Live from Nivalis Nights: A nightly photo journal of my cyberpunk noodle bar
An extremely visual evolution of my neon-drenched noodle joint.
I love all kinds of life sims: farm sims, community sims, dollhouses, and shop sims. My favourite part, no matter the subgenre, is always the decorating. Nivalis Nights is a "slice-of-life sim" in a cyberpunk city where I can build relationships, grow ingredients, play minigames, and go fishing. But I know myself. I'm going to be all in on growing and decorating my properties. I'll get into broader opinions in my full review (after I've played enough) but follow along here with a screenshot-fueled evolution of my Ramen Noir.
Day 1: Monday
Welcome to Ramen Noir, the noodle bar gifted to me by Thaddeus Carminus (along with two tables, four chairs, the employment contract for one cook named Banor, and a 50,000 Lims debt) for mysterious reasons. My first act as owner is to place that furniture and start cooking up chicken noodle soup. I only spend about 60 seconds waffling over table placement: Near the main walkway where passerby can ogle the noodles. Wait, maybe I want them over by that railing so customers get a meal with a view!
Day 2: Tuesday
Things Ramen Noir has acquired:
- A recipe for accordion potatoes
- A server named Pris Morton (jumpscare, I did not name her)
- Three bar stools
- A drink machine (for making beer, apparently)
- A little cleaning robot on wheels called Cleaner X1A who has the same shift length preferences as the humans, solidarity!
I only changed my mind about where to place the bar stools once. Please admire my restraint.
Day 3: Boat not pictured
Today I had so many new quests tossed at me, including boat ownership, that I barely stumbled back to Ramen Noir before curfew. I did hire a restaurant manager so I can do less sprinting back and forth from the market and focus on important decor purchases. I moved my drink maker over to the far corner of the bar where two poles are giving it a hug.
Day 4: Asset management
My quest log wants me to add decorations and a plant to Ramen Noir but I don't know where to buy those. What I do know is how to pick up and take the plant and portrait of a dog from my own apartment and then add those to the noodle bar. That's smart asset management, folks. I did find a place to buy this cool triangle neon light fixture though.
Day 5: Cutting it close
Okay, so I had to sell the cool triangle light. First thing in the morning my Ramen Noir manager restocked ingredients for the day which took my cash balance down to one single Lim. So then I got a notification that my server and cook didn't get paid, which probably isn't good. I ran over to the bar, grabbed my house plant and the triangle light, and sold them at the furniture store and bought three more bar stools instead. Then I spent the lunch rush at Ramen Noir making dishes and serving customers myself to turn around some cash fast.
I was too scared to immediately spend that money on re-buying my cool light. Soon I will buy many lights.
Day 6: Modest expansion
A CorpSec officer has dropped by to suggest (read: demand) that I expand by buying new businesses. I've got my eye on this sake bar over in the Central Canyon district but I need 1,400 Lims to buy it which means Ramen Noir needs to start procuding more cash. So I ran out to buy more chairs and recruit a second waiter—a robot waiter with a cheap wage to help my girl Pris through lunch shift. I also added Fennel Soup with Bacon to the menu because it's got a high "exclusivity" rating.
Look at those butts in seats. Surely I'm on my way to record profits!
By the end of the day, Ramen Noir made a -24.95 Lims profit, oops. Maybe I was overzealous on staffing.
Day 7: Seed capital
Ramen Noir made a 236.75 Lims profit today. More importantly, I inherited Thaddeus's greenhouse today. Someone gave me a couple free onion seeds so I might as well be in a farm sim now!
Day 8: Behold, onions!
I grew onions, great! I can't exactly prop up my entire operation with 10 onions, but they returned one onion seed too, so that's a start. I also found the gacha machines in the Central Canyon district that let you buy random seeds on the cheap. My first one was an onion, better keep pulling for more. Also in the Canyon district: lots of trash cans to loot for more seeds and ocasional ingredients I can sell or use. Time to make bacon. Because I'm going to sell the raw bacon I found in one of those cans.
Day 9: Owner on the floor
I spent the entire day at Ramen Noir taking orders, making food, and clearing plates. I know that makes me one of those owners everyone hates for coming in and wanting to be all "hands on" while actually getting underfoot. But look, we made a much bigger profit with me sprinting to serve at twice the speed my server Pris Morton moves. I'm Morton 2x. Also, the noodle bar made a +309.61 Lims profit for the day so I am vindicated.
My reward? Triangle light is back! I'm going to make it my whole aesthetic once I can afford to buy five of them at once. They cost like 190 Lims so that might be a minute.
Day 10-11: Pardon our mess
Banor says I need to get a second fridge to store Ramen Noir's ingredients and I know what that means: permission to completely gut and redesign the kitchen!
As far as I can tell, furniture is totally free placement without an option to snap to a grid (but things like counters do snap together). I usually like the freedom but when certain structural walls in my shop can't be changed I do wish I could snap to them instead of fiddling to fit a counter in. Time also ticks by while I'm busy moving fixtures around which is a bit stressful for my indecisive self!
Anyhow, here's some progress pics. I don't think I've found the best use of space here, but the sink in front to drop dirty dishes faster and food processor facing out the kitchen window does feel better.
Day 12-13: Unconventional acquisitions
I have discovered the art of theft! After the CorpSec curfew each night you can wander into the unattended restaurants of your competition and pilfer their kitchen equipment or tables. The trick is, you don't put it into your inventory. You just walk it back to your own restaurant while in furniture placement mode, dodging those security lasers on the street. It's a bit goofy but it has netted me uh... one new bar stool. The new table and box stools I bought honorably at the store. So I have discovered but not mastered the theft thing.
Not for nothing, I completed a shady business deal quest with a guy named Edison and walked way with some serious Lims in my pocket. Thus the new table investment.
