In modern games in the genre of three-in-a-row, difficult levels are usually highlighted in color, and they do not occur more than once for four missions.
The analytical company Playliner told about this in its new study. The company analyzed all three-in-a-row included in the chart of the 500 highest-grossing mobile games in the USA (excluding bubble shooters and block breakers).
The visual side of the issue
The visual division of levels into simple and complex is observed in 64% of the games under consideration.
Color highlighting most often occurs on the level map. For example, in Candy Crush Soda Saga, the levels are divided into three types. Each corresponds to a certain color. For normal levels — green, for complex ones – purple. As for the most problematic ones, they are red.
In addition to highlighting the color in games, its type is also often marked in the start window. In some projects, developers go even further. Depending on the complexity, they change the design of the interface of the level itself. For example, in Farm Heroes Saga, the windows of the most difficult stages have striped markings.
According to Playliner experts, highlighting difficult levels in a special way is a new trend. There was no such thing until 2017.
Frequency of occurrence
There is no general practice on the market when the first complex level should be introduced. Each company decides this independently. King prefers not to delay this. The first difficult level in her games is usually the tenth.
After the appearance of difficult levels, developers begin to regularly offer difficult levels to the player according to a certain principle.
In most of the projects considered by Playliner, it is made so that out of every five levels, one, on average, is difficult. It happens more often, for example, this is the case in the Candy Crush Soda Saga already mentioned today. In this game for a group of four levels — one difficult. But it also happens much less often. In Crazy Cake Swap, the player is spared. Of the eight levels, only one is difficult to pass.
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