Hi everyone, I'm thinking about integrating Yummy Drink Factory for free on Amaranthia. If I do this, you can make your own recipes and send drinks to your friends on the site and Facebook. It would be part of the new site design (spring).

YDF wasn't that popular of a game. In general, on all game portals, people downloaded it, but there weren't may sales. Before I bring it to Amaranthians for free, I need to figure out why it wasn't popular and fix this. I think it could be a very fun game if I can find the "missing link", so to speak.

Did you notice anything that stuck out as a bad design? I'm taking notes!

Personally I really enjoyed YDF and am enjoying even now, I'm playing it all the time. It's really relaxing and fun. YDF is my fav TM game so far. Awesome design, cute characters and drinks, simple but interesting story and all the in our beautiful world XD

I really can't find the hole in your game, cause I think is better than any other TM game I've played, and I've played a lot believe me lol.

The thing I like the most is that you can play in 3 different levels and learn so many recipes, you can create your own recipes and share them. That is something that another TM doesn't offer (at least not one of those I've played lol).

I believe the "unsuccess" of your game was because of too many famous TM games *points at Diner Dash and Cake Mania series*.

I don't think that YDF is a game that should be given for free but hey it is your game and your right.

It will always remain one of my fav games ♥

Moony

As Moony mentioned it is one of the best TM games that I have ever played. I can't find any faults with the game as it offers a lot more than most games of a similar genre and it has an excellent soundtrack. It's the only TM that I've played so far that hasn't caused me to lose interest part way through.

I agree with Moony. It was probably just pushed out by better known/series games... That and there are people out there--myself included--who don't really like TM games that much, but download stuff anyway and then don't buy the games. (Although I did buy YDF, which, by the way, is awesome. I just can't usually take the arm-cramping click-fest. /exaggeration)

Cough. Anyway. In conclusion, you are super cool.
(Whaddaya mean that's not the point of this topic? That's always the point! XD)

I think the main reason why others might dislike it (but not me, because I love testing my memory ) is because most of the TM games are just testing your clicky power. YDF requires you to remember the recipes, or check from the recipe book, but will absolutely not have the customers tell you the step-by-step preparation. Of all the TM games I've played, the only one that comes even close in terms of this is Youda Sushi Chef. This could be a deterrent to people who just wanna have fun by repeated clickies but don't wanna remember stuff because they already used up too many brain cells during the day! XD

Anyway, just my attempt at crawling into the minds of others XD

For me, there were so many recipes, and you had to memorize them (you COULD look them up in the book, but that broke the gameplay and you lost time getting back into the groove). Some of the recipes were pretty complicated. And then there were soooo many ingredients (I think there were about a dozen different toppings - most TM games I've seen/liked had no more than 5 choices for each "station" ), and some recipes required two or three different kinds of the same ingredient type (flavours, toppings).

I like SOME TM games, and others (Diner Dash and the like) just turn me away. I can't put my finger on what's special about the ones I like. But I know I don't play TM games in order to "think" - I play them in order to "tune out" and work on automatic for a while.

I loved all the lining up of cups/glasses, trying to anticipate what was coming, trying to "batch" things so I got bonuses and having enough drinks to complete a ticket in one hit, trying to get as much prepared as possible before the first customer rolled up, and taking advantage of any "quiet" moments to get ready for the next wave.

Personally, I liked YDF. It's one of the only TM games that I do like but the reason I like it probably the reason that others don't. It requires you to think and memorize things rather than mindless clicking.

I really liked the game, and I purchased it as well. But, I will say, one thing that I found was that it was not that user friendly for playing on my laptop with the native mouse. There were some times where the dragging did not work that well with my computer and things didn't drop in the right place, or drag at all, and it took a lot of time so I was not able to finish many levels. When I hooked in an external mouse, that was when I was able to finish the game. But, I too, like many others found that actually having to memorize the recipes was one of the most enjoyable parts of the game.

I think u could re release YDF as a new game for 20$
At the time it started, it had to compete with Diner Dash and Cake Mania so it was not sucessful
Now, maybe it will be a hit

mmm - those games have had several sequels. Neither of them were "new" when YDF was launched, and they're both STILL coming out with sequels. So even if YDF were re-released, it would still have to compete with them.

