DinerDash Blog
Player of the Month: EuroDC
07/22/2008 08:00AM
How long have you been a gamer? How were you introduced to video games and what was the first game you remember playing?
I was introduced to games originally back when I was very, very young, when I was given a second hand Sega by one of my cousins. It had only one game cartridge with it and in-built game-Alex Kidd in Miracle World. I really enjoyed playing on Alex Kidd and was hooked on it for ages, until I got a computer and a PlayStation. After that I went off Alex Kidd and got hooked on other games such as Rayman for PS1, which I still play from time to time now.
How often do you play games?
I play games as often as I can. It used to be every day but now it only tends to be a couple of times per week when I have the time to really get sucked into them, since most of the time I’m bogged down with homework. Still, whenever I get chance, I get on the computer and have a play, even if it's only for a few minutes.
Aside from playing games, what are some other ways you like to relax and unwind?
When I’m not playing games and not busy, you can normally find me up in my retreat (some would call it a bedroom, but retreat definitely describes it better for me). I just feel so at home up there because I know it has everything in it that is mine and about me, and it provides me with a place to call my own where I can just go and escape everywhere else. Other than that I like to design things in my spare time. I don't really know why I do, nor how I got into it, but I like to just doodle and design things to solve problems that in reality don't even need solving. Just one of my weird habits, I guess.
What games are you currently playing?
At the minute I’m still playing Diner Dash: Hometown Hero, mostly because I never had time to finish it because all of my college work is taking up most of my time. I'm also playing Rollercoaster tycoon (still!). I completed it ages ago but still always go back to it when I have the chance. Other than that I have also been playing some online games like the impossible quiz, and the impossible quiz 2, I have completed the first but still not finished the second one.
What is your favorite game of all time?
I've said it so many times before and no doubt I’ll still be saying the same when I’m an OAP: the best game of all time has got to be Rollercoaster Tycoon. When a game can keep you entertained for over 7 years it has to be good! I doubt I’ll ever get bored of it. It's just a shame that Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 had to kill the series though.
Anything else?
I don't really know what else there is to say but thanks, I'm really surprised to have been chosen as Player of the Month. I guess all I can really think of is to thank everyone, so 'Thanks Everyone!!! You're all great, but then, you all knew that already anyway' :D
Wedding Disasters
05/14/2008 08:00AM
We asked our loyal PlayFirst forum members if they had any wedding disaster stories to share, and laughed ‘til we cried over this post from Lattegato:
It was my best college friend's wedding. I was the bridesmaid though (never the bride, cuz XtL_ won't ask me! Sad.) in my best Laura Ashley (never wearing this darn thing again!) bridesmaid dress, with dyed hot pink satin high heels. During rehearsal, I had pondered the chances of my heels getting stuck between the slate walkway of the public outdoor garden that the wedding was to be held in...but then I let that concern carelessly drift away.Feel free to add to the thread here to share your favorite wedding disaster stories, or just to boast about your new High Scores. And remember, when something does go wrong, just apply the following phrase: WWQD?
Fast forward to the next day....as the music starts, the best man takes my arm and we proceed down the path past friends, family, and acquaintances....until I took a step and my shoe didn't come with me. Looking back, there it was, heel in the mud wedged between the slates. What to do? What to do? Keep walking like nothing happened and have the bride trip over my shoe or interrupt the flow of the processional and go get my shoe...? I decided to go get my shoe. Okay, great. Finally up at the alter. Whew! The pastor is saying his remarks while I look at a butterfly on a nearby flower. Then I feel eyes on me. I look up to notice everyone stopped and looking at me. Where are the rings? Oh, was I responsible for them? Geez, um, well, I never saw them! They must be back at the apartment? So the pastor pulls his own ring off and offers it to the groom for his bride's finger.
Right at that moment, the groom's mother bursts into loud sobbing tears, because she hated the bride and was conflicted as to her son's ability to have "done better." Then, as we're all trying to pretend like she isn't wailing up a storm, we hear Click, Click, Click...a lot of times...
…While we had been distracted by the mother-in-law's sobbing, a charter bus of Japanese tourists had pulled up and unloaded into the garden. They didn't realize they were interrupting a wedding, and we couldn't explain the situation to them due to the language barrier. After a myriad of mistakes, we just all started laughing hysterically, because there was nothing else to do. We all have funny memories of that wedding...and I still have an ugly pink and purple floral bridesmaid dress if anyone needs fabric for curtains??? Anyone? Please?
