AppLovin's Modern Community and The Power of Game Narrative
Written by Ahmetcan Demirel, the maestro of product management and a podcast host (Game Dev Diary) from Germany! With a knack for puzzle, arcade, and simulation games.
When Ahmetcan isn’t busy crafting analysis or designing killer features for consulting clients, you’ll find him exploring Berlin's vibrant tech scene or writing for Deconstructor of Fun in one of the hipster cafes of the city.
Making a successful Match-3 is one of the most challenging tasks a mobile game developer can tackle. To succeed, you need a top-of-the-line game engine in addition to an engaging and differentiated metagame, and, even if you have both, you need a robust UA campaign to entice players. You will be competing against some of the most profitable game businesses out there with some of the heaviest war chests possible. You need a lot of stars to align and hopefully don’t run out of money in the process.
That’s why so many of the top Match-3 games belong to a handful of developers. The top of the charts belong to: King with their Candy Crush games, Playrix with ‘Scapes games and Fishdom (still going strong!), and Dream with Royal Match. AppLovin is coming right after them with Project Makeover and not deterred from the competition, they released another new Match-3 game: Modern Community.
It was released at the beginning of March, so the data is still populating, but there’s plenty to comment on related to the strategic goals of the game, the overall design, and the challenges they will need to overcome. In a crowded Match-3 market focused on game engines, Modern Community has arguably the best metagame to be the Sims of Match-3 games.
Setting the new standard for metagame
In the deconstruction of Makeover Match by Tactile, we mentioned how they were sticking to the same storyline from Project Makeover with one significant change: Making all the characters 3D. Adding 3D characters and animations to the story livens it up, but mainly complicates the production of an existing story. Space Ape, for example, didn’t try to improve the visuals just for aesthetics with Chrome Valley Customs. They had a specific take on the metagame, focusing on underserved male puzzle players, and built their visual style towards that goal instead of increasing production complexity. The former is still trying to find its feet while the latter has achieved a moderate level of success.
Physical restorations are exactly the same with Matchington Mansion while makeovers are a sped-up version of Project Makeover.
Modern Community, on the other hand, goes all-in on the metagame and comes up with a mini Sims game running in the background while you go through the story. In very rough terms, it can be described as the best of Matchington Mansion and Project Makeover: We follow the adventures of the main character, Paige, as she goes on to renovate a city and her apartment while doing makeovers on her community and dive into romance. That is the Matchington Mansion part where we get to do interior and exterior renovations with spicy dialog. The game also makes the player do quick makeovers on the characters in the story to better their lives. That part can be described as a condensed version of Project Makeover since the full fledged makeover is completed in a couple of tasks in Modern Community. AppLovin is covering all bases in the metagame, using every existing restoration/makeover mechanic available. This game could set a new standard for narrative-driven Match-3 games due to three main reasons: Customizing gameplay, emulating successful stories, and ensuring top-notch production quality.
Customizing Gameplay
Players can customize the main character and her home in the game. Just this itself has no significance; Project Makeover has been doing this for a long time now. Modern Community stands out because players see the changes made to the characters as they progress through the story! It is not a novelty feature that is reserved for highly engaged players to customize their character and share with others (which I’m sure they will introduce further down the road), but a genuine change that is quite visible inside the game. The makeovers done both for the character and the NPCs are seen throughout the game which was possible only through opening the specific tabs for each chapter in Project Makeover.
You can renovate your room (left) and your character (right).
The way the makeovers are designed achieve a very important thing as a result: Seeing the makeovers I've done as a player throughout the story makes me feel more invested in both the makeovers and the story itself. Of course, not every player interacts with the metagame in the same way, but integrating the makeovers this way will likely increase player interaction with the metagame and the time they spend on it.
Although it may sound trivial, seeing the changes to the characters you made in the game makes the game feel more alive.
