Jan 17, 2020

Coffee Talk - hanachii

Hi everyone!

We are less than two weeks away from the release of the game! And we want to celebrate this with another contest!

If you have tried the demo of Coffee Talk, you might have noticed that you can draw latte art in any drinks that uses milk as one of the side ingredients. Now, we challenge you to show how good your latte art making skills, and you might win the game by doing it!

Here are the rules!

Download the demo and access the latte art feature by making a drink with milk as the side ingredients
Draw the latte art
Tweet it to us by mentioning @coffeetalk_game and use #coffeetalk and #latteart for the hashtags
You can tweet the latte art in the form of picture/screenshot, GIF, or video
Make as many as you want!

The winners will be decided by:

1 winner is chosen by the jury decision
1 winner is chosen by the amount of retweets they get
1 winner is chosen by the amount of likes they get

Each winner will receive Steam key of the game when the game is out!

The contest lasts from January 17, 2020 until January 28, 2020. Any submission outside the aforementioned date won't be counted as part of the contest.

Have fun!

P.S.
Yes, Baileys will be one of the judge. you know how high his standard is, if you know what we mean...

Dec 13, 2019

Join our fan art contest and win free copy of the game

Coffee Talk - slashgear29

Hi everyone!

To celebrate the upcoming release of Coffee Talk on January 29, 2020, we are hosting a fan art contest open for all!

The contests last from today until the 26th of January 2020. The winners will receive Steam key of the game two days before the game is out and a special art of the winner (or OC of the winner) drawn by the lead artist of the game, Dio Mahesa

Rules:

You can submit more than one art, but you can only win once
Tweet your fan art and mention @coffeetalk_game and #coffeetalk
You can include your OC, but the art has to feature at least one Coffee Talk character. Check out our Twitter feeds if you need more info on other characters in the game that didn’t appear in the demo
The contest will last from today, December 13, 2019 to January 26, 2020. Any submission after the aforementioned date won’t be counted as part of the contest
We will choose 5 winners: 3 winners based on the jury's decision, 1 winner based on most likes on Twitter, 1 winner based on most retweets on Twitter
If the winner has most retweet and most like, we will choose another winner for the most likes
The winners will receive: Steam key of the game two days before the game is out (January 27, 2020)
3 winners based on juries decision will also receive an artwork of themselves (or OC) in the form of Coffee Talk art, drawn by the lead artist of the game Dio Mahesa

If you have any other questions regarding the contest, please do not hesitate to ask in the comments below.

Jul 22, 2019

Coffee Talk Devlog #4: Brewing the Gameplay Mechanics and Latte Art Feature

Coffee Talk - shelicopter

What makes Coffee Talk different from other visual novels out there? The immersive coffee-making experience, of course.

In Coffee Talk, you will play the role of a barista, who run your own cafe that opens at night. There, you will meet people (mostly non-human) and serve them warm drinks — just like what you would expect in a coffee shop. As you help them soothe their souls with a cup of warm drink or two, stories will be unveiled.

•••

In Coffee Talk’s initial stage of development, there has been a continuous debate about how players should enjoy the game. Unlike other games from Toge Productions that are mechanics-heavy, Coffee Talk’s prototype was a straight-up visual novel with minimum gameplay. To make it become more of a “game”, the team then experimented more on the game mechanics.

Before, the branching and brewing mechanics were pretty straightforward with predetermined combinations, and players were not able to see whether they made the right drink or not before serving it. However, in the newer version, the game automatically generates the name, visuals, and stats of the beverages, which then became the key to the branching mechanism — it will be further covered in this log.

Read more about the history of Coffee Talk here: Devlog #1: How the game came to be - The seed, the anxiety, and the belief of design by subtraction

•••

Prototype Version vs. Newer Version

Even until today, the gameplay mechanics are still being improved. To understand more about that matter, we are going to need the experts in the field. For that reason, I invited Fredrik Lauwrensius and Jovan Anggara, the programmers of Coffee Talk as the special guests for this development log!

