Why we merge creatures instead of fruits in Catch'n'Merge

Catch’n’Merge is our first merge puzzle and its latest version is for now available only on our website where you can play it for free right in your browser.

Making it was really interesting and one of the most interesting parts was deciding what players would actually merge. The gameplay itself was clear to us quite early. We knew we wanted a merge game with a catch dynamic, so there is a fast phase where you catch falling creatures and a calm phase where you drop and merge them. But what exactly should the player merge? Should it be fruits like in a classic merge fruit game? Should it be some objects? Or should it be creatures? And which exactly, right? There are so many fruits, plants, animals and objects in the world that could be grouped into something that merges and evolves, that the choice was not obvious to us.

In the end we went with our instinct. We really love merge games like Suika and Suika has fruits. But there is one special thing about those fruits: they have a face. The creators gave them a character - a face, a smile, and each one has its own expression. For me this is exactly what makes the game so fun. So I thought, why not make a game with merging creatures straight away? Not take objects and then draw faces on them, but just make actual creatures from the start. This is how we decided that in our merge puzzle players will be merging creatures instead of fruits or other non-living objects.

Which creatures exactly

The next question we had to answer for ourselves was: okay, creatures, but which ones? We didn’t want it to be too obvious, too straightforward. You could just take a regular evolution line - from one-celled organisms to multicellular ones - pick any branch and simply work with it. But I wanted to add something a bit more random, more crazy and unexpected. So we took evolution only as a base. You start with a single green cell and from there things evolve, but not exactly the way they do in reality. You can see that in general the creatures become bigger and more complex, but it is not the standard evolution sequence.

I will not tell you what the final creature is, not to spoil the end of the game. I can only say that after you unlock it, there is a surprise waiting for you. And I’m so excited that more and more people unlock it. It’s kind of the same feeling I have when I prepare a present for someone but can’t tell them yet.

Anyway, we gave every creature its own expression, except the cell. The first tier is just a simple cell with no face. Then it evolves into the sea star, which then evolves into the jellyfish, which then evolves into the fish and so on. And the sea star already has a face and a cute expression and all the tiers above it also do. And I think it’s so cool and fun that I can’t stop playing it.

What comes next

Honestly, we don’t know yet how successful the game will be. We really hope many will like it, but you never know until enough players try it. If it goes well, we have a lot of plans to expand it with even more tiers to merge and unlock. In any case, we want to keep the same two guiding principles. First, it should make sense - it doesn’t have to be scientifically exact, but it should intuitively feel like an evolution of something. Second, it should be cute and fun, and sometimes the expression can be a bit unexpected.

A little spoiler: if you play and unlock several more tiers, you will meet an angry snail. It is still very cute, but it is also angry. We think these small details add a bit of thrill and surprise to the play.

If you like classic merge game puzzles, give Catch’n’Merge a try - it is free to play right in your browser.

And tell us in our Discord: do you prefer merging fruits or creatures or something else? And if you have an idea for a thing or a creature you would love to see in the future tiers, we would love to hear it.