As Cooking Diary celebrates its sixth anniversary, developer MYTONIA is ready to share the recipe behind their incredibly successful time-management game. Whether you're a game developer looking for insights or a fan eager to learn more about what makes your favorite casual games tick, this article offers a delicious breakdown of Cooking Diary's key ingredients and cooking methods.

Ingredients

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

Cooking Instructions

First Step: Make the Lore

Begin by crafting the plot, infusing it with plenty of humor and unexpected twists. Populate your story with a diverse cast of colorful characters. Slice your narrative into segments across different restaurants and districts, starting with the Burger Joint owned by your grandfather, Leonard. Expand your world with additional districts like Colafornia, Schnitzeldorf, and Sushijima. With 160 unique restaurants, diners, and bakeries spread across 27 districts, ensure there’s room for a variety of guests to enjoy the experience.

Step 2: Customize

Next, lay out your lore and enrich it with up to 8,000 customizable items. This includes 1,776 outfits, 88 sets of facial features, and 440 hairstyles. Enhance the personalization further with over 6,500 decorative items for homes and restaurants. For those who love pets, add these companions and dress them up with 200 clothing options to suit individual tastes.

Step 3: In-game Events

Now, it’s time to mix in tasks and events, using the sharpest analytics tools to ensure precision in your game design. The secret to compelling events lies in layering them thoughtfully, ensuring each one is enjoyable on its own and even better in combination. Take August as an example, where Cooking Diary offered nine different events, ranging from Culinary Experiments to Sugar Rush, each contributing to a rich, engaging experience.

Step 4: Guilds

With over 905,000 guilds, Cooking Diary has a bustling community. When incorporating guild events and tasks, introduce them gradually and blend them well. Timing is crucial; a poorly scheduled event can detract from player engagement, while a well-timed one can enhance the community experience significantly.

Step 5: Learn from Your Mistakes

The key to a successful game isn't avoiding mistakes but learning from them. Ambitious recipes thrive on experimentation. Cooking Diary's team, for instance, initially struggled with the introduction of pets in 2019. By adjusting their approach and integrating pets into the Path to Glory event, they not only increased revenue by 42% but also boosted player satisfaction.

Step 6: Presentation

In the crowded casual gaming market, available on platforms like the App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store, and AppGallery, standing out is essential. Utilize social media creatively, run contests, and stay attuned to trends. Cooking Diary's vibrant presence on Instagram, Facebook, and X showcases an effective social media strategy. Collaborations with giants like Netflix for Stranger Things and YouTube for the Path to Glory event further highlight the game's prominence in the casual time-management genre.

Step 7: Keep Innovating

Reaching the top is one achievement, but maintaining that position requires constant innovation. Cooking Diary has stayed ahead by continually adding new elements, tweaking its event calendar, and refining its time-management gameplay, all while preserving its core essence.

Step 8: Use Grandpa Grey’s Secret Ingredient

The secret ingredient in Cooking Diary is soul. Passion and love for what you do are essential to creating a great game. Experience Cooking Diary's heartfelt approach for yourself on the App Store, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Microsoft Store, and AppGallery.