What WOULD Quinn, do, Latte? ;-P
The Original
04/14/2008 05:00PM
Can you help Flo get through the lunch shift in one piece?
Lunch is about the hectic grind of a busy waitress at an understaffed luncheonette. In this case, the waitress is Flo, and she earns her tips at The Last Chance Diner, a windblown 50s-style eatery just off the highway. Over the course of the game, the player has to clear tables, take orders, serve drinks and food, and keep the customers happy and the tips flowing.
The gameplay for Lunch is inspired loosely by the arcade classic Tapper, in which the player has to serve up mugs of beer to a never-ending flow of impatient customers. One of the strong points of Tapper was the simple mechanic of moving to the right place and hurling a beer mug at a waiting customer. Lunch uses a similar core interaction, but layers it with more depth and a lot of character.
A level of Lunch represents a single lunch shift at the diner, visualized as an isometric, top-down view of a restaurant. The level begins with an empty diner counter, clean and ready for the incoming rush of customers. The player the hard-working waitress Flo, and navigates the space by clicking on the area where Flo needs to move. Click on a dirty section of counter, and Flo will move to it, wipe it clean, and reset it. Click on a customer that is ready to order, and Flo will move to the customer, whip out her pad of tickets, and write the order down.
The trick to the gameplay is keeping an eye on the restaurant as a whole, making sure that each customer isn’t waiting too long for his or her needs to be fulfilled. For each diner, there is a series of steps that Flo must follow. First, there needs to be a clean spot where the diner can sit. Then Flo brings the customer a menu. When the customer closes the menu, Flo can move to the customer and take an order, which needs to be brought to the kitchen window. Flo can also bring drinks to the customer, and when the meal is ready, the food as well. Lastly, Flo needs to bring the ticket to the table when the customer has finished.
All of these activities take a certain amount of time, and knowing when it’s time to move on to the next step means scanning the screen and getting several tasks done at once. For example, a customer signals that he’s ready to order by closing his menu. Once Flo takes his order, before running back to the kitchen the player might look around and see whether or not there are other players that are also ready to order. If not, perhaps there is a table that Flo can clean on her way back to the kitchen.
Lunch is all about efficient multi-tasking. The player’s score is measured in the tips that are left for Flo, and the less time that a customer has had to wait, the bigger the tip. On the other hand, if a customer has to wait too long, Flo might just lose a customer and be docked some pay by her boss: Al, the loudmouth short order chef. As the player moves through levels, more and more customers move through each shift, and Al manages to squeeze in more seats, making Flo’s job harder and harder. The customers themselves are procedurally generated, by mixing and matching body parts, so each level has a different set of grumpy, complaining customers to get on Flo’s thin nerves.
A simple game with a proven core mechanic and a cast of humorous characters, Lunch has all the makings of a casual game hit.
A hundred ways to play!
04/10/2008 08:00AM
So first, let’s review a few vocabulary words used a lot in gaming. Once we all know what they mean, we can explore how they apply to the astonishingly flexible Hometown Hero.
- Avatar: Though its original meaning comes from the Hindu to describe an earthly representation of a deity, in gaming the term has come to mean a computerized representation of yourself, or any character you’d like to create, that lives within the world of a game. Avatars are almost always created in the same visual style as the game in which you place them, and the best avatars are customizable, meaning that you, as the player, get to make decisions about how that little pixilated representation of you will look.
- Metamap: You know how when you’re playing a game you can pause or stop, exit to the main menu, and then come back in to a map of the game showing where you’ve been and where you have yet to go? That’s a metamap, sometimes referred to as a “level map.” At its simplest, a metamap just shows you what level you’re on and gives you a little bread crumb trail showing how many more levels you have left to go to finish the game. A more complex metamap might jump you around to explore different areas (or neighborhoods) of the game. The best metamaps are expandable, meaning that you can see the whole game the way it’s laid out when you purchase it, but you can also add new areas as the game expands, either by uncovering them during game play or by buying them separately and having them integrated into the game you already have once they’re downloaded. You can think of it like a Legos kit (or K’nex, or what have you) – you can do all kinds of things with the basic set, but you can also always add more to keep yourself engaged and entertained. This same expandability can be applied to a computer game through use of the metamap.
