How Candy Crush Saga Keeps Its Visual Identity Fresh After 14 Years

Candy Crush Saga has survived longer than most mobile games. With more than 14 years of history, the puzzle title continues to rank among the top revenue-generating games globally each year, despite significant industry shifts including rising user acquisition costs, mobile market maturation, Apple's App Tracking Transparency policy, and ongoing debates over premium versus free-to-play models.

The game's longevity owes much to its distinctive visual identity. Lead game artist Silvia Toma and principal game artist Emil Sellström recently discussed how Candy Crush maintains brand recognition while experimenting with new themes and aesthetics. Over its lifespan, the game has explored seasonal content ranging from traditional candy and fruit themes to aliens, dinosaurs like the Chewrannosaurus Rex, and a bubblegum volcano.

At the core of Candy Crush's design sits a set of foundational visual rules. "Papercraft is central to Candy Crush's visual identity," Toma explains. "The paper outlines, textures and halftones are instantly recognisable." The art team describes the overall style as "ugly-cute," a mix of 2D and 3D that aims to feel timeless without appearing dated.

"The rules are pretty straightforward: make the 2D as flatly two-dimensional as possible and make the 3D look unreasonably tasty and edible," Toma shares. To prevent the papercraft aesthetic from feeling dated on its own, the team balances it with bright modern colours, sharp vector graphics, delicious-looking 3D renders and snappy animation.

Sellström notes that the artstyle has "a certain stubbornness" that endures across team changes over 14 years. "It almost has a will of its own," he says. "It is organic, and our role is to tend to it and guide it." Each person who has contributed to the art leaves something behind, but the core identity persists.

Experimentation plays a crucial role in keeping the game fresh. Sellström argues that creative exploration has been essential to the game's longevity, though the team must be careful not to deviate too far from Candy Crush's core look and feel. Preserving immediate visual recognition matters for brand strength.

Toma points out that within the established rules, there is room for absurdity. "There is no shortage of absurdity when it comes to Candy Crush Saga art and narrative themes," she notes. The game has featured everything from aliens and sports themes to the character Yeti appearing as a DJ. The primary requirement is that artwork appeals to players and feels fun.

"That should always be the number one consideration when greenlighting anything going into our game," states Toma. "That being said, beautiful, charming artwork will more often than not help seal the deal." Sellström cautions against making concept art look more achievable or entertaining than what can actually be delivered in-game.

Seasons form the backbone of new content in Candy Crush. Music Season 2026 is currently in progress, featuring a music video with a remix of Shania Twain's "You're Still the One." The in-game event centres on Yeti's efforts to restore Candy Town's radio station, allowing players to power it up by clearing levels and collecting personalised music tracks.

Sellström emphasises that music is integral to Candy Crush's identity alongside visuals. "Without the music and sound, you are missing half of the Candy Crush experience," he says. "Together, they create its atmosphere."

Seasonal artwork must fit within broader style guidance, though certain seasons impose stricter requirements. Music Season and the annual All Stars esports event exemplify seasons with specific visual demands. "Visually, Music Season is intentionally striking," Toma explains. "As a recurring season, we want it to be instantly recognisable to players, so when September rolls around, all of Candy Crush becomes saturated with the season's signature colour palette."

Candy Crush's art team operates as generalists rather than specialists in individual disciplines. Each artist works across 2D, 3D, animations and related areas, though King identifies each person's strengths and assigns tasks accordingly. Sellström calls this "a winning combination," noting that artists enjoy stronger results when working on tasks they excel at. This centralised approach also ensures visual cohesion across the game.

Creating a new season requires collaboration beyond the art team. "Seasons are definitely an 'it takes a village' kind of effort," says Toma. Once a theme is decided, artists work closely with narrative design to understand the season's tone and story. The team produces what they call "seasonal key art," a comprehensive illustration that informs the visual approach for all events and features under that season's umbrella. Feedback from stakeholders shapes this key artwork, which then guides feature teams in creating reskinned events.

The production timeline varies by season. Creating key art typically takes about a week to establish palette, character cast, setting and narrative direction. Full art and animation production can take closer to a month, sometimes more or less depending on season scale and event coverage, with work distributed among available artists.

Toma notes that seasons nowadays "stick to the script" more consistently than in earlier years. She points to summer's Meltdown Season as an example where the visual tone shifted somewhat from initial concept art, though such major transformations have become less common.