Fledgling
Bouncy Baby Bird Landing
iOS 15+ · iPhone · Portrait · Zero Dependencies
What started as my third iOS game became my fourth - I kept adding feature after feature after feature. Four weeks in total. The goal was a bird game in the spirit of Flappy Bird: cute animal, simple mechanic, high-polish screen. Everything procedural - no sprites, no audio files in the bundle. I'm pretty happy with where the bird ended up. The animation is what I'm most proud of. The bird is also, objectively, very cute.
The Concept
Tilt your phone to guide a baby bird from the nest to the forest floor. Miss a landing - you bounce. There's no fail state.
The mechanic is the CHONK system. Eat worms and berries and your bird grows from 1.0× to 1.8× scale. The wings stay the same size. The body doesn't. Maximum effort flapping, minimal extra result. The bird is just a clumsy baby - that's the design.
"The comedy of being too chonky IS the gameplay."
The Bird
Gameplay
Opening Sequence
Butterflies Flocking
Bird Play
Companion
The CHONK Growth System
Collecting food grows your bird from 1.0x to 1.8x scale. But there's a catch:
- +Bigger bird = higher bounce height
- -Bigger bird = faster fall speed
- =Tiny wings on round body = inherently funny
- !Wings stay the same size while body grows
Game Feel & Juice
Hit Stop
Brief physics freeze on hard landings gives impacts a satisfying sense of weight. Duration scales with CHONK level.
Screen Shake
Trauma-based exponential decay shake system. Bigger bird = more dramatic screen shake on landing.
Gyroscope Flick
Quick phone flick triggers a wing flap boost. Maximum effort flapping = minimal extra result.
Ahoge & Blush
A stray feather wobbles on landings and reacts to mood. Disney-style soft blush cheeks respond to emotional state, with anime-style lines for comedy moments.
Tilt Controls
CoreMotion accelerometer and gyroscope map phone tilt to bird movement. Includes tap-to-calibrate for any playing position, gyroscope-based flick detection for quick wing flap gestures, and touch control fallback for accessibility.
Procedural Audio Engine
A full procedural audio system generating all game sounds in real-time - zero audio files in the bundle.
| Synthesis Type | Use Case |
|---|---|
| FM Synthesis | Bird chirps, vocalisations |
| Modal Synthesis | Landing impacts |
| Noise Shaping | Transients, impacts |
| Waveshaping | Eating sounds, munch |
Landing sounds change based on surface material (wood, crystal, snow). A 12-section sound gallery enables real-time parameter tuning during development.
Cosmetic System (24 Items)
Physics-responsive accessories that react to bird movement and physics.
Physics Responses
Full Registry
Multi-segment accessories use joint chain physics that swing and react to movement.
Trail System
Trails render in world space during gameplay - particles stay where they're born as the bird flies away, creating a visible flight path through the level.
Companion Bird
A dangerously cute sibling bird follows you through the forest with its own physics and personality.
- •Independent bouncing - it makes its own landing decisions
- •Natural following - trails behind with a slight delay for organic movement
- •Synchro-landing celebrations - when you both stick the landing together
- •Distinct audio - higher-pitched chirps so you can tell the two birds apart
Forest Creatures
13 procedurally generated creature types live in the forest. All react to your bird with comedy behaviours.
Caterpillar
Inchy and hungry
Hedgehog
Spiky but friendly
Butterfly Flocking
Butterflies in Fledgling use the Boids algorithm - a classic flocking model first described by Craig Reynolds in 1986. Each butterfly follows three simple rules, and from those rules alone, realistic-looking flock behaviour emerges.
No butterfly is choreographed. The flock shape, direction changes, and group reactions all emerge from each individual following the same three rules independently.
Visual Systems
100% Procedural Graphics
Zero sprite assets in the bundle. Every visual is generated programmatically:
10 Biomes
Sakura Gardens
Cozy Grove
Each biome has unique color palettes, tree styles, and particle effects:
| Biome | Theme | Particles |
|---|---|---|
| Cozy Grove | Warm forest greens | Leaves |
| Sakura Gardens | Pink cherry blossoms | Petals |
| Sun-Baked Sands | Desert terracotta | Sand/dust |
| Frosty Peaks | Ice blue alpine | Snowflakes |
| Golden Savanna | Warm amber grasslands | Leaves |
| Breezy Coast | Lavender coastal | Leaves |
| Amber Woods | Autumn orange | Leaves |
| Mistwood Jungle | Teal tropical | Leaves |
| Moonlit Mushroom | Bioluminescent | Glowing spores |
| Sugar Rush | Candy neon | Sprinkles |
Dynamic sky gradients across 10 time-of-day cycles with 9-layer parallax scrolling for depth.
