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Cooking & Resource Management

1. Technical Systems​

The Inventory UI System​

A lightweight inventory manager.

  • Backend: A script that stores an array or list of ItemData ScriptableObjects (ID, Name, Icon, Type).
  • Frontend: A simple UI at the bottom of the screen that dynamically updates to show the icons of the items the player is holding.

Cooking Stations (State Machines)​

Each cooking appliance (Grill, Chopping Board) needs a simple State Machine script:

  1. Empty (Waiting for item)
  2. Processing (Timer running, cannot be interrupted)
  3. Done (Waiting for player to collect)
  4. Burned (Failed state)

Upgrades Manager​

Players can spend their earned credits to permanently upgrade their workflow.

  • Tier 1: Standard equipment.
  • Tier 2 (Upgrade): Faster cooking timers (e.g., 5 seconds ➔ 3 seconds).
  • Tier 3 (Upgrade): Larger player inventory (e.g., 3 slots ➔ 5 slots) or a faster Delivery Drone.

3. Cooking recipe and resource design​

Ingredients​

  • Meat
  • Bread
  • Tomato
  • Cabbage
  • Cheese
  • Dough
  • Topings (Pepperoni, Mushroom, cheese)

Recipes​

  • Burger: Meat + Bread + Cheese
  • Pizza: Dough + Tomato + Cheese + (Topings)

4. Packing & Shipping​

if a cooked single ingredient is picked up, it can be placed, to be combined with other ready ingredients. Once the recipe is complete, the player can pick up the finished meal and drop it in the "Outbox" chute for delivery.

pizza example​

Pizza can be made by placing items on rolled out dough. Players can directly place ingredients on the dough to create a pizza, once it's done to place it in the oven and cook it. Once the pizza is cooked, the player can pick it up with the shovel and drop it in the pizza box to be delivered. Since orders can be made out of multiple itmes (e.g., 3 pizzas), the player can have multiple items in the inventory at once, but they can combined itmes into a single Box. This adds an extra layer of resource management and planning to the cooking loop.

Burger/Kebab/Wrap/ example​

These items can be made by combinig the ingredients on a plate. The Combined item can then be wrapped in a paper to be delivered.

Salad/Fries​

Salad, Fries are made by placing the ingredients in a Salad Bowl/Fries Bag.