The Hidden Value of Subtle Design

When discussing the success of a game, we often focus on large features or events. These elements are typically easy to measure with tangible results. We analyze their impact through metrics such as player retention, onboarding success, or spikes in monetization. While these aspects are important, they don’t tell the full story. Subtle design elements can shape the player experience just as significantly, even though their effects are harder to quantify. From encouraging messages to clever animations, these small touches enhance gameplay in ways that keep players engaged. The Power of Encouraging Words Some games use text strategically to communicate with players during key moments. These messages can be motivational, celebratory, or even subtly instructional, adding emotional depth to the experience. For example, Toon Blast encourages players by displaying a message after completing a challenging level. If the player beats […]

Ahmetcan Demirel March 3

Highlights

Why Some Puzzle Games are More Addicting?

The puzzle genre is a powerhouse in mobile gaming, generating over $7 billion annually in in-app purchases (IAP). Despite this immense market, more than half of the revenue comes from a single subgenre: Match-3. Established giants dominate not only Match-3 but also other popular subgenres like Merge and Blast, making it incredibly difficult for new entrants to gain traction. In such a highly competitive space, innovation is the key to creating new opportunities, and we've seen that with the rise of Physical Match and Tile Match games. Titles like Match Factory, Triple Match 3D, and Tile Busters have successfully carved out space by introducing fresh mechanics to the puzzle category. “Pair” games mainly consisting of Physical Match and Tile Match titles didn’t take long to become the third largest puzzle subgenre. As the puzzle market evolves, a new wave of […]

Ahmetcan Demirel February 5

Journal

The Sweet Art of Feature Adaptation

In the ever-evolving landscape of the gaming industry, it's no secret that games often draw inspiration from one another. This cross-pollination of ideas isn't confined to a single genre or platform; it's a universal phenomenon that drives innovation continuously. Whether it's a unique gameplay mechanic from an indie title or a groundbreaking event in one of the biggest franchises, developers consistently look to each other to spark creativity and fuel progress. When a new feature or event makes waves in a particular game, it's only natural for others within the same genre to take notice. After all, if something resonates with players, why not explore its potential in a similar context? However, in a world where game updates are dissected in real-time by every other developer, keeping such innovations under wraps has become virtually impossible. The moment you introduce a […]

Ahmetcan Demirel January 6

Journal

Daily Missions and Rewards in Puzzle Games

The world of mobile gaming has grown incredibly diverse, with subgenres branching out and becoming increasingly specialized. Whether it’s the strategic depth of 4X games or the fast-paced excitement of shooter games, each subgenre demands a unique approach to game design and player engagement. Although specialization is highly sought after, there remains a surprising amount of overlap in the features and mechanics used across these different genres. Elements like progression systems, in-game currencies, and, importantly, daily missions are common practice, serving as universal tools to enhance player retention and engagement across the board. Daily missions, in particular, have emerged as one of the most effective tools in this regard. These missions are a staple across various gaming genres, providing players with a reason to log in and play regularly. For instance, in games like Genshin Impact, daily commissions are a […]

Ahmetcan Demirel September 24

Journal

Time Blast: Will it revive the Rest of the Genre?

It is no secret that puzzle games dominate a significant share of the mobile gaming market. Over the last decade, the puzzle market has become fiercely competitive, with various subgenres vying to capture the attention of puzzle players. While Match-3 remains the dominant force in this competition, we've seen other subgenres like Merge taking the second place, while others, like Tile Match, showed potential but ultimately fell short. Merge surpassed Blast last year and looks like “Pair” which mainly has Physical Match and Tile Match will do the same at the end of this year. That said, the second spot in the puzzle market remained largely uncontested until recently. Before Merge games took over the second spot, Blast games were the Pepsi to Match-3's Coca-Cola. There was a significant gap between Match-3 and Blast, with Blast holding a solid second […]

Ahmetcan Demirel September 2

Journal

Win Streak: Gift That Keeps on Giving

Puzzle games have a simple yet addicting core loop: playing levels. Since playing levels is the core action, beating them becomes the primary goal for players as they continue enjoying their favorite puzzle game. However, having a simplistic target like "beating levels" brings joy only to a certain extent. Experienced players who churn through dozens of levels every day aren't satisfied with this simple target; they expect more in return for their investment of time and, hopefully, money. This is where the most crucial player motivation for puzzle games comes into play: Win Streak. The main goal is still beating levels. It is your core action and you are expected to repeat it again and again indefinitely. But by creating new rewards tied to the success of that core action, players are incentivized and rewarded in multiple ways, enhancing their […]

Ahmetcan Demirel August 5

Journal

Iteration over Innovation? Case: Makeover Match

Making games is hard. As player expectations rise and market conditions become more challenging, creating a successful game and maintaining that success is becoming increasingly difficult. It looks like these are not enough to stop Tactile, the Danish studio behind smash hit Lily’s Garden, from working on a new title since they launched their latest game Makeover Match in March 2023. Although the Tactile team has several titles under their portfolio, the well-known swapping mechanic is not very common among their games. Especially with their two most recent titles Lily’s Garden and Penny & Flo, Tactile has been a stronghold for story-driven puzzle games with the collapse mechanic. Releasing a match-3 game with the swapping mechanic is certainly a demonstration of their eagerness to take on a new challenge. However, quite counterintuitively, the strongest aspect of Makeover Match is the […]

Ahmetcan Demirel June 10

Journal

AppLovin’s Modern Community and The Power of Game Narrative

Making a successful Match-3 is one of the most challenging tasks a mobile game developer can tackle. To succeed, you need a top-of-the-line game engine in addition to an engaging and differentiated metagame, and, even if you have both, you need a robust UA campaign to entice players. You will be competing against some of the most profitable game businesses out there with some of the heaviest war chests possible. You need a lot of stars to align and hopefully don’t run out of money in the process. That’s why so many of the top Match-3 games belong to a handful of developers. The top of the charts belong to: King with their Candy Crush games, Playrix with ‘Scapes games and Fishdom (still going strong!), and Dream with Royal Match. AppLovin is coming right after them with Project Makeover and […]

Ahmetcan Demirel May 20

Journal

Tile Busters: Leaving The Reddest Ocean To Find A Blue Spot

Almost 2 years ago, the entire games industry was amazed by the announcement of a gigantic $55M seed round raised by Spyke Games. Many successful game company founders would jump on the chance to exit with $55 million, let alone receive it as a seed investment. So, Spyke Games showed how ambitious they were from the start with one of the largest seed rounds the games industry has ever seen… Of course, to secure this type of investment, you need an extraordinary team with unique backgrounds, and Spyke Games had just that. The co-founders of the company come from Peak, Zynga, and Riot, where some held co-founder or key team roles. If you are wondering how they all came together, I recommend listening to the podcast episode where Rina Onur (Co-founder of Spyke Games who is also one of the […]

Ahmetcan Demirel December 11

Journal

Tile Match: The new Match-3 or the new Merge?

It’s hard to keep secrets in the gaming industry. Once players show interest in something you've created, many game developers worldwide quickly become "inspired" by your game. While finding the blue ocean is the enduring hot topic for game developers, staying relevant as that ocean turns red is a rare and more valuable skill to possess. Some of those oceans are extremely hard to enter once they turn red. It's not necessarily due to the exceptional quality of existing games or the lack of potential for improvement within the genre. Instead, the audience interested in the genre is not sufficiently large enough for late entries. This heavily contributes to what we call the first mover advantage. Merge was a great example of a genre that appeared to be “the new Match-3”, but eventually evolved into a smaller genre dominated by […]

Ahmetcan Demirel October 9

Ahmetcan Demirel

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