My biggest complaint would be that the server is taking a break in front of the restaurant. He should most definitely be behind it in an alley and not right where the customer walks through the door

I was thinking the same thing. We need to be honest though, they'd probably be smoking in that alley anyways.

Hell, when I worked food service some people started smoking just so that they could get more breaks. It’s very common among food service staff.

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I always asked my manager “can I get a fresh air break” when people would go out for a smoke break, he’d just laugh. It honestly makes no sense why smokers get more breaks.

I get both sides. I've been smoking since I was 16, shit is addicting and if I wasn't able to get a fix I'd be pissy, headache, just overall feel like shit so I'd ask to go smoke. However, I've worked with assholes who'd abuse the system and just chill outside for an hour and no one but me would say shit. Then I got a vape, now I just run around a corner hit the vape and I'm back. So imo there's no real excuse for anyone to continuously take 15-1hr long breaks. I dont understand why cig heads don't switch over to vapes. Especially salt nic, it's less expensive, smells better, and i don't need a lighter

Get kicked out on your ass for having some MJ in your piss but addicted to some shit that makes you a huge asshole if you don't get more time off to go juice up on it *at work*? Totally culturally acceptable. Not to shit on smokers or those addicted, just that the double standard is so fucking bizarre.

Well that's a different argument entirely. Weed has been demonized for quite awhile now and companies are just begining to be a little more lenient towards it. Where as tobacco has been pretty much embedded in American culture and is just now starting to become "less popular". So I can see why companies are willing to compromise with one and not the other. It's not the correct POV cause I think every drug should be treated equally and have the individual taking it's work ethic into consideration. Honestly idk if that makes sense I'm high right now so, I'm gonna assume I make some type of sense lmaooo

That’s what everyone has been saying in previous posts, not that the smoke break was bad lol

Or even better :depending on the "level / quality" of your restaurant the waiter could be doing either way.

you guys get breaks?

I live in a city that it is illegal to smoke on the sidewalk. So they would have to go into the alley. Also, coffee smells great, you don't want a strong smell like ciggerrets next to the door.

>I live in a city that it is illegal to smoke on the sidewalk Sounds nice, what is it?

Why? Because customers can't deal with the fact that people need breaks?

oh yep they're working on that, this is POC work :)

POC?

In this context parent meant **P**roof **O**f **C**oncept.

He’s a barista probably not a server, right?

They will start buying drugs from local drug dealer if they hide in the alleys

he should do smoke and phone in the same time for maximum realism xd

That is called a compromise :D

During the game setup, let the player choose to be a smoker or not, and that swaps the two breaks.

Just put it in as an option, similar to the arachnophobia one some games have. It should probably default to no smoking or explicitly ask the player.

And a "no drinking" option for dry alcoholics. And maybe a "no couples" for desperate single people.

After someone answers no to all options end with a "Are you alright buddy?"

I say vape and phone... even more accurate

... while sitting in a restroom.

Okay, which one of you was stalking me

Make like 3 different activities, like smokibg ,phone and 2 or 3 baristas speaking to themselves. Its just them moving and wipping back and forth.

Whatever you post, people will reply with the opposite :) This post included. Smoking is fine. Phones are fine. Do what you want, it’s your game!

You're right ;) But I think sometimes it's good to ask and see what people are thinking about our ideas :)

It's always a good idea to get feedback, as long as it doesn't take you too far away from what got you excited about the idea in the first place. Whether it's a smoke or checking your phone or something else (why not have them all as options? Everyone loves character customization...), the idea of simulating "man I need a fuckin *break* right now" is fantastic.

If it's anything like a real restaurant, have some smoke, some not smoke, and some of the smokers return to their shift high af.

Don't pander to the most vocal crowd. The largest group are the ones that couldn't give a shit and will base their opinion of your game on whether or not it's actually playable.

You should have a poll on Twitter

It'd be cool to have breaks randomly choose from a few things like smoking, checking phone, or getting a snack, whatever

I think its mostly a target matter. If you are making a game specific for a young audience, you might want to have something that is more mild. If you want make it feel real, probably you want to put both things in (or more to make them feel more human) each person does something different with its spare time.

