Whats the point of the time mechanic?

[Mobius]

So i'm having fun with the game. It has a few rough edges, but then its in early access so thats fair enough. However...

... What's the point of the day/time mechanic? Currently they don't... do anything. Like, you have a limited amount of time in the day, but that just means you need to sleep to start the next day. You can have customers stood at your window for days if not weeks at a time asking for a particular item, so it doesn't interact there. You don't pay rent and there aren't events, so there's no ticking timer on time advancing.

So like... What's the point of the time and day advancing? It seems like it would make more sense (and be less annoying) to let you do as much digging and cleaning as you want in a day, and the days be either tied to how many customers will turn up that day, or be tied to the story. As it is, you're just forcing the player to click on their bed every 6 actions and sit through a short cutscene of the day transitioning.

Just my thoughts. Can't wait to see what the game turns into! I just think the time mechanic could either use a rework or removing.

Maybe you could have it so 6 customers will show up each day, and either you dismiss them or you give them what they want?

[MilkyFuzzlet]

Lol, that's a fair point at the moment. It's early days and we're going to tweaking and adding features as we go through Early Access which will refine gameplay mechanics like this. Of course it doesn't entirely resolve the issue but as a wee example we released the Coffee Pot and Stove mechanic last week in the Full of Beans update. This allows you to gain a bonus time slot once a day, so it ties into the day/night mechanic. But yeah, watch this space I guess and check back in to see what we do!

[Mobius]

Originally posted by MilkyFuzzlet:

Lol, that's a fair point at the moment. It's early days and we're going to tweaking and adding features as we go through Early Access which will refine gameplay mechanics like this. Of course it doesn't entirely resolve the issue but as a wee example we released the Coffee Pot and Stove mechanic last week in the Full of Beans update. This allows you to gain a bonus time slot once a day, so it ties into the day/night mechanic. But yeah, watch this space I guess and check back in to see what we do!

I'll take a look! I'm having a lot of fun with the game so far but the timing mechanic means for busywork atm. Can't wait to see where you take it!

[Israa]

Originally posted by MilkyFuzzlet:

Lol, that's a fair point at the moment. It's early days and we're going to tweaking and adding features as we go through Early Access which will refine gameplay mechanics like this. Of course it doesn't entirely resolve the issue but as a wee example we released the Coffee Pot and Stove mechanic last week in the Full of Beans update. This allows you to gain a bonus time slot once a day, so it ties into the day/night mechanic. But yeah, watch this space I guess and check back in to see what we do!

I’m curious about this as well. I tried the demo and the time mechanic is why I didn’t buy. I don’t find being timed cozy.
I personally don’t think the coffee helps. Being able to add a single extra action a day doesn’t answer the question of “ What does a new day do?”. It just slightly elevates a mechanic that currently has no purpose.
I think the day/night should just be disabled or at least don’t force people to sleep until there is an actual point to it.
Will be keeping an eye on this game still since what I played was fun but the time thing is rather annoying.

[toto11132]

Originally posted by Mobius:

So i'm having fun with the game. It has a few rough edges, but then its in early access so thats fair enough. However...

... What's the point of the day/time mechanic? Currently they don't... do anything. Like, you have a limited amount of time in the day, but that just means you need to sleep to start the next day. You can have customers stood at your window for days if not weeks at a time asking for a particular item, so it doesn't interact there. You don't pay rent and there aren't events, so there's no ticking timer on time advancing.

So like... What's the point of the time and day advancing? It seems like it would make more sense (and be less annoying) to let you do as much digging and cleaning as you want in a day, and the days be either tied to how many customers will turn up that day, or be tied to the story. As it is, you're just forcing the player to click on their bed every 6 actions and sit through a short cutscene of the day transitioning.

Just my thoughts. Can't wait to see what the game turns into! I just think the time mechanic could either use a rework or removing.

Maybe you could have it so 6 customers will show up each day, and either you dismiss them or you give them what they want?

there is a point in the update full of beans you get to sell items at night when you go to sleep the honesty box you can get as a upgrade to the customer desk :)

[Toby Electric]

I think a time mechanic is useful for keeping the game from turning into Meth Addict Simulator 2024, but I agree that it could use some work. For instance, it feels pretty silly that it takes the same amount of time to clean an item no matter how large or topologically complex it is.

[MilkySmith]

Originally posted by Toby Electric:

I think a time mechanic is useful for keeping the game from turning into Meth Addict Simulator 2024, but I agree that it could use some work. For instance, it feels pretty silly that it takes the same amount of time to clean an item no matter how large or topologically complex it is.

MAS2024 😅 omg hahaha.

We do believe its important to have a sense of time passing, and phases, and the day/night cycle gives a rythm. But yes, there's potentially more we could do with the time slots perhaps, or the way that spending time works...

[Izzkabizz]

Even just speeding up the sleep cycle would make it less frustrating. It takes a long time for the UI buttons to pop up after the "day" announcement. To me it feels slow enough that you'd like us to watch some kind of cool artistic element, but it's just the "day 40" notification and then a long wait for the UI to re-trigger.

[MilkySmith]

yup, a handy point of polish for us to bear in mind, thanks!