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Designing Icons for a Match-3 game

Introduction

Designing icons for a Match-3 game requires consistency in style and proportions across all assets. 

Manually creating each icon can be time-consuming, especially when generating multiple variations in different colors and styles. Scenario simplifies this process, allowing you to quickly generate high-quality icons that fit seamlessly into your game.

This guide walks through the step-by-step workflow for creating a complete icon pack.

Step 1: Choose a Platform Model or Train Your Own

To start, go to the Scenario model gallery and either:

  • Use a Pre-Trained Platform Mode

  • Train Your Own Model: If you need unique or highly stylized icons, consider training a custom model with a dataset of your preferred designs.

Using a pre-trained model is the fastest approach, while a custom model allows for more control and personalization.

In this workflow we recommend the Colorful Digital Icons or the Juicy Icons model which can be found under Platform Models in the model gallery. You can also directly access the model via this link.

Step 2: Define the Shape of Your Icons

To ensure structural consistency, you need to define the shape of your icons. There are two ways to do this:

Option 1: Sketch Your Own Reference Image (Image-to-Image Mode)

  1. Use Scenario’s Sketch Tool to draw a rough outline of your desired icon shape.

  2. Set Image-to-Image influence between 10–25 to keep the shape defined while allowing for artistic flexibility.

  3. Update your prompt to specify the icon’s color or any other distinguishing features. For example: “three diamond-shaped gemstones, three round, and three square, sparkling under soft light in blue, purple, and green hues.”

This method gives you full control over the form and structure of your icons, making it ideal for custom shapes.

Option 2: Upload a Reference Image and Use ControlNet

  1. Upload a shape of the icon as a Reference Image.

  2. Set ControlNet mode to "Depth" 

  3. Adjust the influence slider to around 75 to maintain a strong shape definition while allowing slight variations.

Using ControlNet ensures precision, making it a great option when working with structured or geometric designs.

Step 3: Generate and Enhance the Best Outputs

Once your reference shape and prompt are set, click Generate and review the outputs. 

For variety, you can swap the reference shape and adjust the color prompt to create a full icon set.

If some outputs look too rough or lose detail, apply Scenario Enhance to refine resolution and polish the image.

Step 4: Remove Background & Export

Before exporting, remove any unwanted backgrounds to make the icons game-ready:

  1. Go to your generated image and select Remove Background.

  2. Keep a transparent background for direct use in your game, or apply a solid color if needed.

  3. Save the final assets.

For a fully polished pack, repeat these steps to generate different shapes and color variations.

Final Thoughts

Scenario streamlines Match-3 icon creation, allowing you to generate a full set quickly and efficiently. Whether you’re working with a pre-trained model or refining custom designs with Image-to-Image and ControlNet, this workflow gives you the control needed to create consistent, high-quality assets for your game.

Access This Workflow Via API

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