Report updated Apr 18, 2026

TL;DR:The Making of Lumino City is a digital companion app designed to showcase the development process of the award-winning puzzle game, Lumino City. Users feel Excited, praising educational content but frustrated by app crashes and stability.|TL;DR:The Making of Lumino City is a digital companion app designed to showcase the development process of the award-winning puzzle game, Lumino City. Users feel Excited, praising educational content but frustrated by app crashes and stability.
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The Making of Lumino City is a well-regarded reference app that is completely free. With a 4.9/5 rating from 32 reviews, it maintains solid user satisfaction. Users particularly appreciate educational content, though app crashes and stability remains a common concern.

What is The Making of Lumino City?

The Making of Lumino City is a digital companion app designed to showcase the development process of the award-winning puzzle game, Lumino City. It serves as a high-quality, free marketing asset that provides users with an interactive, behind-the-scenes look at the game's unique papercraft design. Targeted at fans of the original game and digital art enthusiasts, the app differentiates itself through its deep integration with the parent game and its high-fidelity, interactive model exploration. It is positioned as a premium-quality reference tool that reinforces the artistic brand identity of the developer, State of Play Games.

Current Momentum

v2.0

This update from Apple will improve the functionality of this app. No new features are included. We have doubled the content! Now featuring chapters: "Moving Pictures", "Puzzle Craft", "The Score & Making Noise" and "Graphic Design".

AI-powered deep analysis surfacing high-signal insights. Still in beta, accuracy improves daily. For informational purposes only.

Active Nemesis

Monument Valley

Monument Valley

By ustwo games

Other Rivals

Gorogoa
Old Man's Journey
Machinarium
Art of Rally
Behind the Frame
Florence
The Gardens Between
Paper Trail NETFLIX

7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸

Reference

No ranking data

Rating Pulse 🇺🇸

Recent User MoodAI-powered deep analysis surfacing high-signal insights. Still in beta, accuracy improves daily. For informational purposes only.

What makes this app unique?

What Does It Look Like?

How Is The App's Momentum Right Now?

Loading...

What Are The Key Features?

Behind-the-Scenes MultimediaDifferentiator

Access to exclusive video, interviews, and early sketches detailing the game's development process.

Interactive Model ExplorationDifferentiator

Users can manipulate lighting and camera settings used to film the game's physical assets.

Real-time Game IntegrationDifferentiator

Ability to swap between the making-of app and the Lumino City game to explore scenes in detail.

Digital Coffee Table BookStandard

A curated, visual-heavy experience designed for iPad and iPhone viewing.

How much does it cost?

Free
  • Completely free with no in-app purchases

The app serves as a high-quality marketing asset and companion piece to drive sales for the premium paid game 'Lumino City'.

Who Built It?

State of Play Games app icon 1
State of Play Games app icon 2
State of Play Games app icon 3
State of Play Games app icon 4

State of Play Games

(50.8K)

Creating tactile, handcrafted puzzle experiences that blend physical artistry with digital gameplay for a meditative user experience.

Portfolio

9

Apps

Free 6Paid 2
Games88%
Stickers13%

Who is State of Play Games?

State of Play Games has carved out a distinct market position by utilizing a 'physical-first' design philosophy, constructing game worlds from real-world materials like paper, cardboard, and miniature motors. This labor-intensive production process serves as a significant moat, creating a tactile aesthetic that is difficult for competitors to replicate through standard CGI. While the studio has successfully transitioned its minimalist logic mechanics into the free-to-play space with KAMI 2, they maintain a strategic commitment to high-quality premium titles that prioritize artistic longevity over rapid-fire release cycles.

Who is State of Play Games for?

  • Aesthetic-focused casual gamers
  • Indie enthusiasts who value tactile design
  • Minimalist logic challenges
  • Ad-free experiences
Maintenance

Portfolio momentum

The studio is currently in a maintenance phase, with 1 release in the last 6 months and 5 out of 9 total apps currently classified as abandoned.

Last release · 167d agoActive apps · 3Abandoned · 5

What do users think recently?

