Ham's Cafe Press Kit

Fact Sheet

• Developer Gerbil Games
• Release Date 21st November 2021 (PC), TBC (Mobile)
• Store Page https://reezyez.itch.io/hams-cafe
  
• Twitter Page https://twitter.com/Gerbil_Games
• Platforms PC, Mobile (iOS / Android) TBC
• Price Free! In-App purchases for customisation TBC

Description

Ham's Cafe is a fast-paced, mobile style arcade game, aimed at testing your agility and reaction time in a cute and cosy setting. 

Hungry hamsters come to the cafe for the wonderful food and beverages. Whether it’s for the Cafe's signature cup of hot coffee, their popular pepperoni pizza, or the delicious desserts, it is your job to satisfy the customer’s order before they grow impatient and hungry. Be careful though, the more customers you satisfy, the more popular the cafe will become, and the faster you will have to serve orders!

How long can you keep the hungry hamsters satisfied?

Features

Ham’s Cafe revolves around a single, yet fine-tuned game loop testing the player’s skills such as aim, reaction time, and memory. The more you play, the more you can master the single mechanic, and the higher score you will be able to achieve. The high score system gives players a strong motivation to play the game and aim to beat their high score, or the high score of other players.

We wanted the game to keep the players on their toes, and so the fast pace of the game needs the players to focus fully on their accuracy. The engaging click and drag mechanic may help you to improve your aim in other games such as FPS’s, as well as helping to keep your mind well exercised. The aiming component of the core game mechanic is comparable to the rhythm game OSU, which people have claimed to help them improve mouse aim and accuracy. 

Ham's Cafe is playable with a mouse, drawing tablet (such as a Wacom) or even a touchscreen laptop! The also game remembers your high score and setting selections, even after you close the game.

The art style of the game has been carefully drawn to be consistently adorable pixel art, with original compositions created in a chiptune style to add to the pixel aesthetics of the game

Gameplay Video

About The Game

Originally named Hamilton's Hamster Cafe, Ham's Cafe was created with the initial idea of making a game that was cute and had simple pixel art. Faris had the idea of including a hamster, and Alex had the idea of making a feeding game, similar to the Pokémon-Amie Berry Feeding Minigame from Pokémon X and Y. From here, we brainstormed and experimented with different ideas (including a memory mode), using the Pokémon-Amie Minigame and the mobile game Nom Cat as main inspirations.

When creating Ham's Cafe, we wanted to focus on not over-complicating the game's features, allowing players to focus on a single objective: aiming to beat the highest score. A simple polished game loop integrated with a high score system allowed us to make a game that is competitive and fun, and is able to be played countless times without getting bored!

Target Audience

This game is intended for a wide audience range, due to its simplicity and appealing graphics. People of any age can enjoy it, starting from around age eight all the way to age one hundred. This game is intended to be played by people who especially enjoy rewarding, fast-paced mini-games and cute graphics.

About Us

Faris Hindi: Faris is studying for a Bachelor of Game Design and Development. Using his background in motion design, photography and videography, he wants to translate those skills over to video game development. Although he is very creative, he shows interest in problem-solving and logic on the back end, taking the role of Programmer in his first published game "Ham's Cafe". 

Alexandra Drury: Alex is a first-year University student, currently studying a Bachelor of Game Design and Development. She has been playing video games since she was a young child, and now wants to use her passion and skills in art and music to create video games to share her passion with the world. Ham's Cafe is the first published video game she has created.

Credits 

This game was made by Gerbil Games, which is the collaboration of Faris Hindi and Alexandra Drury

Programming: Faris Hindi

Art: Alexandra Drury (Drawn using Aseprite)

Music: Gameplay music is an original composition by Alexandra Drury, produced in BeepBox. (Link to the BeepBox song URL here)

Main Menu music by Chizmaster from https://freesound.org/ (Link to the URL here)

SFX: Chosen by Faris Hindi from Mixkit.co (Link to the URL here)

Contact Us

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gerbil_Games

Email: GerbilGames21@gmail.com

Find a larger version of the icon, game screenshots and gifs in the press folder!