- Multiplayer: Think of “single player” as solitaire and “multiplayer” as poker. In gaming, multiplayer refers to any game you can play with other people, in real time, even while sitting all alone at your computer. Maybe you’ve heard of MMORPGs, or “Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games,” like World of Warcraft or Everquest or Star Wars Galaxies. In these games, people all over the world have their own avatar and literally thousands of people can meet in a virtual environment to play together. But those are all pretty hardcore, time-intensive, sub-culture games. Multiplayer can also be much simpler and less overwhelming, like a group of people gathering in a chat room and choosing one other person to play with or against in a smaller virtual environment which they control.
It’s a single player game. As with the other Diner Dash games, the game gives you access to 55 single-player levels in five new restaurants: the Safari Café, the Diner at Homerun Park, the Museum Grill, the Beach Shack at the Boardwalk, and Florence’s Groovy Disco. There’s story mode and endless mode and all the frantic-seating-serving-matching-mood-managing fun you expect from a Diner Dash game.
But say you’ve finished helping Flo get through all the levels, and you wish you could make the game more…I don’t know, personal. Diner Dash: Hometown Hero (DD:HH) Gourmet lets you create your very own waiter or waitress (called “MY WAITER”) and diner (“MY DINER”) that you can customize and play with right in the game! So yep, you guessed it:
It’s a game that lets you create your own avatar! With DD:HH, you can explore and express yourself in Flo’s world! The game comes with both a character and a diner generator that allows you to create your very own avatar and also your very own diner to place in the game. You get to choose from dozens of options (hairstyle, complexion, expression, clothing and more for your waiter, location, theme, counters, seating, food, and décor for your diner) automatically available within the game, and then have your very own diner appear on your game’s metamap right by Flo’s Diner! But what if you want even more options than the game has available? A different hair style or pair of shoes for your waitress, say, or maybe a lovely chandelier or giant marlin to hang off the ceiling of your diner? Well, you’re in luck, because:
The game is endlessly expandable! There’s an entire boutique available at DinerDash.com, brimming with over 100 clothing items and accessories for your waiter, as well as décor items and stylish, new looks for your diner. You can buy these separately or sometimes in bundles and use them to make your waiter and/or diner even more unique! Whether you want to make a funny, original character for Diner Dash or prefer to set a little version of yourself loose in the Hometown Hero restaurants, the Diner Dash boutique allows you to customize to your heart’s content. Some of the clothes can also be worn by Flo—you’ll see them show up in her closet once you’ve purchased and downloaded them. But hey, DD:HH has a pretty big metamap…what are you supposed to do with all the rest of that space? Upgrade!
PlayFirst is constantly releasing brand new restaurants! Some of the restaurants are seasonal, like the bone-chilling October release, The Crypt Café, or December’s charming Winter Wonderland. Others are part of ongoing storylines, like the hilarious Caveman Café or the just-released Pharaoh’s Feast. All of them come with tons of fun, original items for your waiter and diner, and all of them place a brand new restaurant on your game’s metamap, giving you permanent access to it anytime you want to play. You can buy all of them, a few, or even just one—whatever you want in your game.
So now you have all these great restaurants, not to mention your very own, meticulously customized waiter and diner and your mad Dashing skills…there’s got to be a way to show this all off, right? Yes, of course! In addition to allowing you to use your MY WAITER avatar as your profile picture on PlayFirst.com:
DD:HH is a fully-functioning multiplayer game, including real-time chat rooms and the ability to have another DD:HH player assist or compete against you in your very own diner! Or in theirs, or any of the restaurants associated with the game. With both cooperative and competitive play modes available, you can choose between playing nicely with others and destroying their Dash-savvy egos at whim. You can also just hang around in one of the multiplayer lobbies and chat with other Flo fans. How you use the game is truly up to you.
What all of this means is that whether you’re playing in single player or multiplayer mode, DD:HH is never the same game twice. There’s always something new to add: additional restaurants, fresh décor for your very own diner, new clothes and accessories for your waiter—all of these and more are always available in the Diner Dash boutique.
Maybe you already knew all of this, in which case, thanks for listening to my enthusiastic ramblings. But for those of you to whom some of these concepts are kind of new, please feel free to play and explore. Maybe I’ll even see you in multiplayer!
