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[Pezomi]

Introduction
Shoppy Mart is a game I've been working on since early September. I started making the game with the idea of it being an arcade game for android with a much heavier focus on the bagging aspect of it but since then it's become much more about the idea of putting you in the shoes of the grocery clerk where you have managers telling you what to do and customers who will never be satisfied. I was inspired by Papers, Please where a mundane job was turned into a game that of the likes I had never had never experienced before, whether or not a grocery job should be made into a game still isn't quite clear.

A quick look at development since September of 2014:
September 2014: Had the idea of bagging items as fast as you can, with a score depending on how you bagged.
You would lose points if you put the flour on top of the eggs, each bag had a weight limit.


October 2014: Started from scratch with a different focus, the customer.
You could scan 1 item and drag it into the customer who was either happy, sad, or mad. No sound.


November 2014: Added in the produce items/codes. Started work on talking to the customer. No sound.


December 2014: Talking works, added more items, added some color. Added basic sounds and music.


December 2014/January 2015: Put the prototype on Itch.io. Complete with colored stuff, full sounds and music.
Was having issues with the dialogue system so I took it out and started working on it again.


January 2015-Febuary 2015: Ditched the 4:3 aspect ratio for a 16:9, redid just about all of the art, added a real dialogue system.


March 2015 - May 2015:
The game was 'released' in an alpha state, features were cut, and the project was shelved. The game now featured an 'ending', global high scores, featured 2 new customer types, and fixed the game breaking bugs.


June 2015:
After shelving the project for a month, I've picked it back up again and released a 1.1 update to the current game, adding an easier game mode, resolution options, and a new chatbar look.


July 2015:
Focusing on getting the game on steam, the customers have been cleaned up, adding new items, customers, and features.


September 2015:
The game is on Steam! Here's the finished product!

Old About Me:
I'm 18 years old and am homeschooled. I worked at a grocery story since I was sixteen, I quit in November of 2014 to work on this game. I gave myself til June 2015 to make a game, just to see if it was something I wanted to pursue. I hope someone out there likes the end result. I decided the game had to be made after not being able to find a game like it anywhere. A game where the focus was on being a checker, not just bagging items.

[Pezomi]

Made some progress on it. Saving/Loading now work along with autosaves at the beginning of every day. The autosave icon is in the corner of the gif, I also added a pause screen, it pauses the game. Pretty basic stuff. Next up is adding more in terms of gameplay.

[Pezomi]

Made more progress, added the beginning of a sort of dialogue system. The whole point of the game is to put you in the shoes of a grocery store clerk, so I figured why not have a 'hotbar' where you have to recite the normal grocery clerk dialogue of that goes:

• Hello!
• Do you have a membership card?
• Did you find everything you needed today?
• Would you like the receipt with you or in the bag?

Maybe you'd get in trouble if you didn't talk to the customers? We'll see.

I also changed the way the customers exit the screen, them leaving in a random door that is behind them was just weird and I'm not sure why I had it like that. Now they exit to the left and I don't have to worry about the door, I could probably turn the wall into a shelf of product.

Another thing I added was the customer receiving change, which in it's current state, is very simple and just represents the customer getting change, or in the gif I've provided, shows the credit card sliding out and you having to hand it back to the customer.  I've gone back and forth about whether or not the items should ring up a  REAL price and if the customers would have to pay in the exact change, which leaves the door open to a possible future addition of coupons, price checks (issues with barcodes, customer saying it's the wrong price, you noticing it was the wrong price, ect.) and you having to count out exact change. I think it would make it a better game, but I'm not sure if it's really within my scope. I'm more then willing to give it a try, and it'd add more to the core gameplay.

The last thing I added was getting a receipt, which doesn't do much besides print out and make a satisfying ripping sound as you 'tear' it off and give it to the customer. I'm happy with it and not sure what else it will do.

