Visual Novel / Crown Delights Deli

From left to right: Aaron, Gian, Gen, Tristan, Mr. Javier, Sofia, Maverick, and Micah^note Not pictured: Marco, Maya, Piper, "Karen", and Jules

Crown Delights Deli is a Freeware Visual Novel created and published by baconeggandcheese as a BFA thesis game at the NYU Game Center. It was released on February 16, 2022 for Steam.

You play as Jules, a Black teen who works part-time as a cashier at Crown Delights, a bodega in Brooklyn, NY, at their mother's advice. As they work over the summer, they meet a diverse cast of customers and code-switch between standard English, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), and Spanish to talk to them. The language Jules uses influences their customers' relations with them, and at the end of each day, Jules reports to their boss, Mr. Javier, how well they did at the job. Can they maintain the bodega's 5-star rating by the end of summer?

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This game has the following tropes:

• Ambiguous Gender: Jules' face is never shown and their name is short for "Julian" instead of "Julius" or "Julia". They're hardly referred to with pronouns other than Tristan using "they/them" for them once.
• Bilingual Dialogue: The premise of the game. You work in a bodega in Brooklyn and chat with customers in standard English, AAVE, and Spanish, and the way you switch between languages influences your patrons and impacts your store's reputation.
• But Thou Must!: Subverted. While most of your choices are just the same thing but said in three different languages, how you use code-switching with your customers will influence how they interact with you and your shop, which impacts the bodega's reputation.
• Community-Threatening Construction: On your last day of your summer job at Mr. Javier's, a new supermarket is built to replace one of the rival bodegas. Some of your customers talk about how the community built around bodegas, including yours, is threatened by the supermarket's establishment.
• Company Cameo: The baconeggandcheese logo is one of the posters at the bodega's front.
• Hidden Depths: Jules and Mr. Javier are surprised to discover that Maverick, the serious construction worker, likes cracking jokes whenever he visits the bodega.
• Hipster: Micah is a hipster with the typical artisan look who becomes one of your regulars at the bodega. He starts out asking you for a kombucha and some Spanish lessons, to your confusion, but with the right choices, you eventually warm up to him.
• If I Had a Nickel...:
  • Happens at the end of Jules' summer job during their discussion with Mr. Javier about Maverick.
    Jules: If I had a dollar for every time he called me punk...
    Mr. Javier: Ha! You'd be well off with that kind of money.
  • Towards the end of the final conversation, Mr. Javier has this to say about Jules wondering about the past and how things would turn out differently:
    Mr. Javier: If I had a nickel for every time I wished for a do-over, I'd be swimming in dough!
• In-Series Nickname: Mr. Javier tells Jules on their first day of work that they can call him "Javi", while Maverick is sometimes called "Mave".
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: At the end of the game, Jules wonders about the past and how things would've turned out differently. Mr. Javier wonders the same and suggests a do-over, prompting you to start the game over if you say yes.
• Obnoxious Entitled Housewife: One of Jules' customers is an obnoxious, middle-aged white woman with a blonde bob who's always on her phone and is allegedly named Karen according to them. She first enters their bodega asking for some sunscreen, but even if they remind her that there's none available, she storms out and calls their shop "dingy". She even comes back the second time to insult the bodega after the new supermarket is built.
• The Place: Crown Delights Deli is the bodega where Jules works a summer part-time job at as a cashier.
• Practically Different Generations: Two of Jules' first customers are Sofia and her little brother Marco. Jules initially mistakes the former for the latter's mother because Sofia's "not that much older than [Jules]" (who's 15) while Marco's a little kid.
• Queer Colors: Maya and her partner Piper visit your bodega on Pride Day. Maya wears a tank top with the Progress Pride flag while Piper wears a jacket with the pansexual colors and a genderfluid flag pin.
• Thanking the Viewer: The credits thanks "players like YOU!" for playing the game.
• You Can Say That Again: Happens at the end of the game after Jules discusses their experience with Micah with Mr. Javier.
  Mr. Javier: If only everyone could be like Micah. Then our job would be a breeze!
  Jules: You can say that again.
  Mr. Javier: If only everyone could be like Micah. Then our job would be a breeze! ...What? You said to say it again so I did!

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