Pet Shop Hop is here!
03/18/2008 06:00AM
As the producer of Pet Shop Hop, I can tell you that the game was a great product to work on. The developer used 3D graphics and an isometric camera angle that successfully immerses the player in the environment of Cassie's world. For the first time in a "Hop" game, we included a simple business simulator. You must help Cassie stock her store. Different pet types generate different profits, and have a wide variety of caring needs. You must select the animals carefully, staying within Cassie's budget as you anticipate what your customers will request.
We are very excited about the launch of Pet Shop Hop. Flo's retriever Skillet agrees with me that it's sure to become a pet favorite!
In with the new this spring!
03/13/2008 08:00AM
Ready for warmer whether? Dress your Waiter to match the season. Check out the boutique for some new duds, such as a truffle tango skirt or a funky Dino-Gear hat.
Lastly, we all know Flo's job isn't easy. Serving all those demanding customers while managing to save diner after diner? It's a challenge to say the least. Find out what else Flo has to deal with in our latest comic!
Happy Valentine's Day!
02/14/2008 08:00AM
Doggie Dash is here!
01/31/2008 05:00PM
Over the course of developing Doggie Dash, not only was Z a sticking point, but also X & Y. Getting the game just right required the efforts of some very talented people at PlayFirst and Viqua Games. The good news though is that all of our hard work paid off. Doggie Dash looks better than I ever imagined. The pets are cute. The music and sound effects are lively and upbeat. The upgrades are fun. The gameplay is challenging yet engaging!
What is the old adage? The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory? Doggie Dash definitely fits that. I hope you enjoy it too.
My Diner Items on Sale!
01/17/2008 08:00AM
Things have been very busy here but I just wanted to pop in to tell you about our special sale in the Diner Dash Boutique. All items for your diner are now $0.59! Deck out your diner with the latest décor items and dazzle your patrons.
Get to it. Sale ends on February 4th!
Hot or Not?
12/20/2007 08:00AM
I expected all this to be different in the world of Diner Dash, where everyone has pretty much the same body type. I wrote the My Waiter Contest and, while I tested it, my waiter did consistently well... at least until I let rpfennin test it too. =) Now that we're live, he's the highest-ranking male player, and I have only a white star. Maybe my lack of waiter experience shows and it's putting people off. My scores in Hometown Hero certainly seem to!
Anyhow, I encourage you all to enter your waiters in the contest and to vote as often as you can... especially if you have taste! :)
Dress Shop Hop
12/17/2007 08:00AM
Which is why I like Bobbi! She's the heroine of our latest game, Dress Shop Hop, who gets fired over wanting to design styles that make people feel good about themselves. Help her prove that fashion doesn't have to be shallow to be a hit!
So what about you? What's your fashion sense like?
I'll trade you my sandwich for your cupcake
12/12/2007 05:00PM
We've taken time out of our busy gaming schedule (both playing and making), to rollout a new site feature *drum roll* PayPal! Now this may not affect those of you who are currently lucky enough to have credit cards, but for those that don't... we are now able to cater to you *and all the celestial beings rejoiced*.
For those of you looking for a different kind of game (e.g. one with spaceships and aliens, check out Star Defender 4 - a lot of guys in the office are playing it).
P.S. Can someone remind me that I owe Applesun a new stuffed dog. I cut the head off of her old one. He was looking at me funny.
And the winner is...
11/27/2007 08:00AM
The winner of "Best Dancer" in our Wedding Dash video is, drumroll please,
...Cody!
We are excited to present to Cody (via his mom Nemone) a $100 prize, good towards doggy biscuits, tennis balls and more squeaky toys!
Please put your paws together to congratulate our winner!
We also had a handful of dancers vying for the "Worst Dancer" title but in the end, Slurpy had the most votes! He'll be receiving a gift certificate to the dance studio of his choice shortly!
Sorbet
PS. And a big pat on the back to KismetPF and XtL for putting all of this together!
Thoughts on Thankfulness
11/21/2007 01:00PM
"Oh, but the tossing and turning!...I did, too! The most terrifying nightmares, I tell you I practically woke up screaming! ...Listen, please - with Harold? All that snoring? I didn't get a wink of sleep before four in the morning..."
