Blog post #2
Candy Crush Saga is a casual match three puzzle mobile game published and developed by King. The single player game has been out for free since April 2012 and is available across many platforms such as android, iOS, windows phone and others. Candy Crush Saga is one of King’s variations of Candy Crush which first came out as a browser game.
When it comes to the game’s successes, Candy Crush Saga is one of the most successful games that have followed what is known as the freemium model. It’s considered of the first games to follow such model where players are not obliged to spend money to complete the game, however if players found themselves frustrated with a board they could buy actions that help, “at its peak the company was reportedly earning almost $1 million per day” (source).
As opposed to many other games, Candy Crush Saga doesn’t have a compelling narrative that is the drive behind why so many people love this game. Instead it’s the gameplay’s techniques such “as Beginners Luck, Destiny Child, and getting a Free Lunch” (source).
It’s somewhat of a trap, in the beginning players go through beginners luck finishing levels with all three stars and quickly with ease making them believe they’re good at the game which is the destiny child technique. Passing the first 10 levels they aqumulate and receive boosters and free moves as a reward to their achievements which is the free lunch technique. At this point the game is still free but once players pass the 35th level bounces aren’t free anymore and the game becomes more challenging!
The map of the game has a train that moves between levels as players progress in the game. It currently hold 8855 levels with
new levels being released every week.
The most common level type in the game is Jelly while Rainbow Rapids is the rarest. Here are some of their differences:
- Jelly : clear all the jelly on the board.
- Ingredients : bring all the ingredients down to the exits.
- Rainbow Rapids : clear the path to collect rainbow candies.
Boosters
Boosters or Power Ups help players in passing levels, whether it be adding more time, or starting with color bomb that elementas a color from the board. Getting these boosters can be either through good gameplay which is limited or through in app purchasing in the candy shop.
And lastly game levels and achievements can be shared and ranked amongst other Candy Crush Saga players connected through facebook!
At the peak of the mobile game in 2014 over 93 million people were playing and revenue was over $493 million over a three month time frame. And in 2016 Candy Crush Saga won the People’s Choice Awards for Favorite Mobile Game of 2016 against it’s nominees such as Fruit Ninja and Temple Run (source).
Gameplay
Cover image source