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 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 generous helping of engaging 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 your world with a vibrant cast of 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 boasts 160 unique eateries spread across 27 distinct districts, ensuring a constant influx of virtual patrons.
Step 2: Customization Extravaganza:
Enhance your game world with an extensive array of customizable items. Include approximately 8,000 elements, encompassing 1,776 outfits, 88 facial feature sets, 440 hairstyles, and over 6,500 decorative items for homes and restaurants. Add the option to personalize pets with 200 unique clothing items.
Step 3: Dynamic In-Game Events:
Introduce a robust system of tasks and events. Leverage sophisticated analytics to ensure that events are not only creatively designed but also strategically timed and rewarding. The key is to create diverse yet complementary events, each enjoyable individually and collectively. August, for example, featured nine concurrent events, showcasing the effectiveness of layered gameplay.
Step 4: The Power of Guilds:
Cooking Diary's success is partly attributed to its over 905,000 guilds. These communities provide opportunities for social interaction, showcasing achievements, and collaborative gameplay. Introduce guild events and tasks gradually and thoughtfully, avoiding scheduling conflicts 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 exemplifies this. The initial monetization strategy proved ineffective, but a swift adjustment—making pets unlockable through the Path to Glory event—resulted in a 42% revenue increase.
Step 6: Strategic Presentation:
The casual games market is highly competitive. To stand out, Cooking Diary employs a robust social media presence (Instagram, Facebook, X), creative marketing campaigns, contests, and a keen awareness of current trends. Strategic collaborations, such as partnerships with Netflix's Stranger Things and YouTube, further amplify the game's reach.
Step 7: Continuous Innovation:
Maintaining top-tier status requires constant evolution. Cooking Diary's sustained success stems from its commitment to introducing new content, experimenting with presentation, and refining gameplay mechanics, all while retaining its core appeal.
Step 8: Grandpa Grey's Secret Ingredient:
The final, crucial ingredient is passion. A truly great game is born from genuine love for the craft.
Download Cooking Diary on the App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store, and AppGallery.
