Food Truck Empire is going to PAX West - Open Playtest sign-ups are live!
Hello Emperors! 🍔
Only a few days before the PAX West starts in its whole glory and we simply can't wait for the day to come! 🔥
Make sure to come see us and say hello if you're at PAX! You will be able to find us in Expo Hall at Indie Games Polska stall!
As we're celebrating another chance to participate in a great even like PAX West we've decided that it would be absolutely unfair to not give all the peeps staying at home chance to play or see our game too!
That means that starting today you can request an access to our Open Playtests directly on our Steam Storepage!
How to do it? It's easy! 1. Navigate to Food Truck Empire Steam Storepage. 2. Scroll down a bit until a green button with "Request access" becomes visible. 3. Click on that button! 4. Wait until the playtest becomes available on Friday and enjoy yourself with an early look into our upcoming game!
⚠️ Keep in mind that what you will see is still only a part of what we're working on! Still, we would love to hear back and gather as much feedback as possible from you guys, so we can make sure that we know what direction should we take with our game and to ensure that no bug will escape the mighty hand of justice!
⚠️ Your feedback is important and you can send it to us via these possibilities:
Join our Discord and tell us your thoughts about the game!
Send us a bug report via in-game option or through mail.
🚚 However if you'd rather have a chance to simply watch what we're cooking inside our Food Trucks then instead you can decide to watch our Gameplay Stream that will happen on Friday - August, 30th!
This will be a great opportunity to see how Food Truck Empire has evolved since the last demo and to check out how the truck customization looks like! 🎆
We’ve been talking at length about our customers, our food truck fleets, our food - but what about the backbone of our empire, our Headquarters? It is time to discuss how to best utilise your HQ to expand your food truck empire. 🏢🚚
When you first jump into the game, you are presented with a vast world to conquer with your food trucks… but that’s pretty difficult to do without your fleet, isn’t it? That’s why you need to construct a building for your Head Quarters! This is your main hub of operations, so choose your location wisely. Here, you will be able not only to buy and customize your trucks but also to research new technologies and permits to grow your empire.
This is the heart of your empire - when not spending time serving customers around the city, you will most likely be expanding your food truck fleet and researching new technologies. Let’s discuss how to use each floor in your Headquarters in more detail.
Ground floor - this is where the management works, eats and only sometimes sleeps. As a start, it’s just a literal blank space ready for your expansion. As the first order of business, you need your own Executive Office where you can get permits concerning general food service. For example, unlocking access to food parks, getting more parking space in your Basement or increasing the capacities of recipes.
After a while, you will have enough money and fame to expand your business and add a Research & Development branch. This will allow you to upgrade the interiors of food trucks with better technology and appliances. Sharper knives? Oh yeah. Some new meat? Yummy. A microwave? Fine, I guess. All in all, the ground floor of your HQ is the brains of the operation, but what about the wheels? For that, we have to get down to the basement…
Basement time! This is where our food trucks get their good night's sleep - at least we hope so. Just like with the ground floor, there won’t be much here at the beginning, but once you start rolling in dough, you will get more and more opportunities to expand your food truck fleet.
You can buy new trucks, customize the existing ones both inside and out, and send them to town from here. It’s important to expand your basement as much as your ground floor as not to fall behind and have enough trucks to serve mostly everyone.
So that’s all on Headquarters for now
If you’re hungry for more info on Food Truck Empire or have any questions regarding this post - let us know below in the comments.
❤️ Stay awesome, Emperors ❤️
If you want to stay up to date, join our Official Discord!
YOU can play Food Truck Empire early and help us! 🎮🚚👑
Hi there Emperors!
We've been working on our food truck tycoon management sim for a while now and it's the perfect time to give it in some capacity to the public! We have conducted playtests in the past, but these were small in scale. After those went relatively okay, we decided to expand our playtesting to include more people outside of our circle. Well, our Steam player base seems like the perfect group for this :)
If you are interested, then sign-up with the link below and get a chance to play the game EARLY and for FREE
We want to improve the game as much as possible before both the Demo and Early Access release, so we need as much valuable feedback from you as possible. You can help us shape the game into something even better!
