Today Playrix celebrates its 5th anniversary. Well, that might mean a super-fun B-day party, but it’s also the perfect time to take a breather and look back to see what we’ve become and what lessons we’ve learned during this time.

During this festive week I’ll be posting insights into Playrix’s game development process, art secrets, and the company’s strategy, as well as some fun facts about our team.

Today I sat down and chatted with Vladimir Minin, Playrix’s Head of Casual Games Production Department, to learn how our game design has changed over time and what has been the most challenging game, so far, to develop.

How has Playrix’s approach to game design and development changed over the last 5 years?

Fishdom Inhabitants

This might surprise you, but our approach to game design hasn’t actually changed a great deal. Our games are all about “innovation without alienation”; we use fun, addictive, tried-and-true mechanics that are easily grasped by our players, while adding a touch of reasonable innovation. Thus people don’t feel frustrated while playing the games, but enjoy a new, smooth-running experience. We always try to think ahead, and create games that will have timeless appeal, no matter whether players check out a Playrix game today, or in a couple of years.

Moreover, we ensure we incorporate endless replay value in our games – we receive a great response to this from our fans. People keep asking us whether Fishdom is an endless game. Yes, Fishdom is a never-ending game. It doesn't have a final level, it just keeps on going. Right now, the highest score is completing all the levels up to 3230. Naturally we didn't craft that many levels into the game – there is a point when they start to repeat. Another vital thing is our commitment to premium quality. We’re always trying to raise the bar for our own games.

What game do you consider to be the most challenging, from the point of view of the development process and design?

I would say that Fortune Architect (a working title), a game that’s still in development, has been the most time and energy-consuming project for us. Today, it’s the largest project from Playrix, both in terms of the amount of work and effort our game-designers have put into it, its rich content, and the level of implementation. Initially, it was supposed to be a strategy game, similar to Build-a-lot in terms of genre. However, as soon as we got the story nailed down, the game drifted more towards Click Management. As a result, we have something in between these two genres that seems to be a genre-breaker. It’s very exciting!

Cedric: One of the game's characters	Map of Islandshire	Gameplay: Time Management & Strategy

What is the game you pride yourself on the most?

We’re proud of all our games, because we put our heart in all our projects. However, if I need to single out a game, I would pick Fishdom. The concept of the game can be described in a few words, and at the same time it’s become hugely popular.

Thanks a lot for sharing your game design secrets with us. And congratulations on the 5th anniversary! I hope our game designers and programmers will keep creating amazing games for everyone to enjoy and have a lot of fun playing!

Make sure to check out the Playrix Blog tomorrow to get a scoop on our art secrets!