance of fixing windowed mode any time soon? It being immovable and borderless (no matter what) is quite impractical and the original did have a normal window. Having both options instead of an 'either/or' situation would be nice.

 

[Rickenslacker]

Mod abuse: Free tag of your choice to the first user who a) Buys the game, b) Posts a screenshot of their favourite dish from the game, and c) Posts a picture of a time they made that meal IRL.

I thought this would be a fun challenge for lunch today, so as a person with no culinary (or photography) ability, I present: Some simple pepperoni pizza (because apple pie isn't an actual item in the game!)

Tasty! Though I'll have to put more pepperonis on it next time.

 

[FrankCanada97]

Are the decorative rewards completely random? I'd like to see how everyone's restaurant looks. I need some interior design inspiration.

 

[Stumpokapow]

I thought this would be a fun challenge for lunch today, so as a person with no culinary (or photography) ability, I present: Some simple pepperoni pizza (because apple pie isn't an actual item in the game!)

And that, my friend, is one of the easiest ways to get a tag on GAF! PM me with whatever you'd like (no obscenity, text only, can link to a GAF post but nothing off-site)

 

[Jintor]

Chubs I just saw Felicia Day mentioned csd2 on the Facebooks

 

[fuzzylogic]

These plebeians think a raw cob of corn is an "average" yaki tomorokoshi. Fools don't deserve my full effort, humph!

My restaurant is on the roof. Cereal is $9.99 a bowl. Now, take your cereal and get off of my roof!

 

[FrankCanada97]

Like the first one, the game was featured in a Giant Bomb quick look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWOsewETmS8

Dan's taste in decor is fitting.

 

[inky]

Bought it a few of days ago and played just under 2 hours. Enjoying it, but I have to say the (lack of CSD1 type of ) progression is a bit of a bummer. I also miss using the arrow keys for certain recipes. I haven't tried all of them, so I don't know if it's still in there, but I haven't seen it and some reviews mention it (flush toilet is F instead of ↓ for instance). It used to give some of them a different flavor, even taking into account that it's all just hitting keys in the end. Something about how your brain processes some inputs like flipping enchiladas or filleting fish is different than just hitting a certain letter for that action imo. Even having to use both hands in different ways made everything feel unique. Mastering the rhythm in soups was one of my favorite things in the previous game, even though I don't think I ever did master them ;P

I believe these things made not only the day to day more interesting, but also the gameplay when it came to balancing a menu with skill and risk vs reward in mind. Some stuff is not as intuitive, especially in menus but it can also be getting used to new mechanics in a new game. The art is great, Prep (hold) stations are a cool idea and I hope they make things more interesting later on (pretzels initially threw me off, I admit). I think the ingredients/steps color coding is a great idea. Furnishing your restaurant is a bit clunky and took me a while to get used to. It'd be nice if there were some presets you could load or apply automatically (are there?), but I don't think cosmetics as the only progression is very rewarding anyway. I think I'm just going to do Chef for Hire for now, but doing a perfect day being the only thing to strive for might get boring.

I played the first one for 30 hours+ and I know the game will improve and that Chubbs is committed to it, so I'm not going to write it off, but I was kind of expecting to be thoroughly grabbed like with the previous one, and it didn't happen.

 

[Birgitte2004]

I admit to being a controller pleb, but the added complexity of a lot of these recipes just stinks from a controller perspective. I kind of wish controller hadn't even been included, because then I would have accepted that CSD2 probably isn't for me. Things have gotten better with practice but I am pretty sure I can never attain the mastery to gold a menu that includes something like Sushi with even one other complicated meal.

The game still has tons of charm and the food looks great, I just wish I was as into this as the first game.

 

[chubigans]

So there's a chance we'll get e-mails in the future?

Also I'd be whipping up some rote Grütze in a heartbeat if I weren't stuck at work for the next 11 hours.

Emails are definitely coming. In fact I posted a v1.1 preview coming this October: http://steamcommunity.com/games/386620/announcements/detail/1476475566797736095

Any chance of fixing windowed mode any time soon? It being immovable and borderless (no matter what) is quite impractical and the original did have a normal window. Having both options instead of an 'either/or' situation would be nice.

Unfortunately the game engine I use only offers it as an either/or. I'm going to keep pestering them to add the option for games to choose rather than the software.

Chubs I just saw Felicia Day mentioned csd2 on the Facebooks

That was awesome! XD

Bought it a few of days ago and played just under 2 hours. Enjoying it, but I have to say the (lack of CSD1 type of ) progression is a bit of a bummer. I also miss using the arrow keys for certain recipes. I haven't tried all of them, so I don't know if it's still in there, but I haven't seen it and some reviews mention it (flush toilet is F instead of ↓ for instance). It used to give some of them a different flavor, even taking into account that it's all just hitting keys in the end. Something about how your brain processes some inputs like flipping enchiladas or filleting fish is different than just hitting a certain letter for that action imo. Even having to use both hands in different ways made everything feel unique. Mastering the rhythm in soups was one of my favorite things in the previous game, even though I don't think I ever did master them ;P

I believe these things made not only the day to day more interesting, but also the gameplay when it came to balancing a menu with skill and risk vs reward in mind. Some stuff is not as intuitive, especially in menus but it can also be getting used to new mechanics in a new game. The art is great, Prep (hold) stations are a cool idea and I hope they make things more interesting later on (pretzels initially threw me off, I admit). I think the ingredients/steps color coding is a great idea. Furnishing your restaurant is a bit clunky and took me a while to get used to. It'd be nice if there were some presets you could load or apply automatically (are there?), but I don't think cosmetics as the only progression is very rewarding anyway. I think I'm just going to do Chef for Hire for now, but doing a perfect day being the only thing to strive for might get boring.

I played the first one for 30 hours+ and I know the game will improve and that Chubbs is committed to it, so I'm not going to write it off, but I was kind of expecting to be thoroughly grabbed like with the previous one, and it didn't happen.

Reaction to the game has been more mixed than I would have imagined. When you look at the achievement data for the first game, around 30% made it past the first ~2-3 hours or so. I felt that was abnormally low and wondered what the best ways would be to engage the player for a longer time.

The new structure works, in that a lot of people who felt reasonably ok to not very enthused about the first really love the second. The backfire was that some people who loved the structure of the first feel completely lost, and I had no idea that was going to ever be an issue.

I admit to being a controller pleb, but the added complexity of a lot of these recipes just stinks from a controller perspective. I kind of wish controller hadn't even been included, because then I would have accepted that CSD2 probably isn't for me. Things have gotten better with practice but I am pretty sure I can never attain the mastery to gold a menu that includes something like Sushi with even one other complicated meal.

The game still has tons of charm and the food looks great, I just wish I was as into this as the first game.

Controller support in the first one was all over the place so it was fun to explore the different ways I could use a controller in this one, but yeah I can see it not being for everyone. I have some ideas on how to improve controller input because there's too much darting back and forth between recipes and ingredients when using a controller and I think I can tighten that up a bit more.


While I'm really happy the game has found a new audience, I know that a lot of people want what was in the first game and while I'm going to be delivering a lot of that in the October patch I know that this game is just always going to be fundamentally different. I feel really bad for those who don't enjoy the game as much as the original...I really tried to make this its own thing and I can get super depressed reading some of the reviews from super fans. Making a sequel is the most difficult thing I've ever done.