Alex Morgan

Biography

Alex Morgan is the Browser Games Editor at Candy Arcade and has spent more than eight years working with browser-based games: building them, testing them and writing about how they work. That experience is hands-on rather than academic. It comes from shipping HTML5 games, breaking them in unusual browsers, and rewriting mechanics that tested badly with real players.

On Candy Arcade, Alex is responsible for the design and implementation of all thirty games, for testing each one across desktop and mobile browsers before publication, and for every guide and article in the editorial library. Where an article describes how a mechanic behaves, that description comes from the implementation itself rather than from secondary sources - one practical advantage of writing about games you built.

Alex's main editorial interest is the gap between how players think a mechanic works and how it actually works. Most of the guides on this site exist because playtesting revealed that gap somewhere specific: players expected holding a jump button to jump higher, expected combos to reset on any mistake, or expected a speed power-up to be a straightforward upgrade. Each of those misunderstandings became an article.

Accessibility is the other consistent thread. Every game on Candy Arcade is playable with a keyboard, every game has instructions in real HTML outside the canvas so screen readers can reach them, and every animation respects the operating system's reduced-motion preference. These are not afterthoughts added at the end; they are constraints applied while the games were being built, which is considerably cheaper and produces better results.

Areas of expertise

• Browser game development with HTML5 Canvas and vanilla JavaScript
• Arcade mechanics: collection systems, combo scoring, difficulty curves
• Game testing across desktop, tablet and mobile browsers
• Touch control design and input accessibility
• Web performance for real-time canvas rendering
• Editorial writing about interactive systems for general readers

Credentials disclosure

How I work

Every game on this site was built, balanced and tested by me before publication, and every article was written after the game it describes was finished rather than alongside it. That order matters: an article written from design intentions describes a game that does not exist, and the difference between intention and implementation is where most factual errors in games writing come from.

When an article states a number — a combo threshold, a power-up duration, a point value, a difficulty step distance — that number is read from the code and verified by playing the game. When a game is rebalanced, its page changes in the same edit. The fact-checking policy sets out the full process, and the editorial policy covers originality, sources, corrections and our use of AI tools.

I am also the person who replies to corrections. If something here is wrong, telling me at hello@candyarcade.xyz is the fastest route to getting it fixed, and corrections take priority over everything else in the inbox.

Published articles

70 articles across 10 clusters: 20 pillar articles and 50 supporting guides.

