There is the arduous process of creating the backgrounds, the pieces in the scene, on top of the level design and balancing of each level. To create content in Hidden Object games, the process is significantly more expensive. Thus, content is relatively easy to produce and players are happy to re-play similar content over and over. The actual content in the level (the art, the mechanics, the pieces) are all reused many times throughout all levels, and players are usually asked to replay the same level multiple times before progressing. This includes concept, implementation, balancing, testing, and polishing. As I discussed in my GDC talk regarding the scalability of content, Matching games typically take about 6-8 hours to produce one level. Matching games have a huge leg up when it comes to the simplicity of creating new content. In content driven games like Hidden Object and Matching games, where players rip through content quickly, it's increasingly important to minimize the amount of time it takes you to build content while maximizing value and replayability of this content.

Reason 1: Scalability of ContentĪs discussed many times before, driving the most value from your content is imperative to free to play success. It comes down 2 reasons: the scalability of content, and the ability to monetize from the core gameplay. So why is it that the match 3 gameplay turned Gardenscapes into a hit? 2 Reasons why Gardenscapes Pivotedįor creating long lasting free to play games, a match 3 style core will always beat out hidden object style core. Playrix must have seen promise with shifting away from Hidden Object, because after this change to matching gameplay, Gardenscapes grew to become the success we know today.

Regardless, PlayRix ported over the matching gameplay from Fishdom (their only mobile match 3 game at the time) and soft launched again in 2016. Most developers would sooner throw away a game than make such a drastic change so late in development. This decision can not have been an easy decision to make. During the course of this soft launch, Playrix decided to shift their strategy from making a Hidden Object game to making a Match 3 game.

Gardenscapes game story