Emulating successful stories
In a Match-3 with a metagame, players complete levels to earn stars or resources, which they then use to complete tasks and progress through the metagame. And for games with a heavy meta layer, a.k.a. a story they go through, there are mainly two kinds of tasks: restoration and story. Restoration tasks require you to choose how you want to design the space around you. Choosing the color of a wall or the type of a tree are some examples. Story tasks, on the other hand, usually don’t require you to do anything except watching the interaction between the characters in the game.
Modern Community provides an experience very similar to most other Match-3 games when it comes to the restoration tasks. The way the choices are given or the characters reacting to the player’s choices don’t feel very different from other Match-3 games on the market. However, the game invests heavily in narrative design. So far, we’ve been used to seeing innocent stories in Match-3 games like an old guy inheriting a mansion or a TV crew helping people change their lives for the better. Modern Community approaches narrative design from a different angle, presenting a love triangle with somewhat cheesy dialogues right from the beginning. It feels like watching a Netflix show featuring hot firefighters and muscular artists assisting Paige in overcoming her challenges around the city.
I’m not sure where we draw the line, but I think this should count as cheesy…
And this is not prevalent only on Netflix shows, but in other games as well. Another game with a similar take is Gossip Harbor that has been doing pretty well lately. Gossip Harbor’s narrative must be one of the factors contributing to their performance, among many other things they're doing well. The initial dialogues they present are similar to the one above, featuring numerous characters exchanging cheesy pick-up lines right from the start. I think AppLovin took pages from their playbook while writing the story. As I said, we’ve been used to seeing certain types of stories on the market, and I’m curious to see whether this is going to become a new trend…
To compete with Netflix…
Speaking of rivaling Netflix, Modern Community doesn't just stop at having a narrative similar to Netflix shows. The game is full of cinematics that enhance both the cheesy dialogues and the key story moments. I keep beating the drum for the idea that “Games compete not just with other games, but also with other forms of entertainment”. In its bid to rival other forms of entertainment, this game has raised the bar for production quality to another level. The team developing the game must have invested a lot of time and effort into the production of the story. I haven't seen a Match-3 game with such high production quality for its metagame before.
Feels like an excerpt from Too Hot to Handle…
The high production quality isn't limited to the story but also extends to the ongoing events. In many puzzle games, there is a common event involving completing specific actions to collect certain items for rewards. Sometimes it is matching a specific item or using power ups within levels, or collecting an event-specific item etc. Since it is a very common and basic event, every puzzle game out there is simply showing the progression of the player next to the milestones that they should reach. Modern Community, on the other hand, turns it into a “News” event where it starts with a special scene. Then the player is introduced to the event and they unlock another couple of cutscenes throughout that event while also receiving their rewards. Creating special scenes just for one of the most common and basic events your game can ever have. Talk about production quality…
So far, there hasn’t been a single game establishing the standards for creating metagame among Match-3 games. There are successful games both with (such as Homescapes and Project Makeover) and without (such as Royal Match and Candy Crush) a heavy metagame. It is clear that Modern Community is here to establish the new standard for metagame quality. Offering players a much deeper experience while integrating different parts of the metagame better than ever is definitely going to become important differentiators. Plus, if they can keep up with the current production quality, I’m sure they are going to have a much more engaging game compared to their competitors as a result.
When your core gameplay looks different
Fake ads were all the rage a few years back when everyone used them for user acquisition. From Match-3 to 4X Strategy, most of the successful games adapted them in some shape or form. But it didn't stop there, as the players they acquired from those "pull the pin" ads wanted more "pull the pin" puzzles to play. (I know, shocking). Then they incorporated those fake ads into their games and provided players with what became known as "mini games". In fact, as one of the pioneers in that space, Playrix now offers mini games in Homescapes and Gardenscapes once almost every 3 levels.
Mini game inspired level layout in Royal Match.