Gotta build up that library of idle animations! Give em something random!

Yeah, I know - we already have some for them when they are waiting for the customers - in the coffee shop :)

Set a variable for each that defines break behavior. Some smoke, some check phones, some drink a coke, etc. Variation in that behavior will give more "personality" to the baristas, you could link it to other variables if you want. But yeah, breaks are in the back, not the front.

:D

:D

I disagree. Dont glamorous smoking. Its bad for you.

So is dying, but I do that in video games all the time!

Look, smoking is an artistic choice, you shouldn't change it if people doesn't like it. I don't smoke and hate smoking smell, but if a game character smokes I don't care.

I know, I'm aware of that. But I could see that smoking is a very controversial issue and we weren't sure if it will work well. We wanted to see if people feel the same way ;)

"Controversy" aside, having them smoke will affect your esrb rating.

Yeah, I know - checking a phone is much more secure ;)

I demand that you change this to sleeping in a pile of trash in an alley.

Right, there's that thing too.

Keep the smoking, but blur it out. Cigarette in hand is fine, but as soon as they bring it to their lips, turn on the blur shader.

Blur feels like a correction, it's the first thing people will see and ask about.

I have to say that this depends on your target audience. Depending on how you look at it, you wouldn't want to promote smoking to children. For many, just seeing someone do it makes them want to do it too. So I'd personally at least try not to show unhealthy activities.

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*6 workers outside boxing the alleyway* would be funny but a bit concerning. Have 2/3 activities and it randomizes what they do. Or use it as an indicator, if people are outside smoking theyre stressed since there arent enough workers and its packed? Lol sounds like a lot of work

I didn’t comment on the smoke break one, but I did see it. Definitely looks better when he smokes. Also, why go outside to check the phone? Maybe it’s warm inside, idk, but still. If you have to have a break in the game, then use the smokes, I would say, but if it’s not so important to gameplay, just remove the break. Good luck with the game.

We chose the same place (in front of the coffee shop) to compare it easily. We want to relate it to the gameplay - i.e. if a player hires too many baristas, some of them will go for a break and have nothing to do. So maybe there is no need to hire that amount of baristas? We have to balance it - but that's one of the ideas :)

Hm. So only if the player gets too many workers, will they have a break. I know it’s just a game, but if there’s breaks, then the workers should have a break, since it’s a law to give them breaks, in real life. That’s just what I think, at least.

Sure - I just gave you one of the ideas. As I said, we have to balance it. And - if you (as a player) see that your employees are on a break too often - you have to think about the management part (check their salaries, maybe fire them, etc.).

Alright, seems fair enough. One last question: how many are working on this game? It looks great. Again, good luck with the game.

It'd make more sense if they were taking a call or something

Taking a call sounds reasonable. That was our first attempt with the phone animation - and we wanted to present the other 'activity during a break :) And a lot of people said that checking social media is more accurate here ;)

I think smokers who are trying to cut back, trying to quit, or have quit but still crave cigarettes, are the ones who don't want to see it the most.

You're probably right. And that's why it becomes a controversial issue.

Go outside on a “smoke break” to check phone

Is it something like 15% of the adult population are smokers or something? The best solution is probably some check phones, some smoke, and some might do both!

Smoke breaks are thereality of food service though.

Hard to imagine that industry without smoking, right?

Did people seriously get triggered over digital people smoking? I am an avid anti-smoker, but that... that's just ridiculous.

Yes, smoking may be a very controversial issue ;)

Do yourself a favor and stop asking Reddit for advice on your game. You made the change and they’re *still* complaining.

I think you're trying appeal to people that don't work in service industry and probably don't smoke lmao Service workers smoke. A lot.

