A Chat with the Coffee Talk Team
NerdyBits EIC Caleb Sawyer got a chance to talk with some of the devs responsible for Coffee Talk. Join them as they talk about their inspirations, motivations, and of course their favorite drinks to order at a coffee shop.
First of all, what are your names? And what do you do? How long have you been working with Toge Productions?
Fahmi Hasni, Lead Writer & Game Director of Coffee Talk - joined Toge Productions in 2017 as marketing manager, unfortunately, when the project was completed he decided to leave the company to pursue other opportunities.
Dio Mahesa, Art Director of Coffee Talk - Joined Toge Productions in 2012.
Andrew Jeremy, Producer\Project Manager & Music Composer of Coffee Talk - Joined Toge Productions in 2010.
Fredrik Lauwrensius, Programmer of Coffee Talk - Joined Toge Productions in 2017.
Jovan Anggara, Programmer of Coffee Talk - Joined Toge Productions in 2017.
Hendry Roesly, Pixelart Illustration Artist (he's actually our most senior art director and art team lead, he decided to help on the project as secondary artist) - Joined Toge Productions in 2011
Kris Antoni, Co-writer/editor (founder of Toge Productions, for this project he took a minor role and advising the team from the sides) - founded Toge Productions in 2009.
Coffee Talk is made with a lot of care. It is clear that the team loves conversation. What went into writing the dialogue for CoffeeTalk? Was it mostly a single writer? Was the whole team involved?
The idea for the game came from Fahmi Hasni during an internal gamejam in the studio back in 2017. He wanted to make a game that replicates the feeling of watching the rain while holding a warm drink and listening to conversations. He comes up with the characters and the premise of the story. Even so, fleshing out the details of the story involves the whole studio, not just the main team members. Fahmi had a writer's block during development, so we did brainstorming and role-play sessions to help him develop the dialogue and stories. We assign people in the studio to role-play a character that reflected their personality. So, characters and stories in the game were actually based on real people in the studio, their personality, and their personal experiences. Kris helps out in the writing and editing process.
The subject matter of a lot of the conversations in Coffee Talk cover some pretty pointed subjects. You also navigate through those topics with a lot of finesse. What motivated you to talk about things like race, sexuality, tech crunch, etc.?
These are stories that were based on our own personal experiences and struggles. We believed that these experiences shape a person and are an integral part of who they are. We want each character in the game to be a reflection of someone real, we want them to be relatable, and hopefully show the players a new perspective on these subjects.
Another overwhelmingly apparent fact is: you folks love your coffee! As a former Barista myself, you really captured the job well. How did you do research for this game? Or are there experienced coffee makers on the team at Toge?
Fahmi is a coffee aficionado and he loves working in coffee shops, that's his second home. So, he's well versed in the coffee shop trade. Other than personal experience, our research method is mostly observation and watching youtube videos. For most people in our studio, they can't function well without a good cup of joe in the morning. And since Indonesia is the 4th biggest coffee producer in the world, coffee plays a huge part in our culture.
Dio did a lot of research about the coffee shop, the coffee machine, and equipment, so the coffee shop setting, vibe, and mood can be delivered as it is in real life.
How long did it take the team to get the Latte Art UI right? It is extremely good.
The Latte Art system was developed in less than a week. Getting it right took a lot longer, maybe a couple of months. We had to do a lot of testing and tweaking. The important thing is we need to make the UI is easy to use, so the players can experience being a barista, even if they didn't have that real-life barista skills.
The end of the game, without getting into spoilers, suggests that there may be more story to tell. Is the team considering adding to Coffee Talk in the future?
Maybe... :D
I saw, in the credits, that some of the characters in the game are named after real people. How many characters were based off of people the team knows, and how closely did some of those personalities come through?
All of them were based on real people to some degree or a mix-match from a combination of people.
Who is your favorite character in Coffee Talk? Why?
Dio: My favorite characters mixed between Neil and Jorji. Neil because they're hilarious in person and one of the most difficult characters to make, and Jorji because I designed the character's personality by myself.
Fredrik: My favorite character is aqua because she is cute.
Kris: Neil is my favorite character, reminds me of my dumb young self.
Andrew: Neil, because he's funny and innocent.
What is your favorite drink, and how do you make it?
Kris: I like Wedang Jahe (Ginger Milk Tea), it's ginger, milk, and tea? I usually buy instant sachets
Dio: Green Tea and Cafe Latte
Fredrik: Barley Tea
Andrew: Mochaccino and Matcha Latte
The music is perfect for the setting so I have to ask: What other lo-fi hip hop artists does the studio listen to, and will the Coffee Talk soundtrack be on iTunes, Spotify etc.?
Andrew: I don't really have specific artists in mind, but apparently there's a Youtube channel called Chillcow and alike to which I listen. Also, I did listen to Jazz music a lot. It gave a lot of influences and inspirations in my song-making, of course. The soundtracks will be sold on Steam and they will also be available on many digital music platforms, such as Spotify, iTunes, etc.
Finally, what do YOU want people to know about Coffee Talk, that they won't get from a trailer?
We hope they enjoy the game :P