Dev blog
Field notes from teaching a parrot — and a six-year-old — to fly.
September 26, 2026
The Flap Is Not a Button
Since the first build, a flap was a switch: arms high enough, arms down fast enough, click, the bird jumped. Now your hands are the wings. Here's what changed, and how I know it's better.
September 19, 2026
Rain on the Lens
Sky Peck has weather now: drizzle to downpour, flurry to blizzard, a different sky on every island. The part a kid notices first is the rain landing on the camera.
September 12, 2026
The Eagle Is Provably Beatable
Something is hunting you now. Here's how I made an eagle scary enough to matter, and fair enough that a six-year-old who reacts can always, always get away.
September 6, 2026
AI Animation Still Sucks, So the Peck Got Animated by Hand
I ran the Peck through a lot of AI animation models and not one of them did what I wanted. So a real animator keyed every clip by hand. Here's the reel, and a word about where Pecks actually come from.
September 1, 2026
We Made a Meme Game, and We Didn't Know That
The internet spent a year memeing about a bird game that doesn't exist. We spent that year building one that does. Nobody told us we were the punchline.
August 29, 2026
Eight Islands, Eight Lessons
The archipelago has ten islands, and eight of them hide a game behind a crystal portal. Each one exists to teach exactly one thing that nothing else in the sky rewards.
August 22, 2026
No Calibration Screen, Ever
A dad and a six-year-old stand in front of the same camera, and the same parrot has to fly for both. Here's how Sky Peck reads a body without ever asking you to hold a pose.
August 8, 2026
What Happens in the Living Room Stays in the Living Room
I built a game that points a camera at children. Here's why that sentence doesn't scare me — and the promises that make it true: nothing leaves the device. Nothing.
August 1, 2026
Report Card: Grading My Own Promises
Three weeks ago I made a pile of promises to half a million people. Time to grade myself in public — the shipped, the shipping, and the honestly-not-yet.
July 25, 2026
The Jungle: Every Pilot Is a Firefly
A leaderboard is a spreadsheet, and no six-year-old ever dreamed of being row 4,072. So I painted the flock as a night sky instead — come find your firefly.
July 18, 2026
Sky Peck Goes Multiplayer: Keep the Beacon
Three weeks of playtesting revealed Sky Peck's biggest flaw: it's painfully single-player. So I built a server — and now we fly together. Meet Keep the Beacon, aerial tag.
July 16, 2026
Meet the Name Pecker (and please, try to break it)
Naming a player in a kids' game is harder than it looks. Here's how I solved it — and a giveaway where you try to break it for a free copy of Sky Peck.
July 11, 2026
Half a Million Views in Five Days
Thank you, flock! A status update on the Mac, Windows, iOS, and VR builds — and a first hint at THE story.
July 4, 2026
Born on the Fourth of July
How a kid's question became a game you play with your whole body — and why Sky Peck launches today.
June 27, 2026
What Makes a Game Fun? (Hint: It's Not Endless)
Old games had twenty levels and we played them for years. Today's games have infinite content and get deleted in a week. The difference is purpose.
June 20, 2026
Horse Armor and the $3,000 Card Bill: How In-Game Purchases Broke Gaming
On April 3, 2006, a $2.50 piece of horse armor changed gaming forever. Twenty years later, parents are afraid to hand their kids a game. Here's our answer.
June 13, 2026
Buy Once, Fly Forever: No Subscription, Ever
Nobody plays one game for their entire life — so why should anyone pay for one for their entire life? The case for one-time-purchase games.
June 6, 2026
Your Time Is Your Time: A Game That Doesn't Beg You to Come Back
Daily streaks, push notifications, hourly rewards — modern games are built to trap your attention. The game I'm imagining would be built to let you go.
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Field notes, new levels, and the occasional crash report. A few per month at most.