Chef’s Choice

1. Concept: Chef’s Choice is about a ragtag team of misfits banding together under the direction of a hearty-yet-wise Chef in order to help them develop their one of a kind cookbook, in exchange for monetary support, of course. The catch is that the chef’s recipes require special ingredients; the monsters of the infamous Culinary Catacombs. This game requires teamwork but also self-preservation as the monsters of this dungeon are the most vicious you’ll ever come across. In the end, you’ll learn more not just about the Catacombs, but you’ll bond with your teammates over the sharing of hearty dinners. 

Aim: The players must battle and defeat all of the 6 monsters of the Culinary Catacombs in order to use their carcasses as ingredients in the Chef’s cookbook. Loss is when one or more members of your party dies. Victory is achieved when all the meals have been cooked and enjoyed by you and your team. This story is mainly about comraderie through battle and through eating. 

Tone: The tone of the game depends on the desires of the players but most importantly the Chef. The Chef determines how gory the battle and cooking process is, and also judges the vulnerability of their fellow players as they become closer as a team. 

Subject Matter: The ideas that will be explored during gameplay is violence (can be mild to keep the tone light hearted, or as gory as can be to showcase the realist aspects of the story). 

2. The elements of my Magpie book I used mainly came from reflecting on what is fun for me, my obsessions, and  thinking about spaces. I found that many moments I enjoyed where when there was some healthy competition, spending time with friends, eating with them, and spending more time in the kitchen, cooking. 

3. In my game I wanted to explore the theme of players working together as a unit, and I tried to do so by implementing archetypes with special abilities that complemented each other’s characters, and implementing teamwork points, where instead of being resricted to single-player action moves in battle, there can be a collaborative option where the adventurers can come up with a full group attack plan with input from their team. If their team agrees to follow through with said teamwork plan, they acknowledge that they commit to that action despite the greater risk of losing stamina and health that comes with it. The mechanics I specifically wanted to encompass this idea that everything is ultimately up to how the Chef narrates for the adventurers. Naming the game “Chef’s Choice” is reflective of this ‘omakase’ ideal in dining, where the guests (and sous-chefs)’s experiences are up to the Chef. This intills this layer of having to have trust in the Chef and your team to listen to each other’s choices and choose what is best for the team, as attacks from enemies impact the entire team, and not just the single player. 

4. I hope players walk away from this game with still existent appetites (which me realize that having a real life omakase set or appetizers accompany this game would have been epic), but most importantly with a sentiment that adventures and food are truly fulfiling  with good company!