That would be all for now…
Stay tuned for more posts regarding providing excellent service to different groups of people - we still have some more to share! If you’re hungry for more info on Food Truck Empire or have any questions regarding this post - let us know below in the comments.
❤️ Stay awesome, Emperors ❤️
If you want to stay up to date, join our Official Discord!
Features Buffet vol. 9 - Meet Your Customers (part 2.) 🧓🛹🪩
Welcome, Emperors 👋
It’s about time to introduce you to more of Food Truck Empire’s many customers! You’ve met Normies, Kids and Blue Collars already. So, let’s go to the next big 3 - Elders, Teenagers, and Partygoers!🧓🛹🪩
Elders are the oldest customer group in the game which comes with its own pros and cons. First of all, it can be hard to cater to their needs exactly. They don’t want to experiment as much as other demographics and they like to stick to the basics. Also, they prefer to eat their healthy veggies rather than the fatty meat patties. But, most of them are retired already and have a lot of free time to roam around the city. You can be there to provide for them in that time!
Elders shouldn’t be overlooked, because Boulderville has a lot of them naturally and they have money to spend. You just have to adapt accordingly to their needs while playing.
We mentioned Kids in one of our previous posts, but we didn't mention what happens when one of those Kids actually grows up! Introducing: (drumroll) Teenagers, THEY DISLIKE EVERYTHING. If you thought Kids were picky eaters well then… good luck catering to Teenagers. You have to be very particular where you serve them and what you serve them.
It’s not that hard to include them in your empire expansion plans! All they care about is getting their food fast, and that's something you can do, right?
Partygoers are the social backbone of Boulderville’s nightlife. Sometimes you may mistake them for vampires seeing how late they come out of their caves just to party hard and disappear in the morning. Their top priority? Getting wasted and grabbing a quick bite while at it. No need for exquisite dishes or elaborate compositions.
Partygoers, however, are localized in the places where the partying is happening. You have to drive around at night to cater to most of them, so you have to adapt your strategy accordingly
That would be all the customers we’ve prepared - for now…
Stay tuned for more posts regarding providing excellent service to different groups of people - we still have some more to share! If you’re hungry for more info on Food Truck Empire or have any questions regarding this post - let us know below in the comments.
❤️ Stay awesome, Emperors ❤️
If you want to stay up to date, join our Official Discord!
PRERECORDED live-stream of Food Truck Empire - grab a bite with devs!
Howdy Emperors! 🤠
Last night's livestream was AWESOME, so we want everyone to be able to see it! So we are looping the recorded VOD from last night for everybody to enjoy :)
❤️ Stay awesome, Emperors ❤️
💜 If you want to stay up to date, join our Official Discord! 💜
EXCLUSIVE live-stream of Food Truck Empire- grab a bite with devs!
Howdy Emperors! 🤠
I bet you didn't see that coming - we are ready to showcase some of the gameplay LIVE here on Steam. 😁 What's the occassion? Well... We are a part of an awesome, not-yet announced Steam event, come watch us play the game, have a chat with us and check out the event we're a part of!
The stream starts at 3:00 PM Pacific Time and will be going for approximately 1 hour.