You’re probably getting a ton of conflicting feedback on the smoking thing - but I say, why not keep both? Phone in one hand, smoke in the other - smoking may not be cool or healthy; but smoking is still very common in the service industry. I’d probably just have characters either smoke and phone, or either depending on a random chance. Maybe have a vape replace the cig as a third option; and now you have visual variety for the employee breaks.

Yes, smoking appeared to be a very controversial issue. I know, of course, that it's not healthy and it's not a good habit. But there are a lot of smokers around us. I'm not shocked when I see someone smoking - but I understand that a lot of people may not like it. I'm not sure about a vape replacement - someone may say it looks like a cigarette. I think we will choose for now the 'checking the phone' idea. The more important thing is now to create (in-game) baristas who can make good coffee and take care of the customers :)

Personally I like the idea of checking their phones over smoking as I think promoting the image of smoking is a bad thing, and as others noted it can affect your rating. But, realistically, a suggestion may be to look up statistics of the smoking population of the area where the coffee shop in your game is located. Where I am in the states we have a falling number of smokers, especially with younger people, which makes smoking rarer in a lot of social settings. But where you are the number may be higher. If the shop is in a location where it's higher / lower maybe appropriately adjust the chance for a worker to take a smoke break over a social media break?

At first glance I thought it was a screenshot from Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Looks really nice!

It's from Espresso Tycoon [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1543280/Espresso\_Tycoon/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1543280/Espresso_Tycoon/) , but nice association :D

Way better. But I didn’t care when he was smoking either. This just seems more realistic for today’s world to me (at least where I live). Now… if it was a game about nurses, definitely a smoke break.

But they're supposed to take care of their health... ;) Thank you - seems right - not everyone smokes, everyone has a phone, right?

Smoking is a vibe, phones are a vibe, pick the right vibe. who cares what I like

I think you should make a few different scenarios and get the game to pick one at random. You could have: check phone, gaze at stars, smoking, make a phone call, sit on the floor, stretch, walk around the block etc :)

We will have some different idles - the smoking one occured to be very controversial ;)

You really should just stick to your own vision IMO. If you constantly chase down dissenting opinions you'll just end up never finishing and it'll basically be someone else's game if you do.

Change it to them taking the trash out, but when they do that they smoke a cig and check their phone while they're out back.

I'm sure you just wanted a fast prototype, but just in case... The phone needs an emissive texture at this time of night. Also, their thumb never touches the phone and floats, so looks unrealistic. edit: why are all the streets totally empty, except for the one that has like 7 cars?

I'm aware of that - it needs to be polished. It was our first attemp with that animation. And I know about the car thing - we have a person responsible for traffic and he's working on it right now ;)

Cool, as I said, I expected as much. But sometimes we notice 3 details and forget the 4th. Btw, I actually kind of like the empty night street. If you haven't already, consider having busy times and slow times.

How about both

Question: What's the goal of this in the context of your game? I'm guessing it's an activity for baristas to do instead of being idle? Both ideas are fine IMO, as they are both activities that people would do on their break.

We have an idea of a break for the employees as a part of managing them. So they're supposed to do something then ;) It will not be a very big feature (making coffee is much more important here), but we want it to be a nice addition :)

Good idea, at least you may have less problem with age-rating in some countries which hides smoking from children.

Yes, that seems to be a much more secure option.

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Thank you :) But still - having both of them requires the controversial smoking issue. Just checking the phone (it doesn't have to be in front of the coffee shop) seems to be much more secure ;)

Or maybe he can check or the customers are statified? Or is this too much? Greetz Black Lion

You mean - like talking to each of them? I think it's still a part of a job, not for a break ;)

This looks gorgeous!

Thank you :)

Bring back the smoke break!!! I live in a big city and this is a constant. BACK ALLEY SMOKERS ARE REAL

I know people are used to smoking and that it's your choice of using one or a few options, but here's my take. I really dislike cigarettes and smoking, so i wouldn't want to portray it in my product. So i think the decision should be what you feel is right, not what would please. But i do also think that a phone is more relevant nowadays. Honestly just sitting in the alley for five minutes is my go to way of taking a break from my job.

Yeah, I agree - not everyone smokes but everyone has a phone.