[Pezomi]

Since I last posted I've been working a handful of things:

Order Timer
The order timer is something I've decided to add because the game was lacking any sort of motivation to bag quickly, where in reality you got customers who want to get out and managers who want you having short order times. The order time is calculated depending on the amount of items the customer has in their order, you can extend the time you have to finish the order a little bit every time you talk to the customer, with the limit being 4. In the image above you can see I asked the customer if he had a club card, asking him gives you +5 seconds to complete the order but if he actually has a club card then you have +10 seconds to complete the order. That way there is a reason to talk to the customers.

Cart/Bag
If a customer has more then 5 items they will roll up with a cart. In doing this I had to redo the way the bag was used, before you could stuff an unlimited amount of items in a bag, which didn't make much sense. Now the max amount of items a bag can hold is 5, once the bag has 5 items it kinda bloats up to show that it is full (like in the image above), if you load another item into it, the bag will rip, upsetting the customer and failing the order. The cart holds 4 bags and the customer can hold 1.

Graphics
The graphics aren't good. They work but it was all done quickly for the prototype, but as the project as evolved I've decided that it'd be best if they were cleaned up. My brother is helping me and we're going to be redoing the majority of the graphics, whether or not Comic Sans will make it through the overhaul is still up in the air. Here's a little look at it:

What do you think?

Resolution
Gonna change the 4:3 aspect ratio to a 16:9.

[Pezomi]

What I've been working on this week:

• Changing the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9.
• The Break Room
• Graphics Overhaul
• The Hotbar

Changing the aspect ratio
This proved to not be as difficult as anticipated. It was basically just changing a lot of x and y's to their new homes, it was time consuming but I think it makes it look a lot better and gives me a lot more room to work with, now the old screenshots look cramped.

The Break Room
During the day you'll get a break, at which point you'll get to talk to any other employees that would be taking a break. Some would prove more talkative then others. This should give players who want to learn more about the other people in the store enough information, while allowing people who just want to progress to skip it.

Graphics Overhaul & Hotbar
The new art is coming along well, still a lot to do, but it's going faster then I expected now that my brother is helping me. The hotbar now has stages as to avoid unnatural conversations. In the picture above you see that the first 3 boxes are checked and the last one isn't. When you start an order it'll look like this:
and it'll unlock as you talk to them, each one giving you more time to complete the order, in the picture above you can see the extra time on the bar. The store I worked at had a guideline for how new checkers were to talk to customers so I'm basing it off of that. That's all for this week.

[Pezomi]

Updated the counter, scanner, cash register. Working on the items, bag, background and characters next.

I'm debating whether or not I should be showing the order timer in such a strict since, or if it should just be more a natural kinda look on the customers face.

Either way, there is a lot of work to do! 

[Canned Turkey]

I like how simple and relaxing the premise is for this game.

[Pezomi]

Starting working on a character to do the tutorial/someone you can ask questions about the store. His name is Skele Bones and he has worked at the store for far too long.

Along with that I'm playing with the idea of customers coming up and talking on their phone. As of right now the only way to get extra time to complete an order is to talk to the customer, but if the customer is on their phone then you don't have the option to get extra time.

Beyond that it's just been updating all of the items, working on how the customers will look and creating the tutorial.

That's all there is for this week! Back to work! 

I like how simple and relaxing the premise is for this game.

Thanks!

[Forstride]

I don't know what it is, but the customer's walking animation is hilarious and charming.  I think that sort of shoddy, Flash-esque style works really well honestly, even if it's just placeholder art.

[Eendhoorn]

I like the old art for the money and items better. A definite case of "it's so bad it's good"
It might be out of your league, but the gameplay is screaming for a rhythm based component.

[Pezomi]

I like the old art for the money and items better. A definite case of "it's so bad it's good"
It might be out of your league, but the gameplay is screaming for a rhythm based component.

haha yeah, one of the comments I got was "it probably took about 30 seconds in MS paint to make that, but I'd hate to see it go." A rhythm based component would be super cool! I'll have to see if I can figure something out. hmm...