Both of them joined the team at a different time. While Jovan has been involved ever since the making of the prototype version — which was during the 2017 game jam, Fredrik came aboard about 1–2 weeks later, after some intense discussion about the game mechanism, direction, and so forth. There were many questions lingering for quite some time about Coffee Talk’s game mechanics when this log is still in draft form. Due to me being a complete noob on programming stuff, they are luckily kind enough to explain in a simple way.

Jovan told me that in the game jam version, players can freely add any ingredients for a drink. However, it resulted in a massive amount of beverages combinations that could be made, with most of it categorized as “failed” drinks. The team then decided that there should be no failed drink, and therefore tried to limit the possibility of combinations by determining certain ingredients to be used at certain times.

Other than that, players were also able to make cold drinks by adding ice before. The feature was eliminated and a brand new drink statistics was set up. Now the barista will only serve warm drinks containing these 4 statuses: warm/cool/sweet/bitter — because some drinks can tastes sweet and bitter at the same time, and the sensations of warmness and coolness can be experienced at just split seconds apart. The statistics, according to Fredrik and Jovan, affects the branching mechanics where it could cause not only changes in dialogue but also in the later parts of the game.

Sneak peek: the newest brewing UI that is currently under development

•••

Art in a Cup: Additional yet Significant Feature

What is it that could complement a nice, warm drink? We are thinking that latte art would be a nice touch. In Coffee Talk, in addition to serving drinks, players can also add their own latte art for milk-based beverages (or any beverages that use milk as an ingredient). The idea of the feature first came from our beloved CEO, Kris Antoni. It was not long after I joined Toge Productions that I saw the whole studio burst with enthusiasm toward this particular feature.

Frederik and Jovan said that it took them about a week to make that feature from scratch. Initially, they paid more attention to what the players can do in the development, such as pouring the milk and etching, until they studied the real latte art… from youtube videos. As time goes by, after many trials, they realized that they should also pay attention to fluid simulation — in short, the consistency and the flow of milk when it is poured.

“The biggest challenge would be to find the right configuration between the consistency of both the drink and the milk,” they said to me after thinking for quite some time. “Aside from it, we also need to think about optimization for this feature because it takes up loads of performance.”

The game mechanics and latte art feature have been revamped several times until today, even the programmers have lost count. You can give support to the developers by playing the demo and adding it to your wishlist here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/914800/Coffee_Talk/

Also, don't forget to follow Coffee Talk’s twitter for more updates!

Thank you for reading! ☕

Apr 11, 2019

Coffee Talk Devlog #3: Creating Space With Music

Coffee Talk - shelicopter

When talking about a good cafe, I’m imagining a chill atmospheric place where I can comfortably sit while sipping my favorite warm drink. Is there anything more I could ask for?

There is, actually.

It’s music. We (or I) tend to take it for granted because we often thought that it’s just /supposed/ to be there. The same goes in Coffee Talk. As a game that simulated the calm feeling that is served in a cup of coffee, the music in it complements the experience.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/914800/announcements/detail/1694929321637602438

To appreciate the hard work of music composers, I decided to write this devlog so that you could understand the process of making music, especially for games. Now, allow me to introduce you all to Andrew Jeremy, or AJ, as we call him.

AJ has been working as a sound engineer and composer for almost all of the games that are developed by Toge Productions. Currently, AJ acts as the product manager and composer of Coffee Talk project. Playing dual roles doesn’t hinder him from producing delightful music. Although, according to him, sometimes it can be challenging when he’s stuck with no inspiration to make music. But that’s all.

Despite being the only music composer in the studio, he has actually never thought about being one. He graduated from an academy in computer/IT program, with a dream to make innovation in technology. However, music has been his passion for a very long time, and ever since he joined Toge Productions, he just goes with the flow. Now he is aiming to become an audio programmer and to make innovative music application.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/914800/announcements/detail/1727596629128652213

Okay, I think we already know enough about AJ by this time. Let’s have a talk with him about his work, shall we?

1. What was your inspiration for the music direction in Coffee Talk?

Hmm, of course when I see games like Coffee Talk, I came across any chill-hop channels (as the game director wants to use this kind of music), and I also thought about instrumental music that is played inside most cafes. Listening to many types of jazz music is also the key to get that feeling and to understand how the music works to give the cafe-relaxing experience.

