Project · 2025
Candy Dandy
Mobile match-3 game made for final exam at Media College Amsterdam.
Tags
- Unity
- C#
- Mobile
- UI
Project info
- Role
- Gameplay & UI Programmer
- Teams
- 3 devs, 5 artists
- Duration
- 10 weeks
- Engine
- Unity 6
- Language
- C#
Overview
Candy Dandy was our final exam project at Mediacollege, created in collaboration with Azerion.
The goal: develop a match-3 mobile game where matching tiles directly affects a secondary gameplay layer.
The team was 3 developers and 5 artists.
My features:
- Designed and implemented Character Classes
- Built the Combat System
- Handled Canvas & UI scaling for mobile (Safe Area Handler)
- Integrated VFX and optimized textures
Builds are available for Android and Windows.
Since the game was designed for portrait mobile, expect stretched visuals on PC.
Project Kickoff
The project began with three external client pitches. After securing our first choice, we brainstormed concepts. Options ranged from a dating sim to a cake-baking sim, but we pushed for a fighting game with match-3 integration. Early mockups helped us and the client decide on a portrait layout to balance scope and usability.
Development
Character system
All characters (player and enemies) derive from a shared base class handling variables, components, and core functions.
Combat system
Combat was built around AttackConfig ScriptableObjects, defining data like damage, animation, and delay.
This gave designers flexibility while keeping the system modular.
Mobile UI & Safe Area
A major challenge was scaling across devices. Using Unity’s Canvas Scaler and a custom Safe Area Handler, I ensured UI panels adapt to notches, rounded corners, tablets, and Android soft keys. This made the game consistently playable across a wide range of devices.
The safe area initially cropped the game view, leaving empty borders on taller screens. I fixed this by extending and mirroring background art to fill the space naturally.
Takeaway
Candy Dandy taught me how to adapt UI for mobile screens and implement Safe Area handling, skills praised by our client as invaluable for future projects. I also deepened my experience in character systems, combat mechanics, and technical art integration. Most importantly, I learned to balance technical and artistic collaboration while working with a real client and a cross-discipline team.