Originally posted by Live Motion Games:

Hi there Steph! That's an amazing write-up, I won't lie, full of information and observations. I want to address some of those but do keep in mind that I'm sending all of your findings to our team so they are aware of your report. Much appreciated!

Driving is definately something we've been made aware of and we appreciate further remarks in that direction - possible improvements and changes are already being discussed.

As for the quantity of the products - please keep in mind that for the purposes of the demo and - especially - tutorial we wanted to ease players into the world of baking. While we are aware that baking just one bread for the night is not quite realistic we also didn't want to put too many information forth to our players but slowly made them feel sure about what they are doing. However we do note your comment!

The additional features you're talking about seem interesting and I'm also sure to send them to our devs. Thanks!

Do keep in mind that we are working on many features of the game that weren't available in the demo. There will be additional machines and options when playing the full game - some of them you might even be able to check in our earlier devlogs! :)

Don't worry about "bashing the game" - we invite all criticism with open arms. That's one of the ways to learn more and become better, right ;)?

Thank you!

Originally posted by Steph:

Having worked in a bakery myself (albeit working on the finishing/confectionery side of things rather than in the actual bakery, although I did help out in the bakery at times when they were busy), I was excited when I saw this game advertised and put it on my wishlist straight away.
After over two years of watching and waiting I was excited to see the demo version of the game released.
However, it has turned out to be a bit of a disappointment really.

As I have seen others mention, the driving side of things isn't great at all.
The car is insanely slow to the point of me keep hitting the button thinking that the throttle/brake buttons hadn't registered when I'd pressed them. In-fact they had, the car is just seriously under powered. In all honesty you might as well just get out and push.

My suggestion here, as others have said, is to perhaps have the driving as an option.
If you don't want to drive then you can hire someone to do the deliveries for you.
To balance this one out you could perhaps have fuel/maintenance costs for the car, which equates to the cost of hiring a driver to do the deliveries for you.

Now I don't know what you have in store for the main game, but only making one or two loaves of bread at a time is just daft. No bakery would ever survive making such tiny quantities. The overheads would kill the business in under a day!
So I'm hoping that that is purely just a demo thing only, and that there will be far bigger quantities on order in the main game.
50-100 loaves of each kind would be more realistic. The same goes for the rolls.

Also, how about having a knife to slice the tops of the bread before baking it. A lot of loaves have grooves in the top, and that's done by slicing it before baking.
Also, how about the addition of having to spray the tops of the bread/rolls with a small spray bottle of water, and then adding either sesame seeds or poppy seeds, or flour ect to the tops of them? Most loaves and rolls have seeds of some description on top of them. They'd be incredibly plain without it.

Also, the kneading mini game is a little 'iffy'.
While I don't totally dislike it, it would be far better to have a machine to do that.
That said, I can see how that could be a 'fill in' option when first starting out in the game until you can upgrade and buy the machines to do it..... as long as you haven't got huge orders to fulfil.
It would be better to have to cut off pieces of dough and weigh them in a set of scales and add/subtract dough until you get the right quantity and then put it in to a machine.
Weighing the cuts of dough over the kneading mini game would be more realistic. But that's just my opinion going by real life experience.
Just something to consider maybe?
The bakery I worked in they used to weigh each piece of dough they cut off before putting it in to a bread or roll making machine, and then finally placing the formed bread or rolls in to tins and/or on to trays.
Just 'guessing it' like you do in the demo would lead to all kinds of different weights and sizes of loaves and rolls.
A set of scales and having to weigh things would be much more realistic.

Also, I'm not a fan of the timed orders/deliveries either. It's too easy to make mistakes if you're watching the clock in an effort to make the deliveries on time. Especially when you tie in how damned slow the car is. One mistake and you're doomed!
Personally I'd prefer to have a 'career mode' where things are more realistic, or a 'challenge mode' where you're against the clock. Give the player the choice.


