Video Game / Cooking Diary

Cooking Diary is a Time Management Game by Mytona for Android and IOS platforms.

The game starts off with the player moving back to their hometown of Tasty Hill to become the owner of their grandfather's (who is a famous chef) restaurant. The player then proceeds to record all the events that happen in the restaurant as well as all of the new people they meet in their diary. There's also a subplot where the player and grandpa try to uncover the truth about a past incident that created a blemish in the former's reputation.

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Tropes include:

• Ad Reward: At the end of each round, the player has the option to play an ad to double the day's earnings. They can also watch ad to get a ruby and to speed up delivery.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Andy's kitchen "helpers" end up going beyond the scope of his intentions, including an instance where one named "Ant" tried to turn its creator into a cake.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: Completing goals from game events can net you limited edition clothing items. Every thirty days of logins also grants you a set of clothing, too.
• Big Eater: Hungry Customers, who have more than three orders before they leave. Finishing the first set of dishes instantly springs a second order, while also restoring some patience.
• The Casanova: The Annoying Customers, dashing men carrying roses and boxes of chocolates who will immediately walk up to the counter even with uncollected tips present. They also often come in droves or at most unexpected times to keep you on your toes.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Creighton, big time. On top of being a bona fide Smug Snake, he actually goes out of his way to do some comically evil things in order to gain an edge over the player in the early episodes, to his detriment. Eventually subverted in that he's revealed to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, even giving a heartfelt apology over the food poisoning scandal using a flavor enhancer.
• Caustic Critic: Monsieur Gustav LeShan, formally a friend of grandpa's who now holds a grudge due to a past incident. However, he is honorable and will judge the player character harshly but fairly.
• Character Blog: Vivien has her own blog on instagram where she posts photos of all her travels and adventures.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Creighton isn't above underhanded schemes to climb his way to the top, using a flavor enhancer to beat the player in a competition. It ends up working against him since said formula causes a rather unsightly allergic reaction that gets him disqualified.
• Conspicuous Gloves: An inversion. The game doesn't give any options to customize the player characters' hands aside of bracelets or the like, meaning that you will never see your character wear gloves or rings of any kind. Quite jarring given that a few of the NPC characters such as Roger Lee or Mr. Wolfe are clearly seen wearing gloves in their character sprites. Some players theorize that the developers are too lazy to draw hand animations on the characters.
• Cool Mask: Some of the premium outfits feature conspicuous masquerade-style masks, and the matching outfits are possibly a nod to the Phantom Thieves of Persona 5 fame.
• Crossover: With Stranger Things for Halloween 2020. Players got to interact with the main cast, work at Scoops Ahoy! as part of a special stage, and could get a baby demogorgon as a pet.
• The Ditherer: The Cowboy customers will immediately change their orders once their yellow gauge is exhausted, and can potentially ruin your combo or waste precious time if you don't serve them quick enough. The smaller their order, the faster the gauge will drain.
• The Dreaded: Grandpa's old friend and former colleague Eustace Frost is nicknamed "The White Dragon" for his near-superhuman culinary gift, and even his ex-pupil Creighton Styles simply freezes at the mere mention of him.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Johnny has consistently done nice things for Vivien in the hopes of winning her over. Unfortunately, for him, she still sees him as a friend.