Yes, that's right. In my family, you scored points for being inconsolable. Fortunately, by the time I left for college, I had taught myself to stop competing in any variation of these misfortune competitions.
"Okay," I'd concede to my Grandma, or later to my mom, teeth grit with the effort not to slip back into family routine. "You win! You were more miserable to begin with..."
I tried to work on contentment.
But the message had been conveyed. There was something special, something almost honorable about being dissatisfied. I knew its power through little things like the extra care I got when I was sick, or the attention paid to someone on a vitriolic rant.
Later, too, I discovered a certain intellectual integrity associated with being ungratified. It is understood among academics that only the ignorant can be content with the world the way it is. Those of us who consider ourselves reasonably skeptical and well-informed are all but obliged to complain about the inequities of society. Though blind faith can be inspiring, critical thinking is imperative. And as charming as sweetness and geniality can be, cynicism and scorn are a lot more fun at parties.
If you're raised to value martyrdom, it takes a lot of conscious effort to turn your appreciation toward fulfillment. I've had days when I was so mired in self-pity that forcing myself to acknowledge my own blessings proved to be a startling act of self-reinvention. Yes, the world is unfair. There are terrible injustices everywhere we look. Our own lives are vulnerable to dire misfortune. All of that is true.
But here's another truth: we live like kings.
Even when life is at its worst, there's so much to be thankful for. Few of us on this message board have ever known true hunger. We sleep in soft beds, banish the dark with electric illumination, turn metal faucet handles to obtain seemingly endless flows of hot water. We are all surrounded by objects and people that please us. We live in a time of miracles, no matter how you define them.
So, in no particular order, a few things for which I am feeling particularly grateful:
Cody, pomegranates, the foam on the tip of the waves of the Pacific Ocean, Egyptian cotton sheets, Orion, zip-front coats, Japanese incense, Venice, green tea, my beloved's embrace, cats, ginger, the grass in the park down the street, grafted Sangiovese vines, glitter, baby toes, Muir Woods, moonlight, my job, insulin pumps, blue topaz, Tivo, sake, paperbacks, the roof over my head, Jasmine, fireplaces, knowing how to swim, Internet shopping, comedians, sea horses, silver, peonies, motorcycle helmets, the friends I've made this year, chocolate-colored cashmere, pirates, soup, computer games, blueberries, dragonflies, the new automated BART cards, space heaters, the exquisite little feline who sleeps on my pillow, the color orange, Bunko Thursdays, every song anyone's ever written, cupcakes, organza ribbons, washing machines, this community we're building in software and pixels, and every opportunity I've ever had to write.
How about you?
Breaking news!
11/13/2007 08:00AM
I may get into a lot of trouble for doing this. I may get called a whistleblower, a snitch, a tattle, but I feel I owe it to you.
This is what really goes on at PlayFirst.
Check it out, enjoy it, take pleasure in knowing what I know. However, if I'm not here next month you'll know why.
-XtL
P.S. - for those that couldn't tell, I was being facetious. Also, a million points for those that can guess my alter ego (here's a hint, it's not Superman).
My best Sunday suit...
11/06/2007 12:00PM
Well Sorbet here has asked that I dress up for our new and improved avatar system. That's right, you read correctly - "new avatar system. " As of last night, everyone is now able to use their customized waiter from DDHH as their avatar. So for those tired of looking like everyone else, feel free to express yourself!
Uploading your avatar is easy. For those that haven't done so yet, open up DDHH, customize your waiter, and opt to save your waiter into your profile (it's a check box, you can't miss it - if you do though, I don't know what to tell you). After that, just log into your account, click "my accounts," choose to edit your avatar, select your image, and boom! You're done.
I look forward to seeing all the waiters, but I especially look forward to getting out of this suit.
Til next!
P.S. as always, go Rockets!
Happy Halloween!
10/31/2007 08:00AM
Today, I have the pleasure of working with:
- Cho Chang straight out of the pages from Harry Potter (kismetPF)
- A glamtastic rockstar (applesun)
- Jolly jester (mikZ)
- Our very own Harry Carey (Dan the game design man)
- Mongolian royalty (Michael)
- Purrfect pair of kitties (Maria, ab_21)
- Our own American idol, Melinda Doolittle(cocogirl)
And we have a few people who decided to dress up as other employees:
- Cynic is a dead ringer for XtL
- Instead of one creative guru (Kenny), we have a whole entourage of Kennys roaming the office!