Animation System
Every animation follows Disney's 12 Principles - squash/stretch, anticipation, follow-through, secondary action, and exaggeration. Bird proportions use Baby Schema (Kindchenschema) research for biologically wired cuteness.
Widget System
Home Screen Widget - Daily Routine
Tamagotchi-style daily routine with lazy snapshot generation.
| Time | Behavior | Message |
|---|---|---|
| 7am | Yoga | Stretching! |
| 8am | Curious | What's today? |
| 9am | Happy | Good morning! |
| 10am | Exercising | Working out! |
| 11am | Star Jumps | Jump jump! |
| 12pm | Hungry | Snack time? |
| 1pm | Sleepy | Food coma... |
| 2pm | Daydreaming | Thinking... |
| 3pm | Bored | Hmph. |
| 4pm | Shadow Boxing | Pow pow! |
| 5pm | Proud | Feeling great! |
| 6pm | Mischievous | Hehe... |
| 7pm | Preening | Looking good! |
| 8pm | Fourth Wall Break | 👀 |
| 9pm | Star Jumps | Zoomies! |
| 10pm–7am | Sleepy | Zzz... |
Progression & Economy
Level Structure
Credit Economy
Credits are the single in-game currency. They never expire and accumulate permanently.
Earning Credits
- • New player bonus: 1 credit (one-time)
- • Rewarded video ad: 1 credit per watch
Opt-in only - never forced or interstitial
Spending Credits
- • Cosmetics: 1 credit (1 day)
- • Biome early access: 2 credits (permanent)
- • Premium features: 3 credits (permanent)
Premium Features (Permanent)
Companion Bird
3 creditsSibling bird with follow algorithm, proximity hearts, synchro-landing
Recording + GIF
3 creditsReplayKit clip capture, GIF export, branded outro card
Biome Early Access (Permanent)
Biomes unlock naturally every 10 levels, or skip ahead for 2 credits each:
Economy philosophy: No interstitial ads (cozy game, cozy monetisation). No pay-to-win. Credits never expire. Cosmetics encourage return visits with gentle renewal, not punishing gates.
Design Philosophy
No Punishment
Bouncing is the fun, not failure. You can't lose - you can only bounce until you eventually land. Aligns with the "zen" approach to casual gaming.
Comedy Through Physics
Maximum effort flapping = minimal extra result. CHONK bird with tiny wings = inherently funny. The bird is a clumsy baby, not skilled.
Visual Polish Over Complexity
Focus on animation quality and "juice". Simple mechanics, deep feel. The animation system is deliberately over-engineered for a mobile game - that's the point.
Portfolio Context
Each game tests a different mobile platform capability:
| Game | Platform Capability |
|---|---|
| Shade Shift | Colour perception, HSB theory |
| Minesweeper Zen | Procedural puzzle generation |
| Signal Zen | Audio system, programmatic synthesis |
| Fledgling | Gyroscope, physics, procedural graphics, real-time audio synthesis |
Tech Stack & Architecture
| Component | Technology |
|---|---|
| Engine | SpriteKit |
| UI | SpriteKit Scenes (no SwiftUI in gameplay) |
| Sound Gallery | SwiftUI |
| Motion | CoreMotion |
| Haptics | UIKit Haptics |
| Recording | ReplayKit |
| Widgets | WidgetKit |
| Audio | AVAudioEngine + Custom DSP |
| Persistence | UserDefaults |
| RNG | Xorshift64 |
Single external dependency (Google AdMob) - otherwise pure Apple frameworks.
Architecture
50+ Swift files with pure SpriteKit gameplay - no SwiftUI/UIKit mixing in-game. Fully programmatic with no storyboards or asset files. Seeded determinism ensures identical results from the same seed. Modular generators handle branches, trees, creatures, and sounds independently, with a protocol-based CreatureNode base class for all creature types.
Performance Targets
In Review
Submitted to the App Store. Apple is reviewing it now. The fourth in a series of iOS games - this one about a baby bird learning to fall with dignity. Guide it to the ground. Mum's waiting.
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