I was tinkering more with spriting and brainstorming, and, here are a few things
I do like the ridicolous looks of that face monster barkeep with a funny moustache, but I wonder about if the standard brown-ish hair color not blends too much in with the skin of the face monster?
So, I made some hair-recolored versions
View attachment 283132 View attachment 283133 View attachment 283134
(the earlier brown, and a blonde and a black-hair variant. the black hair might looks better, but dunno... or is the brown better?)
Then, thinking more about the waiter (not to be confused with this face monster barkeep, but the NPC idea to sell food like normally.
This was the previous idea sprite
View attachment 283135 She looks kind of cute, but I just feel she's a bit plain... of course, with a funny personality added, she could be quite funny too.
But I just thought, maybe instead of this one, maybe a trap waiter would be funnier. (of course, even if she won't be an actual town NPC, I will likely add her as a stationary civilian, because she could fit some builds anyway)
and then I was tinkering with spriting...
(Side note, I didn't watched Blend S yet, so I don't know the actual character, I just went ahead fooling around with spriting. I should watch that anime too, it's probably fun. But, so, I heard there is a trap waiter in it, and tried to sprite something along the line of that character's looks. but then I feel it might be too similar...? that might be bad. or would that be actually good? or maybe a recolor could make it better?
Anyway... so...
View attachment 283136 (Again, I didn't seen the anime yet, so I have no idea about Hideri's personality or anything, I just seen pics and thought he looks really cute. XD I definitelly will watch that before deciding in anything referencing something. there are characters too who might be very different from what you would assume based on their looks first... for instence, Chinatsu from YuruYuri...
But if I made this sprite, might as well put it here now, to hear others' opinion on it XD
Then, I tried to tinker with the restaurant voucher idea
View attachment 283137
Not sure about this either, but how this looks like?
So, the idea is, the waiter would have a shop that uses special currency, restaurant vouchers.
Some monsters might would have a small chance to drop these. (they stack.) some food like fruits would cost 1 voucher. and also, - if he sells foodstuff that in normally rather easy to aquire, like cooked fish.
fancier dishes would cost more.
also, things appear in his shop with more bosses down, pre-EoC, he likely only would sell very basic things, but later more stuff becomes available. so, things like golden delight would appear in the shop much later, and would be expensive too, like 10 vouchers or something.
the shop also should maybe rotate based on moon phases, so all foodstuff can fit in, and the menu always looks a bit different.
The Crimson Kitchen's barkeep (if we can get that to work) would sell his wares similarly for these vouchers.
(just carry them around in your piggy bank, and it won't be much of a problem, I think)
I'm also wondering about some special things in the waiter's shop or something, like "the chef's suggestion" or "mysterious bento box" or something, that is a grab-bag, and basically the restaurant equivalent of gambling. it might would cost like 5 vouchers - so, like, being a middle-ground between cheap and expensive dishes, it contains one random food, in the wide range between the rather lame cooked fish, and the splendid golden delight.
I think that could be a funny thing to gamble with.