Design Statement
We started by just listening to it and writing down how it made us feel. It was super cosy and dreamy, with this summer-nostalgia, childhood kind of feel. Words like forest, sunset, ethereal, magical and “Moomin vibes” kept coming up, along with wanting the player to feel cosy, chill and a bit of wonder, and to create, explore and help their neighbours.

So we went with a cosy cafe game set in the New Zealand native bush. You play a little gecko coming home to fix up your family’s old cafe, which is where the nostalgia comes in: old neighbours, a childhood friend, and a long-lost family recipe to find.

Key choices:

A gentle loop of foraging, cooking and building, with no way to lose.
Hand-painted, watercolour-style art with soft chalky outlines, inspired by Moomin.
Native NZ critters as the characters, with gibberish voices my kids recorded.
A day and night cycle, because the bush feels pretty magical after dark.

Game Instructions (launch steps, controls, and gameplay overview)
Launching
Open the game in a desktop browser (Chrome, Edge or Firefox all work). It runs on phones too.
Click once to start. Browsers won’t play sound until you’ve clicked something, so the music kicks in after that.
Your progress saves automatically in your browser, so you can close it and come back.

Controls
Click or tap to walk somewhere, or on a character or thing to go and use it.
Esc closes whatever’s open, or pauses.
Buttons along the bottom open your Bag, your Quests and Build mode.

How to play
You’re a little gecko who’s come home to the bush to fix up your family’s old cafe. Ruru the morepork will show you the ropes to start with.

A day goes like this:
Set the menu at the cafe door from the recipes you know.
Head down the path at the side of the cafe to go foraging. Pick what you’re after, maybe take a friend along, and keep an eye on the bushes. If one rustles, tap it quick for a bonus find!
While you’re out, the cafe serves whatever’s on the menu.
Close up for the day and get paid.

Spend your coins on recipes and upgrades, and use Build mode to set out furniture. A cosier cafe brings more guests. Help the locals with their quests to unlock new friends, recipes and decorations. Once Ruru trusts you, stay up after closing, because the bush comes alive at night.

There’s no way to lose. Just follow the story at your own pace, and keep playing after it’s finished if you like.

Gameplay walkthrough video
https://youtu.be/KjobvGOoycY

Did your project use any AI tools or assets? If yes, please specify.
We only used it in the creation of planning assets (like the GDD) but otherwise, none at all.