Now What?

Hi all,

First of all, thank you very very much for playing our game. Thank you for all the feedback and bug reports.

Since the game is more stable than ever now in version 1.09, and pacing issues shouldn't be as much of an issue as before with the shorter duration, we want to take some time and work on more dramatic changes before we call it a wrap.

Before I get into what is to come, here is a little FAQ about the most mentioned topics:

Frequently Asked Questions and Popular Comments

Q: Why is there no tutorial? I can't figure out anything!!! Shit game!!! A: For a very long time, we've had a game in mind with a tutorial section. Later it dawned on us that, based on what we like and play ourselves, this game is more charming with the old-school "discover yourself" approach. We also want a bit of that feeling since it's Cihan's first time at the shop. No "-Open the cardboard box" or "-Slice the soujouk" type tasks written on the screen, no highlighting or flashing objects, and no objective markers. In short, the game will never have a tutorial in its mainstream meaning. If this is a turn-off for you, perhaps it is not a game for you, not every game is for everyone after all. HOWEVER, we will add an in-game guidebook, especially for the ones who might be strangers to the Turkish tost culture, and a dynamic crosshair system, described more in detail later in the roadmap.

Q: There are extra ingredients in the order list, the customers never ask for those, it is bad game design. A: If the time allows us we would love to include the extra ingredients in the customer orders, but we also don't think it is necessarily bad game design to have extra elements that can open up some role-playing opportunities in a game. After all, you also have light switches, sinks, and a shower in the game that don't really have an effect. If we were to do a full simulation game then I might agree with you but this is a game where role-playing is definitely a core pillar. Despite the detail it has, it is not a shop simulator. Which brings us to the next question.

Q: Even putting one slice of sausage in the tost is enough, I can even serve rotten tosts to the customers, and they don't complain. Wouldn't it be a better game if they complained or gave less money? A: It is not a shop simulator game, it is a psychological thriller. Our main goal is to create a tense atmosphere, to create the feeling of being there in Central Anatolia in the '90s, and to tell a story that can change based on your choices. We know that we couldn't achieve that goal just yet (working on it) but that is a different topic. If we were to do an actual simulation game, I myself would add so much detail to it that even my colleagues would probably complain. When I play simulation games I always have similar opinions. So it is not that we couldn't do it or we didn't think about it, we purposefully directed our focus. Though about rot... Okay, I won't spoil (no pun intended).

C: They made the game 2+ hours on purpose so we can't refund it. A: Nope, never even mentioned once during our meetings. Besides the fact that we are not that type of people, we also didn't earn or expect to earn much from this game. The first goal of ours was to publish a game successfully, and that it is a game we're content with. If it was a quick cash grab, I wouldn't spend 2 years and some on it, reworking it several times, and keep putting hours into it right now. To be absolutely transparent, I (Anıl) barely earned two weeks of my regular income with 3000+ sales. If I didn't believe in the potential of the game and didn't want it to be how we imagined it, I would quit it right away because it's definitely not worth it. We are completely fine if you play the game for a few in-game days and if it's not your cup of tea, refund it. However, we think the price is fair for what the game offers.

C: They added a Turkish flag on the wall, a teapot on the stove, and so on, to ride on the nationalistic feelings, so that Turkish people would buy it. A: Another no. We never intended to aim for the Turkish audience in particular. We are 3/4 Turkish and we only created something around what we know the best which is 90s Turkey, the time during which we grew up. Everything added to the environment was for the realism of it. The fact that we have 85% Turkish players (as of now) was a natural outcome, of course. We hope that the game breaks this ceiling at some point and foreign audiences can witness it as well. Our example has always been games like Devotion, with heavy cultural influence but can speak to anyone in the world.

Roadmap

Since we are still working on the game after-hours, unfortunately, we can't give exact dates. Also, not to spoil anything, I tried to write this without too much detail. I hope it still gives an idea of the scale of the upcoming changes.

There is also a slim chance that this content update might be released in two parts.

Content Update

• AdjustedThe most important oneMore cause-and-effect where what you do in the game will matter more than before - 2 more endings - Improvements to existing endings - More events - More objects to interact with - A dynamic crosshair system where you can see which of the 3 buttons are usable at any time. This way it will be clear when you can use the knife on something, or when you can put something down. - Control bindings - An old-school in-game guidebook (just like the ones given with the boxed games back in the day) - Collectible cassettes - A few more episodes for TV and missing TV subtitles - Daily newspaper (if bought) - Inspected objects placed in the back room after the first inspection - Ability to collect money in bulk - Improved controls of the tost machine cover - An option in the dialogue to reject a customer - Visual updates to the environment - More achievements - More sound effects - Many other minor improvements and bug fixes

What's next?

We don't want to spend the rest of our lives working on Tostchu. However, based on how smoothly the content update goes, we have a list of things we would love to do. No promises though!

• Publishing on other platforms, such as EGS, GoG, and Humble Store - Full controller support - Porting the game to other platforms, such as Mac, Linux, and Steam Deck - Plates (to make carrying ingredients around convenient) - Customer orders with extra ingredients such as tomato, hotdog, or ketchup - Tea-making - Smoking cigarettes

~Anıl