In a recent video interview, Gybe Games and publisher Rollic came together to share the story behind Color Block Jam, one of 2024’s breakout mobile puzzle games.
The game stands as a fresh success in the hybrid-casual space, blending intuitive design, systemic progression, and a deep understanding of Gen Z players’ behavior.
A Team Built on Shared Passion
Gybe Games was co-founded by Efe Baysal, Onur Abdioğlu, and Ömer Atagül, longtime friends who first met as part of a university sailing team. The studio officially launched at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an early focus on puzzle mechanics. While Fill the Fridge put them on the map three years ago, it was Color Block Jam that pushed them into new territory.
The initial prototype for Color Block Jam was built in June 2024. Drawing from a curated document of mechanics that showed strong retention and depth, the team explored ways to add more depth and creativity to a single game.
What emerged was a visually clear and familiar (Tetris), instantly understandable puzzle mechanic that involved freely moving geometric shapes and sorting colors, capitalizing on a proven popular gameplay loop, but with unique twists.
What Makes It Different?
As Burak Vardal (CEO & Co-Founder of Rollic) highlighted, Color Block Jam distinguishes itself from other puzzle games in several key ways.
The game avoids the over-saturated merge-3 mechanic. Instead, the Tetris-like game offers a fresh take that appeals directly to younger audiences with innovation and creativity in the hyper-casual mold.
The match-3 audience is getting older and older, and the norms of puzzle mobile games are used to are changing.
Unlike traditional puzzle games that gradually increase difficulty, Color Block Jam flips the script: players are thrown into meaningful challenge early on, aligning with shorter attention spans and a desire for instant feedback.
Image Credit: Google Play Store
Key Development Decisions
One of the most important choices made during development was to focus on depth and progression instead of side features. Rather than add surface-level game modes or monetization mechanics, Gybe focused on strengthening the core gameplay loop.
The team committed to a strategy of iterative depth, adding layers of challenge and complexity without compromising the simplicity of the original mechanic. This minimalist yet smart design helped Color Block Jam defy expectations, improving long-term retention (including D7 and D30 metrics) simply through refined level design and a flattened progression funnel.
Recognizing a Hit
Gybe Games and Rollic never explicitly labeled Color Block Jam a hit internally. Instead, both parties knew it would get bigger. That confidence was rooted in collective studio memory, patterns, and signals learned over years of development. They recognized early signs in the data but emphasized that such games emerge from consistent creative rigor, not from gut decisions.
A New Model for Mobile Success
The success of Color Block Jam shows that massive success in mobile doesn’t require a giant studios.
“If mobile games had a Game of the Year award, Color Block Jam would win it this year.”
Burak Vardal – CEO & Co-Founder of Rollic
The comparison to critically acclaimed low-budget titles, such as Balatro, being a candidate for Game of the Year, and Astro Bot winning the award, underlines how smart, simple creativity continues to shape the future of games.
The project also reflects a growing maturity in the relationship between mobile studios and publishers, pushing the ecosystem closer to the dynamics seen in PC and console development.
Looking Ahead
As for what’s next, Gybe Games plans to continue building for their specific player base. Rather than diving into oversaturated genres, they aim to deepen innovative mechanics and maintain their creative edge.
“Hopefully, we’ll find next year’s Color Block Jam too!
Efe Baysal – CEO & Co-Founder of Gybe Games
In the short term, their focus remains on realizing the full potential of Color Block Jam. And while their financial success might allow them to pivot in any direction, their goal is clear: make games people love, built on solid, creative ideas.
You can watch the original video in Turkish with English subtitles on Rollic’s YouTube channel.
