1. Introduction 

“Fluffy Bird” game is based on the standard concept of endless runner games those are available on arcades. Here, avatar is a bird which is trying to pass through the obstacles by clicking mouse for bird to stay in air.. This game focuses on points obtained through the movement of the character that has to pass through gaps between pipes in the quickest time possible and in most accurately too. Developed with Unity, it is a WebGL game designed for no hassle browser gaming and can be best enjoyed by the gamers who are in search of some light action-based games which needs fast reflexes. 

2. Game concept and overview 

“Fluffy Bird” is endless flying game where main character is a bird that has to fly as long as it can and avoid numerous obstacles. Main objective is to ensure that the bird remains flying so as to avoid colliding with the pipes. Every time the bird gets through a couple of pipes, score for the player increases by one (Guo, 2024). Game is complete when bird hits any obstacle present in game or on the ground. Idea of it is quite straightforward, but implementation is quite difficult. Bird flaps whenever mouse click is pressed while gravity influences bird movement towards lower end of the screen. It has a kind of demonstrating arcade aspect and the operations get more and more strenuous when it goes on. Fluffy Bird is aimed at players who would prefer something simple with high engagement comparable to that of runaway phenomenon of games. Main idea behind this is navigating player through levels that determine whether reflexes are sufficient enough to score highest.  

3. Game mechanics and features

Control scheme of the game is based on clicking on mouse to make the bird fly up. That’s why without doing anything bird falls down due to gravity and with every click, bird gets a little extra push upwards. Pipe is made of a vertically placed pair of pipes arranged at different heights whereby player has to drive bird through gaps between these pipes. When this bird hits a pipe or ground it will lead to end of the game (González-Marcos et al. 2024). Pipes appear as the level of difficulty in the game is increasing. It also has a scoring result of which is addition of points each time player clears a pipe. Concept and controls are well thought out and simple but there’s no clutter which makes the game very speedy.

4. Concept development process

Figure 1: Game interface concept

Flowchart diagram in figure 1 represents user flow in “Fluffy Bird” game including process of launching game, playing, and interacting with basic mechanics. It starts with opening of game and waiting for game to appear on screen. Once the player clicks “start” option, game is started and played by using mouse click to move bird across. If bird hits an obstacle or floor it results to a game over screen and the game goes on until bird is hit. Player is then given two options play again or quit game.

5. Target audience and user needs

Fluffy Bird’s target is those gamers who play games on their browsers and are aged between 8 to 30 years. This game targets those people who are in need of brief, fun and interesting exercises that they could spend spare time on. Fluffy Bird is based on developing high-scores achievements so players can challenge themselves or friends and try to be better (Kabir et al. 2020). Controls are simple and the game is fast-paced which makes it easy for new player to grasp while it moves to the next level when it comes to hardness which makes player to keep on coming back for more. The game is best for desktop players who like simple games like flappy Bird or end less runner kind of game.

6. UI/UX design

Navigational elements in Fluffy Bird are basic and intuitive. A bird sprite, a beautiful background and moving pipes make up main gameplay screen. There is score display which is located at center top of screen and which changes as player progresses past the obstacles. UX design aspect, interaction is first designed so that feedback is given immediately after mouse click for bird’s movement to be made smooth and responsive. A ‘restart’ button appears when player loses a game which makes it possible to repeat the game.

7. Impact on users and society

Fluffy Bird is a simple and fun game through which users can have fun while doing basic or complex exercises on reflexes and concentration depending on level. It offers small and intense sessions, which is in line with preferences of a generation which seeks to play games in between activities or short bursts of time (Thurler et al. 2021). High repetitive usage is promoted by the basic functionality of the game with aim to increase their scores (Gu et al. 2022). It supports the increasing trend of games consisting of outdated mechanics together with modern platforms and making games accessible to a wider audience.

8. Conclusion

Concept of “Fluffy Bird” game is quite easy to comprehend and this makes it to be a favourite of casual game lovers. Developed in Unity and WebGL it offers a browser-like experience of game. This is true that the game has intuitive mechanics, things get harder with each level and has competitive scoring system which makes it quite addictive. Concept and implementing of “Fluffy Bird” show how simplicity work in game design. Possibility of using the game and its rather simple control helps to attract many people and guarantee its popularity in long run.

References

Gu, C., Chen, J., Lin, J., Lin, S., Wu, W., Jiang, Q., Yang, C. and Wei, W., 2022. The impact of eye-tracking games as a training case on students' learning interest and continuous learning intention in game design courses: Taking Flappy Bird as an example. Learning and Motivation, 78, p.101808.  

Thurler, L., Montes, J., Veloso, R., Paes, A. and Clua, E., 2021. Ai game agents based on evolutionary search and (deep) reinforcement learning: A practical analysis with flappy bird. In Entertainment Computing–ICEC 2021: 20th IFIP TC 14 International Conference, ICEC 2021, Coimbra, Portugal, November 2–5, 2021, Proceedings 20 (pp. 196-208). Springer International Publishing. 

Kabir, M., Dhruba, Q.F.F., Mahmud, H., Hasan, M.K. and Zaman, A.R., 2020. Gaming Insight: Conversion of Popular Sedentary Games into Motion-Based Form. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 36(13), pp.1205-1215.  

González-Marcos, A., Muro-Fraguas, I., Sainz-García, E., Múgica-Vidal, R., Alba-Elías, F. and Sainz-García, A., 2024. Effects of video game-based learning on project management in engineering. In EDULEARN24 Proceedings (pp. 1736-1741). IATED.   Guo, Y., 2024. Enhancing Flappy Bird Performance With Q-Learning and DQN Strategies. Highlights in Science, Engineering and Technology, 85, pp.396-402.