Competitive or casual? Designing Candy Crush with "a spectrum of flavours"

• Crush & Tell's fifth episode features Candy Crush senior game designer Mick Heijkens, who talks about the "spectrum of flavours" available in-game.
• We discuss navigating new content that engages casual and competitive players alike.

Long-running puzzle giant Candy Crush is approaching 14 years since its debut on Google Play and the App Store.

Surviving and succeeding for so many years, navigating tech advancements, the fast-evolving mobile games landscape, and the tumultuous aftermath of the pandemic, evidently Candy Crush’s gameplay continues to resonate with players.

It’s a game with more than 20,000 levels to date, and has expanded to include multiple new player motivations like narrative-driven Saga Adventures and collectible pins.

To learn more about Candy Crush’s design philosophy, system revamps, and striking the perfect balance between challenge and reward, we speak with senior game designer Mick Heijkens.

"Long-term engagement in Candy Crush comes from layered systems that give players clear goals beyond individual sessions," he says. "Several of our features turn moment-to-moment play into visible progress, while our live operations team keeps those systems evolving over time.

"Player choice and flexibility help support different motivations, ensuring the experience stays rewarding as players progress through the Saga Map."

Flavours of fun

Heijkens appeared on today’s episode of Crush & Tell, King’s vodcast-style series putting the game’s creators in the spotlight. In this fifth instalment, Heijkens spoke of the "spectrum of flavours" available in Candy Crush, aiming to make the game as fun as possible for all kinds of players.

He notes that some players enjoy the accomplishment of overcoming a challenge, while others come to the match-3 veteran looking for a calm, relaxing experience. But this isn’t a fixed, rigid divide.

"When I talk about fun as a spectrum of flavours, the underlying principle is that player motivation is fluid and changes over time, rather than fitting neatly into fixed categories," he shares.

Therefore, a large part of Heijkens’ role at King is ensuring fun is preserved across that spectrum, regardless of why a player chooses to engage with the game.

"Instead of designing strictly for competitive or casual players, we focus on creating systems that can support these different motivations within the same experience. Meta features and live ops give us the flexibility to create variety without fragmenting the core game, allowing players to engage in ways that feel fun, relevant, and right for them at that moment."

Heijkens adds that many players, both casual and competitive, keep pace with the latest updates and levels. This means game design isn’t as simple as creating harder levels today, or assuming anyone who’s beaten 20,000 levels must enjoy high difficulty.

"It often surprises people how many players we actually have at the end of currently available content, and they represent a wide mix of playstyles rather than a single type of player," he explains.

"Because of that diversity, the experience isn’t designed exclusively for one group, and we continuously monitor how players engage, adjusting where needed to ensure it remains enjoyable, approachable, and engaging for all types of players."

Candy Crush’s teams also aim to shape how challenge is perceived, preserving a sense of enjoyment even through difficult levels. There’s a careful balance to be struck to make players’ efforts feel meaningful over time.

"As players progress, their motivations change, from learning and confidence early on in the game, to mastery and long-term goals later, so the balance naturally evolves alongside that shift," Heijkens explains.

"At its core, this balance exists to protect the fun of the experience, ensuring challenge feels motivating, and that progression continues to feel rewarding throughout a player’s journey."

Systems, streaks, and experimentation

Heijkens has over 10 years of experience in game development, the past six of which have been spent at King. During his time with the company he’s been leading design work on meta features and system designs, involved from the concept stage, to launch, and beyond.

Some examples include a visual update to the Saga Map, the introduction of Candy Royale, and revamping Build a Bot into Win Streak.

Heijkens explains that the Saga Map, for example, underwent a visual update in 2022 to improve readability, easier to navigate with features surfacing on the map when relevant. At the same time, the change aimed to make the in-game environment feel "more alive".

Candy Royale, meanwhile, started out as an exploration of how a battle royale mode could work in Candy Crush. Heijkens recalls how the genre was ultimately reimagined in a Candy Crush setting, adding a new competitive elimination layer to the game whilst maintaining accessibility. Again, this had to be implemented in a way fitting with Candy Crush’s casual side.

"Candy Royale is a feature that I’m particularly proud of," he shares.

"To the best of my knowledge, Candy Royale was one of the first win-streak based competitive elimination features in the casual mobile space, and it has since become a widely recognised and adopted format across casual mobile games. Exploring new design territory and turning bold ideas into features players genuinely enjoy is a big part of what motivates me as a game designer."

Win Streak, meanwhile, is a visual and systemic revamp of the old Build a Bot feature. Heijkens helped shape it from initial concept to launch, with the goal to deliver clearer, more immediate rewards for winning consecutive levels - forming a relationship between wins and booster placements on the board.

Heijkens notes how positive player feedback was to Win Streak, and how it paved the way for even more new features and improvements that have since been built upon it. He says: "To this day it remains a core part of the Candy Crush Saga experience."

The process of making any new feature typically begins with "identifying a clear player need or opportunity". Design intent and success criteria are laid out, then iteration can begin until a feature is safe to launch.

"A key focus throughout is ensuring that features fit into the wider game ecosystem and can be built upon over time," says Heijkens.

Feedback and the future

Candy Crush’s match-3 levels themselves also evolve during the design process. Heijkens shares how a concept may come together quickly but take a longer time to balance, test, and iterate upon. From idea to release, a level can take anywhere from days to several weeks.

We ask about one type of level that has been phased out over the years: timed levels. Heijkens explains that the end of timed levels was a conscious decision in response to observing player behaviour and listening to their feedback.

"The design evolved toward challenges that feel more relaxed, approachable, and enjoyable, while still remaining engaging," he reasons, noting how Candy Crush’s position in the market has become one of calm and relaxation.

"We learned over time that strict time constraints during the core match-3 gameplay moments did not consistently align with that experience, and from an accessibility perspective, not all players are equally able to react or respond at the same speed."

Evidently, player feedback does impact Candy Crush’s game design. Heijkens calls it "crucial" input, a key role in understanding whether a new experience has landed as intended. Feedback is monitored not only to see what players are doing in-game, but to see how they feel about it.

"As a result, the majority of meta features and systems evolve over time, often through adjustments to pacing, progression, or presentation, to better align with player expectations. In a live game like Candy Crush, this continuous feedback loop is essential to maintaining a fun experience over time."

Heijkens concludes that "strong game design is never static". Evolution through live ops is a must, with clarity, approachability, and accessibility all essential considerations.

And, as that evolution continues into 2026, he teases: "Our team is deep into designing something new, with details firmly under wraps, but let’s just say we’ve got it ‘pinned’ and can’t wait to see how players interact and connect with it."

In our last Candy Crush interview, we spoke with UX designer Andrea Serfaty about the "deceptively complex" world of boosters.

Representatives from King will be attending Pocket Gamer Connects London on January 19th and 20th. Connect with them and thousands of industry professionals at the show.