Themes!

I've already come up with a theme for my tabletop game, and I'm fairly confident it will be a successful idea that will work with gameplay. However, I'm fully aware that I might have to change my idea and I'm absolutely willing to take advice that I think will better my game, even if that means totally changing the idea. With that being said, I'm really digging the idea of making the game based on sushi making shiba inu's, thus naming the game "Sushi Inu"- or something like a play on words regarding sushi and shibas! I like the idea of it being cute and fun, so if I do wind up changing my idea at all, I'd like to fit the cute theme into it, somehow.

I also am toying with the idea of the game teaching you basic japanese alongside the gameplay, but that's something I will definitely have to research more. Basic katakana (or is it hiragana?) shouldn't be too hard to implement if my game is based on visuals, and it would also add an element of skill/knowledge.

If I had to think of a catch phrase of sorts, it would have to be:

Will you be the master sushi chef?

I also want to sort of add in the idea of the shiba theme into that, but in case I don't stick with that idea, keeping it as just "sushi chef" will be good for now.

Theme of my game:

As I mentioned, the theme would be based around sushi, and making sushi. There would be lots of elements regarding sushi, like ingredients and things you use to prepare/eat them. The shiba inu's tie into the sushi element because they are dogs that are native to Japan. They are commonly represented in illustrations on food items and toys for children, so I thought they would be cute as a sort of "mascot". I didnt want to go with the typical "cat and fish" theme because that was too cliche and cats aren't necessarily "japanese native" animals. Also, if I decide to implement the basic learning of Japanese, that would also tie in the theme quite a bit.

Setting of game:

Obviously the game would be Japanese based, so the setting would be Japan. Since it's not a story driven game, there isn't a specific setting that it would need to take place, but it would make sense to think that the sushi restaurant was run somewhere in a city in Japan. It would have to be modern, or even alternate universe/modern society because honestly, dogs can't make sushi.. they don't even have thumbs!

Art Style and colors:

So I really like the softer variations of the warm color palette- reds and browns being the main colors (thinking brown for the game board color), with pops of the other three colors in there. Nothing too vibrant! (Also white, but I didn't feel the need to add that into the palette above).

I also really love the lintless vector art style of some of these sushi. I specifically searched "Sushi vector art" and these came up- however, I wouldn't want to create something that would look like a bunch of icons pasted onto a card. My inspiration for searching this style was actually after the game Katamari Damacy- a game that has a super distinct style, and is something I'm reminded of a lot when I think about cute Japanese things.