18.10 Making Match-3 Levels

[Nataly Kuzmina]

Ever wondered what it takes to create a level? Well, get ready to find out in our new article!



Our team of level designers, first of all, are the superstars. Every day they each create at least 5 new levels, and trust us — that’s a LOT. Like all creative jobs, theirs requires inspiration, and, like all creative people, our level designers can find inspiration everywhere: in their morning cup of coffee, or even in their favorite comic books and cartoons!

Once they have an idea, they describe the details in a design document. Then they use that information to work their magic and develop a level prototype using special software. The program helps design levels from scratch and experiment with all kinds of situations. Twenty-five gnomes? No problem! Ten lawnmowers? We can make that work! A single bomb that triggers a chain reaction, solving the level in the blink of an eye? Mm, hold on...



There are lots of things designers need to keep in mind when they’re developing a good match-3 level (here are some examples):

All game levels should:
1) Be beatable without additional power-ups
2) Be visually appealing, i.e. colorful and symmetrical
3) Nudge players toward a certain strategy they can use to complete the goals
4) Challenge you, just like any puzzle
5) Have a balanced number of elements and obstacles

Of course, there's so much more to the story… But to cut it short, we’ll just say that all our level designers do their best to make their artwork both challenging and entertaining, requiring a strategic approach and providing players with the fun tools they need to solve it!



After putting all the pieces together, the designer plays the level a few times to see how many moves it takes to complete it. Then it goes through both machine and human testing for bugs and glitches. During this process, fellow game designers balance level complexity.

At that point, there’s just one step standing between the level and its world release: our producers’ quality check. If they like the prototype, the level is added to the game.



Quite a few people get their hands on level prototypes, making lots of changes before they see the world. You can be sure that only the most captivating and visually compelling puzzles end up on your device screen! In the meantime, our level designers keep their fingers crossed that you’ll have fun playing.

All goals complete! We hope you enjoyed our short behind-the-scenes look. Stay tuned for more insider stories coming up!

[kali1]

I appreciate the levels of Gardenscapes a LOT! Their (designers) inspiration comes directly to the players, it's wonderful. Kudos to the designers!

And thanks for sharing!

[Irene Hernandez]

I appreciate the levels of Gardenscapes a LOT! Their (designers) inspiration comes directly to the players, it's wonderful. Kudos to the designers!

And thanks for sharing!

[Irene Hernandez]

Well I just wanted to shout out 2 thank all the inspired workers this is truly my favorite game of all time...keep up the good work ...yayyyyy!!!

[Curtis Rayburn]

This is a very good game thanks for everything

[Dena Story]

I love this game. It is very frustrating at times but very challenging indeed. I'm hooked

[PokeMonFan1275]

This fun game is a lot of fun to play and very relaxing too

[Jennifer Manchester-Gain]

I love the challenges this game gives me

[Claudia Mihaela Ostta]

My levels are very hardest and it tooks awhile to complete a lvl and also the missions needs 4 stars per a mission? To much and i need 3-4 days to can do a mission grrr but aniway i love the game and also Austin and my dog Alfy are amazing xxoo

[Kuki]

I sincerely hope that the developers remember that they are much more experienced than the average player. It seems unfair that it takes me only a very few minutes to lose a life but 20 minutes to renew it. I can play Angry Birds over and over and never lose a life. I can play it for hours at a time. Isn't that what you should want?