BreakaBull
The cozy VR game about making tea
Ever heard the phrase “bull in a china shop?” These five words were the inspiration behind BreakaBull, a VR game where you play as a bull running a tea shop.
Why BreakaBull?
BreakaBull is a cozy game, but it also has a unique level of difficulty to it. Since you play as a bull, you have to do everything with your hooves. This can range from making tea and serving customers to sweeping and doing soothing chores around the tea shop. Seems simple enough, right? But the difficulty lies with the hooves— without the luxury of opposable thumbs, every task requires careful consideration and grace. Gameplay is focused on navigating a world that isn’t built for you, but without any stressful stakes. Do your best to appease the clientele— or don’t. We won’t tell.
Every day, customers will come into the tea shop. They’re unique, too— each customer has their own backstory and will talk to you about their day, their past, their hopes and dreams… every one of them is their own person animal.
My Contributions
I was onboarded onto the team halfway through development. My main job was to work as the narrative programmer, designing and implementing the systems that brought our characters to life. I mainly focused on new systems for dialogue, friendship, and the bagged tea tutorial. However, I was also in charge of adding smaller details related to characters, such as order preferences and spawning conditions.
Order Preferences
1int rand = UnityEngine.Random.Range(0, 3)
2if (rand == 0)
3{
4 mOrder.type = TeaTypes.BlackTea;
5}
6else if (rand == 1)
7{
8 mOrder.type = TeaTypes.GreenTea;
9}
10else { mOrder.type = TeaTypes.HibiscusTea; }
11
12mOrder.temp = TeaTemp.Hot;
13mOrder.size = TeaSize.Small;
Tea Orders
The code above was from the initial addition of order preferences to the game. There were only three possible options: black tea, green tea, or hibiscus tea. Since then, we've added 5 new types of tea!
Narrative
In addition to being our designated narrative programmer, I also contributed to some of BreakaBull’s story writing as well! I mainly worked on writing the Salamander, the Deer, and the Tortoise.
The Salamander
When designing the Salamander’s backstory, I really wanted to have him seem very carefree and silly. Sammy the salamander’s tea order is always 100% random, making them the only customer to not have any specific preference when ordering. This means he can end up with some truly horrific orders, but his laid-back nature allows him to laugh it off and drink it anyway. Despite Sammy being a silly, lighthearted character on the outside, they have a lot of feelings. When I started writing his story, I knew I wanted his main arc to focus on themes of community and belonging, and his story pieced itself together from there.
Names
Picking names for our characters took some time— Sammy could've ended up as Finn, Monty, or Flavio instead!
The Deer
The Deer was one of the original four customers, created before I was onboarded onto the team. He was described as “creepy” and “unsettling,” so I took that and rolled with it. Duncan the deer ended up becoming a robotic, yet lovable character. When you first encounter him, he’s quiet, and talking with him can feel a bit awkward. After getting to know him, however, he likes to talk about his interests and what’s going on in his life.
The Tortoise
Edith the tortoise was easy to characterize— she’s an old lady who wants to talk about her grandchildren. Her character came together quickly from there, and soon enough, Edith had a whole family. She loves to tell the player all about her grandbabies and what they’ve been up to. Edith the tortoise loves a cozy, decorated store, and will frequently compliment the player on their decor as well!
BreakaBull can be found on Steam and itch.io!
Steam- https://store.steampowered.com/app/4453020/BreakaBull/