Running your businesses in Nivalis Nights
Your first business in Nivalis Nights is a noodle bar called Ramen Noir, handed to you by its retiring owner. From there the studio describes a climb to restaurants, ramen bars and nightclubs, with more than one venue across several districts.
Where it starts: Ramen Noir
The old owner hands it over in one line: “You’re taking over my old noodle bar. Ramen Noir.”
That owner is Thaddeus, whose surname appears as both Carmunis and Carminus. Both spellings refer to the same man. The bar sits in Meridian Market, in the heart of the city, and comes with an employee, Banor. Both have entries on the characters page.
What you handle each day
The daily jobs, in the order a shift tends to need them:
- Stock the kitchen. Buy ingredients from vendors around the city, or bring in your own catch and harvest. Loyalty pays: “buying more often from certain vendors might get you better prices”.
- Set the menu. Each dish needs a recipe, ingredients and the right equipment. The food page has the dish categories and the price breakdown on the vendor screen.
- Staff it. Hire and manage staff and set their shifts. An early build had tabs for finances, inventory and menu, plus hiring, firing and a rota.
- Lay out the room. Arrange the dining area and decorate it so the venue feels welcoming.
- Watch the reviews. The studio puts it as “make sure customers are happy and leave good reviews”.
- Upgrade and expand. Improve the venue, buy further restaurants or venues, and move into new districts.
Hiring a Manager
“You’ll be able to hire managers when your venue reaches level 3”, the studio wrote, and a Manager can take on three kinds of work: restocking ingredients across your locations, raising staff efficiency and morale, and collecting and using goods from your greenhouse. They draw a salary, so the choice is time against money.
The studio frames the Manager as the thing that frees your day for the story, since the city’s quests run alongside the business. How venue levels are earned and what a Manager costs are not known yet.
Which kinds of venue
You start small and work up. The studio head put it as “You start with a single noodle stand and expand to restaurants, bars and nightclubs”. The venue types named so far:
- Noodle stands
- Hole-in-the-wall bars
- Ramen bars
- Restaurants
- Bars
- Nightclubs
There is no full list yet of venue types, or of which district sells which.
Side income: designing other people’s homes
Interior design is a paid job too. The studio lists “decorating spaces for clients who are willing to pay for it” among the side activities. The clients are people you meet in the street, and you furnish to their taste and requirements rather than your own. Furniture comes from the same district vendors you use for your own place; see apartments and houses.
Greenhouse to kitchen
Crops from a rented greenhouse can be sold or sent to your own restaurants, and a Manager can collect them for you. The greenhouse page covers what grows and how the conditions work.
Sabotage under curfew
One feature cuts the other way:
Avoid security systems during curfew and commit sabotage to your competitors. But beware! What happens to them, can happen to you as well.
ION LANDS
The curfew hours, what sabotage involves and what happens if you are caught are all still unannounced.