**I wrote this as an example for my students. It’s a part of a game analysis exercise.**
Game name: Hungry Hearts Diner: A Tale of Star-Crossed Souls
Developer: GAGEX Co., LTD.
Playtime: 4-5 hours (completed)
Hungry Heart Diner is a game from GAGEX Co., Ltd. And develops by 2D Fantasista. It has a very similar mechanic to the game Diner Dash (it even has the word diner in the name) where the player is running a diner, a customer comes in and order a dish, the player serve that dish and the player get the money and use that money to buy more ingredients and upgrade the diner. From what it looks like it just another dashing game (there are so many dashing game out there). However, this game has its unique selling point which is the emotional story. As the name of this game suggests the theme, the player job is to feed these hungry hearts. After finish the game I want to tell you that many of the components and core mechanic of this game working together to make the storytelling part of the game exceptional.
First, let start with the main character in this game “the grandma.” GAGEX had a series of successful games with a heartwarming theme before. Especially The Showa Candy shop that use another grandma as a leading character. By this setting; playing the game through grandma’s point of view; it is easier to listen to the story and help each customer. The troubled customers will come to contact with the kind-hearted grandma and open up to her, and she will help them through the hard times. She might not be able to help them physically, but she can give them kind advises or at least listen to their problems. Also, through feeding them with the food that they love or crave they will open up to her more. The grandma also has her own story that will pan out from the play also. By mechanic, these stories act as an indicator to tell the player where are they in the game right now. This indicator will set up a set of short-term goals for the player to follow. It is the incentive to push the player forward.
Feeding the customers, by all means, are the core mechanic of the game, this is not different from other dash game. However, in this game, they have more meaning. The aesthetic that came out of this mechanic is not just the Challenge and Accomplishment, but the player will also get Drama and Fellowship. As when the player feeds the customers more, their satisfaction gauge that will rise. The gauge has a range from 0 to 100 and the customers will opening up more to the grandma as the number goes up. There is a character page in the game that player can check the situation with each character, what’s the satisfaction number currently is, how many more dialogues that this character has and what’s the condition for the next dialogue. A list of their favorite food. If the player serves them their favorite food, their satisfaction number will go up more. Also crucial information, the food that this character is craving. The food that the character is craving is a locking mechanism for the next dialogue. The mechanic is simple if the player wants to get more story, feed them what they crave or like and then the story will open more. So the game delivers these aesthetics, Challenge, Accomplishment, Drama, and Fellowship at the same time.
Moreover, with this mechanic, it will help the player care more about these characters, to get them to open up more the player has to feed them with their favorite food, that forced the player to think about the character reading their dialogue, try to learn about their favorite food. When each of these characters walks into the diner if the player can prepare the food that they love on-time they will have more chance to unlock a new dialogue. What is the act of care if not, learning about them, notice them when they walk-in and trying to serve them their favorite food. Even these actions are through the grandma’s eyes; the player will feel like they are the one who cares about the customers (at least this is what I felt while playing).
To open up more dialogues the player will need to get the satisfaction number up, and as mentioned each character needs different food. However, the grandma can not cook those foods right away. The grandma will have to hone the skill for each food that she cooks, the more she cook one food that level of that food will go up, and it will unlock another food. The player can see this unlock information in the cooking menu. So if the player wants to feed these characters their favorite food, the player can look at that food information and see how to unlock them. The mechanic of unlocking also invoke the dynamic of learning and practicing leads to Challenge aesthetic for this game. Unlocking more food is also the mechanic that can be working towards the player’s Accomplishment. The game will even inform the player that they beat the game if they unlock all of the food.
Opening up more dialogues with the NPCs also opening up more dialogue with the grandpa and that is the main story for this game. The player can experience the main story through not just reading the dialogue, but they are playing it. The life of an old wife that her husband is sick and she has to take over the diner and keep on living. Also one of the NPC that comes to the store continually is her nephew who will bring the news of her daughter who is about to deliver a baby.
By using a very popular Japanese TV drama plots, it helps the player understand and follow these characters’ stories easily.
All other components in the game also server this selling point very well. This game has slow and relaxing background music that fits with the theme of this game. The graphic also fit with the theme; the developer selects a very earthy tone for the color scheme is going very well with the story. The sound fx might be the only thing that seems out of place here, but it does its job very well. When any food level up and the ding sound is a pleasing sound to hear.
To conclude all this, every element in this game working very well to tell these stories. The mechanic that forced the player to care for these customers to try harder to feed them is a mechanic that tells the story through gameplay. The main protagonist, the grandma, she is kind, wholeheartedly wants to help her customer, always working hard. Even though the game does not stress on this part, but the player can feel by playing as her, she is working alone, at the same time taking care of her husband, without telling out loud the player knows that she is a tough one. It fits the theme very well to use the grandma as the player’s character. Through the grandma character, the player is playing a role of a kind and wise old woman; this can invoke the emotional feeling for the player. All of these helps the game tell the stories very well.
Leave a Reply