How Saga Adventures make Candy Crush a "living, breathing universe"

• Crush & Tell's second episode features Candy Crush software engineer Tobi Ibikunle, who highlights Saga Adventures' role in building a narrative.
• We take a deeper dive with Ibikunle into the creation process and integrating Saga Adventures.

King’s new vodcast-style series Crush & Tell debuts its second episode today, this time with a focus on Candy Crush’s story-driven Saga Adventures.

In said episode, software engineer Tobi Ibikunle highlights elements of the design process like starting with levels and building Saga Adventures from them, adding a layer of story beyond the match-3 puzzles.

The episode marks the next step in King’s six-part Crush & Tell series, meant to celebrate the people behind Candy Crush and answer some of the community’s long-wondered questions. The first episode of Crush & Tell premiered in late October.

Now, as the second episode launches, we speak with Ibikunle to gain more insight into the design journey of Saga Adventures from ideation and prototyping technical elements to building flexible systems, and ultimately bringing them to life.

Ibikunle shares that the original concept of Saga Adventures came from one key question: how to make Candy Crush’s world "feel more alive".

"The team wanted players to feel like they were moving through a living, breathing universe rather than just numbered levels," he expands.

"We began experimenting with small, themed events, and the feedback was great. That evolved into fully developed stories - what we now call Saga Adventures - that tie into our seasonal events or special campaigns."

Gearing up for an Adventure

Saga Adventures are limited-time experiences within Candy Crush Saga that place a greater emphasis on narrative and story than its levels do alone. At the same time, Adventures are intrinsically tied to those levels, marrying story and gameplay, so that players explore a cohesive theme and narrative as they progress.

"Each Adventure ties a story to the gameplay, so players aren’t just progressing through puzzles - they’re part of a themed journey, whether that’s exploring a volcano, meeting quirky characters, or in our latest case, creating their own music," says Ibikunle.

"The story unfolds as players complete levels. With 60 levels to conquer and four key milestones along the way, each one unlocks a new part of the Adventure. As players progress, the Saga map evolves, new visuals appear, environments shift, and subtle details across the UI change to match the story’s tone."

Ibikunle calls this a "seamless" experience, and one that aims to give players a sense of actively shaping the story as they progress.

Achieving this requires King’s various Candy Crush teams to collaborate "very closely", with early brainstorming sessions providing an opportunity for artists to pitch visual ideas, sound designers to bring mood concepts, and engineers like Ibikunle to ground the conversation in what’s technically possible to implement.

"Everyone contributes," Ibikunle says.

The process is a mix of "creative instinct and timing", with anyone able to pitch a theme. By looking at Candy Crush’s live events calendar, they can determine if the mood of a particular in-game season fits a proposed idea. There’s also a balance of bigger Adventures and more playful Adventures, to keep experiences varied for players.

Ibikunle notes that once a theme is locked in, prototyping technical elements such as new animations, transitions, and interactions comes first. These are tested in isolation before being combined with art and sound.

During production the teams continue to "sync regularly to make sure the experience feels cohesive".

"Then comes integration. That’s where we make everything work seamlessly on the map and across devices. Finally, we go through multiple rounds of QA to make sure performance and pacing are spot-on. It’s a pretty involved process, but super satisfying when it all clicks."

Design influences and "emotional energy"

The new Crush & Tell episode reveals there is a level-first approach to Saga Adventures, meaning once an idea forms of how a puzzle will look, the Saga map is designed to fit.

The levels might dictate where tension builds in the story, for example, as an especially challenging puzzle might be reflected in a major beat near the end of a Saga Adventure.

We ask Ibikunle for more clarification on the influence of levels on the story, and he explains: "Level-first doesn’t mean the level creates the story, but it does shape the tone. For example, if we’re working with a series of levels that introduce a new mechanic - say, something fast or unpredictable - that could inspire a chaotic theme like an alien invasion.

"On the flip side, if the difficulty spikes, we might reflect that in the story by making it a big dramatic moment or a ‘boss’ chapter. It’s about matching emotional energy.

"If a section of levels has a faster pace or a tougher difficulty curve, the narrative might lean into themes of adventure or chaos. The map then brings that to life visually, so the gameplay feels like part of the story’s emotional beat."

Ibikunle’s favourite Adventure so far is Petal Peril, which he discusses in the episode. He notes in our interview that its design was "stunning", praising the artists for making "the best-looking Adventure we’ve created so far".

Candy Crush’s latest Saga Adventure takes a more sound-based approach, with the Music Season currently in progress. This required engineers to collaborate even more closely with audio and music teams than usual, as composers and sound designers helped to ensure every sound interaction feels rewarding.

Ibikunle notes that the idea for this Adventure was sparked from the "rhythm" of Candy Crush gameplay.

"Matching Candies already feels musical in a way. We thought: what if we could make that literal? So we built an Adventure where players can create their own tracks through gameplay progress."

The Adventure continues

"Each Adventure has its own quirks," Ibikunle says. "Early on, things like loading large themed assets or syncing story triggers across levels were tough. Over time, we’ve built more flexible systems, so now we can plug in new themes or mechanics without reinventing the wheel."

This means the team has become more able to focus on creativity and polish rather than rebuilding the tech for each Saga Adventure, which Ibikunle calls a "big win". Overall, he feels Saga Adventures showcase the possibilities when art, sound, design, and engineering come together with a shared vision.

"From a developer’s perspective, it’s exciting to keep pushing what Candy Crush can be after all these years. We’re still finding new ways to surprise players, and that’s what makes working on this game so fun."