What drew me to it was recurring characters, sad endings and lore spread across multiple stories. Lastly, probably the biggest inspiration is Eastern European folklore. There are probably a few dozen examples of subverting tropes in the demo, and all of that was intentional! I’ve always been inspired by games that subvert expectations, so I wanted to punish players that were expecting tropes associated with visual novels. In Cooking Companions, if players enjoy the game for characters like the Chompettes? Good! If players looked up some of the historical events surrounding this game after they finish? GREAT. I also wanted to create a game that took place in a real-world setting, during a real part of history. With Cooking Companions, I wanted to make a game that had established folklore at the very core of its identity, even if it wasn’t immediately apparent or beating you over the head with it. What inspired you to create Cooking Companions ?īeing tired of “good” endings, established tropes and not enough games using folklore. The Appetizer Edition is the first game I’ve ever created, and I’m thrilled with how much people enjoyed it. I mostly played horror titles and puzzle games like Myst growing up, so I wanted to give audiences a taste of that with this title. When starting Cooking Companions in 2015, I had no experience with visual novels! I had seen the genre in flash games and in branching narrative games before, but hadn’t tried any. Do you have experience with visual novels prior to Cooking Companions? Tell us a little about your creative background.
We caught up with Deer Dream Studio to talk about their process, their Kickstarter, and what we can expect from the full release of Cooking Companions. Set in a cabin in the woods and featuring a cast of both humans and anthropomorphic foods, Appetizer Edition hints at a dark twist to the surface-level friendly story.
The upcoming visual novel by Deer Dream Studio is already making waves, due both to its successful Kickstarter and the free version already available, titled Cooking Companions: Appetizer Edition.
Gregor, Karin, Mariah, and Anatoly's village went mad from starvation after the rationing got extreme. So he pushed himself to the breaking point as a teenager, getting stronger every week. Gregor never wanted to let anyone down with his weakness ever again. Gregor will never forget that scream as long as he lives. When his friends mother finally opened the door. His hands shook as he laid his friends body at the door, He was almost as cold as his friend. When he arrived at his friends house, it was completely pitch black out. He was so weak, he had to take breaks every few minutes.
It took him an entire day to carry the body back to his friends house. He was gasping for air as his lungs filled with blood and there was nothing Gregor could do to stop the bleeding. The boar thought he was too close to it's child so it ended up goring him in the lung with one of her tusks. He was so busy playing with them he didn't notice a boar mother and piglet behind him. His friend found some baby marmots, probably only a few weeks old. They were far from home, about an hour away.
When Gregor was nine, he and his friend were playing in the woods. Gregor observed that Anatoly did have a miniature hands himself so he understood where that warning came from. Anatoly told him not to crush it between his 'large paws'. He introduced himself to Gregor and asked him if he wanted to hold one of the butterflies. When they were kids, Gregor was chopping firewood outside the house, when Anatoly showed up with a butterfly net, filled with them. " Bread and jam isn't much of a meal, but it's more than we had when we left Ukraine." Anything unconfirmed must go into the Theories section.* Residence origin:Īccording to various quotes in-game from the cast, Gregor and the rest of the bunch came to the cabin from Ukraine. *This section is for only confirmed lore.