6 Years of Cooking Diary: A Recipe for Success

Cooking Diary: A Six-Year-Old Recipe for Success

MYTONIA, the developer behind the megahit time-management game Cooking Diary, is sharing 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 behind-the-scenes look offers valuable insights.

Ingredients:

• 431 story episodes
• 38 hero characters
• 8,969 elements
• 905,481 guilds
• A generous helping of events and contests
• A dash of humor
• Grandpa Grey's secret ingredient

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Crafting the Lore

Begin by developing a captivating plot filled with humor and unexpected twists. Introduce a diverse cast of colorful characters to bring the story to life. Divide the plot into restaurants and districts, starting with your grandfather Leonard's Burger Joint. Gradually expand to include locations like Colafornia, Schnitzeldorf, and Sushijima. Cooking Diary boasts 160 unique restaurants and eateries spread across 27 vibrant districts, ensuring a steady stream of guests.

Step 2: Customization Extravaganza

Add a vast array of customizable items—over 8,000 in total! This includes 1,776 outfits, 88 sets of facial features, 440 hairstyles, and over 6,500 decorative items for homes and restaurants. For those with a penchant for pets, include them along with 200 clothing items to personalize their appearance.

Step 3: The Art of In-Game Events

Now, it's time to enhance the game with engaging tasks and events. Leverage powerful analytics tools to blend creative game design with precise data-driven decisions. The key is to create diverse, yet complementary, event layers. Each event should be enjoyable on its own and contribute to the overall experience. August serves as a prime example, featuring nine distinct events running concurrently, from Culinary Experiments to Sugar Rush.

Step 4: Building a Thriving Guild Community

Cooking Diary boasts over 905,000 guilds—a testament to its engaging community. Introduce guild events and tasks gradually, ensuring seamless integration. Avoid overlapping time-consuming events to maximize player participation. Careful timing is crucial for event success.

Step 5: Learning from Setbacks

Mistakes are inevitable, but learning from them is key. The Cooking Diary team’s experience with the initial pet introduction in 2019 highlights this. Initially, free and paid pets failed to generate sufficient interest. By making pets unlockable through the Path to Glory event, they saw a 42% revenue increase and improved player satisfaction.

Step 6: Mastering Presentation and Collaboration

The casual games market is highly competitive. To stand out, Cooking Diary utilizes a robust social media strategy across Instagram, Facebook, and X, complemented by creative messaging, contests, and activities. Strategic collaborations, such as the partnership with Netflix's Stranger Things and YouTube's Path to Glory event, further enhance its reach and appeal.

Step 7: Continuous Innovation

Maintaining success requires constant innovation. Cooking Diary's six-year run is a testament to its commitment to adding new content, experimenting with presentation, and refining gameplay mechanics. Regular updates, from event calendar adjustments to gameplay balancing, keep the game fresh and engaging.

Step 8: Grandpa Grey's Secret Ingredient

The most crucial ingredient? Passion. Creating a truly great game requires genuine love for the craft.

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