The Challenge
Competitors like Royal Match had modernized the match-3 genre with direct-activation mechanics — tap or swipe to trigger specials yourself. Quantum was Candy Crush's answer: introduce tap-to-activate and swipe-to-activate, add mechanics like the cross-shaped Fish activation, and give players control over their board.
Simple on paper. Enormous in practice.
Constraints
Legacy codebase
12+ years of technical debt meant every interaction change had cascading implications across systems.
Scale
Any failure in comprehension would impact 200M+ MAU, with ~1M new players daily.
Entrenched mental models
Players had internalized "create special → it activates on its own" over thousands of sessions.
Player diversity
From first-time casual players to decade-long veterans at end-of-content, each cohort would experience this shift differently.
Platform considerations
Touch (mobile) and click (desktop) interactions needed distinct consideration.
My Role & Scope
As the sole UX designer on Quantum, I owned the end-to-end player adoption experience. I worked cross-functionally daily with Product Management, Game Design, Engineering, Art Direction, and UX Research.
Interactive sandbox tutorial
Tap & swipe hint system
Tutorialized loading screens
Saga map reference tab
Countdown marketing
Hint reactivation strategy
Internal testing program design
UX Research specification
Accessibility review
Design Process
Reframing the Problem: Adoption, Not Just Onboarding
Early project thinking centered on "how do we teach tap and swipe?" I reframed this into a broader adoption question: how do we create a layered system that meets players at different points in their journey and reinforces the new behavior over time?
This led to a multi-touchpoint adoption framework rather than a single tutorial:
1
Tutorial
Active learning
2
Hints
Contextual nudging
3
Loading screens
Ambient exposure
4
Saga map
On-demand recall
5
Reactivation
Long-term adoption
1
Tutorial
Active learning
2
Hints
Contextual nudging
3
Loading screens
Ambient exposure
4
Saga map
On-demand recall
5
Reactivation
Long-term adoption
Interactive Sandbox Tutorial
The legacy approach relied on a 3-step, text-heavy instructional overlay. For a mechanic as fundamental as changing how specials work, telling players wasn't enough — they needed to feel it.
I designed a playable sandbox environment where players create and activate specials in a low-stakes setting. Rather than reading "tap the special to activate it," players physically perform the action and experience the satisfying VFX feedback loop.
Key design decisions
Minimal text doctrine
I established a principle of reducing instructional text to the absolute minimum. The sandbox guides through constrained interaction — the only thing you can do is the right thing.
Breaking the 3-step paradigm
This was the first interactive tutorial at Candy Crush to move beyond text-reliant instruction, setting a new precedent for how the game teaches mechanics.
Progressive disclosure
The tutorial introduces tap first (simpler mental model), then swipe (requires directionality understanding), rather than presenting both simultaneously.
Validation: Internal playtesting feedback confirmed the tutorial was rated "intuitive and clear," with players naturally performing tap and swipe actions after completing it.
Tap & Swipe Hint System
Even after a tutorial, players revert to old habits. Especially in a game where matching is automatic and passive activation has been the norm for years, players needed contextual reminders during actual gameplay.
I designed an evolution of Candy Crush's existing hint system that surfaces tap and swipe prompts when the game detects a player has a special on the board but isn't activating it directly.
Key design decisions
Non-disruptive integration
The hints feel like a natural extension of the existing system. I designed them to use familiar visual language while introducing the new interaction affordance.
Difficulty preservation
A critical constraint — adding activation hints couldn't inadvertently make levels easier. I collaborated closely with Game Design to ensure hints guided how to interact without revealing optimal strategy.
Frequency falloff
Hints appear more aggressively in early sessions and taper off as behavioral data suggests the player has adopted the new mechanic.
Reactivation strategy
If analytics detect a player reverting to passive behavior after an extended period, the hint system re-engages — ensuring adoption isn't just a first-week phenomenon.
Tutorialized Loading Screens
Candy Crush had never used loading screens as a communication surface. I identified this as untapped real estate for ambient learning — a moment where players are already waiting and cognitively available.
I designed loading screens that reinforce Quantum mechanics through visual demonstration, timed to appear at strategic points in progression (D3, D4, D30) to coincide with key adoption milestones.
Impact: Early testing showed retention lifts at D3/D4/D30, DAU increases, and combo match uplifts attributed to improved mechanic comprehension.
Saga Map Reference & Countdown Marketing
Saga map tab: A persistent, player-initiated reference point accessible from the main navigation. For players who dismiss or forget the tutorial, this serves as an always-available "how does this work again?" surface. Designed to be discoverable but not intrusive.
Countdown marketing: A pre-launch awareness campaign counting down the days until the "new way to play" arrives. This served dual purposes: building anticipation and priming players that a significant change was coming, reducing the shock of encountering unfamiliar mechanics.
