ANIMATED GIF GAME MAKER

Most game makers want a still image. Flappy Lab takes animated GIFs (a dancing skeleton as the bird, exploding pipes, a background that never stops moving) and keeps every one of them animating while you play. No code, no download, and it’s free.

How to make a GIF game

1. Open FlapLab on Reddit and tap [ CREATE ] on any game.
2. Bird: upload your GIF. It’s cropped automatically, or draw the outline yourself. Rotate or flip it without losing quality.
3. Pipes: upload a GIF or a still. Add a second pipe sprite if you want the obstacles to alternate.
4. Background: a looping GIF here makes the whole world feel alive.
5. Tune the physics, test-play it, then post it and share the link.

Which GIFs work best

• Transparent backgrounds for the bird and pipes crop themselves. A GIF with a solid box around the character is harder, so you’ll want to trace the outline by hand so the hitbox is fair.
• The subject stays put. The crop covers every frame, so a character that runs across the frame becomes a tiny sprite in a big box.
• Short loops. Up to 40 frames are kept per GIF, so one to three seconds is the sweet spot.
• Small files. Sprites are decoded at up to 512 px and backgrounds at up to 720 px. Bigger files are packed and compressed automatically before posting.
• Opaque is fine for backgrounds. Rain, fire, a looping city: anything goes.

GIF game ideas

• A dancing meme as the bird, dodging pipes that also dance.
• An explosion GIF as the pipes, with a calm sunset behind it.
• Your friend laughing on loop as the bird (see the friend game guide).
• A spinning coin as the bird in a looping casino background.

More combos: flappy game ideas.

Questions