2. Is the music in Coffee Talk all mechanic, or did you also use real instruments?

All music is composed using our Ableton Live DAW and its high-quality virtual instrument and samples. We invest heavily on these special tools. So, it's all mechanic.

3. Please tell us about the music-making process for Coffee Talk.

I make the Coffee Talk music soundtracks like other music I made for our games. Of course, the first thing to think of is to create jazzy chords and melodies for the composition. I use virtual instruments and samples like piano, guitar, electric key/piano, and other stuff like that. Then I created hip hop drum beats for the chill-hop style rhythm. I also search for any free or short samples to use and arrange them in a way that it produces great melodies and harmonization. If all the components are well-arranged, done, and ready, I will then go into a particular method of lofi chill-hop mixing processes. I add compressions, low fidelity EQ, even vinyl crackles (though not all OSTs), and other things necessary for making lofi jazz hop music.

Particularly for this game, we will have 3 different albums and each album have soundtracks that are arranged and mixed differently but still stay to the main core of jazz chill-hop style music.

4. Which track is your favorite and why?

I would say, one is "Lonely Space". Having a nice touch of reverbs around the instruments of the track gives me so much relaxing experience (the rain sound makes it even more peaceful). But also, another uniqueness to this track is that the instrument I use gives actual distinct/different chord progression from what I really intended (it actually has an almost similar composition to the other song called "Start It Over", so I keep both). Another favorite track is called "Cup Of Sweetness". I like it because of the chord progression and the melody that fit pretty well together. I really love listening to it. The last one is, maybe, the one called "Tenderhearted", maybe not just because it is a superbly good piece of music to me, but also because it is the first song that people like the most (it's actually one of the music from the first phase of the music production).

https://youtu.be/_UgIUz2APOw

https://youtu.be/oudBv0amrz0

5. Is there any track that is challenging to make?

Honestly, all the tracks underwent the same challenging process. Every track has its own kind of challenge to make.

---

Has any of you ever dream about becoming a game music composer? Well, you can be one if you really want to! AJ himself never went to formal music education, yet he still follows his passion for music and can become a composer himself – which you can enjoy his creation from the playlist before.

Don’t forget to wishlist the game here if you haven’t. You can try the demo as well and find all those fine lofi music tracks, only in Coffee Talk!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/914800/Coffee_Talk/

Feb 6, 2019

Coffee Talk Devlog #2: Bringing Doodles to Life

Coffee Talk - shelicopter

Hello everyone! I’m Sheli, your go-to PR person and Community Manager of Toge Productions. If you have anything to say or discuss about our games, just hit me up. I’ll be happy to answer!

Now before we get into the topic, I want to share a little bit of nostalgia here. Before I joined Toge Productions, I have had the chance to try the demo of Coffee Talk in an event. At that time, I remember that I can’t wait to see more of the game; to hear the stories of all the characters. That is why I would like to dig deeper into the aspect that has got me intrigued since the first time I encountered this game, until today that I have the opportunity to be involved during the last part of development: Coffee Talk’s character design & development.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/914800/announcements/detail/1694929321637602438

For the case of story-driven games, it is fair to say that the characters play a vital role because they brought life to the game itself. The same goes to Coffee Talk. As the game relies heavily on narrative, the characters exist to play out the story. Through them, the players could immerse themselves into the story and chill vibe that is in the game.

To talk about character design in Coffee Talk, we’re going to need to call the expert: the game’s lead artist & character designer: Dio Mahesa!

Here in Indonesia, we have a famous proverb: “you can’t love what you don’t know” (or in this case, who you don’t know). So, here are some little trivia about our artist, to help you know him better: Dio started doing his job professionally in 2010 by taking freelance works. He was an IT student back then, but drawing has been his hobby for a long time. He then started doing pixel art since 2012 as he joined Toge Productions. You can check out his pixel artworks on his Instagram.

Well then, without further ado, let’s start our interview with Dio!

1. Who is the first character you worked on as Coffee Talk's character designer?

The very first character I made was definitely Freya, and the story behind Freya is quite unique. At the beginning of the development, besides creating environments and UIs and all other stuff, I'm also in charge of creating characters. What I did was doodling several random faces of female characters in various races, and Freya came up as my favorite character, and Fahmi (the Game Director) liked it too. After several discussions, we decided to continue developing that character based on the doodle. The development itself has been changed many times, so the first Freya looked entirely different from her current appearance, especially on her outfit and her hair color.

