Another day, another new arcade game unveiling for IAAPA 2024 – and like Night Heron Entertainment with their Kung Fu Panda VR piece, it is also interestingly coming from a newcomer to the amusement scene. However, whilst that one is virtual reality-based and being made on AH’s home turf, here we have a more traditional video/redemption piece that is a rare original development out of Australia. Read on to find out more about Chef It Up and its developer, MonkeySplash Studios…
Background
‘In our last Newsbytes, we included a brief news blip on this game and its creator, as word had started to spread about them in advance of the official unveiling. For a quick refresher on that, a mysterious new cookery game, Chef It Up, had recently been spotted on test at Dave & Busters’ Orlando location, which Jdevy shared with us on the AH Discord. Thanks to that, Ted noticed the company making it – MonkeySplash Studios – were already confirmed to be attending IAAPA in November.
Since said company had actually made some interesting comments on the Reddit post, Ted then got in touch with them to find out more. As it turned out, they were big fans of what we do at AH, and even tried to contact us before… but for whatever reason, it must’ve either not sent or fell through the online cracks somehow. Nonetheless, they have been more than happy to provide some exclusive details on what they are doing now. First though, a look at the initial focus here – their first game.
Chef It Up
So what exactly is Chef It Up like? As suggested by its name, it is part of a small club of cookery arcade games. There has been a few of these through the years; BurgerTime is the obvious one that most will know, but there is also the little-remembered arcade version of Cooking Mama by UNIS, and Namco have also had a few stabs at the genre (including one also on test just recently). Where Chef It Up differs from all of these, however, is how it is structured between four different gameplay stations.
Up to four players can be in charge of every stage of the cooking process (with their own unique controls to accommodate this): Pantry, Prep, Cook, and Serve. As part of this, 150 ingredients, 100 recipes, and 50 levels across 5 stages are boasted. These stages are centered around five cooks from varying fields, with their own unique specialties and background. Some brief videos of how this plays out can be found on the game’s official website, which has just been opened by MonkeySplash.
During our correspondence with MonkeySplash Studios (more on that below), they were able to confirm that the game is going to be designed carefully by them with both satisfying high score-based gameplay and ticket redemption jackpots in mind – meaning that operators will be given the choice of setting it to either play for fun or redemption modes. However, it is still being designed with a view to function as an enjoyable game on repeat plays when set to the latter. To pull a quote from them on that:
We feel confident (through surveys and the countless conversations we’ve had) that there is a huge sum of money that is left on the table from gamers like us who aren’t well serviced by the redemption-focused arcades of today. Our gut-feel is that in an effort to maximise revenue from the niche audience that is redemption-focused, they’ve missed out on the exponential growth happening in the broader video game industry.
For those who checked out the initial Reddit post mentioned earlier, they had talked a little about this approach there – but it does sound pretty interesting. If you want to know more about their inspirations, keep on reading…
About MonkeySplash Studios
With Chef It Up’s principal developer being a newcomer to the arcade scene, some of you will doubtless be interested in who they are and where they are coming from in the wider scheme of things. Fortunately, they have been very helpful in introducing themselves to us and explaining things…
Hadi Ayoub and Vanessa Min of MonkeySplash Studios
In terms of who they are, MonkeySplash Studios was founded by a husband and wife team – Hadi Ayoub and Vanessa Min (pictured on the right on one of their earlier test showings) – out of Sydney, Australia. As per the basic blurb on the IAAPA page linked earlier, together they aim to “make innovative and unique arcade games and out-of-home entertainment experiences – Focusing on social gaming, we are looking to bring extraordinary new arcade experiences globally”.
On founding the company, they exclusively told us how they did this in large part to “build the type of games we’d want to play at the arcade” – to quote them further on that:
Individually, we always had an affinity for the arcade. Even though many would probably say that we missed the golden era of arcades, it was something we both had fond memories of growing up. So even when we were dating, we’d find ourselves at an arcade every few weeks.
Pretty quickly though we found that we’d often often load up an arcade card and always walk away with a big chunk of money still left on it – there were really only a few games in the arcade that we’d look forward to playing again after we left. So we set out to make a game that we’d want to play. Something that could really hold our interest for more than a couple of swipes.
In terms of their inspirations behind the game itself, there is one big example they have built on:
I think it’s easy to draw parallels between Chef it Up and other games in the restaurant/time management genre on in-home platforms… Obviously the big one that will come to mind is Overcooked which we’re huge fans of and drew a lot of inspiration from – but when you’re physically, frantically moving from one side of the machine to the other to stop your pancakes from burning, as your cook top and high score ambitions go up in smoke… It offers something unique. Something you can’t get at home seated on the couch. Which was one of the design principles we wanted to adhere to. Offering players something they can only get at the arcade.
And regarding what they have behind them on development/design/manufacturing:
Thankfully we have some awesome manufacturing partners with decades of experience and a lot of key people in the industry have been extremely gracious with their time, guidance and advice.
As far as who is involved in the design and development? All total newcomers to the arcade industry. Which offers some value when you’re trying to come at something from a new, fresh perspective. We’re taking on all the learnings we can during testing and will continue to fine tune every detail, gameplay mechanic, user interface, and even hardware up until units start shipping later this year to make sure we have a great first entry.
Lastly, as for distribution and any projected MSRP on the game, they cannot confirm much at present… but:
Chef it Up is available globally! If you’ve got an arcade, we want to get a Chef it Up unit there! We’ll be shipping from late December. Pricing and distribution particulars won’t be announced publicly until IAAPA, but if you’re an operator – don’t wait for us to be jet lagged and sleep deprived at IAAPA, reach out to us now haha.
And there you have it – huge thanks to MonkeySplash for being so helpful in providing all of that information on themselves and Chef It Up, plus Ted for reaching out to them off the back of that Reddit post.
Quick Thoughts
It’s always exciting to have a new company join the arcade fray, especially with something unique like this. Games based around food aren’t always easy to pull off, especially in a fast-paced arcade setting. It was particularly surprising to see its controllers set up the way they are – whether that’s shaped like oven controls or having a bell to ring – you would expect something more traditional, like a joystick or just buttons. This certainly avoids being boring, and I could see players wanting to try out each station at least once, which can drive up earnings while making for a memorable and fun gaming experience. Of course, how they are implemented in the game matters and we’ll have to try it in person to get the feel down.
That aspect of simulating real world controls is one of those factors that can set arcades apart from home gaming – if we as an industry are willing to take a risk on such a thing. That’s where sometimes it takes a fresh face to give it a try though.
For anyone interested in checking them out at IAAPA, you’ll find them at booth #811, which is a 10×10 space right next to the larger Jersey Jack Pinball booth.
What do you think about Chef It Up from what we’ve been able to reveal here? Would you like to see this new arcade-exclusive game at a location soon?
