Among the PGC London talks today, King senior UX writer Greta Septinia took to the stage to talk Candy Crush Saga and the importance of UX writing as a design discipline, and as a part of the game-making process that focuses on crafting clear and actionable microcopy that’s able to guide users through game experiences.

After all, text to accompany call-to-action buttons is in most cases essential to informing players of what to do. "As a UX writer, what I do is actually the content design. It’s a design process. 20% writing copy and 80% everything else - content strategy, information architecture, benchmarking, content style guide, accessibility, user research, AB testing…"

The power of words

"Words are very powerful," Septinia continued. "With AB testing you can test different copy to see what leads to the most conversion. We also send out a prototype with final UX flow and copy to players and it’s basically usability testing.

"Think about your audience. They may not understand hardcore gamer terminology, so don’t use jargon unless your users will know what it means. Keep it clear, concise, actionable and human. As a designer, think about designing exclusive content and writing in plain language."

Given King’s scale, naturally Candy Crush’s UX writing reaches beyond just the English-speaking world, and Septinia highlighted her focus on "localisation not translation", and the value of going beyond changing the language of UX elements, to actually tap into the nuance and culture of a region.

There’s a lot more still to discover from PGC London 2024. Find out more about what's on and how you can be part of it here.