See you there - bring your snacks :)
❤️ Stay awesome, Emperors ❤️
💜 If you want to stay up to date, join our Official Discord! 💜
We have explored the first district of Boulderville - namely Clark’s Valley - quite a while ago, so we think it’s about time to go back and check what’s happening in the West City! 🧐
☀️ Welcome to Sunny Side Avenue ☀️
It’s always sunny in Phi- I mean Sunny Side Avenue! ☀️
Sunny Side Avenue is the West District of Boulderville. Compared to Clark’s Valley, it’s much busier and bustling with shopping malls, cultural institutions, and more. That means a bigger challenge for your food truck fleet but also many opportunities for business growth. 💸
The overall size may not seem that bigger than Clark’s Valley, but when it comes to specific important city structures… yeah, Sunny Side Avenue is THE place for business, so let’s take a closer look at the specific noteworthy places in this district! 👀
Every delicious dish needs to be served in a beautifully crafted dish! 🏺
National Pottery Museum of Boulderville is the place of appreciation for all things pottery - vases, pots, plates, cutlery - you name it! Tourists, though, can get pretty hungry after such an extensive intellectual visit, so you have to be there to provide them with a quick bite afterwards. 😋
National Pottery Museum is a vital point of the cultural life of both Boulderville and Sunny Side Avenue. Don’t overlook this location when planning your food truck empire’s expansion! 🤠
You want to reach the heights of relaxation? Then book Haven Heights! 🏨
Tagline aside, Haven Heights Hotel is THE place to stay at if you have the money for it. It is the most luxurious location in whole Boulderville with a lot of rooms and other amenities. The crowd your truck will be serving here is mostly wealthy and elder individuals who are ready to wait a little bit more and pay a little bit more for an exquisite dish. 🍝
The particular tastes of hotel’s premium customers would probably your biggest challenge if you want to serve customers around the grounds. Are you up for it?! 😤
No, it’s sadly not a big boulder-turned-shopping mall… 🪨
On a more serious note, you OBVIOUSLY want to take advantage of the masses that visit the Boulder Mall every day for their shopping needs. If they are spending money in the Mall, then why wouldn’t they want to pay for some delicious street food either?! Besides that, it’s also a lively social hub for teenagers and young adults alike who are also looking for a cheap bite. 🍔
The Mall attracts all types of people during different time periods. You have to adapt accordingly, especially when it comes to the Rush Hour - you wouldn’t want to miss serving a ton of customers during that time, would you now?! 🏃
The name is kind of self-explanatory, no need to go further… 🤪
Okay, okay - Serenity Park is the quietest place in Sunny Side Avenue with spaces for both chill and sport activities. In both of these cases, your food truck fleet can be there to deliver both great snacks and after work-out meals. It’s also yet another social hub of the area, so stay on track and see what’s happening in the neighborhood to take advantage of those crowds. 🌲
Also, if you ever feel overwhelmed because of building your food truck empire, you can just come here and chill out for yourself - it ain’t illegal or anything, nobody gonna inspect you, so go ahead and get some chill time, you really deserve it. 😇
Don’t have enough money for Haven Heights? Sunset got you covered! 😎
A lot of tourists don’t have the budget to book a room at a standard hotel or rent a lodge in Clark’s Valley. That’s where Sunset Motel comes into play - the oldest accommodation in Boulderville (and it shows)! 😏
Logically speaking, people staying in such motels wouldn't be interested in exquisite cuisine or very expensive experiences - so your food truck fleet has to adapt accordingly to their needs and also time schedules. Most of them are out of their small rooms during the day, so you have to plan accordingly! 🚚
What’s more radical than some sick ramps, m8? 🛹
This is the place if you want to feel the youth radiating from the teenagers spending their free time on the skatepark. Radical Ramps is the only place like that for them, so if you want to include them in your business expansion strategy, then this is the place to go. ☝️
Though this place is not ONLY for teenagers - this is one of the quieter sides of Sunny Side Avenue, so you are bound to find some people looking for chill time, so you can serve those customers on the way as well. 🍟
What is this?! Another Mall??? 😱
Since the city is dynamically growing, there came a need for yet another mall. For now, it still will be some time until it opens, but it doesn’t mean you can’t use this to your advantage. There are plenty of hungry workers who are looking for a cheap bite during their lunch break. 👷
This mall is yet under construction, so the name isn’t set in stone. Maybe you have some ideas for an amazing name? Let us know in the comments for sure - we would love to hear from you! ✍️
🚨Breaking news! 🚨
There has been an outbreak of food flu in the small town of Boulderville. The main suspect behind such a sudden disease appearance seems to be your competitor, Food on Wheels™. Luckily, the local Boulderville Hospital employs the best of the best doctors and nurses, so the affected are in good hands health-wise, but… the food there is really terrible. So, that’s where you come in! Serve those hungry and tired customers with the best street food of their lives - just be sure to check your food before any accidents happen… 🤢
In all seriousness - the Boulderville Hospital is a good spot to start building your street food empire. By serving food to those in dire need of good cuisine, you bring prosperity to both your business and the region. Don’t sleep on this location! 😁
Food can be a religion too! 🙏
Now, jokes aside, every town needs a church for the religious folk and those religious folk need someone to provide them with food service after Sunday service. That’s where you come in with your street food know-how and business spirit. St. Lawrence church is a perfect spot to take advantage of the crowded Sundays and Holidays. ⛪
Also, this church’s patron is Saint Lawrence - this town is crazy about food, as you probably know as the Street Food Emperor around these parts. So, it’s only fitting to have St. Lawrence as the patron of the church as he is also a patron of kitchen chefs! Holy guacamole… 🥑
Now you should know Boulderville and the Sunny Side Avenue a lot better! ☀️☀️☀️
If you’re hungry for more info on Food Truck Empire or have any questions regarding this post - let us know below in the comments. 💭
❤️ Stay awesome, Emperors ❤️
💜 If you want to stay up to date, join our Official Discord! 💜
You know what’s one feature that we keep showcasing in the screenshots but haven’t talked in depth yet? If you have guessed Head Quarters… then not yet.
