Candy Crush Saga

Candy Crush Saga is an electronic game that was released on April 12, 2012 for Facebook, and then released on November 14, 2012 forsmartphones. It was developed by King. 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.

Gameplay

This game is a variation of match-three games such as Bejeweled. Each level has a game board filled with differently colored candies, and might contain obstacles. The basic move of this game is horizontally or vertically swapping the positions of two adjacent candies, to create sets of three (or more) candies of the same color.

Levels

This game is separated into levels, and each level has its own requirements to complete. These requirements include eliminating certain ingredients, removing gel-covered candies, or simply reaching a certain score. The Facebook version of Candy Crush Saga currently has 455 levels, and a new set of levels is released approximately every 3 weeks. The smartphone versions of Candy Crush Saga currently have 410 levels.

Candy Crush Saga will sometimes require a player to unlock a level before it can be played. A level can be unlocked by asking Facebook friends for help, or by paying Facebook credits.

Life system

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 (or, on iOS and Android, by setting the clock/date forward, although this will result in the clock being wrong).

Special Candies

Special Candies are created when four or more candies of the same color are matched together. Special Candies have special effects (e.g. clearing an entire row of candies) when they are cleared. Examples of Special Candies include Striped Candies which remove a row of candies, Wrapped Candies which remove all nearby candies, and Candy Bombs which remove all candies of a certain color.

Special Candy Combinations

If a player tries to swap two adjacent Special Candies, it will generally create a special combination effect. These effects are often more powerful than the individual candies' effects.

Obstacles

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, and tornadoes that randomly destroy spaces on the game board.

Boosters

A booster is a single-use item that can be used to help the player complete a level. Boosters are usually bought with Facebook credits. Every level in Candy Crush Saga can be completed without the use of boosters, but the game difficulty ramp is designed to encourage the purchase of boosters. Examples of boosters include a Lollipop Hammer that can destroy any game square, and a Free Switch that can swap any two adjacent candies.

Charms

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. As of June 27, 2013, Charms are no longer purchasable.

Characters

• Tiffi: Tiffi (short for Toffette) is the main character of the game. She is a blonde girl with pigtails. She travels around the game map, and helps others with their problems.
• Mr. Toffee: Mr. Toffee is a tall man with orange hair. He helps the player when they first start playing Candy Crush Saga.

Popularity

Candy Crush Saga had over ten million downloads in December 2012 alone.

Candy Crush Saga is popular on Facebook having more than 42 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".

Candy Crush Saga has received particular attention in the Hong Kong media, with reports that one in seven Hong Kong citizens plays the game.

As of July 2013, it has been estimated that Candy Crush Saga has about 6.7 million active users and earns revenue of $633,000 per day.

References

1. ^ "Candy Crush Saga - Wiki Guide". Gamewise.
2. ^ San Francisco Chronicle Thursday, March 28, 2013 Business Report "Tech Chronicles" Page C2
3. ^ "Application Analytics for Facebook, iOS and Android". AppData. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
4. ^ "Candy Crush browser game".
5. ^ "FAQs - Candy Crush Saga". King.com.
6. ^ "The Top F2P Monetization Tricks". Gaasutra.
7. ^ Woollaston, Victoria. "Candy Crush Saga soars above Angry Birds to become WORLD'S most popular game". Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
8. ^ 4/17/13 7:00am 4/17/13 7:00am. "Is PSY's "Gentleman" Video Just a Giant Commercial?". Kotaku.com. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
9. ^ Buffa, Chris. "Candy Crush Saga: Played By Every Seventh Person In Hong Kong Daily". Modojo.
10. ^ http://appadvice.com/appnn/2013/07/freemium-app-candy-crush-saga-earns-a-record-breaking-633000-each-day