Colony Flow is a sort puzzle game by ABI Game Studio, released in June 2026, and it has already scaled to over $200K in daily IAP revenue, according to AppMagic.
While it is already among the top 5 grossing sort puzzlers by monthly revenue, its direct competitor, Food Hunt by Funfinity, follows closely behind.
So, let’s take a look at the design behind this game
Proven Concept
Both Colony Flow and Food Hunt can be seen as iterations of Pixel Flow’s formula, replacing the shooting pigs with colored ants and the looping conveyor belt with the ants’ natural movement while maintaining a sense of familiarity. However, the ants’ swarming behavior introduces more unpredictability, adding an element of luck to what is otherwise fairly strategic gameplay.
Progression Layer
The game uses a familiar hybrid casual puzzle blueprint, with deterministic puzzles that allow players to learn and improve with each attempt, hard-level labels to set expectations, boosters to provide additional support, and new blockers to gradually keep the experience fresh. The behavior of the ants can also make the game feel slow, but it uses a free speed-up to balance the FTUE, letting players experience its value early and making it feel like a must-have once the free offer runs out. Additionally, there are meta features that gradually unlock as players progress, along with LiveOps events to drive further engagement.
Hybrid Monetization
The game uses both IAA and IAP monetization. Interstitial ads begin appearing around level 14, while banner ads are shown at the bottom of the gameplay screen. RV ads can be seen in the time-limited speed-up offer, life refills and when claiming additional daily rewards. As for IAPs, the in-game shop features various bundles, coin packs and ad-removal offers. Meanwhile, additional booster purchases and revives are limited to soft currency, creating more opportunities to nudge more players towards IAPs.
As the Sort Puzzle sub-genre keeps getting more competitive with each new release, it will be interesting to see where the next big hit comes from.
Original Post: Kavindu Priyanath-LinkedIn