For now, let’s tackle the Food Parks and what makes them an invaluable resource for building your Food Truck Empire!
Food Parks, or Food Courts if you are fancy, are essentially a place for more than one food truck to serve customers. People come to you and your food trucks rather than the other way around. That makes it simpler to bring stable profit without having to worry about route optimization. Each Food Park has their range (which can be upgraded with level-ups), which covers some area around the park itself, so people from nearby streets will know where to go to when hungry. 🍽️
Food Parks also can be leveled up to bring even more profits to your empire! Once you complete a particular task on one food park, it will upgrade while bringing you more profits along the way. Those tasks can vary - for example, serving 75 burgers in 1 day, getting 3+ star reviews from one type of customers or simply serving 100 dishes - and we are still experimenting and testing to get the balance just right. 👌
Alright, once you decide to start utilizing food parks, you will want to obviously upgrade them! For now, we have 3 different levels of Food Parks with different requirements, perks and visual changes attached to them. Let’s get through them.
LEVEL 0
Well… I don’t know what you expected - it’s not built yet! You will be able to find some Food Parks around town to use on Level 1 though, so you don’t have to create your own from the very beginning.
At Level 1, have a small range and only 2 spots for parking your food trucks. Also some toilets for your customers.
At Level 2, you get extended range and an additional spot to park another food truck. Also, more benches for people to sit and blankets on top of that. And… one more toilet…
At Level 3, you get even more range and yet another additional parking spot. Now you have a real spot for people to hang out no matter the weather. There is even a special… toilet building?
As you can see, upgrading those foodparks is a must if you want to expand your Food Truck Empire further. Also, to make it more understandable how much range these Food Parks have - here is a handy GIF to showcase just that. 👇
You know what food parks are, but why in the Hell’s Kitchen would you be using them instead of normal street spots?! Well, they just make your job of overseeing your food truck fleet very trivial. Instead of having to look around town for the most profitable locations, clients go to you. 💸
However, since your food park cannot move as freely as your fleet does, you get a limited choice of customers and overall less control of who you are serving your dishes to. It’s ultimately your decision - to use food parks or not: that is the question… 🤔
We hope you understand Food Parks a lot better now! 😊
Stay tuned for more posts regarding providing excellent service to different groups of people. If you’re hungry for more info on Food Truck Empire or have any questions regarding this post - let us know below in the comments. 💭
❤️ Stay awesome, Emperors ❤️
💜 If you want to stay up to date, join our Official Discord! 💜
Features Buffet vol. 6 - Meet Your Customers (part 1.) 👨👩👦👷
Hello, Emperors! 👑
You know a lot, really A LOT, about the intricate mechanics behind the core gameplay of Food Truck Empire. 🤓
But what about the people that make the world of our game so interesting and varied? Time to talk about the possible customers you get to meet throughout your culinary journeys. First up, Normies, Kids and Blue Collars! 👨👩👦👷
While seemingly very simple people, Normies can be your key to the substantial growth of your food truck empire. 👨
They like everything and don’t have very high standards overall, but that doesn’t mean you get to slack off in the kitchen - you still have to prepare their food in a timely manner. Also, they mostly prefer basic ingredients like meat and produce, so you have to buy the best quality food to really WOW them with your dishes. 🤩
Normies shouldn’t be overlooked, because their raving reviews can make or break your business and make your food parks that much more popular with the largest crowd in the city. 🏙️
Don’t forget about the little ones! 👦👧
