Culinary Chronicle: 6 Years of Digital Delights

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 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 active guilds
• A robust selection 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 the 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 stream of engaging content.

Step 2: Customization Extravaganza:

Enhance the game world with an extensive array of customizable options. Include over 8,000 items, encompassing 1,776 outfits, 88 facial feature sets, 440 hairstyles, and over 6,500 decorative items for homes and restaurants. Players can even customize their pets with 200 clothing items.

Step 3: Dynamic In-Game Events:

Introduce a diverse range of tasks and events, leveraging robust analytics to ensure a balanced and engaging experience. The key is to create complementary event layers, each enjoyable individually and collectively. August, for example, featured nine concurrent events, demonstrating this layered approach.

Step 4: The Power of Guilds:

Cooking Diary's success is partly attributed to its thriving community of over 905,000 guilds. Introduce guild events and tasks gradually, ensuring they don't clash with other time-consuming activities. Careful timing is crucial for maximizing player engagement.

Step 5: Learning from Setbacks:

Embrace mistakes as learning opportunities. The Cooking Diary team's experience with the initial pet introduction in 2019 highlights this. By adapting their approach and making pets unlockable through the Path to Glory event, they achieved a 42% revenue increase.

Step 6: Strategic Marketing and Presentation:

The casual games market is highly competitive. To stand out, Cooking Diary employs a robust social media strategy across Instagram, Facebook, and X, complemented by creative messaging, contests, and collaborations. Partnering with major brands like Netflix (Stranger Things event) and YouTube (Path to Glory event) significantly boosted the game's visibility.

Step 7: Continuous Innovation:

Maintaining a top position requires constant innovation. Cooking Diary's ongoing success stems from its commitment to introducing new content, experimenting with presentation, and refining gameplay mechanics.

Step 8: The Secret Ingredient – Passion:

Grandpa Grey's secret ingredient is passion. A successful game is built on genuine love for the craft.

Download Cooking Diary on the App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store, and AppGallery.