• Candy Arcade FundamentalsWhat Are Candy Arcade Games?Candy arcade games are easy to recognise and surprisingly hard to define. This guide sets out what actually makes a game belong to the genre, which mechanics do the work, and why the candy theme is more than decoration.
• Candy Collection StrategiesHow Candy Collection Games WorkCollection looks like the simplest mechanic in games until you try to build one that stays interesting for more than a minute. This guide takes the mechanic apart and explains what each piece is doing.
• Candy Collection StrategiesBest Strategies for Candy Collection GamesMost players improve at collection games by getting faster. That works for a while and then stops. This guide covers what to do after it stops, which is mostly about deciding what not to collect.
• Candy Combos & ScoringHow Arcade Combo Systems WorkA combo system is the clearest statement a game makes about what it wants you to do. This guide explains how they are built, what each design choice does to play, and why the rule that breaks a combo matters more than the one that builds it.
• Candy Combos & ScoringHow Candy Multipliers Affect ScoresTwo multipliers, a base value and a bonus can combine in several different ways, and the order matters. This guide works the numbers so you can stop guessing which play is worth more.
• Candy Arcade FundamentalsCandy Collection Games vs Traditional Arcade GamesBoth descend from the same 1980s cabinets, and they have drifted apart in specific, describable ways. This compares them on the things that actually differ rather than on how they look.
• Candy Reflex GamesHow to Improve Reflexes in Candy Arcade GamesRaw reaction time barely improves with practice, and almost nobody who gets better at these games got faster. This explains what they did instead, and how to do the same.
• Endless Candy GamesHow Endless Candy Games Increase DifficultyAn endless game has no level design to lean on, so its whole difficulty curve is a set of dials being turned while you play. This explains which dials exist and which ones should be avoided.
• Candy PlatformersHow Platforming and Candy Collection Work TogetherCandy in a platformer does two jobs at once: it rewards you and it tells you where to jump. This explains how the second job works, and why most players never notice it happening.
• Candy Power-UpsHow Power-Ups Change Candy Arcade GameplayA good power-up changes your decisions, not just your numbers. This goes through all six standard power-ups, what each one actually does to play, and why two of them are frequently a mistake to collect.
• Candy Maze GamesHow Candy Maze Games WorkA maze game is the only kind of arcade game where you can win by thinking before you move. This explains how the mazes are built, why a perfect maze is a worse game than an imperfect one, and how routing actually works.
• Candy Game DesignHow Physics Creates Better Candy ChallengesA physics-based challenge is one you solve by understanding a system rather than memorising a rule. This goes through the five physics models used across the site and what each one demands of the player.
• Candy Game DesignDesigning Fair Candy Collection LevelsA fair level is one where you can name the reason you failed and do something about it. That is compatible with being extremely hard, and this explains how to get both.
• Candy Collection StrategiesHow Developers Design Collectible PatternsScattered collectibles communicate nothing. Arranged ones are a language with about a dozen words in it. This is the vocabulary and what each word means.
• Candy Arcade FundamentalsWhy Collecting Virtual Items Feels RewardingPicking up a virtual sweet achieves nothing real, and it still feels good. The reasons are structural and describable, and they have direct consequences for how a collection game should be built.
• HTML5 Browser GamingHow Browser Arcade Games Save High ScoresYour high score lives in your own browser, on one device, and that has consequences most sites never explain. Here is exactly how it works, what breaks it, and what it can never do.
• HTML5 Browser GamingHow to Design Mobile-Friendly Candy GamesMost browser games are built on a desktop and then made to fit a phone, which is why so many are unpleasant to play on one. These are the differences that actually matter.
• HTML5 Browser GamingAccessibility in Browser Arcade GamesA canvas is a black box to a screen reader, so accessibility in a canvas game cannot be retrofitted with attributes. It has to be designed, and this is what that involves.
• Candy Game DesignHow Procedural Generation Creates Candy ChallengesProcedural generation is what lets an endless game stay endless without being repetitive. It is also the easiest way to ship an impossible level, and this is how to avoid that.
• Candy Arcade FundamentalsThe Complete Guide to Candy Arcade GamesThe single reference for everything on this site: what the genre is, how every system works, what each category asks of you, and where to go next. Written to be read once end to end or dipped into.
• Candy Arcade FundamentalsCandy Arcade Tips for BeginnersIf you have just found this site and want to stop dying in the first thirty seconds, this is the shortest useful path. Ten specific things, in the order they will help most.
• Candy Arcade FundamentalsWhat Makes a Good Candy Arcade Game?Having built thirty of these, the difference between a good one and a forgettable one is consistent and has almost nothing to do with how it looks.
• Candy Arcade FundamentalsHow Virtual Candy Collectibles WorkA collectible is about six numbers and a drawing function. This explains what each of those numbers does and why the drawing matters more than you would expect.
• Candy Collection StrategiesHow to Collect Candy Faster in Arcade GamesMost players try to collect faster by moving faster. The players who actually collect faster move less, and this explains how.
• Candy Collection StrategiesHow to Improve Candy Game ScoresImproving scores is a process rather than a talent. This is the process, in the order that produces results fastest.
• Candy Collection StrategiesHow to Avoid Obstacles While Collecting CandyCollection pulls you toward things and hazards push you away from them, usually in the same place. This is how to manage both without abandoning either.
• Candy Collection StrategiesHow to Design Candy TrailsA line of collectibles is the clearest directional instruction available, costs nothing, and is remarkably easy to get wrong. This is how to place one properly.
• Candy Collection StrategiesHow to Create Balanced Candy ChallengesA balanced challenge is one where the right answer is not obvious and is nevertheless knowable. This is how to tune toward that.
• Candy Combos & ScoringHow Candy Combo Systems WorkEvery game here has a combo, and they all work slightly differently. This is how to read an unfamiliar one in about thirty seconds.
• Candy Combos & ScoringHow Candy Multipliers WorkThere are two kinds of multiplier in these games and they combine in a way that makes patience unusually profitable. This is the short version.
• Candy Power-UpsHow to Use Candy Magnet Power-UpsThe magnet is the most useful power-up in the genre and the easiest to waste. This covers what it actually does, what it cannot do, and when to spend it.
• Candy Power-UpsWhen to Use a Sweet MultiplierMost players use multipliers the moment they collect them, which wastes roughly three quarters of their value. This is the timing that does not.
