A while back, while I was still at Meta, I made a Flappy Bird clone called Flappy Burns—and yes, the name says it all. Instead of your standard bird, the player was a picture of my head, complete with my majestic sideburns. The sideburns flapped like wings, propelling the player through the game. Classic stuff.
The Original Flappy Burns
The original build had your typical Flappy Bird mechanics:
- Tap the screen to flap: You’d press to make the player (aka my head) flap through the pipes.
- Score tracking: Your score increased as you flew through pipes, and the high score would update whenever you passed the saved score.
- Score saving: Scores were saved locally on the device, so you always had something to beat.
I had this version working for Android and even a web build. It was a fun little side project.
Trying a Mixed Reality Version
At some point, I thought it’d be hilarious to turn Flappy Burns into a mixed reality game. So I ported what I had over to an MR build. But I didn’t stop there—I also changed up the flap mechanic.
Flapping Your Arms in MR
Since hand tracking on Meta Quest headsets is decent, I figured, why not have the player actually flap their arms to fly? I know, it looks completely ridiculous, but that’s what makes it funny. The player literally has to act out the motion of flying, like they’re trying to take off with their arms, using hand tracking to control the sideburn-powered flight.
The only issue? Flying through pipes gets weird when the camera moves. You end up with this strange parallax effect, and the colliders don’t quite match up with the visual elements. So, while it was a fun and goofy prototype, I decided to back-burner the MR version for a bit.
Back to the Flatscreen: The Art Overhaul
Eventually, I picked the project back up, but this time I focused on the flatscreen version. I gave the whole thing an art overhaul and cleaned up a lot of the original assets.
- Redid the player character: It’s still a nod to the original Flappy Bird, but this time, the bird has epic sideburns. It’s ridiculous, and I love it.
- New pipes and better clouds: I upgraded the pipes to look cleaner and more polished, and I added better cloud sprites for some background flair.
- Improved spawning: I revamped the scripts for the pipe spawner and clouds to make things feel smoother and more balanced.
Controls for Multiple Devices
Since I wanted to expand the game’s reach, I added controls for various devices:
- Computer (keyboard)
- Touchscreen
- Steam Deck
- Gamepad
This flexibility should make it playable on just about anything, and it’s cool seeing the game work with different input methods.
Lazy Animation and Final Build
One thing I still haven’t done is animate the bird or those glorious flapping sideburns. Honestly, I got lazy. Instead of spending time animating it, I just went ahead and built the game as it is. The gameplay’s fun enough without the extra animation—for now.
Current Build Status
- Android build: Done and dusted, ready to play on mobile.
- Web build: You can play it right from my website.
I had my cousin test it, and apparently, he’s been crushing my high scores, so I’ll need to get back in there and reclaim my title.
Future Plans
At some point, I need to add progressive difficulty to the game to make it more challenging the longer you play. But, like the sideburn animation, that’s something I’ll get to… later.
So, that’s where Flappy Burns is at the moment—alive and flapping, but still a work in progress.