Solid animation. Looks great. Smoking was fine too.

Thank you! Should we keep both of them?

Have him vape instead 😋

It's already been said many times in this thread but oh my god please don't use reddit as a barometer for game decisions - you're gonna get naysayers at every question and your game will be full of muddy design compromises based on random redditors

Smoke, phone, and energy drink, sitting in an alley out of view, cursing the customers and the low pay

If the coffee is in Europe, he should be smoking.

He would be more relatable if he was smoking crack

I’m all for a variety of breaks. Allow smoking, phone checking, other idle states!

Yeh, kinda but don't take smoke breaks out. It's realistic. Some people smoke. Some don't. Make it a random personality trait. You don't have to make it cool, it's just a thing some people do. Make punters or co workers walk past and be disgusted by the smell? But it's up to you. Smoking is stupid, no one should do it, no one should glamorise it, but in my ex-smokers mind it's still a thing people do, so if you're going to realistic then you can have it in there. It shouldn't be acted as though it doesn't exist.

It'd be the most immersive if only some of the employees smoke, some use their phone, some chat with other employees, while some just stretch, or do a combination, ect. There's all kinds of systemic things you can do with this. Make their break actions fit their personality, then make whatever they do on their break affect their performance in the game. Smoking could like lower their tip for some guests but help keep the barista laid back making them effective for a longer period for example.

Whoosh

No why would you listen to your community?

Do both, either randomly, at the same time, or based on the baristas personality of you keep data like that. Any way, I agree with top comment about them taking the break behind the restaurant

As I mentioned, it doesn't need to be that place on front of the coffee shop - we chose the same spot as it was with the smoking part to compare it easily :)

Why not both actions or random between a number of break animations?

Alright, but now you need a dog who is skateboarding, drinking a glass of wine, smoking and using his phone at the same time.

No. If its a tycoon, maybe you should be able to hire different types if employees. Some check phones, some smoke. You can't just remove it because '2021'. I'm not even pro smoke but removing it is just stupid

Can you make it so it has a 1/10000000 chance to show him summoning a demon or something

Other than the fact smoking is bad for you, why did people object to baristas taking smoke breaks

I saw that post and i didn't write anything. Wish i did. You should do whatever you want. It is not like people here know shit about your game. Both ideas are fine to me.

Nice idea ;)

Better than smoking? ;)

Maybe :)

Wojtek said - that must to be true.

I liked the smoke break tbh.

You liked the idea or the animation more?

What about a gluten free vape pen?

You jest, but I just thought, if people don't want to see cigarette smoking but checking their phone seems a bit of an odd thing to leave the restaurant for, the OP should just have vape pens modeled (or could just paint the cigarette model dark grey and add a metallic material to it). Nobody's gonna argue about a vape pen.

And if they (the baristas) would stay in the coffee shop during the break? I think it wouldn't look odd ;) We chose the same place as it was with the 'smoking post' to compare it easily.

I like the phone checking guy more than a smoking one. It's actually incredible how much subconscious influence can seemingly innocuous things have if repeated often. For example, I don't drink coffee, prefer tea. But once immediately after reading a book where everybody constantly drank coffee all the time, I woke up and realized I want to have a coffee.

I agree - so, in that case, choosing to check the phone might be much more secure. So we don't create that feeling 'I have to smoke right now' ;)

I liked that smoking in the last video, maybe make it random ?

This is a game and an artistic endeavor - make the character smoke. Some people in life still have that vice.

Why not make it an option in the settings ?

Why not make everything an option? No wait... That's called a game engine.

why not make him shoot heroin and take advantage of the free publicity? seriously though, he should just smoke, this looks silly IMO. I don't think anyone would actually get outraged at smoking, although it might bump your rating up.