Medium confidence · 17 reviews analyzed

How did the latest release land?

Overall
4.9/ 5
(32)
Current version
4.9/ 5
0.0 vs overall
(32)
Main signal post-update: educational Content.

What is the recent mood?

Excited

Recent user voice shows a excited sentiment. Users appreciate educational content and artistic quality, but report app crashes and stability.

Limited review volume (17 reviews). Sentiment analysis will deepen as more data lands.

What is the competitive landscape for The Making of Lumino City?

How's The Reference Market?

Market outlook for this category

Available very soon

The rivals identified

The Nemesis

  1. -

    Users are happier — sentiment 75/100 vs 65

  2. -

    Impossible Architecture Manipulation

  3. -

    Forgotten Shores Expansion

Contenders

Panel-based Puzzle Mechanics

Hand-drawn Narrative

Old Man's Journey

Old Man's Journey

4.2 (6.4K)

Broken Rules

🚀

A narrative-driven puzzle game with a strong emphasis on visual art and emotional storytelling, targeting the same audience that values 'coffee table' game experiences.

Machinarium

Machinarium

4.3 (27.1K)

Amanita Design s.r.o.

🔧

A classic hand-drawn puzzle adventure that serves as a benchmark for artistic indie games, competing for users who prioritize visual atmosphere.

Peers

Stylized Top-Down Racing

Authentic Rally Physics

Behind the Frame

Behind the Frame

Akatsuki Taiwan Inc.

An interactive, art-focused narrative experience that functions as a digital canvas, overlapping with the 'making-of' and artistic appreciation audience.

Florence

Florence

4.6 (8.8K)

Annapurna Interactive

🔧

A short, premium, art-heavy interactive experience that is often categorized alongside Lumino City in 'best-of' lists for artistic mobile games.

The Gardens Between

The Gardens Between

4.8 (3.7K)

THE VOXEL AGENTS PTY. LTD.

A puzzle-adventure game that emphasizes surreal, handcrafted environments and atmospheric storytelling.

New Kids on the Block

Paper Trail NETFLIX

Paper Trail NETFLIX

4.7 (9.8K)

Netflix, Inc.

💀

A recent, highly-acclaimed puzzle game that uses a paper-folding mechanic, directly challenging the 'handmade' aesthetic niche.

Merge Islanders: Tropical Town

Merge Islanders: Tropical Town

4.6 (34.5K)

MYAPPFREE S.R.L.

A minimalist, visually-driven building game that appeals to the same audience looking for relaxing, high-quality, and aesthetically pleasing interactive experiences.

The outtake for The Making of Lumino City

Strengths to defend, gaps to attack

Core Strengths

  • Unique, high-quality artistic content
  • Strong brand association with award-winning title
  • Seamless cross-app integration

Critical Frictions

  • Critical technical stability issues (crashes)
  • Lack of recent content updates
  • Niche audience appeal

Growth Levers

  • Expansion into a broader 'Art of Indie Games' platform
  • Cross-promotion with other indie titles
  • Leveraging the 'making-of' format for future games

Market Threats

  • Rising competition from high-fidelity, art-first mobile games
  • OS updates potentially breaking legacy code
  • Declining interest in static content

Key Takeaways

The Making of Lumino City is a well-regarded reference app that is completely free. With a 4.9/5 rating from 32 reviews, it maintains solid user satisfaction. Users particularly appreciate educational content, though app crashes and stability remains a common concern.

Where Is It Heading?

Trend analysis

Available very soon

Disclosure

Independent intel to help builders create better apps.

AI-powered analysis with editorial review, built from publicly available sources. See methodology.

Marlvel.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by The Making of Lumino City, its developer, the app publisher, Apple, or Google Play. All trademarks, logos, and screenshots referenced remain the property of their respective owners.

Hope this helps & keep building! · Found an error?

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Cite this report

Marlvel.ai. “The Making of Lumino City Intelligence Report.” Updated Apr 18, 2026. https://marlvel.ai/intel-report/reference/the-making-of-lumino-city

Agent Markdown (.md)·

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