• Edible Theme Naming: All the districts in Tasty Hills have food related names like Brocclyn and Ketchunnaise.
• Einstein Hair: Andy Theorius has unruly brunette hair that sticks upwards, which matches his scatterbrained inventor persona.
• Forgetful Jones: Forgetful Customers, whose orders blink on and off as they attempt to remember.
• Freemium Timer: Playing a round cost a heart that needs to be refilled every ten minutes. Also, when you purchase a store upgrade, you need to wait several minutes for the upgrade to be "delivered", although you can speed up the delivery by paying with gems or watching ads.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: Put into play in Episode 60: Goodbye, Johnny. Creighton tries to offer Johnny into a big Head Chef job, but that would lead to him leaving the player character behind. He ultimately sticks with the player character, as it was a scheme to split the team apart.
• Frothy Mugs of Water: Being a game intended for kids (and thus not of drinking age), Dance Floor Star, a nightclub-themed venue where you run a "bar", serves fruit juices instead of cocktails.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Andy the inventor. While not quite qualifying as a Mad Scientist, he embodies many related tropes.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: You can name the player character just about anything. The same goes for pets.
• Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Andy, the resident scientist and inventor, is of course always seen in his white lab coat.
• Love Triangle: All over the place:
  • Johnny and Martin both have crushes on Vivien and consider each other arch-rivals as a result.
  • Later both also get crushes on Alexandra, while maintaining their crushes on Vivien. Although, Johnny later decides to solely focus his affections on Vivien.
  • Grandpa eventually reveals there was one between himself, LeShan, and the player character's grandmother. This was not the cause of their falling out however.
• Mr. Fixit: Andy is known for his great inventive ability and can fix just about anything. Although, it's rare he gets things right the first time around.
• Nintendo Hard: Don't let this game's casual label fool you. After around the third zone, the game will really step up its challenge and requires a considerable amount of pace and strategizing even in the normal levels where an unexpected difficulty increase is not uncommon and hard levels can really demand you to pull all the stops. Not to mention the super-hard levels which occur every 20 levels or so, where you cannot afford to make even a few mistakes (if at all), especially if you try to complete them without using power-ups or boosters. The periodical Creighton's Challenge is a 9-level gauntlet set in a restaurant you've yet to unlock that offers precious Rubies as a reward should you be able to complete them without losing sans a few checkpoints, and it truly lives up to its name. Hope you've been saving those boosters for a rainy day!
• Oblivious to Love: Vivien the food blogger, who regards Johnny the assistant chef as her Best Friend while he pines desperately after her. In one chapter, she claims that she'd know instantly if someone was attracted to her only for her to mention hanging out with Johnny in the same sentence.
• Play Every Day: Originally, attending the game daily grants you a nominal amount of coins, but higher login streaks increases the allowance little by little, with the max 5+ streak giving you precious rubies. It also refreshes the Wheel of Fortune timer, allowing you to spin it for free every 24 hours. Now, each day has a fixed reward per day of login, with an outfit every 30 days of logins. While it did nerf the daily ruby allowance, it now respects the player's time since the login streak has been abolished.
• Plot Allergy: LeShan's allergy to nutmeg, which kick-started grandpa's downfall in fame. He hasn't allowed grandpa to live it down since the incident. Episode 80, however, reveals the allergy was all in his head. He ended up getting food poisoning from a food that happened to have nutmeg in his childhood, but was led to believe he had a food allergy to it because his mother believed it to be the case despite doctor's advice saying otherwise.
• Premium Currency: The red gems are obtained as a reward after completing several goals
• Purely Aesthetic Gender: You can choose to be either male or female. The gender of the player is never addressed by other characters or the story itself.
• Save Our Team: The player character helps the town's truly pathetic football team train up and regain their respectability.
• Second Place Is for Winners: Although Tasty Hills' resident football team lost their first big match, it's by a hair and everyone is impressed, including their opponents. They win on the rematch.
• Secret Ingredient: Creighton has one. He's also convinced that the player character and their grandpa have one that they refuse to reveal, but both insist that the only special ingredient in their cooking is heart.
• Sprint Shoes: The Turbo Skates booster, which greatly speeds up your movement for the level. Previously, it was an item you used and only lasted 30 seconds.
• Superhero: There are a number of premium outfits that certainly evoke this theme, sometimes complete with the Badass Cape and/or Cool Mask mentioned above. A handful of story episodes also focus on superhero themes.
• Supreme Chef: The player character's goal, and their grandfather's former title. Celebrity chef Creighton Styles is also regarded this way by the townspeople, but is subject to Broken Pedestal as the story proceeds because of his massive ego.
• Unsatisfiable Customer: The Impatient Customers, who have half the usual amount of patience than normal. It's best you serve them first before they angrily leave, potentially failing the "Don't lose customers" stages. Downplayed in that they can leave very satisfied, if you fill out a 3-item order fast enough.
• Virtual Paper Doll: You can change your character's hair, eye color, facial features and their clothing to your liking. Many in game events give the players opportunities to get new clothing and hairstyle options.
• We Used to Be Friends: The subplot about grandpa's past revolves around the breakup of his former group of friends.
• What You Are in the Dark: The player character when they receive a purified flavor enhancer during a competition with Creighton. A talk with Johnny convinces them to smash it and win fairly.