DevLog 10 - Beta Release

Overview of Patchwork Pastry So Far

The last seven or so months have been really busy for me as a solo developer. I have learned a considerable amount about iterative design, player perceptions, complex system design (with often simple solutions), and some other technical challenges.

While this game design journey has been undertaken so far as a solo game developer (game design, coding, system creation, 3D/2D asset design, bug fixing), I have worked with others:

• A professional baker, Erinn Campbell, has provided insights into baking practices and recipes. She has also worked with me on concept development of characters/locations
• An award-winning composer, Matthew Rockett, has helped shape the feel of the game world through dynamic music implementation
• I have also received weekly feedback from friends, lecturers, and others at my college

The game is also quite different from where it was a few months ago - the most significant gameplay/interaction change, in my opinion, has been moving from a fixed camera angle to a first-person mode. This development log explores the current game (in its early Beta stage), as well as some of the additions and changes for an updated game experience. The game is set to release in November of this year (2025), with a few planned updates to come over the following year.

Figure 1: Load Screen for Current Playable Version

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Can You Play Now?

The current stage of the game allows the player to bake products, purchase ingredients, walk around, and sell to NPC customers - the entire game loop. Some of the most interesting aspects of the current game include:

• A complex baking decoder which works out what the player is baking using the ingredients that they have added to the mixture and also affects its colour and texture
• A 48-minute day-night cycle with six (seven-day-long) seasons - amounting to 33.6 hours-long in-game years
• Time-sensitive NPCs who come out to the village and bakery at their unique times
• Tutorialisation of the opening 5-10 minutes of gameplay, which allows for an independent game experience

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additions to Come

Some of the updates to improve the Beta (v0.22.1) include:

• Market development and ingredient interaction - such as picking up items to buy and allowing NPCs to purchase ingredients from the market
• Terrain redesign (as explored in DevLog 7), which will be implemented and updated in the next Beta release version
• Asset/visual pass - adding trees, barrels, grass, butterflies, benches, and other visual enhancements
• Increasing the number of available ingredients and recipes that the player can create
• Adding a recipe book for players to follow and collect different recipes

So, that’s all for now. In the next couple of weeks and months, development will continue. It feels like such an achievement to have reached such a developed stage of the game where polish and asset development slowly become more important. The game will also be showcased at a few events in the coming periods, which will be quite a fun experience. I’ll keep posting updates, and there will be a design video in the next few weeks.

- Stephen Rockett