Your pigeon is waiting
The main screen places the companion at the center. The pigeon lives in a cozy illustrated room, surrounded by objects that reflect a lived-in space. A daily quote appears at the top. The top bar tracks how long you have been together.
Vision and Design Philosophy
Cuddles, fruits to grow, daily quotes, screenshots, drawings: simple low-effort interactions designed to encourage daily returns through attachment, not obligation.
No streaks, no aggressive notifications. No performance loop. A stable, accessible companion that is simply there when you need it, without judgment or pressure.
Designed for anyone needing comfort during their day, particularly people experiencing loneliness or high-stress periods who benefit from a gentle, low-demand interaction.
A blend of wellness app and virtual companion game. Inspired by My Boo but elevated with a realistic aesthetic and emotionally grounded quote system. Not a performance game: an emotional experience.
Planning Before Building
Before writing a single line of GDScript, the entire app was mapped out by hand. The wireframe covers the main companion screen, the menu popup (Play / Info), the Settings page (language, music, account, version), the Draw canvas, the Gallery with 3-column grid and full-screen viewer, and the Secret Garden.
Think Aloud Sessions
Think Aloud sessions conducted with target users right after the first playable version of the game. Participants were asked to explore the app freely while verbalizing their thoughts. The four recommendations below drove the next iteration cycle and have since shipped in the game.
The Pigeon System
The companion will transition from a 2D sprite to a full 3D model, allowing richer animations, better depth, and a stronger sense of presence within the room environment.
Quote System
Curated supportive messages in English and French. Auto-rotation every 18 seconds. 35% chance of new quote on each cuddle. One quote per day system for continuity.
Grow and Feed
Select a fruit and grow it across 4 stages. Drag the watering can onto the plant to water it. A 24-hour cooldown prevents rushing. At stage 3 the fruit is ripe, harvest it, and feed the pigeon.
3 animated butterflies with random flight paths. 7 mushroom 3D models (SubViewport) with staggered sway animations. Garden systems fully disabled when off-screen for performance.
Backgrounds and Environments
Three distinct hand-illustrated environments are present in the app. Each background was designed to convey a different mood while maintaining a coherent warm and organic visual identity.
Gallery, Drawing, Sleep and Camera
3-column grid of all saved screenshots and drawings. Tap any item to open a full-screen viewer with a share button.
Free drawing canvas with color picker, adjustable brush size, clear button, and save to gallery.
Light toggle puts the pigeon to sleep. The room dims, the pigeon glides to its cushion, tilts, and Zzz labels float upward on a loop.
One-tap screenshot with white flash animation. Image auto-saved with Unix timestamp filename.
Stack and Architecture
Key Takeaways
Nidoo BeBack explores the intersection between wellness design and casual game mechanics. The central design challenge was creating emotional retention without coercion: how do you make someone want to come back without relying on streaks, notifications, or reward loops?
Emotional attachment drives retention more sustainably than any gamification mechanic.
Think Aloud testing surfaced discoverability issues that visual design reviews alone would have missed entirely.