Independent mobile studio

SoftGrove Games

Independent mobile studio behind Petalpop and Matchjong Gardens.

Role
Founder · Product and software engineering
Period
2026–present
Stack
Mobile products · iOS · Android · App Store · Google Play

https://www.softgrovegames.com/

SoftGrove Games is my independent mobile game studio and the publishing home for Petalpop and Matchjong Gardens. I created it to take mobile products through the complete lifecycle: concept, engineering, release, and continued operation.

The work covered the complete product lifecycle rather than a single part of the application:

  • Shared product and publishing decisions across two distinct games
  • App Store and Google Play release pipelines, metadata, localisation, and review requirements
  • Monetisation, consent, leaderboards, store integrations, and release operations
  • Product identity, screenshots, websites, support, and post-launch updates

Both games are maintained products rather than one-off prototypes. The studio work brings together mobile product design, engineering, release operations, monetisation, localisation, and the less visible work required to keep applications available on two stores.

Released products

  • Petalpop: a cluster-pop puzzle game with campaign, daily, endless, and zen modes
  • Matchjong Gardens: a Mahjong-inspired match-3 game with 10,000 campaign levels and 44-language localisation

Matchjong Gardens
Matchjong Gardens

Mihnea Ionita 2026 · Software Engineer