Paths

Gameplay on Melon King follows progression through branching Paths.

Each path has a different theme, and upgrades themed around the path that the kingdom is following. Unique mechanics and locations will be slowly introduced as the kingdom progresses through a path, which will be essential to reaching the path's final upgrade and winning.

Urban Path
The Urban path is the first path introduced to Melon King, and the only one available until v2.0 was released.

This path is one of the simplest ones, focusing on simply improving and expanding upon the town and its buildings, with upgrades focused on melon farming, gold production, coin gain, and kingdom defense.

To follow this path, the following upgrades must be bought:

Upgrade City → The Button → Floating Islands → Grand Finale

Religion Path
The Religion path introduces a new mechanic, called Appeasement, and is themed around appeasing the Melon Gods and gaining rewards from doing so.

Allowing appeasement to drop will cause negative effects on the kingdom. To appease the gods, citizens must periodically offer up gold and melons to them, slightly increasing the appeasement bar.

Every once in a while, the gods might bestow a blessing upon the kingdom based on the average appeasement level, which might reward the kingdom with coins, and gold if the appropriate upgrade is unlocked.

To follow this path, the following upgrades must be bought:

To the Victor Goes the Spoils → Unconfined Existence → Another Dimension → The Greater Good

Science Path
The Science path is a branch-off from the Urban path, in which the town undertakes a scientific revolution, unlocking the ability to perform research and purchase upgrades using research.

After Research is unlocked, a research station will be built near the Town center. Performing research by doing the required tasks and giving the required funding will provide research points of one of three types (determined in the Science Bunker). These unlock thematic upgrades for the town.

To follow this path, the following upgrades must be bought:

Upgrade City → What we Know to be True → Scientific Method (Unlocks Research) → To Infinity and Beyond → Core Overload

Underground Path
The Underground path unlocks a new region of the map, located underneath the town, and accessed through a newly formed hole in front of the Shop. This path focuses on the town gaining significantly more freedom, and making most upgrades purchasable only with Bank gold.

The first upgrade, located by going slightly beyond the Black Market entrance, is purchasable and unlocks the hole, which currently only contains a few upgrades.

Once begun, the Underground path has a salesman, who gives a lot more gold, but no coins to the king. He can be upgraded using "Lucky Day", an upgrade that costs 50 bank gold, and increases the gold given by the salesman by one. The salesman is also affected by Better Return Rates and Guaranteed Returns, both of which are later in the run.

Inside the Underground are Walls, which the players need to break in order to progress. The Walls can be broken by throwing grenades at them. There are two Walls in the Underground. The first is after the "Upgrade Town (South)" upgrade, in the first area of the underground. The Second is after the Upgrade Town (East, in the area after the first wall).

The Underground Path ends in the Raid, which is a five-wave attack against the pumpkin kingdom. Players must attack the pumpkin kingdom, killing all enemies inside. The King can also enter the Raid, but if he dies, the run is lost. Every Wave is split into several "Sub-Waves", which means that all the enemies of the wave don't spawn all at once. However, every Wave has different enemies. The Final Wave has the Pumpkin King, who releases powerful attacks while you attempt to kill the citizens of the pumpkin kingdom. Once all the citizens of the Pumpkin Kingdom have been killed, the Run is won.

To follow this path, the following upgrades have to be bought:

Underground Society → Upgrade Town (South) → Upgrade Town (North, after the first wall) → Upgrade Town (East, after the previous upgrade) → Start Raid

(Disclaimer regarding the titles of the "Upgrade Town" Upgrades: There are several "Upgrade Town" Upgrades. The brackets describe the locations of these upgrades.)

Event Path
The Event Path is a Path which can be bought in the castle, but only during certain timeframes. In order to be timezone-friendly, there are two timeframes, but the timeframes take turns, switching every day.

Day 1 → Timeframe 1, Day 2 → Timeframe 2, Day 3 → Timeframe 1

Once the Event Path has been bought, a 30-minute Timer activates, and a new area unlocks. Inside the new area, there is a very big melon farm, as well as eight "stations", where games can be bought. Farming inside this Event Melon Farm allows Tokens to be collected. Tokens are used to buy Games. The cost of buying a game increases by 100 tokens every time a game is bought. The cost begins at 100 tokens.

If a game has been bought, the Players can play that game as much as they want to. Playing Games rewards the players with tickets, usable at the Farm Merchant, as well as civics points, which are used to get medals. Playing Games also generates Tokens. The amount of Ticket, Civics Points, and Token Gain is based on how well the player plays the selected game.

Once the 30-Minute timer expires, if all games are bought, the run has been won. The players receive their normal rewards as usual, but in addition, the players also receive an enchantment crystal, which is Tier 2, 3 or 4.