Welcome to the heart of our boba tea adventure! In this post, we'll dive deep into the technical underpinnings of Boba for Bober, our delightful bubble tea shop simulator. From core systems to user experience enhancements, we'll explore the inner workings of our game and the design decisions that make it tick.

Core Systems

We leveraged Unity's ScriptableObject system to organize our data in a way that allows for super easy addition and customization. We have ScriptableObjects for drink ingredients, recipes and customers. This modular design helped us easily implement new flavors, customer quirks, and recipes on the fly without rewriting a single line of code.

Technical Implementation Details

• Robust singleton managers that make it easy to access variables
• Event-driven magic powering spontaneous customer arrivals and dynamic order management
• Smart, LINQ-fueled recipe validation ensuring every boba blend is spot on
• Sleek and adjustable code-based animations that deliver buttery-smooth transitions
• 🎨 A composite sprite system that crafts drink visuals

User Experience Enhancements

1. Tooltip system with animations
2. Ingredient slot highlighting to enhance interactivity
3. Real-time drink composition visualization to thrill your senses

Non-Technical Explanation

Imagine a digital recipe book bursting into life! As the owner of a bustling boba tea haven, you'll serve up unique drinks to offbeat, lovable customers. Our system is like playing with a box of LEGO—effortlessly snapping together new ingredients, unique customers, and inventive recipes.

Code Challenge Spotlight

One of our challenges was getting the ice just right. When mixed with liquid ingredients (tea, matcha, or milk), the ice shifts layers to keep every drink picture-perfect. Our clever sprite management system dynamically detects these combos and adjusts the layers on the fly. Check out this nifty trick from RecipeManager:

if (ingredientIndex == 12) // (The ice ingredient)
{
  if (ingredients.Contains(specialIngredient)) {
    // show alternative ice layer
  } else {
    // show normal ice layer
  }
}

This challenge may seem small, but it demanded a delicate balance of design and functionality to keep our visuals as smooth as our drinks.

Expandability

Our ScriptableObject-powered design ensures that adding new content is as fun and effortless as creating new recipes:

1. Craft new ingredient assets loaded with eye-catching sprites and properties—no coding needed!
2. Design unique customer types with their own tastes and quirks
3. Mix and match ingredients to create endless new recipe combinations

And the best part? You can do it all without ever touching a line of code!

Performance Considerations

• Sprite rendering powered by object pooling keeps tooltips fast and responsive
• Efficient customer spawning combined with smooth fade-in animations builds an immersive atmosphere
• Intelligent coroutine management guarantees buttery-smooth animations without any performance hiccups