Kids have their own schedule because of school and after-school activities - so you can take advantage of that and start building your empire on the smallest customers. In Food Truck Empire, Kids get to spend their own money, but their parents are also around - so you can cook 2 birds with 1 stove…or something like that. 🤨
One caveat, though…They are VERY picky about their food as we all are aware. You have to be careful what you serve them, especially concerning more unusual ingredients. Remember: when in doubt, grilled cheese can never go wrong. 🧀 There are a lot of kids in the neighborhood, so make sure to include them one way or another in your expansion plans. 🚚
Blue Collars are the backbone of the Boulderville. 👷
They mostly spend time around the Serenity Sawmill for obvious reasons. To become a successful Emperor, you have to be fast about your food - those people are looking for a cheap bite in the morning or during their break from work. No need for exquisite dishes or elaborate compositions - give them a meaty burger that will fill them up for the day and you are good to go. 🍔
Blue Collars also spend time in other places after work, but to fully profit from their tastes, you have to adjust your plans to their lifestyle. Maybe it’s worth keeping one dedicated food truck stationed right outside the Sawmill to have the food ready for those hungry workers. Experiment and grow your empire with different customers! 👨🔬
That would be all the customers we’ve prepared - for now… 👀
Stay tuned for more posts regarding providing excellent service to different groups of people. If you’re hungry for more info on Food Truck Empire or have any questions regarding this post - let us know below in the comments. 💭
❤️ Stay awesome, Emperors ❤️
💜 If you want to stay up to date, join our Official Discord! 💜
Last time on Features Buffet we showcased some of the best ways to set up your food trucks’ interior for optimal taste, speed and profit! Today we’d love to talk a little bit about how TIME OF DAY works in Food Truck Empire and how it affects gameplay. ⌛
A day in Food Truck Empire consists of 3 different time periods, each with its own distinct vibe and look.
🌅 Morning - 5:00 AM - 12:00 PM ☀️ Afternoon - 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM 🌇 Night - 7:00 PM - 2:00 AM
We wanted to make sure that with lighting and other effects we can make them as distinct as possible while also keeping the overall character of the game consistent. We’ll share more on how we achieved such a lighting system in a separate post soon.
But time of day is not just about looks, it plays a pivotal role in our cities’ lives. 🏙️
As you already know, we have a lot of different types of (potential) food truck customers inhabiting our game. Each of them has their own behaviors depending on the time of day. Early in the morning, the streets will be full of commuters, kids on their way to school, and workers getting ready for a hard day of good old manual labor. 👷
If you want to cater to a specific demographic, you have to get to know their schedule. Afternoons might be a better time for tourists or elders just casually strolling through town. And nighttime? Nighttime is party time, so be on the lookout for a lot of hipsters and partygoers eager to burn the midnight oil and eat some burgers. You can try serving food to elders at midnight, maybe it ain’t the most sound business strategy - but you do you! 🤠
Ok, so now for the last piece of the puzzle. You know all about demographics, and you know that different times of day affect how the city and its inhabitants behave, so it’s time for EVENTS. 😁
Events are… well, events that happen during specific hours throughout the game. Some of them might be regular, like lunchtime in the downtown business district, and some might be dynamic, like a game happening at a local stadium. ⚽
Each of them presents an opportunity and a challenge. It pays to always be prepared and agile with planning your fleet and menu. You never know when that extra food truck might come in handy! 🚚
⏱️We've run out of time - literally ⏱️
We hope that, with this post, you will be able to plan your timely business expansion in Food Truck Empire accordingly. If you’re hungry for more info on Food Truck Empire or have any questions regarding this post - let us know below in the comments.
❤️ Stay awesome, Emperors ❤️
If you want to stay up to date, join our Official Discord!