Retarders and provers (proofers)?
These are important pieces of kit in a bakery, yet in the demo I see none.
Hopefully this is something that will be in the main game?
You mentioned having donuts in the game. Well, the dayshift guys in the bakery I used to work in used to mix the dough and then form it in to balls, and then place them in to the retarder to stop them rising until I (on night shift) was ready to fry them.
The first thing I'd do when I started my shift was take the donuts from the retarder and place them in to the prover to make them rise. If you didn't prove them you'd have tiny solid balls of dough rather than nice fat round fluffy donuts!
Nobody would buy solid lumps of dough.
I also didn't see any signs of a donut fryer. Raw donuts anyone? ;D
Hopefully this is an upgrade available later in the game?


What are the plans for cakes?
Bakeries do far more than make bread, rolls, and donuts.
Viennese whirls/fingers, cream slices, swiss rolls, sponges, cupcakes, cookies, iced finger buns, sausage rolls, pasties, pies, teacakes, hot cross buns, bakewell/apple tarts/pies... etc etc.
So many other things that bakeries make than just bread and rolls.
All of the above we used to make on a daily basis, and I used to fill/finish all of the cakes/buns.

I was really hoping to see some cakes to fill/finish in the game, but from the demo (and what I see on the store page) it doesn't look too promising. :(

Also, the mixing in the demo could do with a little work in my opinion.
Using the different size scoops is 'doable', but if we're going to keep the system we have now then it might be an idea to have the 'current quantity' shown in the recipe rather than just the 'total quantity'.
For example, making the two loaves of bread you have to make in the demo, it requires 660ml of water. That's 1x 500ml, 1x 100ml, 1x 50ml. If you lose track of where you're got to half way through then your only option is to remove the entire quantity and start again. If you had the 'current' quantity in brackets beside the required quantity then it would help eliminate any confusion.
Just a small quality of life improvement to consider.
However, if you have scales in the game and measure each ingredient individually before placing it in to the mixing bowl then you'd know for sure how much you have.
In all honesty a set of scales should really be in the game from the very start. I was kinda shocked to see such a basic yet vital piece of equipment missing.


So, to wrap things up.....
I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm trying to really bash your game. That's not my intention at all. (although it very much sounds like it, I guess.)
It's really just trying to point out what is ideally expected of a 'simulator' over more of an 'arcade sim'.
The game has huge potential and huge promise, but there are several areas where improvements could be made.

My biggest worries are the 'driving' and the 'timer' for orders. Make both of these optional and it would make a huge difference to the game in my opinion.
Like I say, make a 'career mode' where there is no timer and life is more 'chilled out' and more of a 'simulator', or a 'challenge mode' where you are pitted against the clock. Both are doable, but just make it optional.
Personally I don't like the timer and it does kinda put me off the game.

Also the driving. It's Just not enjoyable at all as it is. The car accelerates and brakes far too slowly, and the AI traffic doesn't help matters there either.
And then there's the traffic lights showing all the colours of the rainbow all at the same time. Stop or go? It's all a gamble! ;D
I deffo think it should be optional to either drive yourself, or hire someone to do it for you.
I have a ton of driving games. I'm looking to buy a bakery simulator, not another driving game. (and a messy one at that, I'm afraid to say.)

So I'm sorry if all of this sounds kinda harsh. Please don't take it to heart, but take it as constructive criticism which is how it's meant to be intended.
Like I say, the game has a ton of promise. It just needs a few adjustments here and there to make the base game far better than the demo would suggest.

All in all I did enjoy the demo, but with a few improvements from the ideas listed above the game could end up being awesome! :)

Originally posted by binxiegirl:

I think it's a good start, it just needs a little more work/tweaking and perhaps more time to be worked on but I think it'll be so worth it in the end when it's complete. It is a cute game so far and Looking forward to seeing the end result! :)

Originally posted by bbray:

I guess when they brought this to the team, they just passed this right into the trash can, without looking up. If the beat the clock is still not an option to turn off. We are looking for a bakery game not a racing game.