New test rewrite of levels 800-1500

christinewupp

I have a new rewrite in one of my two latest test games and I would like to comment on these and wonder if I could leave some feedback.

christinewupp

These levels are different even from the videos posted by @Johnny_Crush only three weeks ago, so this must be a test group my game is part of. Please @QueenB could you pass my feedback on to the level design team for these newly rewritten levels. They seem to span quite a range starting in the 800s and I still see them up to level 1100. These rewrites are just so boring and repetitive I really don't think they make for fun gameplay.

The conveyor belts have been removed from these levels and replaced by droppers of various kinds: keys, fishes, striped candies. I have found it all too obvious if I will pass or fail these levels from the very start, the boards appear too manufactured and take away any kind of strategy or even the illusion of strategy. This does not make for satisfying game play. And above all these boards are just so BORING. The team might think that designing boards that will allow us to easily pass just by following the simple rules of bashing combos of special candies again and again is fun, but it takes away any sense of achievement and will lose you players just because they get bored of this game. We need to keep levels like this version here:

This level 813 is a good level, that requires a little bit of strategic play to get the dragons out onto the conveyor belt and time it right so that they will drop.

This is the other version of level 813 which is just reduced to playing the algorithm through and hoping it will let us pass. And paying gold bars or the required booster if the game won't help us with combos of special candies.

This is a heart-felt plea:

Please stop dumbing the game down!

MannyFae

Please stop dumbing the game down!

I'd like to add my voice to Christine's: please stop it.

christinewupp

Thank you @MannyFae for your support.

Here is another horribly boring level (ignore the timed boosters). In fact they are all like that. I'm only playing to find out when this tediousness will end…

Up until about a month ago (I think) this level used to have chocolate with a chocolate dispenser in the middle.

Are King rewriting every single level? Are they taking out all the fun or challenging elements? Are they MAD?

This is a sure way to kill the game.

SneakyMelonPyroDuck

I mean I get reworking 200-800, there was more than a few trash fires in there, but 800-2000ish was fine.

MannyFae

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3205211#Comment_3205211

I am most upset about them removing the conveyor belts. This is one of my favorite elements. It adds dynamics and sometimes unpredictability, and there's also a strategic element to most of these levels. I don't mind the chocolate either. I'm unsure why there's so much frosting in the lower levels and why the chocolate is being removed. I can understand why they would want to get rid of conveyor belts if they want more control, but why chocolate? What will they gain if players get bored before long?

I've just checked what I have in my game. My level 1119 is the same as yours, but 813 still has conveyor belts. I used to have gumball machines in that range before, but now they seem to be gone again. Maybe King haven't made up their minds yet.

813 is a nice level, it compensated for having to scroll all the way down there.

christinewupp

The gumball machines do still feature quite heavily in those levels, even more so than before and there are also jelly jars. I don't mind either of those, but they don't make up for the lack of conveyor belts, and there are not enough of the those black things that used to be popcorn (what are they called?). I used to really like the old popcorn, and there are hardly any cakes either. Not enough variety and too many 9x9 boards full of blockers. I wonder if chocolate is too unpredictable for the programmes that rewrite the levels to build into the algorithms? Also I do keep getting déjà vues playing those levels, I wonder if some levels are just very similar or even identical to some two or three episodes earlier.

MannyFae

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/comment/3205537#Comment_3205537

They are Licorice Shells, they were already called that when I started playing. I hated them back then because they looked so ominous and could only be opened with special candies. Now I agree to have more of them for the sake of variety 🙂

christinewupp

I'm still getting boring board after boring board. Most of them autoterminate in a pass with super colour bombs, starting boosters and win streak boosters. Some hold us up and make us pay. It's easy to whoosh through the episodes at top speed without thinking or using any kind of strategy, and get to the top of the leaderboard competition that way. I think that's what it's all about actually. Make of it what you want, but I now believe that the dumbing down is part of King's great plan to make the events winnable to all. It's not a puzzle game any more. This may well appeal to the wider audience but it's not for me.

I have passed level 1300 now and will stop that test game. It's too boring for my sanity now.

Even though I'm top of the leaderboard, but I find it just too boring to continue with this one:

Edit: I will plod on a bit longer. Having encountered one faulty level it might be useful to see if there are others. I am also curious to see if this re-write ever ends and when/if any new elements get introduced.

christinewupp

I keep playing this latest rewrite not because I'm enjoying it but because there is so much I can myself test with it. This is such an oversimplified algorithm King are testing out!

This is how this particular test group works:

1. Most levels are far too easy to pass if using starting boosters and on a win streak. Lots of double colour bombs on the opening boards and many levels are over in a few moves with no need to think
2. Some levels will leave players short at the end but can then be passed after paying gold bars for extra moves, some require a UFO or lollipop on top of this

The only elements in the new rewritten levels are:

Jelly

Frosting

Rainbow twist

toffee swirls

Gumball machines

Jelly Jars

keys

cages

liquorice

Some of the older levels have been left unchanged or slightly modified, these do still contain:

candy cakes

liquorice shells,

but there are far too few of these to make the game interesting.

These elements have been completely removed recently and also from this test game:

chocolate, bombs, conveyor belts

christinewupp

Using the following strategy seems to work to get ahead in the latest leaderboard competition and keep your gold balance (I have kept a balance of about 2200 gold for the past 600 levels)

1. play timed starting boosters for all levels and buy UFOs and lollipops with gold bars
2. do whatever it takes to keep your win streak
3. play at your top speed and don't overthink anything. In fact, just play and don't think at all.

That's it. It's as simple as that really.

So my hope is that this is a mal designed test King are running which will fail and not be included in the game design.

My fear is that this is the way that King are hoping and planning the way ahead now: Make Candy Crush a game designed to win leaderboard competitions and keep a win streak, remove the need to plan moves or use boosters strategically.

If only taking commercial considerations into account my fears for the future of Candy Crush may be not so unfounded. Markets outside Europe and the US and a younger audience generally are likely to want more gaming type features, monetary rewards and features like top win streak achievements to brag about in online forums. The best way to appeal to new audiences would be a general dumbing down of gameplay. Sadly it probably makes commercial sense in this changing world.