Word Zoo
Mobile game Android 2026 In closed testing
A word-guessing puzzle game where players rescue animals by spelling words to defeat Dr. Snuggles, the villain.
- Client
- Our own product
- Type
- Mobile game · Android
- Industry
- Gaming / Casual Mobile
- Services
- Build
- Timeline
- ~2 months → closed testing (October 2026)
- Who did what
- Product vision, game design, level content, art direction, monetization strategy, Google Play setup, IAP strategy, QA, and technical direction. AI-assisted development was used for code implementation, architecture exploration, and technical problem-solving.
- Stack
- Flutter Flame Firebase Auth Firebase Firestore AdMob Google Play Billing / IAP Provider Dart
Problem
Casual word games often focus on short, repeatable puzzles without much connection between individual levels.
Word Zoo combines word-guessing gameplay with a narrative progression system: players defeat a recurring villain, rescue animals, and unlock new worlds as they progress.
What we built
- 10 themed worlds with 400+ levels, covering single-word and multi-word phrase puzzles.
- Flame-powered gameplay with animated animals, villain reactions, hearts, countdown timers, and interactive game states.
- Multi-layer advertising system including banners, skippable interstitials, and rewarded ads for continues.
- Cloud save and account system using Firebase and Google Sign-In, allowing player progress to persist across devices.
- Progression and engagement systems including quests, daily bonus streaks, leaderboards, coins, hints, and hint packs.
- Google Play in-app purchase infrastructure supporting eight planned products across coins, hint packs, and ad-free tiers.
Technical challenges
Dynamic phrase layout
Multi-word phrases needed to wrap across rows while dynamically adjusting letter-slot sizes to fit different screen dimensions and phrase lengths.
We implemented a two-pass word-packing approach that calculates available space before placing the phrase, preventing overlap with the on-screen keyboard.
Persistent ad frequency tracking
The interstitial ad requirement was to show an ad every three completed levels. Flutter navigation was recreating screen state, which caused the counter to reset.
We moved the counter into a persistent AdService singleton so the count survives navigation and remains independent of individual game screens.
Safe asynchronous game callbacks
Game callbacks such as onWin and onLose can execute after asynchronous delays, potentially after the associated widget has been disposed.
We added lifecycle guards throughout the relevant callbacks and adjusted game construction to prevent state-related rebuild and lifecycle issues.
Result
Completed a feature-complete mobile game in approximately two months and moved it into Google Play closed testing.
The game currently has 12+ testers participating in the closed test. Core gameplay, progression, cloud save, advertising, and in-app purchase infrastructure are implemented, with production release pending the remaining Google Play review and launch process.