I've been working on Fall Line, a downhill skiing game with three lanes, eight riders, and a mountain that curves out of sight beneath you. Trees, hurdles, and ramps appear over the crest, and you have to decide quickly: move, jump, or duck.
The whole thing has a chunky, colorful look. It starts with snowy pines and eventually takes you through golden light, neon cities, volcanic haze, and a blizzard. There's a penguin. There's also a ski patrol dog, and yes, the dog has skis.
Keeping your flow
Swiping between lanes gets you around trees. Hurdles need a jump, full-width low bars need a duck, and ramps send you into the air. Collecting coins, clearing obstacles, and threading near-misses charges a flow meter that can take your score multiplier up to x5.
That meter keeps draining, so a clear stretch of slope is a chance to breathe and a reason to look for the next move. Occasionally a glowing gate opens a fourth express lane. It's free of obstacles, but there are no coins out there and your flow keeps slipping away while you stay in it.
Eight riders with different tradeoffs
The Skier is the starting point. Earn coins on the slope and you can unlock a Snowboarder, Ski Patrol, Sledder, Penguin, Snow Tuber, Yeti, or Hoverboard rider. Each has something useful and something to work around.
The Snowboarder builds flow faster from jumps, the Sledder automatically slips under low bars, and the Yeti can smash through a tree before that ability needs to recharge. Ski Patrol starts with an extra life and brings the rescue dog. Every rider keeps a separate best score and trophy case.
From Alpine to Synthwave Sunset
There are seven zones: Alpine, Golden Hour, World Cup, Synthwave Sunset, Night City, Volcanic Ashfall, and Blizzard Whiteout. Each run begins in Alpine, then the scenery changes as you descend.
The calendar changes a few things too. October turns World Cup into Haunted Hollow, with pumpkins, dead trees, and bats. December adds ornaments and lights to snowy zones, and Night City gets fireworks on New Year's Eve and July 4th.
Medals and a reason to try another rider
There are 14 shared medal challenges plus a signature medal for each rider. Some medals unlock shirt colors or animated patterns, so chasing a score, surviving a zone, or putting together a good run also gives you ways to change your look. Your skin tone, shirt color, and pattern carry across the whole rider lineup.
Coins stay in your wallet between runs. You can save them for another rider or spend some to continue after a crash. They're earned by playing; there are no ads or in-app purchases.
Playing on iPhone Duo
The game now adapts to iPhone Duo as it folds and unfolds. The slope fills the window, while settings and results cards stay centered with room around their edges. Those panels can scroll when the window gets short. The same game also runs on regular iPhone and iPad, with keyboard controls available alongside touch.
Here are four actual gameplay captures from iPhone Duo, covering a few of the riders and zones.
Under the snow
Fall Line started as a Three.js web prototype and is now a native iOS game built with SceneKit and UIKit. The rounded-world effect comes from a shader that bends the scene away from the camera. Movement, collisions, and coins still use flat coordinates underneath, which keeps the game rules separate from the curve you see.
There are distinct haptics for turns, jumps, close calls, pickups, and crashes. The controls stay small enough to explain in a sentence, while the riders, flow meter, and medals give you more to work on with each run.