Animoca Brands is back with yet another unique casual game and this time, with a plating game that caters to food and cooking lovers of all ages. Contrary to typical games revolving around the same themes on food preparation, MasterChef: Dream Plate focuses on the actual plating presentation.
This company has earned a reputation for putting unique twists on each game under its 15-strong app portfolio but MasterChef: Dream Plate is a cut above the rest as far as originality is concerned. Beast Quest Ultimate Heroes and Crazy Defense Heroes are just a couple of the company’s popular games that we covered in the past and if you have played and enjoyed some of Animoca Brands’ games, then you may want to take a peak at what MasterChef: Dream Plate has to offer.
MasterChef: Dream Plate is all about presentation where uniqueness and creativity are the essential traits to make it big. As you start on your journey towards becoming a top food plate designer, you will be engaged not just in actually designing the food plate yourself but also involve yourself in judging the creations of other players.
Various challenges await you and every moment you spend as a master chef plate designer or judge will help you be worthy of the title. If you feel you have a knack for making good food look even better and enjoy layout and photo-editing, then muster up all your creative talents, take a dive into MasterChef: Dream Plate and earn those 5-star ratings!
Even to experienced and veteran cooking game enthusiast, MasterChef: Dream Plate may still seem overwhelming at first, especially since it is the first plating game ever and no previous gaming experience may directly relate to skipping the beginner experience that comes with it. The quick tutorial that walks you through your first plate designing task is very easy to follow and judging others’ creations can be done with a simple tap as well.
All-in-all, MasterChef: Dream Plate is really a relaxing casual game that does not require a lot of time and effort. If you want to be among the top plating experts in no time, then read our MasterChef: Dream Plate beginner’s guide below! We have come up with a bunch of tips and strategies to help you become a top food plate designer fast!
1. Participate In Challenges As Much As You Can
MasterChef: Dream Plate revolves around being exposed to a wide variety of dishes, food combinations, and, of course, plating designs. There is no better exposure than a hands-on participation to showing off your artistic skills than engaging in the game’s various challenges so be sure to take as many of them on as you can.
There are a limited number of challenges in MasterChef: Dream Plate you can join within a day but these challenges should be enough to fill your need to express your food plate design creativity sufficiently. First off, you should view the details of each challenge, which may include limitations as to the food type, an inclusion of a time limit, or even a mystery box challenge. Each challenge type may initially seem like it would requires a different type of preparation, but once you get the hang of what you really need to do, you can perform highly satisfactorily in whatever challenge you take on.
To engage in a challenge, you will need to spend chef tokens (green). You will have a more than enough of it to start off, and you can earn a lot more by levelling up and judging other people’s submitted plate designs. As a beginner, you will naturally have a lot less items to work with and sometimes, you will have to make purchases while doing the designs in a challenge either to satisfy the objectives or make your end product look better. You will need coins and gems to purchase most items although there will be plenty of opportunities to earn them as well.
2. Purchase Only What You Need
As we mentioned in the tip above, there is a very limited option of what you have in terms of menu, plates, toppings, side dishes, patterns, and even camera effects. While it is a fact that being able to choose from among all of the available food plating components can be very enticing to spend your coins and gems on whichever you like, you should exercise patience and save both currencies for the items you really need.
For one, you can access the shop through the basket icon at the bottom of the screen before entering any of the challenges. But instead of actually purchasing, you can look at the numbers at the upper right corner of each item as these indicate how many of each you have at your disposal. While playing a challenge, you basically have the same access to these items as if you were at the shop but instead of seeing price tags on each merchandise, you will be able to use the ones you have at no charge.
As you accomplish more challenges and earn more rewards, you should work with the items you have. If you ran out of something or is in dire need of any other material, that should be the only reason for you to make a purchase. It could happen that you will amass a lot of coins and gems later on but just the same, it is best to always have more than enough available for when you need them in some challenges.
3. Exercise A Lot Of Patience When Finalizing Your Product
You may have the best plate and food combination, along with the most balanced side dishes, toppings, and garnishes to tighten your grasp on the competition but still find out that you lagged behind in points after viewing the score of your entry. If such is the case, chances are that you may have missed to impress the judges with your final product. If you take note of the procedure in food plate preparation, you will identify the photo op as the last step. While arguably the most important part, this is actually a big factor to consider from the perspective of the judges.