And me? I decided to go local and dressed up as someone most of you may not know of. (All I'll say is that he's a walking fixture of San Francisco's eccentricity and that he probably wouldn't protest if I said his ideas went beyond the 12 galaxies:)
Now it's your turn. Tell us what you're dressing up as for Halloween!
Sorbet
Meet ab_21!
10/18/2007 08:00AM
1) How did you get involved in your current position/games?
I started as a QA Engineer in January. After having worked on a variety of games, I landed on the Wedding Dash project. However, once DD:HH got to the point where it was testable, I was pulled from Wedding Dash to work on it. My focus for the project was on game-side bugs, while others worked on site-related bugs.
2) What aspect of DDHH are you most excited about?
I love getting to design my own waiter and compete against others in Multiplayer. I have always been a competitive person, and I thrive on going toe-to-toe with other users. Multiplayer is a great way to see some of the fantastic diners that are being created, as well.
3) How do you plan to celebrate the launch?
I celebrated by going out for sushi and treating myself to a massage. After so many hours in front of the computer, my body was begging for a good kneading.
4) What are your favorite games?
Hmmm, that's a tough one. I'm a fan of the artwork and the puzzle-solving in Dream. I also get pretty addicted to Pirate Poppers and Mystery of Shark Island from time to time. But I must say, I've loved playing against Diner Dash fans in DD:HH Multiplayer mode.
5) What is the name of your diner?
My current diner is named Underwater City Cafe but I'll be adding more diners soon... be on the lookout for a French bistro called Le Petit Pont
If you have any questions for ab_21, post them here!
Meet Jigidyjim...
10/08/2007 01:00PM
1) How did you get involved in your current position/games?
I grew up playing video games, so I've always enjoyed them. In college I studied computer science and I was lucky enough to land an internship at a video game company, and have been working in games ever since.
2) What aspect of DDHH are you most excited about?
It will be great to be able to connect with all the users that have been playing Diner Dash 2 and Diner Dash Flo On The Go. I look forward to seeing their waiters and playing multiplayer games with them in their custom diners.
3) How do you plan to celebrate the launch?
Getting some rest!
4) What are your favorite games?
I really enjoyed Chocolatier and Dream. I'm also a huge fan of some of the old school adventure/mystery games, and I grew up as a console gamer so I still have a soft spot for a good console platformer.
5) What is the name of your diner?
I keep changing it every time I go in! I can never make up my mind.
If you have any questions for jigidyjim, post them here!
Meet Michwudz!
10/02/2007 02:00PM
1) How were you involved with the Diner Dash project?
I was the Lead Designer on the project, and kicked off the design phase well over a year ago, back when My Diner and My Waiter were just small seeds of an idea, and we were still figuring out what Flo's next adventure could be. I also got to design multiplayer levels for DDHH.
2) How did you get involved in your current position/games?
I spent 4 years designing kids' games, 3 years designing museum exhibits, and then joined PlayFirst as a contractor to produce Trijinx. After what was supposed to be a quick 3-month stint at PlayFirst, I got the opportunity to design and produce DD2, and I've been involved with PlayFirst and Diner Dash ever since.
3) What aspect of DDHH are you most excited about?
Since the very beginning, I was always really excited about designing your own diner. People loved choosing decor upgrades in Diner Dash: Restaurant Rescue, so it seemed like a great idea to take that to a whole new level. But I also love creating My Waiter and playing Multiplayer: I'm very competitive and I'm hoping we'll be able to develop a multiplayer ranking system for the game soon, so people will get even more addicted!
4) How do plan to celebrate the launch?
I plan to celebrate by playing some multiplayer games with some more Diner Dash fans!
5)What are your favorite games?
Wedding Dash, Diner Dash: Restaurant Rescue, Diner Dash: Hometown Hero, any kind of brain-bending puzzle game, oldies like Zoombinis, Pajama Sam, Atari games. And Scrabble and other nerdy board games.
6)What is the name of your diner?
I've created a LOT of diners, but the one currently in my game is called Chandelier Cafe... it's very elegant.
Have any questions you'd like to ask Michwudz? Post them here!
