Cooking at a campfire where nothing burns

· 3 min read · game-design, game-dev, cozy-game, three.js

Tina next to a campfire with an iron pot, golden sparks rising from the fire, with the word COOK over the picture

Cooking is where the other crafts of Lantern Valley meet. The fish come from fishing, the carrots and the flour from the garden, and the eggs and milk from the animals that became friends. The campfire is the place where those three loops turn into dishes, and the dishes into small bonuses.

It is also the first place where the question was "what does a moment of skill look like in a game with no failure?"

Tina by the campfire, with a pot and golden sparks

The kitchen is a fire #

The ranger, Pinha, lends you five marshmallows and teaches you the fire. The campfire of the Pine Clearing now has a tripod and an iron pot. Press E at the fire and a menu opens with the nine recipes, all listed. The ones with a missing ingredient are dimmed and say what is missing, so the player knows what to look for. The world waits while the menu is open.

There are two gestures, with the same design:

  • a skewer for marshmallows, fish, carrots and bread: the character holds it over the flames, and the food goes from raw to golden,
  • a pot for soups, an omelet and tea: the character stirs it with a spoon, and the broth changes color, bubbles and sends up steam.

The sweet spot #

The food heats up and the sizzle rises in pitch, until a little bell rings and a golden glow shows. That is the sweet spot, about 1.3 seconds on a skewer and 1.5 in a pot. Press E then and the dish comes out "just right", with one extra portion.

What happens if you miss is the whole design:

  • take it out too early and the game says "Still raw… wait for the point!" and the food stays on the fire,
  • take it out late, or never, and it comes out by itself as a good dish, without the extra portion,
  • nothing burns,
  • walking away takes the food off the fire, and nothing is lost: the ingredients only leave the bag when the dish is finished.

The reward is an extra portion and a star in the recipe book. There is no penalty for those who miss. The skill is a way to get more, never a way to lose what you had.

Nine recipes, three crafts #

Dish How Ingredients Effect
Toasted marshmallow skewer 1 marshmallow Bright lantern, 8 h
Grilled fish skewer 1 fish, any Light step, 8 h
Roasted carrot skewer 2 carrots Light step, 6 h
Campfire bread skewer 2 flours Light step, 10 h
Marshmallows (2) pot 1 honey flower + 1 egg (an ingredient)
Fish soup pot 2 fish + 1 carrot Light step + Bright lantern, 12 h
Pumpkin soup pot 1 pumpkin + 1 carrot Bright lantern, 12 h
Omelet pot 2 eggs Light step, 10 h
Honey flower tea pot 2 honey flowers Bright lantern, 10 h

"Any fish" uses the most common ones first, so a rare fish never ends up in a pot by mistake. That is a small rule, and it is the one I would copy: when a recipe says "any", the game should be careful with what you would have wanted to keep.

Eating, in the same menu #

Eating is a section of the same menu, with no new key and no inventory of consumables. Three bites, and an effect for a few game hours. There are only two effects, on purpose: Light step (12% more speed) and Bright lantern (the character's light grows). They are readable, visible and do not touch the rules of any other craft. They show up as chips in the corner with the time left, they renew when you eat again and never stack, and they pass by themselves, so one night on a bench is enough.

Built like the others #

The structure follows fishing. The heat is a small pure state machine, with tests: warming, the sweet spot, a little past, and done by itself. It never fails. The pantry is a pure module that says what is missing and what would be used. The effects are a pure module too, and they are saved. The world system only puts the menu, the gesture, the rising sizzle, the low camera and the dish rising over the head on top of that.

Adding a recipe is one entry, one name in the translation file and one icon. A second kitchen is a second fire with a tripod, because the system has no fixed coordinates.

You can try it at lanternvalley.vercel.app.

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