*Cooking games have been a staple of many game libraries for many years. Combining simulation, strategy and business management, a great cooking game can be a delight, a challenge and a flashback to a million different summer jobs. One such game is **[Cook Serve Delicious! 2!!](https://kon.gg/2XAmIBo)**, an IndieMEGABOOTH darling and a game that has charmed many players since it was first released.* [](https://kon.gg/2XAmIBo) *We had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with David Galindo from Vertigo Gaming about his experience with **CSD2**, bad coffee shop jobs and what makes burritos so compelling.* **Tell us about your Development team. Are you an independent developer?** I’ve been making games commercially for around eight years now, but I’ve been making games since junior high. I’ve always had a love and passion for it. I am an indie dev that does all the game design and programming for my games, and I use contract artists for the music, art, sounds, and the majority of the writing. I even contract out programmers when it gets a little bit too difficult for me. I use the same artists on multiple projects and they’re just great people all around.  **Prior to designing games, were you a game enthusiast? ** Absolutely! It started with the NES for me and because my parents didn’t like me playing games. I never got any game related stuff for birthdays or Christmas so I had to buy used consoles at the pawn shop with my saved money, and as a result I was a generation behind up until the Gamecube.  **What are your favorite games or influences? This can be anything from classic console titles to RPG games or short stories. ** The biggest influence for me is *Ore No Ryouri*, a Japanese cooking game that was so much fun that I made two fan games before making *Cook, Serve, Delicious!* I found the demo on a Playstation Underground disk and became obsessed with it.  **Every time I’ve played *CSD2*, the memories of many bad summer jobs at food service establishments come rushing back to me. Was *CSD2* based off real-life experience? ** It was, mainly from my time as a barista for several years. I hated my job but I got a huge amount of ideas from it- rush hours, the idea of menu rot, customers always looking depressed, and so on.  **How did you come up with the idea for your game? ** It was mainly a result of playing so much *Ore No Ryouri* that I wanted to make my own take on it. The concept of taking orders from a wall on the left was directly inspired by *ONR*, but the majority of the game was me figuring out how to expand this concept into a full game. **Do you get inspired by playing games, video or otherwise?** I do, so many really! I’m currently on a board game kick and I just have a journal of notes of cool things I’ve seen and some fusions that I think could be really interesting.  ***CSD2* has over 200 menu items, a lot of which have multiple varieties inside. How did you determine what food options to add to the game? ** It was mainly a focus of adding as much as humanly possible. I think while I nailed the sheer amount of food I wanted, I didn’t nail the foreign dishes outside of the US as much as I would have liked. Definitely something I’d like to tackle in a distant update or even a sequel, who knows!  **The restaurant descriptions are pretty hilarious. How did you come up with the idea for the world that CSD exists in? ** I was writing for the entire game but eventually I had so much programming work I had to hire two writers who had helped me previously on *CSD1*. They eventually wrote something like 90% of the game and I’m not sure who had the idea of pushing this lore into a future setting but once we thought of it we wanted to create this world that all makes sense but is happening behind the scenes unbeknownst to the player. **Which of the chef-for-hire spots do you feel is the most fun to play through? ** A lot of people love Chilly Bowl, which is surprising to me. I like Firekickers myself, the setting and menu variety is great, and my least favorite is Contrast Coffee, as it reminds me of my old job way too much (and is easily one of the hardest spots in the game).  **What sort of experience do you want your players to have? ** If you want a big challenge, go for it! If you want to zone out and chill, Zen mode is a nice way to do that. I aimed to have a lot of different experiences that caters to whatever you’re in the mood for really.  **What is your favorite part of this game? ** Honestly, the food descriptions are my favorite. The lore in this game demands a sequel that takes it even further. **Speaking of sequels, what are your next plans? Will there be more DLCs in *CSD2*? ** I do have some plans for sure! I’ll have some announcements this year regarding new stuff from me. Whether that’s DLC, or an entirely new game that’s not CSD related, well you’ll have to wait and see. :)  **What sort of programming resources did you use? ** I am mostly self-taught, and I’ve spent a lot of time reading documentation. I’ve used Game Maker since junior high, way back in the Game Maker 3 days. It really slowly introduced me into the idea of code, in a way I could understand. I highly recommend it for anyone just starting out. *CSD2* was mostly developed using a mix of Game Maker and Photoshop with a little Audacity thrown in. :D **What made you want to post the game on Kartridge? ** I was introduced to it by the IndieMEGABOOTH and it seemed like such a neat platform, I’m super glad to be a part of it! **How has the experience gone so far? ** Very smooth! I like how straightforward it was to set up everything.  **Could you recommend one other game on Kartridge from another developer?** *N++* is such a perfect fusion of style, simplicity, and amazing music. I wish it had way more success than it got, but the competition for difficult platforming is so much higher than when the original *N+* came out.  **What would be on the menu for your dream restaurant? ** Definitely a burger with a fried egg, lettuce, bacon, cheese and mayo. Ooh baby I’m getting hungry just thinking of it.  **Do we really need that many options for burritos? ** Honestly I’d add even more if I could. **Flautas… yay or nay? ** Heck yeah! They’re perfect with a queso or salsa dip! [CSD2 is available on Kartridge](https://kon.gg/2XAmIBo) for $12.99. You can find David on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/chubigans) and follow Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! on [Discord](https://discordapp.com/invite/cookservedelicious) and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/CookServeDelicious/).