Perhaps the need to memorize is it. The people here who really like the game all point to that as one of the reasons, whereas most time management games ARE just "mindless clicking", and there's a different population who like them for that reason.

I loved the thing that you must memorize the recipes Probably thatis one of the reasons I'm enjoying YDF XD You can have some brain practice XD

I thought it was an adorable game, however, I am not at all good at TM games due to my poor fine-motor control, so I don't enjoy them as a whole very much.

I actually enjoyed having to memorize the recipes, but I can see how many people would not like that aspect. Until it got where I had to move too quickly (for my hands) to get everything done in time, I thought it a wonderful game. I still think it is wonderful, just not something I myself can play.


EDIT: And I really wished I could taste some of the concoctions.

I really liked the game. Only thing I found confusing is that you have to Drag&Drop some things, and Click to pick up&Click to put down others

I liked YDF, but I'm not really a big fan of Time Management games (since I'm horrible at managing my time effectively in real life, LOL).

I found that it became too complicated with having to memorize the spells and there were almost too many different ingredients. I downloaded it from BFG and played for the demo hour...it kept me interested enough to play for the hour but by the end I found I just didn't want to work to memorize the drinks. The graphics were really cute and I liked the storyline...sort of one of those games that I would have liked to have kept playing, but ultimately wasn't adding enough from other time management games where I didn't have to memorize!

I think that ultimately I'm a time management player like Shaz...I play that type of game more to tune out and relax. I also get excited about games where I can anticipate and line up what I need to run through in order to get ahead. I also like time management games where I can really give myself an advantage by being rewarded for quick gameplay and being able to buy my own rewards.

I should put in that I love the idea of involving a recipe swap over facebook. I think that's a great use of the medium and can really allow people to have a conversation over the game. (as a background I work for a marketing company and we often try and figure out just how to use social media in the right way...and your idea sounds like it hits bang on for the right use within social networking.)

The name did it for me so I never even gave it a look. However I might have to now after reading all the positive replies.

What I think is simply that it does not have the franchise behind it, and that it is so different from the franchise games. It is more subdued (in color, story, and art), did not have the same little gimmicks (like in the most recent Cake Mania- buy main street attractions! gimme a break... >.>, and it actually required a tad bit of thought. I don't think there's anything wrong with the game, I just think that it does not appeal to most people because of some of the things done differently here- and very well.

The big TM games all have one thing in common- they're badly made games that come out once a month. And they're all advertised a TON. Maybe part of the problem is that there was not enough publicity for this game? No, wait, if there are downloads but not very many purchases... Perhaps the players feel like there is nothing more to experience that they can't find in the free trial. Perhaps if you were to do a sequel to YDF (though with lackluster sales I suppose that's unlikely) you should take a hint from those games- ultra colorful art, tons of minigames, and the gimmicks. =/

And on making it a permanent and free part of Amaranthia, I really can't say what to do. If the sales of the game do not warrant you keep it up for sale, then putting it on the website will allow more people to experience it, and that's good. I really think it's your call because we can't see the numbers and don't know if it's worth it...

I admit, I was skeptical because the name "Yummy Drink Factory" sounded too cutsy-cuddly for me, but I tried it out at BFG because I adored all of Amanda's other games and I was pleasantly surprised and immediately bought it. I think it's one of the best TM games because first of all, you're actually DOING things instead of just moving a character from place to place, second, it challenges your memory, third, it has an engaging story, and lots of other things.

I think maybe the name turned some people off. Just a guess, though, but if that's the case, it's a real shame, because it's a great game. It made me thirsty, wishing I could try all the drinks (well, except for the swamp ooze/slug slime ones). I started experimenting with hot chocolate drinks at home because of the game.

My one complaint about the actual game was the gem currency system - it was so difficult to buy all the decorations, plus you could only put up one kind of garland or theme at a time.

I'm saddened that it was so unpopluar, because I would have really liked to see a YDF2.

Maybe there will be a new and improved version put in the works. That is why Amanda made this thread to see what people liked/disliked about the game so she can fix and improve those issues for future games.

I just played it for the first time and I really enjoyed it. I loved the graphics and the animations.

I did look up the review on Gamezebo and the only thing that seemed to be wrong was someone could not download it.

Like everyone else said that at the time it came out there were multi tm games coming out. So what ever you decide to do with it is up to you. We love it just the way it is.