Wow! thanks a lot for detailed answers and those resources, it’s time to study. Indeed, machination seems incredible.
I have a few questions left. Is the ball power progression tied to the level? Or do you sum all current ball powers? Is it tied to the value of the block’s loot?
Another question, one of things that hit me the most was how you added periodically new type of blocks (or new mechanics as the bosses). Each time, it feels exactly to be at the right timing to keep the attention. How did you found the right timing? Thank you again, maybe my days of tinkering wobbly systems are over.
Short answer: ball power isn’t hard-tied to level—we keep a global ball_power, and after each round the walls smoothly ease toward it (wall_power creeps up via a small step), so difficulty follows your loadout without spikes; we also don’t sum all balls to set difficulty (damage is per hit), the only “sum” you’ll see is on BIG/MOVE rows where a single chunky block gets HP ≈ the row’s total budget. Loot isn’t pegged to a block’s HP: drops come from their own tables (post-level lottery ~30% with a pity after 4 misses; the in-level Prize ad grants 2–5 items and tops up what you’re low on). The “right-time” feeling for new stuff is a simple cadence with a bit of shuffle: boss every 20 levels, plus 1 key and 1 bonus per decade (bonus flavor evolves: <10 = capsule, 10–19 = move/capsule, ≥30 = mix incl. line/rocket), and after ~60 we start sprinkling blockers with a cycling chance—predictable beats for learning, small randomness for freshness.
The latest update actually performed really well – the game has basically climbed back to the metrics we had around launch (both in terms of playtime and revenue per user). So it looks like the recent tuning went in the right direction.
For the upcoming winter update we’re thinking about changing the balance again and almost removing free bombs from the regular flow (lottery / simple rewards etc.) to see how that impacts monetization and player behavior. Bombs would still exist of course, just not be handed out as generously for free.
Also, I’m very curious what you all think about the new snow falling from the top of the screen. Does it feel distracting or in the way, or is it OK / nice as a bit of extra juice and atmosphere? Any feedback there would be super helpful.
Just my opinion. The snow is really nice! Maybe a bit distracting, I would decrease slightly the alpha. Also, but, again, my opinion, it moves too much in the x axis; it looks like there is a storm.
