The Corner Cafe

The Corner Café

Keep the warmest corner of the neighborhood open for one more year.

The story

Three years ago the neighborhood’s coffee master, Sami Usta, didn’t lift his shutters one morning, and nobody knew where he went. The corner shop stood empty. The paper in its window yellowed, but its sign stayed up.

Then someone rented it: you. The lease is for a single year. The key is under the doormat, and the whole neighborhood is watching.

Right across the street, a chain called Coffee King is opening a branch. Its manager, Kaan, used to be Sami’s apprentice. An old man who keeps stopping by the door looks at your cezve as if he knows exactly how it should be held. By the end of the year, who gets this corner won’t be decided by your till, but by the people who walk through your door.

Make every drink by hand

• Grind the beans, lock the portafilter, and pull the shot. Keep the needle in the green: too little is watery, too much is bitter.
• Steam the milk without burning it, then pour milk and foam in the right proportions.
• Syrups, chocolate, ice, cream, cinnamon, and a blender for frappés.
• Turkish coffee in a cezve on hot sand: take it off before it boils over.
• 21 recipes, from espresso to salep. They unlock as the days go by or from the shop, and some are on the menu only in season.

Listen to the order

Customers ask in their own words: the size, the shots, the milk, the foam, “the usual”, sometimes only a riddle. Didn’t catch it? Ask again, but their patience wears thin. Serve it well and they pay, tip and come back.

Get to know the neighborhood

• 18 customers, eight of them regulars: a retired teacher, a young musician in headphones, a student cramming for an exam, a construction foreman, a doctor just off a shift, a motorbike courier, and more.
• Customers who leave happy first tell you their names, then their usual order. Your neighborhood book remembers it all for you.
• The regulars’ small stories unfold through the year, and your choices shape how they end.
• At the street festival you face Kaan in a coffee contest: the same drink, a jury of three.
• At year’s end you get one of three endings, depending on your bond with the neighborhood.

Run the shop

• A morning newspaper with the day’s headline, the weather, and what will sell.
• Four seasons with rain, heat waves and snow, all of which change what people want to drink.
• Stock and a wholesaler, daily rent; a shop full of machines, decor and new recipes; four renovations.
• Special days: a power cut, a surprise inspection, exam morning, the first snow, the last evening of the year.
• Impatient queues, cold milk, over-ground coffee… small mistakes don’t go unnoticed.

Details

• One year is 28 in-game days (about three hours), followed by an endless mode.
• A guided first day, three save slots, and you can pause any time.
• 9 languages: English, Türkçe, Deutsch, Español, Français, Português (Brasil), Русский, 日本語, 简体中文.
• Everything on screen is drawn by code in a hand-drawn style, and every sound is synthesized as you play.

A small note from the developer

The Corner Café is a tiny shop run by a tiny team, and every cup you order keeps the lights on.

Our dream is to bring the café to Steam. Opening a page there costs $100, so we’ve made a simple promise: once the game earns $100 here on itch.io, the Steam version is the first thing we’ll spend it on. If you enjoyed your time behind the counter, any support, a rating, or simply telling a friend brings that day closer.

We also know the shop isn’t spotless yet. If you run into a bug, a confusing moment, a clumsy translation, or something you just wish were there, please tell us in the comments. We read every one, and we’ll do our best to fix things quickly.

Thank you for stopping by. Your usual will be waiting. ☕

Visit our website: https://www.plusconegames.com/