Factors Affecting Level Difficulty in Match-3

Before moving to London to study at Kingston University, I worked at Holy Cow Studio for two months as a Game Design Intern. During my time there, I made levels for their Match-3 game, Home Design Dreams. During the course of my internship I created about 280 levels, out of which about 110 made it into the live build.

While making these levels, I was eventually gaining a general understanding of all the things that were making the levels either too difficult or too easy. So here’s a list of the things that I learnt from my internship.

Colour Range

One of the first things I noticed was that on boards with a higher range of colours, it is harder to match tiles. It is also harder to create and use special tiles (the ones you get from match more than 3 tiles). On the other hand, on boards with a smaller colour range, it will be easier to match tiles, sometimes too easy, to the point where the game is playing itself (tiles begin to fall pre-matched).

Number of Moves

This one is really interesting and a little tricky. The idea is that, if the player is running out of moves more often than completing the level, then the level may be labelled as difficult. If the player is completing a level with a large surplus of moves left over, then the level may be too easy. The problem is, how do we measure this? There are a number of variables at play here, primarily the player skill. The skill of the tester can be vastly different from the skill of any one player.

Board Size and Shape

Once I started messing about with board sizes, I realised that it is much easier to score points on a 10x10 board than on a 5x5. This is most likely due the fact that the play area is bigger and thus more possibilities for matching tiles. I also found that certain shapes are inherently easier. Shapes with a lot of corners and narrow spaces restricts tile flow and limit tile matching possibilities, making them harder to play in.

Mechanics

Some mechanics are inherently more difficult than others, depending on how the player is supposed to interact with them. For example, the Frosting blocker from Candy Crush, in its single-layer form is the easiest to deal with since the player needs to do a simple match next to it. However, the Chocolate blocker - though also easy to destroy - spreads to nearby tiles over time if the player does not destroy it in time, thereby making it more challenging.

Final Thoughts

None of these parameters exist independent of each other and must be taken into consideration when creating levels. Making any one of these parameters as the key feature of the level allows the designer to create levels around it and create entire series revolving around it. When I first started work at Holy Cow Studio, I did not think much of the Match-3 level design. I was glad to be pleasantly surprised. By the end of my internship, I left with a greater appreciation for the genre. I'm sure I have some things, but this is a based off of my experience with Match-3 and maybe someday I will learn more.

:D