Cooking Diary: A Six-Year Recipe for Success
MYTONIA, the developer behind the wildly popular time-management game Cooking Diary, reveals the recipe for its six-year reign. Whether you're a fellow developer seeking inspiration or a devoted player curious about the game's creation, this detailed breakdown offers valuable insights.
Key Ingredients:
- 431 captivating story episodes
- 38 unique hero characters
- 8,969 diverse in-game elements
- 905,481 thriving guilds
- A vibrant array of events and contests
- A dash of humor
- Grandpa Grey's secret ingredient (revealed later!)
The Cooking Process:
Step 1: Crafting the Narrative:
Begin by developing a compelling storyline rich in humor and unexpected twists. Populate the world with a diverse cast of memorable characters. The narrative unfolds across various restaurants and districts, starting with your grandfather Leonard's Burger Joint and expanding to locations like Colafornia, Schnitzeldorf, and Sushijima. Cooking Diary features 160 unique culinary establishments spread across 27 vibrant districts.
Step 2: Customization Extravaganza:
Enhance the game world with an extensive collection of over 8,000 items, including 1,776 outfits, 88 facial feature sets, 440 hairstyles, and over 6,500 decorative items for player homes and restaurants. Players can also personalize their in-game pets with 200 clothing items.
Step 3: Dynamic In-Game Events:
Integrate a series of engaging tasks and events, leveraging robust analytics to ensure a balanced and rewarding player experience. The key is to create diverse yet complementary events, each enjoyable individually and collectively. August, for example, featured nine concurrent events, showcasing this layered approach.
Step 4: The Power of Guilds:
Cooking Diary boasts over 905,000 guilds, fostering a strong sense of community. Introduce guild events and tasks gradually and strategically, avoiding overlaps to maximize participation.
Step 5: Learning from Setbacks:
Embrace mistakes as learning opportunities. The Cooking Diary team's experience with the initial pet introduction in 2019, which was later revised to boost revenue by 42%, exemplifies this principle.
Step 6: Strategic Marketing and Presentation:
Cooking Diary's success stems from a multi-platform presence (App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store, and AppGallery) and a robust social media strategy across Instagram, Facebook, and X. Strategic collaborations, such as the partnership with Netflix's Stranger Things, further amplified its reach.
Step 7: Continuous Innovation:
Maintaining top-tier status requires ongoing innovation. Cooking Diary achieves this through consistent updates, balancing gameplay, and introducing new content.
Step 8: The Secret Ingredient – Passion:
Grandpa Grey's secret ingredient is passion. A genuine love for the craft is essential for creating a truly exceptional game.
Download Cooking Diary on the App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store, and AppGallery.
