End of Content
A new badging & rewards initiative targeting elite players who have reached end-game content, aiming to re-engage high-value players who have completed most of the 16,000+ game levels.
Timeline
Q4 2023
Role
UX Designer
Game Area
Core Gameplay
My Contributions
Product Design
Wireframes & Prototyping
User Research Synthesis
Business Case Development
Stakeholder Management
Overview
End of Content in a nutshell
End of content (EOC) is when players complete all available game levels, shifting their focus to mastery and high-level competitive features.
Player archetypes
Who are End of Content players?
Completionists
Players who pursue 100% game mastery through achievements and collections
VIP
Players who invest heavily for exclusive content and fast.er progress
Competitors
Competitors who focus on leaderboards and PvP matches to prove their skill.
Progression segmentation
Distribution of Candy Crush Saga Players
Early
70M
FTUE
Mid (5000)
7.7M
Late
2.2M
9.8% comprise the Player Pool
$GB
~20%
Late
3K
0.07% of Player Base
$GB
~0.7%
EOC
8K
0.08% of Player Base
$GB
~1.1%
At only 0.08% of players (8K), EOC users generate 1.1% of revenue through high engagement and spending in Candy Crush Saga, making them a vital segment for the game's success.
Why are End of Content (EOC) Players are so significant?
Most Loyal
Most Valuable
Most Engaged
Highest Spenders
User Research
Key Insights from interviewing players at End of Content
1
Invested yet critical and not willing to keep playing at all costs.
2
Options after completing the levels not appealing enough.
3
Upsetting in-game celebration.
4
Lack of awareness about being close to EOC.
5
Motivations to reach EOC decrease over time.
6
Reaching EOC is a bittersweet moment, a good place to quit
The Problem
Payer health at the End of Content (EOC) has been declining, with return rates dropping since late 2022.
Lack of Recognition
Milestone levels are not celebrated enough
Current level 10K milestone celebration is just a basic banner - underwhelming for an achievement that requires years of dedicated gameplay.
Lengthy progression
Milestone Banners take too long to unlock
Large time gaps between milestone Goals (every 10K) means that there isn't enough short term motivation to play
The Opportunity
A two-pronged approach
1
Introduce more exciting milestone celebrations, celebrations, frames & badges
2
Introduce short to mid-term recognition and motivators at EOC for sustained retention
Concept Development
Discovery Methodologies
To identify and prioritize opportunities for improving the EOC player experience, we used a mix of creative and analytical methodologies:
8
Crazy 8
A rapid ideation exercise where participants sketch 8 ideas in 8 minutes. This encourages quick, creative thinking without overanalyzing.
'Once Upon a Time' Method
A storytelling framework for pitching ideas as narratives with a clear beginning, middle, and end, making them engaging and relatable.
Opportunity Tree
A visual tool for mapping potential business opportunities and their sub-branches, helping identify and prioritize strategic paths.
One Pager Concepts
A concise document format capturing the key elements of a business idea or proposal on one page for quick understanding.
RICE Scoring framework
Reach
Measures how many people will be affected by the initiative or solution within a specific timeframe.
Impact
Gauges the degree to which the initiative benefits or influences each individual it reaches.
Confidence
Reflects the degree of certainty about the estimates for Reach, Impact, and Effort
Effort
Represents the total resources required to implement the initiative, measured in team weeks or another consistent unit
Ideation
One Pagers & Concepts
Consolidated workshop ideas into one-pagers, summarizing features, low-fi concepts, purpose, and impact for clear stakeholder communication. Here are some of the proposals.
Does Candy Crush ever conclude?
What happens at the end of the Saga Map?
Consolidated workshop ideas into one-pagers, summarizing features, low-fi concepts, purpose, and impact for clear stakeholder communication. Here are some of the proposals.
Exclusive for EOC Players
VIP Section on Saga Map
VIP is locked & gated
Conventional Saga Map Format
At the End of Content (EOC), exclusive features were proposed to reward and engage high-level players. These included a VIP Section on the Saga Map, designed to celebrate EOC players with a sense of prestige, and a Locked Pre-EOC Area to motivate players nearing EOC. The goal was to enhance retention and satisfaction by providing aspirational and rewarding experiences beyond standard gameplay progression.
Expanding to cover more players
Redefining the scope of the project: Elite Player Segments
To broaden impact and gain stakeholder support, we expanded the target audience beyond EOC players to include users approaching end-game content.
Early
ELITE
FTUE
Mid (5000)
ELITE
Late
ELITE
Final
ELITE
EOC
ELITE
Targeting the EOC segment alone will not generate enough impact. Even though they are hardcore players, they represent too small of a player base.
Late – EOC Players
The New Proposal
Early
ELITE
FTUE
Mid (5000)
ELITE
Late
ELITE
Final
ELITE
EOC
ELITE
We want capture a greater player segment, simultaneously honing in on players that exhibit 'EOC-like' behaviors.
We call these players "Elite" Players.
New
ELITE PLAYER
Definition
A player who passes 50+ Levels a week
Increasing stakeholder buy-in by targeting
Late
Final
EOC
Design 1
Weekly Badges System
Design 2
Improved Milestone Banners for players above Level 10k
Hypothesis
Adding progression badges and enhanced milestone banners (10K+) will boost player recognition, increase gameplay, and drive revenue.
Success Metrics
What levers are we trying to pull?
In revising our strategy, we refined our focus to specific metrics aligned with our goals, aiming to drive measurable uplifts across key performance indicators.
Leading Indicator
Games Rounds (GR) at EOC
Leading Indicator
Weekly Levels Passed
Leading Indicator
Daily Active Users (DAU) at EOC
Lagging Indicator
Lagging Indicator
Hybrid
Lagging Indicator
Gross Bookings ($GB)
New Milestone Frame designs
Design 1
To address the lackluster milestone celebrations, we introduced dynamic, engaging banners and reduced the time between milestones to sustain player motivation and engagement.
Before
After
Key improvements
Improve frame uniqueness, for better bragging rights and prestige.
Improving VFX & Animations for the new milestone unlock
New Milestone Frame designs
Design 1
Old
New
New Frames
Milestone Frames Celebration on the Saga Map
To address the lackluster milestone celebrations, we introduced dynamic, engaging banners and reduced the time between milestones to sustain player motivation and engagement.
Design 2
Weekly Levels Passed Badge System
Weekly Levels Passed
Introducing weekly performance badges between major level milestones provides more frequent recognition and short-term motivation.
Design 2
Information Flow
Badge System Architecture
Simple user flower outlining the weekly badge system logic and pathways, including conditions for unlocking.
Social Integration (WIP)
Social Integration (WIP)
Future design considerations
Future design considerations
Player Cards/Achievement Hub
The Achievement Hub brings together all player accomplishments in Candy Crush Saga. It combines badges, collectibles, and event rewards in one central place, letting players showcase their achievements and compete for top rankings.