Hello! In this devlog I will go into the details of how our gameplay is intended to look and how it will progress over the course of the game. Soo.. a very technical and wordy devlog but hopefully it will help with understanding the game loop and mechanics of "Deep Space Diner".

Fast-paced Gameplay

Contrary to most games which feature farming ‘Deep Space Diner’ is intended to be a fast-paced experience. The player must plant seeds, water the crops, and harvest them daily. This will have to be done with multiple crops as a multitude of ingredients is necessary for some of the recipes in the game. In space crops grown within seconds allowing the player to plan and cultivate ingredients necessary for orders each day. Once the ingredients are harvested and the player has a sufficient amount of each crop to proceed with the recipe, the ingredients are placed into the cooking machine. The machine will take a couple of seconds to cook the dish and it will then be ready to be collected by the player and delivered to the customer.  

A day cycle is included in the game. This means that once the day ends the orders which were not completed within the time limit will disappear and new orders will appear the following day. The day cycle highly emphasises the fast-paced gameplay as the player will be trying to complete all orders received in a limited period of time. Furthermore, this will promote multi-tasking throughout the game. For example, as the cooking machine requires a few seconds in order to complete the dish, the player may use this time to plant new crops, water them or harvest grown crops. At the end of each day any unused crops will remain in the players inventory and they will be able to get a head start with the following days orders. 

The recipes and orders will become more complex as the game progresses. This results in a difficulty curve. Eventually the player becomes accustomed to the fast-paced nature of the game and memorises the recipes and the crops which need to be grown. The game will become more difficult to prevent the player from becoming bored and feeling as though there is a lack of challenge. Towards the end of the game the player will have a much larger variety of crops to manage as well as a highly expanded menu which will aid in keeping the as fast-paced as possible. The game aims to bring something unique to the farming genre with this rapid gameplay while remaining beginner friendly through the progressive difficulty curve and simple controls. 

Progression

The game begins with a simple tutorial. It presents you with one crop; a potato, and one recipe; fries, as well as a small plot of land and two machines. The player will plant this singular crop and prepare the same recipe over and over to become accustomed to the game loop and mechanics. Once the player understands the gameplay the next step is to slowly introduce more recipes and ingredients. Over the course of a week in the game, the player will receive 1-2 new ingredients and 3-4 new recipes. This will increase the difficulty of the game slightly while still remaining easy to manage as the majority of the recipes can be cooked with the crops available to the player. This is the learning stage of the game. 

The next progression stage is the intermediate stage in which we can assume the player is used to managing multiple crops and recipes. At this point there will be a steady increase in crops and recipes with 4-6 new ingredients and 5-10 new recipes being introduced weekly. This will progressively make the game more difficult as the player must now pay much more attention to the crops they are planting and making sure they are necessary for the customer orders. During this stage farm upgrades will also be introduced. The player will be able to purchase more farmland in order to grow a larger number of crops simultaneously. A speed upgrade will also now be available for the cooking machine to speed up the cooking process of the dishes. 

The final stage of the game is the advanced stage. During this stage, the player will have learnt the majority of the recipes and obtained most of the ingredients in the game. While the player is not receiving large amounts of new recipes this remains the most difficult stage. This is due to the amount of ingredients and recipes the player will have at this stage. 25 varieties of crops and 60 varieties of recipes will be available. The player will have to play close attention to the customer orders as planting the crops that are required for the specific recipes in the orders will be crucial in this stage. The player will most likely have upgraded the farm to its maximum size at this point therefore the difficulty of the final stage will come from time, order, and resource management.