Plating in real life involves a lot of complex balancing between protein, carbohydrates, and vegetables and also involves playing with colors, shapes, and sizes that should all stay simple, yet attractive. MasterChef: Dream Plate is a lot simpler and more liberating in that your main concern is actually having a finished product that both satisfies the challenge requirement and appeal to other players. In truth, it is hard to predict what would appeal to players who will judge your masterpiece. On the other hand, what is easy to identify are some key features that most people will likely find less appealing than the competing plate.
As you head towards the last stage of any food plate preparation challenge, take some time to tinker with the photo adjustments and effects before actually taking a photo. To start off, remember that you can zoom in and out by pinching your fingers on the screen and spreading them accordingly. This can highlight or give focus to your masterpiece better. Another point to consider is centering the shot on your main dish or both dishes. It does not have to be perfect on your first try but at the very least should not cut a huge chunk off your product.
Take note that while some challenges pour on additional pressure by setting a time limit within which you must complete your food plate, 5 minutes is actually more than enough time to spend at least a full minute to make a few adjustments before taking a picture and submitting your entry.
4. Keep Voting Whenever Possible
One cool feature that comes with food preparation is when you get to act as a judge to choose between to contending players, which of their finished plate design is the better. You can easily access the items for judging by clicking on the “thumbs up” icon at the bottom of the screen. You will choose one of two pictures by tapping on them and you will judge in sets of 5. After completing the activity, you will be rewarded with 2 chef coins and you can immediately proceed to judge another set of entries.
This is actually an activity that you can accomplish in less than a minute if you want to but for the love of the game, you should spend some time to really assess each set of 2 pictures you see before you cast your vote. The hard part of this task is actually seeing pictures that are almost identical. Some, however, make it easy for the judges with out of focus shots, too much zoom, or even buried beneath a ton of special effects. In any case, judging entries can be a lot of fun and will also be an avenue for you to learn something new.
5. Get More Presentation Ideas From Other Players
Engaging in as many challenges as you can to be exposed more to various food combinations and plate designs can help expand your knowledge about food plating as well as evoke hidden creative juices that you may not know exists within you. It can still be limited, though, especially considering the number of challenges you can partake in per day. To further boost your experience and give you more ideas on how you can improve your art, always be ready to take note of other players’ masterpieces as you judge their work.
Beyond the chef coins you can earn from the judging activities, every picture you see within it can give you some ideas on how improve on your work. Even if there are scenarios when you feel that your entries are better than some of the shots you judge, you can at least still verify what works and what does not based on that entry’s rating.
Considering everything, you can learn new designs as well as what not to do based on the actual pictures themselves, and you can also have a good idea of how entries are judged based on the score or average rating of both entries. Both of these considerations are, of course, not in the absolute but at the very least helpful to you if you want continuous improvement on your food plating skills.
6. Remember To Claim Level Up Rewards
Every challenge you take part in earns you experience points as a chef. As you reach new levels, you earn coins, chef tokens, gems, and unique stickers that you can use to customize your avatar. Be sure to claim it as soon as you can via the chef hat icon at the lower right corner of the screen.
While you visit this page, you can also see your stats in the game, invite friends for more free stickers, customize your avatar, and see your inventory. Taking note of your current stats might be something you need to do especially if you are particular with maintaining a certain level of rating as basis for your skill progression.
7. Take Advantage Of Ad Boosts
Every once in a while, and after each successful challenge, you will be presented with an opportunity to earn or even double some rewards. These may come in the form of coins, gems, chef tokens, or even materials that you need to stay competitive. These can be earned after playing a 15 to 30-second video ad.
For one, there are no intrusive ads in MasterChef: Dream Plate and each one will only play when you agree to receive a reward. With the limits set on challenges that puts a cap to your daily earnings, subscribing to ad boosts actually hasten the speed at which you can earn more resources. As the materials you use for each challenge you join is consumed, you will never run out of needs to ceaselessly amass resources. If you want to stay competitive and can afford a few seconds of idle time to play a few ads, then it is a recommended activity.
There you have it! This wraps up our beginner’s guide for MasterChef: Dream Plate. We certainly hope you picked up a few good points of knowledge that you can apply to the next challenges you will participate in. If you have played the game extensively enough to discover your very own tips and strategies outside of what we have covered, be sure to share them with us!