The Directional Debate
One of the most contentious design decisions in Quantum was whether swipe activation should be one-directional (swipe determines the direction the special fires) or bi-directional (special fires in both directions regardless of swipe direction). This debate split the organization.
One-directional
Swipe direction determines which way the special fires.
Bi-directional
Special fires both ways regardless of swipe direction.
I contributed to alignment in several ways:
Renamed the terminology
The original framing was "no indirect activation" vs. "indirect activation" — a confusing double negative. I reframed it as "one-directional" and "bi-directional activation," which was adopted org-wide and immediately improved the quality of discussion.
Created demonstration videos
I produced video walkthroughs showing the gameplay difference between both modes, enabling stakeholders across King to form informed opinions.
Designed the A/B test framework
I worked with UX Research to structure a test plan that would let player behavior data resolve the debate rather than internal opinion.
Research Leadership
Beyond designing the experience, I led the UX Research strategy for Quantum.
Research Specification
I authored a comprehensive research spec covering 10 distinct player cohorts:
Cohort | Research Focus |
|---|---|
New players (FTUE) | First-time comprehension |
Non-Candy new players | Onboarding without match-3 mental models |
Match-3 players (Royal Match/Royal Kingdom) | Competitive comparison |
Early progression | Learning curve |
Mid progression | Sustained adoption |
Casual players | Accessibility |
Lapsed players | Re-engagement perception |
Experienced players | Legacy mechanic adaptation |
End-of-content / Elite | Advanced strategy impact |
Desktop players | Platform-specific patterns |
Key Research Questions
Do players prefer tapping or swiping? (Self-reported vs. actual behavioral data)
Is the interactive tutorial alone sufficient, or are hints required?
How does gameplay speed perception change with direct activation?
Do players notice the permanent visual changes to specials?
Is there awareness of concurrent matching, and does it matter to them?
Playtest Program Design
I designed and led a structured 3.5-week Slack-based playtest program with internal participants:
Onboarding & first impressions
Play non-Quantum first, then migrate.
Core mechanics deep-dive
Tap/swipe preference, specials, VFX.
Gameplay feel
Speed, directionality, difficulty perception.
Roundup interviews and final survey
The program included weekly longitudinal surveys tracking individual participants' evolving perceptions, focus groups segmented by interaction preference (tappers vs. swipers), and think-aloud usability sessions via PlaytestCloud.
Internal Feedback Synthesis
I owned the synthesis of all internal testing feedback flowing through the #ccs_quantum_public Slack channel and Google Sheets feedback forms — aggregating and categorizing feedback themes, initiating discussion threads on contentious topics, translating qualitative signal into actionable design recommendations, and regular reporting to the cross-functional team.
Accessibility
I proactively reached out to King's accessibility team ("Gators") to review Quantum mechanics before launch, covering:
Tap-to-activate mechanic accessibility
Swipe mechanic and motor requirements
One-directional vs. bi-directional activation implications for players with limited dexterity
New VFX readability and visual changes to specials
Interactive tutorial format accessibility
Outcomes & Impact
Validated Through Testing
Interactive tutorial
Rated "intuitive and clear" by internal testers — players naturally performed tap and swipe actions after completing it.
Tap & swipe hints
Positive reception — players understood and adopted the new interaction.
Loading screen tutorials
Retention lifts at D3/D4/D30, DAU increases, and combo match uplifts from improved mechanic comprehension.
Terminology reframe
"One-directional / bi-directional" adopted org-wide, immediately improving cross-functional communication quality.
Design System Contributions
Established "minimal text doctrine" as a design principle for future tutorials
Created the first interactive tutorial to break the legacy 3-step text-reliant paradigm
Introduced tutorialized loading screens as a new communication surface — a first in Candy Crush history
Set a new research methodology precedent with the structured Slack playtest program
Concurrent Workstreams
During Quantum, I simultaneously owned UX for:
Booster Bar redesign — shipping concurrently
HUD refresh — shipping concurrently
In-Game Booster conversion flow — designing the UX for replacing legacy boosters (Free Switch, Paintbrush) with new boosters (Verticola, Boxing Glove), including inventory conversion, onboarding, and rollback narratives
Reflection
Quantum taught me that the hardest UX problems aren't about teaching a new interaction — they're about respectfully evolving deeply ingrained behavior at massive scale. Every design decision carried the weight of hundreds of millions of players who had built years of muscle memory.
The multi-touchpoint adoption framework I developed — layering active learning, contextual reinforcement, ambient exposure, and on-demand reference — is a pattern I believe applies far beyond gaming, to any product facing the challenge of introducing fundamental interaction changes to an established user base.
This case study represents work that was in active development and testing. Specific quantitative outcomes from external launch are pending.