Jan 07, 2014 11:00 AM EST
Candy Crush is a popular fun candy switcher game, where Android users can mix and match sweets in a combination of three or more, to gain points and other bonuses. Even Jimmy Fallon plays Candy Crush. The game is so hot that it was one of the most popular mobile games of last year. The game is compatible via Facebook or mobile and seamlessly between platforms. With over 30 Dreamworld levels available, users can join the fun and play on Facebook and Android devices.
IDC reports, “The number of paying smartphone and tablet gamers will surpass the number of paying GOH gamers worldwide in 2013 and rise at a rapid rate through 2017. The number of GOH bundles shipped, meanwhile, should fall at an average of nearly 7% per year over the next five years. “ According to IDC, “Total mobile/portable gaming revenue, including digital and packaged game software, GOH hardware bundles, and direct advertising revenue going to platform suppliers and game developers/publishers, is forecast to approach $23 billion in 2017.”
Metatube
Candy Crush Saga had over ten million downloads in December 2012 alone. Candy Crush Saga is popular on Facebook having more than 56 million likes on the application page. It is the most popular app on Facebook and the highest-grossing app in the Apple and Google app stores.The game makes an appearance in Psy's music video "Gentleman". As of November 2013 the game has been installed 500 million times across Facebook, iOS and Android. In December 2013, King.com began running advertisements for Candy Crush Saga on Japanese television. Partially attributed to these advertisements, in the first week of December 2013, Candy Crush Saga jumped from a position outside the top-100 most-downloaded iPhone games in Japan to the No. 1 position on December 6th, 2013. "On Android, the game jumped from No. 83 on Nov. 30 to the No. 23 on the most-downloaded game on Dec. 4."
This game is separated into levels, and each level has its own requirements to complete. There are different types of games that different levels require you to complete, these consist of: target score levels, jelly levels, ingredient drop levels, timed levels, and candy order levels. The levels are divided by different episodes such as, Episode 1: Candy Town, Episode 2: Candy Factory, Episode 3: Lemonade Lake, and much more. The Facebook version of Candy Crush Saga currently has 515 levels and the smartphone versions of Candy Crush Saga currently have 485 levels.
The player is given a default maximum number of five lives. The player needs at least one life to play a level. If the player fails to complete a level, a life is deducted. Lives will regenerate at a rate of one life every 30 minutes. The player can also restore lives by asking Facebook friends for help, by paying Facebook credits or by paying money.
Special Candies are created when more than three candies of the same colour are matched together. Special Candies have special effects (e.g. clearing an entire row or column of candies) when they are cleared. Examples of Special Candies include Striped Candies, Wrapped Candies and Colour Bombs. A Colour Bomb, which appears to be a brown round candy with coloured pieces around it, forms when a player matches five in a row. A Striped Candy, a candy with a few stripes, horizontally or vertically, forms when a player matches four in a row. A Wrapped Candy, a candy that is wrapped in a package of the same colour, forms when a player makes five candies in a "T", "+" or "L" shape.
If a player tries to swap two adjacent Special Candies, it will generally create a special combination effect. If used effectively, these effects are much more powerful than the individual special candies' effects. For example, if you switch a Colour Bomb + Colour Bomb, it will clear all the candies on the board. If you switch a Striped Candy + Striped Candy, the blast will clear both horizontal and vertical rows, simultaneously. If you switch a Wrapped Candy + Wrapped Candy, it will produce a huge 8x8 explosion two times. If you switch a Colour Bomb + Striped Candy, all the candies of the same colour will turn into a striped candy itself and clear out a row, horizontally or vertically. If you switch a Wrapped Candy + Striped Candy, it will produce a big candy and will absorb everything in a 3x3 square, then it will clear out three rows, horizontally and vertically. If you switch a Colour Bomb + Wrapped Candy, the same colour candies as the wrapped candy will detonate, then when the board cools down, a random colour will be detonated again.
Obstacles or blockers appear in some of the levels. Obstacles have a wide variety of properties, and they are all designed to make it more difficult to complete a level. Examples of obstacles include chocolate that tries to slowly fill the entire game board, candy bombs in which a player has to get the same colour at least three in a row before the move count reaches zero; if it reaches zero, the bomb will explode and the game will end, and tornadoes that randomly destroy spaces on the game board. As you advance throughout the levels, many more difficult obstacles will appear:
A chocolate Spawner - sometimes called chocolate fountains - creates chocolates and swallows any candy that is in their vicinity. The spawner creates a chocolate piece per move, unless you are able to break the pieces of chocolate during a switch. Another obstacle or benefit, is the Mystery Candy. These candies are the regular colours except they are elliptical-shaped and have a question mark on them. These candies provide special candies, boosters, or obstacles, when switched. Other common examples of obstacles are marmalade, meringue, chameleon candies, licorice swirls, and much more.
In previous versions of Candy Crush Saga, a player could purchase charm items to help them complete a level. Charms were much more expensive than boosters, because charms could be used repeatedly. They can also be used for purchasing more lives within the game.
*Wikipedia
Candy Crush Saga is a match-three puzzle video game released by the developer King on April 12, 2012 for Facebook, and on November 14, 2012 for smartphones. As of March 2013, Candy Crush Saga surpassed FarmVille 2 as the most popular game on Facebook, with 46 million average monthly users. It is a variation on their browser game Candy Crush. The Daily Mail claims that the high profitability of the game has prompted the UK Office of Fair Trading to push for guidelines on games with exploitative game mechanics. A major expansion to the game was launched in December 2013.