Tiny Survivor is an iPhone survival game built by Forsyth Development. It is in App Store review and has not been released yet, so this case study describes how it is designed rather than how it has performed.
The idea
Survival roguelites are popular, but many need two hands, long sessions or complicated menus. We wanted a version that feels good in one hand, in short sessions, with a fast restart after each run.
What we built
- One-thumb controls. A floating joystick moves the hero, and attacks fire automatically at the nearest enemy, so there is nothing else to manage.
- Wave-based survival. Fixed-size waves with a short breather between each, and a boss every fifth wave.
- Level-up upgrades. Each level offers a choice of three random upgrades, such as damage, attack speed, extra projectiles, piercing, critical hits and explosive rounds.
- Legendary upgrades and chests. Rare powers and treasure chests that can change a run.
- Permanent unlocks. Shards earned every run can be spent on permanent upgrades and cosmetics.
- Game Center leaderboards. Best Time, Most Kills and Highest Wave, globally and with friends.
- Neon visuals. Glowing Metal-rendered effects, lightweight audio and instant restarts.
Key decisions
Reduce input, increase decisions. Because movement is the only control, the interesting choices come from which upgrade to take each level.
Make every run progress something. Permanent unlocks mean even a short run moves the player forward.
Keep it light. Effects and audio are lightweight so the game stays smooth and restarts instantly.
Status
Tiny Survivor is waiting in App Store review. Its privacy policy, terms and support pages are already published in our documentation hub, and the portfolio page will be updated when it is released.
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