• Candy Power-UpsAre Speed Boosts Worth Taking?Speed is the only power-up on this site that is routinely correct to refuse. The rule for deciding is simple and most players have it backwards.
• Candy Power-UpsHow Shields Protect Your ComboEveryone understands a shield as an extra life. In several games here it is worth considerably more than that, and in a few it covers less than you think.
• Candy PlatformersHow Platformers Use CollectiblesPlatformer collectibles do a job beyond scoring: they tell you where to jump. This is how that works and how to read it.
• Candy PlatformersHow to Time a Jump in a Candy PlatformerIf a jump feels impossible in one of these games, your launch point is wrong rather than your timing. This explains why, and what to do instead.
• Candy PlatformersWhat Is Coyote Time in Platform Games?One of the most useful and least visible techniques in platformer design. It costs nothing, nobody notices it, and its absence makes a game feel broken.
• Candy PlatformersHow Crumbling Platforms Change a LevelOne of the simplest level elements available and one of the most transformative. It changes not how hard a section is but what kind of attention it demands.
• Candy Combos & ScoringHow to Keep a Combo AliveBuilding a combo is easy; keeping one is where the score is. These are the specific habits that protect a chain, in order of how much difference they make.
• Candy Combos & ScoringWhy Combo Breaks Feel Worse Than They AreA broken combo takes nothing away from your score. It still feels like a disaster, and understanding why makes it easier to play well afterwards.
• Endless Candy GamesBest Strategies for Endless Candy GamesEndless games have no finish line, so improvement is entirely about surviving longer at the same skill. These are the habits that do that.
• Endless Candy GamesHow Endless Candy Games Maintain ChallengeThe hard problem in endless design is not the first run, it is the hundredth. This is what keeps a game interesting once the player is good at it.
• Endless Candy GamesHow Lane-Based Runners WorkThree lanes is the most common structure in the genre for good reasons. This explains what lanes do to the design and how to play them well.
• Endless Candy GamesHow Friction Changes an Endless RunnerTwo games on this site are identical apart from one number. The differences that follow are the clearest argument we can make for tuning before adding.
• Endless Candy GamesHow to Read Obstacle Patterns in RunnersBeginners read one obstacle ahead and react. Experienced players read three and plan. This is how to make that transition.
• Candy Maze GamesHow to Route a Candy Maze EfficientlyThe gap between a good route and a bad one is usually twenty seconds. These are the specific techniques that close it.
• Candy Maze GamesHow Maze Timers Create Fair PressureCandy Maze has no hazards at all. Its entire difficulty is a clock, which makes it an unusually clean case study in how to make time pressure fair.
• Candy Reflex GamesHow to Master One-Tap Candy GamesA single-input game removes every variable except timing, which means the whole skill is accuracy. These are the techniques that improve it.
• Candy Reflex GamesHow Timing Windows Work in Arcade GamesEvery timing game is a window and a measurement. Understanding how both work explains why some timing games feel fair and others feel arbitrary.
• Candy Reflex GamesHow Gravity Flip Games WorkOne button that reverses which way is down. The rule takes a sentence to explain and the technique takes considerably longer to master.
• Candy Game DesignHow Arcade Difficulty IncreasesThere is a finite list of ways to make an arcade game harder. Knowing the whole list, and which entries are traps, is most of difficulty design.
• Candy Game DesignHow to Design a Candy Collectible HierarchyGetting the value hierarchy right means players never have to be told where the danger is. This is how to build one that does that work.
• Candy Game DesignWhy Deterministic Hazards Beat Random OnesThe instinct is to randomise so players cannot memorise a level. Memorisation is not the enemy, and preventing it replaces skill with attrition.
• Candy Game DesignHow Hitbox Generosity Changes Game FeelTwo small asymmetries that nobody notices and that remove an entire category of perceived unfairness. This is how and why.
• Candy Game DesignHow to Telegraph a Hazard FairlyA hazard is fair when the information you need arrives before the decision you have to make. That is a constraint on timing, and it is stricter than most games realise.
• Candy Game DesignHow Screen Shake and Particles Affect Game FeelFeedback is what makes a mechanically identical action feel good or flat. It is also the easiest thing to overdo, and overdoing it costs legibility.
• Candy Game DesignHow to Balance a Risk-Reward CollectibleEvery collection game has one: the item worth a lot, placed somewhere awful. Getting it right is most of what makes a collection game interesting.
• Candy Game DesignHow Pursuit AI Works in Arcade GamesGood arcade chase behaviour is simple, stated, and exploitable. Sophisticated pursuit makes a worse game than three obvious rules.
• Candy Reflex GamesHow to Improve Precision in Timing GamesYou cannot get much faster. You can get considerably more accurate, and these are the specific methods that do that.
• Candy Arcade FundamentalsHow Candy Game Categories Are OrganisedMost game sites categorise by theme, which tells you nothing about whether you will enjoy something. Ours categorise by demand, which does.
• HTML5 Browser GamingHow HTML5 Candy Games WorkA browser arcade game is four things: a canvas, a loop, an input layer and some storage. This walks through all four and what each one is responsible for.
• HTML5 Browser GamingHow Canvas Handles CollectiblesA busy collection game draws fifty or sixty objects a frame, sixty times a second. This is how that stays fast on a mid-range phone.
• HTML5 Browser GamingHow Touch Controls Work in Browser GamesTouch input on the web works well once you have turned off about seven browser behaviours. This is the list, and the control layouts worth using.
• HTML5 Browser GamingHow Browser Games Stay Fast on PhonesPerformance work on mobile has a short list of things that matter enormously and a long list that does not. This is the short list, in order.
• HTML5 Browser GamingHow Web Audio Replaces Sound FilesThere are no audio files on Candy Arcade. Every sound is generated in the browser, which turns out to solve three separate problems at once.
• HTML5 Browser GamingHow Responsive Canvas Scaling WorksGetting a canvas to look right on every device is two separate problems: pixel density and aspect ratio. Scaling solves one of them.
• HTML5 Browser GamingWhy Browser Games Do Not Need DownloadsThe browser is a runtime everyone already has. That changes the economics of a small game more than any technical feature does.
• HTML5 Browser GamingHow to Test a Browser Game Across DevicesEmulators catch layout problems and miss the ones that matter. This is what we actually check, and where.
• Candy Game DesignHow Thrust Controls Work in Browser GamesThrust is the hardest common control scheme in arcade games because it asks you to think in acceleration. This explains why, and what makes it learnable.
• Candy Game DesignHow Momentum Games Teach PlanningA momentum game makes the decision that matters happen long before the moment that matters. That displacement is the whole lesson.