Tropicats Behind-the-Scenes: How a Match-3 Level is Made

Our fuuurrtastic Tropicats fans are always curious what is coming up next. So with another huge update on its way, we thought we’d take the time to give a glimpse behind the scenes to show what it takes to create the pawesome match-3 levels that you love.

First the numbers. There are 2 brand new chapters on the way, with 80 new levels — that’s a total of 240 brain-tickling challenges if you play through from easy to difficult! There are dozens of new decorations to buy and build too. And, of course, a pawful lot of new pals to meet!

So how does all this stuff make its way from Tropicat HQ to your phone? It’s a lot of work—no kitten! The team gave us a tour of their studio and described the work that goes into crafting a level.

How is a new level designed?

New levels might start with an idea for a puzzle, a fun layout, or some kind of chain reaction. A rough level is mapped out and tested among the team, who gather ideas, work on improvements, and make a new version then test it out again… and so on, and so on, until everyone’s happy that we’ve nailed it!

Once a level is out there in the wild, we can look at the play data to see how people are doing with it, and how often it gets won and lost. That way, we can improve levels that might prove too tricky, or tighten them up for a bigger challenge!

What’s the most important thing in level design?

Do you even have to ask? FUN! Of course, fun doesn’t grow on trees (except when it’s bananas) so there are lots of things we think about like variety, skill level and how much ‘luck’ to sprinkle. Finding the sweet spot is a balancing act that keeps our designers on their toes!

So there you have it; the inside story of how Tropicats levels make it from concept to creation. We haven’t even touched on all the art, story, testing, translation, bug fixes and feature development that keep Triopicats fresh and fully functioning… but maybe that’s something for another day!

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