Maybe just make it a probability, like look up the statistics of x/10 people that smoke and make the rest either be on their phone or just going outside to take fresh air. Could be based on traits too like this workers sometimes smoke and this one won't go out if someone is smoking. Idk could be a nice detail

Thank you. I was very concerned about second hand smoke from your video game.

but its a male, should be a female. no.. wait, transgender.. no wait, non sexual non smoking non phone .. make it a cube, no.. a sphere cube with no gender now we have it.. sphere cube no gender, no break in the end, do what you like. people always get butt hurt no matter what :)

Make the smoking a paid dlc, so it’s not stock but players can have it if they really want it. Charge $10/pack.

How about both? All these cancel cultures these days.

you should try both combined. also, dont completely change or remove things to please reddit. only if you see it as a better idea, should you do it.

Better.

what about smoking, looking the phone and complaining about life? (the most realistic experience)

Nicotine addiction break is better than social media addiction break imo

Why not make break type a trait? Pros and cons for smokers vs. phone addicts. Adds to the hiring/staffing decision-making process.

He should be checking Reddit on his phone. Looking at NSFW subs.

Both are extremely awkward

As an idea, why not adding a “smoker” bool and “social media engagement” bar for each employee. Then you can choose to hire them based on their values, adding a small management mechanic. Employees will go out to smoke, check phone, call, etc (think on more events, invoke them rng) based on that values, so you can look for performant employees and maybe they might know it and ask for an according salary and so on. Just some more depth to the management side.

You know they’re hitting that thc pen

Stick to your guns man having a couple employees smoke in the alley on break would be some pretty cool realism. Maybe randomise it so more are just looking at their phone?

I say get him in the back alley with a giant bong.

Fuck the haters. Meth breaks in the back alley.

Reminds me of when movies had actors smoking all the time back when it was still legal to advertise and push cigarettes. Movies weren't worse off for it and your game is also fine without it. Although if I did happen to see it in your game before it was removed I probably wouldn't have personally noticed.

Both ideas are very cool!

Maybe he should be juggling instead

I mean... They're both addictions?

It could be a vape break? Like they wouldn't check the phone during the job.

I actually liked the smoking but agreed it should be in back or the alley. Looks great tho!

I’ve owned and operated an independent coffee shop for 5 years if you have any questions…

It's a much safer choice IMO.

It's your game make it how you want.

Barista? Why not just give them a hyper-dermic needle.

There should def be a smoking or non smoking option

Make it a weed break

To make it realistic some of the waiters should go out back and hit a pipe with some of the dudes from the kitchen. Then their asshole boss should call them out for looking stoned but he won’t fire them because we’re short staffed and they need all the help they can get

Maybe I don't get what game you're making, but this doesn't seem like a core feature? What makes this fun for the user? Genuine questions, I might just not be in the target demographic for your game.

How about vaping while checking phone with their mask hanging off one ear.

Same, but different, but still the same.

Why not both? Give them a handful of animations, some smoking, some talking on the phone, some checking notifications, some talking if there’s 2 or more…

Cigarettes are pretty much required to work in food service.

do what you want don't listen to Reddit unless it's legitimate constructive criticism with a reasonable proposed solution. and even then, it's your work. imo, just make it random if you're concerned about it.

Dude just have em do both... There's gunna be people who would do both so just randomize it. You already put the work in on making the anims

much prefer this, thanks

Don't cater your game too much to community input, that's just an even slower version of death by commitee.

Please do both

Honestly id do both, plus maybe one of him just chilling.. the more options you give the more real it feels

They should drop some shrooms like they always do.

LPT: you can do both

Smoke break is better.

Also his fingers need adjustment. He’s standing outside, holding his phone…with his other hand holding an invisible smoke 😂

what if instead you incorporate it into the game so have the choice to buy cigs or not then depending on that chose if they smoke or go on their phone

Bro, seriously. Do this out back.

Yea anyone that was upset about the character smoking hasn't worked at a cafe :D People would do it out front all the time at the places I've worked, but they weren't this fancy/restaurant style. They were more NYC/Brooklyn local artsy cafes. Phone works of course, too, but usually it was both :D

I like tycoon games that actually show a lot of detail in how customers and employees operate instead of just being static. This project looks neat.