Dream Games put their own spin on it and developed their now infamous "King's Nightmare" creatives for Royal Match. Players are presented with King Robert, the king from Royal Match, in a dangerous situation and are tasked with rescuing him by solving a Match-3 puzzle. Shortly after those creatives were used, Dream incorporated those levels into the game, offering players "King's Nightmare" levels periodically. AppLovin does the same in Modern Community by providing special levels early in the player journey. Characters are placed in dangerous situations, requiring players to complete special levels to aid them, much like "King's Nightmare" levels. And it actually is not just a bonus level showing you some weird scene, but an actual part of the story! The player first sees the characters trying to put out a fire, then is given the special level.
Playing this special level after seeing the trouble characters are having makes much more sense.
While mini games or special levels were a quick and convenient solution, not every problem can be resolved so effortlessly. Especially when your problem lies within your design pillars. We talked about how great Modern Community’s metagame is and how beautifully everything works together. When you invest a lot of time and effort into your metagame, it's natural to want to use it for acquiring new players. However, your players that come through the ads that mainly focus on the metagame will eventually play your levels. And if your levels don't captivate players visually like your metagame does, you might end up with reviews like this one, which received a lot of upvotes:
And I'm not just referring to the contradiction of showing players your story and then serving them puzzle levels. Every other puzzle game with some sort of meta layer does it. But the more different your meta and core gameplay look, the worse the player sentiment will be. Given the high production value of the metagame in Modern Community, players expect a corresponding level of experience when playing levels. You can watch this video for an extended overview of how the levels look like.
The levels in Modern Community may not live up to the hype of the metagame.
This isn’t to say that the game has a bad core gameplay experience. I don’t think Modern Community has an inferior game engine. It actually feels a lot like Chrome Valley Customs with respect to its speed and simplicity, which has been doing fine as mentioned before. But the main issue seems to be the stark contrast between the highly polished metagame and the relatively simple core gameplay. What Chrome Valley Customs offers to its players in its metagame, for example, is coherent with the experience they offer in the levels. The look and feel of the game does not change from the story to the levels, so I don’t need to change gears mentally to adapt.
I don’t need to shift any mental gears while going between the meta and core gameplay in Chrome Valley Customs.
With Modern Community, I am welcomed with a rich story full of polished animations and reality show-like dialogues. Then I’m given a super fast and relatively simple core gameplay which contradicts with what I have just seen. Players who download the game after watching videos showcasing story excerpts or character interactions may feel let down by this discrepancy. Again, I’m not saying this doesn’t happen in other games; I’m sure there are similar reviews for other successful puzzles as well. But since Modern Community has arguably the best metagame out there, I just think that discrepancy is going to be larger with the current core gameplay.
What’s next?
Modern Community already has so many features that it is actually hard to find immediate goals at this point. However, there are still a number of things AppLovin can try depending on how much risk they are willing to take:
Adapt the level visuals: As I said, I don’t think the game has an inferior game engine per se, but the game items have no “identity”. When you look at top Match-3 games, they feature customized game items that reflect the game's theme. Be it books or pillows or candies, the levels tell you what the game’s theme is. Currently, the game uses simple geometric shapes for its game items, lacking any thematic significance. Improving the thematic alignment between the core gameplay and the metagame experience could enhance the overall game experience.
Double down on the story: The game's story is already filled with action and diverse characters from the beginning. What disappoints some players, as we’ve seen from that upvoted review above, is the game lacks interactive choices and realistic simulation features. It could better cater to those players by adjusting how the story is delivered. Modern Community could adopt a model similar to GTA, where players follow multiple main characters in the metagame simultaneously. Using GTA as a reference might seem daunting, but the main focus would be on narrative design to ensure a cohesive experience. Adding these extra story elements would demand significant investment in both writing and animation, but it wouldn't require altering the fundamental structure of how the story is presented or how the metagame operates.
Carve out the metagame: Playrix has been running events for both ‘Scapes games that offer the players a simulation game. Players are provided with a vast area to explore, constrained by a limited energy reserve and a task system that unfolds progressively, much like the main story. Modern Community could implement a similar approach by expanding the story through mini-games within the metagame, allowing players to explore them using a separate system. This approach would help keep story-driven players engaged in the game while also providing incentives to play levels, as they would primarily receive energy through completing levels.