Concept sketch

Freya’s initial design

2. Is there any character that you're really fond of?

Jorji might be the one I like the most. I personally write the characteristics of Jorji (while others are written by Fahmi), where I wanted a character that pretty tired, worn-out policeman, which knows a lot of stuff and actually is a funny person. I imagined him being your go-to guy when it comes to the gossip around the corner.

Jorji the policeman

3. How long does it take to design a character in Coffee Talk, and what are the steps?

The first step was to look at the description written by Fahmi. Usually, I require descriptions as clear as possible, starting from the personalities, the costume, and overall appearance. After that, I started to create sketches. I usually throw the sketches on our closed group, waiting for feedback from the team. When everyone's cool with the design, I start to "render" the pixel art. It can take a day or two to turn the design into pixel art assets completely, depends on how complex the character's design and animation is. Then I will put them into Spine to create the animations, usually taking another day. So… It’ll take like 3-4 days a character?

Lua’s character progression

4. Which character has undergone many changes from their initial design?

Pretty simple answer, it would be Baileys. The Baileys we show in our build on itch.io is completely different compared to the current one. The former Baileys wasn't looked as douche as he should be back then, but the character development was being rushed due to our target to publish a vertical slice build, so the design itself wasn't designed well. After we finally published the vertical slice build, I revisit the design and he looked completely different now.

Baileys’ then

Baileys’ now

5. What inspires you to finally decide on the current art direction for the characters?

To be honest, it came from the team, not only from me. We all like 90s anime, thus we are trying to give the 90s vibe by referring Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. We make Coffee Talk's color scheme brown-ish, with low saturation tone. The design of the characters then follows the game’s vibe, including their color palette so that they could come together nicely.

Some part of the game, such as the intro cutscenes, also took some cues from PC-98 games art direction. Hence why some of the cutscenes in the game were showcased in a small frame with black background, giving some kind of nostalgia of how classic games show story cutscenes. But we tried to combine those direction with the color palette mentioned above and some technical art features that definitely were not available during the era of PC-98 games.

Ghost in the Shell’s environment & Coffee Talk’s (drawn by Hendry Roesly)

PC-98’s environment & Coffee Talk’s (also drawn by Hendry Roesly)

That concludes our interview with Dio!

Now we can say that character design is not just a walk in a park. Each character has its own complexity, and each can underwent different development. Until today, the design for all Coffee Talk characters is already complete. There are many more characters with exciting stories waiting for you there, so make sure to play the game; coming soon in 2019.

In the meantime, you can wishlist the game, and don’t forget to try the demo as well if you haven’t.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/914800/Coffee_Talk/

Thank you for your visit. Please come again!

Jan 18, 2019

Lose Yourself in the Endearing World of She and The Light Bearer

Coffee Talk - slashgear29

Do you still remember the feeling of unfolding a story in a fairytale, when you eagerly anticipate what will happen next when you turn the page? Toge Productions, along with developer Mojiken Studio brings you She and the Light Bearer, a game that lets you experience that whimsical feeling with just a click. The game is available NOW on Steam for PC and Mac.

She and The Light Bearer is a blend of point-and-click adventure gameplay and a music album that utilizes hand-drawn art, poetry, dialogue, and an instrumental acoustic soundtrack to offer a relaxing foray into a mystical realm of wonder. The aesthetic came under the influence of the creator herself.

Follow the journey of The Little Firefly who wanders in an unknown forest, carrying a grand task with them. As the world has lost its balance since The Mother fell into a deep slumber, our Little Firefly is entrusted to find The Mother to bring back harmony upon the land. In the unknown forest, The Little Firefly will have to solve various riddles, challenges, and puzzles to prove their worth and earn the forest’s trust. Deeper into the forest, they will learn the sacrifice of the forest, the horror of the Devourer, and the secret to awaken Mother.

Find more details about the game in its official website here, or through its Steam page below:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/658590/She_and_the_Light_Bearer/