I don't know what it is, but the customer's walking animation is hilarious and charming.  I think that sort of shoddy, Flash-esque style works really well honestly, even if it's just placeholder art.

Thanks haha! I like the non-serious feel it gives.

[Pezomi]

This week has been a lot of planning in regards to the end of the game. What I have been working on that I can show is the tooltips on the hotbar buttons letting you know what you're saying to the customer, setting up what I'm calling 'moods' which is set when the customer is generated, the 'mood' will dictate how the customer responds to your questions. As of right now there is Happy, Odd, and Rude. There are a couple more I plan on adding, like Somber, Cranky, Too Polite, and Illogical. Each 'mood' will have a selection of responses to give an idea of different people. Working in a grocery store, about 80% of responses are the same, so I'm shooting for some more variety without writing thousands of responses.

Beyond that it's been a lot of brainstorming on the tutorial and ending. The only 'tutorial' in place right now would be that when you get your first produce item, the shift button flashes on your screen until you press it, opening the produce code list. You can see it the gif below:
 

[James Edward Smith]

 

[Photon]

Angry customer looks angry.

This game has a strange appeal to it. 

[Pezomi]

This week I redid all of the produce items and redid the produce list, thinking off adding more pages of it later on. The next thing is adding in the tutorial. I got it mapped out now I just have to put it in the game. The game is pretty simple, so I'll make the tutorial skippable, but I don't think it has ever hurt a game to have a tutorial.

Besides that I've spend the majority of the week working on the prologue to the game.
Here's a peak at it:


It's a short, quirky, side-scroller that tells the story of Skele Bones. It's been a nice change of pace from Shoppy Mart and adds a little bit of context/story to it. The way the dialogue is handled in it will be the same way that Skele Bones teaches you how to play in Shoppy Mart.

I bumped the progress to 20%, because I'm making progress! Slowly but surely.

[Pezomi]

I updated the first post to give some more background to myself and the game, along with a shiny new cover image! I plan on using that for the 'boxart' of the game. Beyond that it's just been writing a lot of dialogue between you and the customer. It's been a crazy week  but it's back to working on the game.

The prologue will be its own thing now, it doesn't fit with Shoppy Mart at all really, but I'm having a blast with it. For now its on hold until I finish Shoppy Mart, Skele Bones' adventure will be it's own thing.

[Sebastian Brandt]

This looks fun, the graphics has a certain charm. :D

[devMidgard]

Since this has got a unique feeling, I'm following it. Really loving the progress! Please continue!

[Pezomi]

This looks fun, the graphics has a certain charm. :D

Thanks!

Since this has got a unique feeling, I'm following it. Really loving the progress! Please continue!

Thanks! I will! 

[Pezomi]

I got some ideas for the game and ended up working through the night on them. 

1. Added a 'weekly ad' that you have to give to a certain amount to customers. Pretty straight forward, didn't take long to implement.

2. Added a license/id. Still debating if this is the best way to do it. Very basic, there is no age or expiration date, you just have to check if the picture matches up if someone is buying alcohol. You accept/decline it with the buttons that appear above it. If the picture doesn't match up and you get alcohol into the wrong hands, it could very likely cost you your job.

Both of these were added to keep you busy while checking. Between checking ids, trying to get all of the weekly ads out, remembering produce codes, talking to the customer, and trying to beat the clock, the game is starting to feel a bit hectic! It's not overwhelming, but it'll take some getting used to. Other ideas I have are adding coupons and more produce items.

3. Finally finished updating all of the items. The bag also got updated. As it sits right now I plan on keeping the customers as they are, originally they were just placeholder, but since then they have grown on me. If anyone has an opinion on it feel free to let me know.

I don't wanna mess up my sleep schedule too bad, so here's to hoping I'll make it through the day!