Sky Peck's world is an archipelago now: ten islands an ocean apart, four kinds of country, and a crystal portal standing on the shore of eight of them. Fly through the portal and that island's game begins.
In the lore, crystal portals are how Sky Pecks reach us; we see them as screens. So the portal on the beach and the screen in your living room are the same thing. A six-year-old accepts that instantly, and I'm still pleased with it.
Here's the rule I gave myself for the games: each one teaches exactly one thing that nothing else in the sky rewards. If two islands taught the same skill, one of them was wrong.
Race Island: race your shadow. Ten gates, one at a time, and your best run flies beside you as a ghost. The lesson is line choice.
Greenhollow: Apple Rush. Twenty apples light up at once. No order is forced; the fun is choosing the route. The lesson is planning.
Cloudrest: Pineapple Carry. Seven pineapples, one at a time, home to the nest tree. A pineapple is heavy. You can't glide with it, you can't dash with it, and you can't climb above the treetops. Every delivery is a string of flaps. The lesson is stamina.
Goldmane: Seed Drop. Twelve holes in the savanna. There is no drop button. Skim a hole low enough and the seed plants itself; pass too high and you get a chirp and a puff of dust. Low, straight flight is the skill nobody practises, and a flap over a hole at ground height is a crash waiting to happen, so the drop had to be automatic. The lesson is flying low.
Frostmoor: Tunnel Dash. The mountain is bored through. The tunnels are about three parrots wide. The lesson is precision.
Palewind: Storm Run. Eight gates into the wind, with gusts that shove you sideways. Spread wings catch more wind, so tucking is the answer. The return leg is downwind, fast and easy, which is the reward. The lesson is reading the weather.
Fern Deep: Nest Rescue. Five chicks have fallen out of the nest into the jungle. You find them by their chirps, louder as you get close; the radar only shows them once you're near. Then you carry each one home and land gently. Land hard and the chick hops off. It's the one game about landing, which the tutorial teaches and nothing else rewards. The lesson is being careful.
Emberreach: Bubble Pop. Giant bubbles rise from the hot springs. Only a dive pops one. It's the only game scored on count instead of time, so a miss is never the end. The lesson is the dive.
Why bubbles and not balloons? Because Sky Peck's world is another planet where no human ever lived. No balloons, no bridges, no windmills. Bubbles rising from a spring are natural, so bubbles it is.
The last two islands, Mossback and Thornspit, have no game at all. They're where the free flight and the snack apples live, because a kid also needs somewhere to just fly. That was the whole idea in the first place, and it's still what makes it fun.