Blog: building Apple Watch games
Dev logs, industry analysis, behind-the-scenes from a studio building Apple Watch first games.
We write about what it takes to ship real games on watchOS: designing for the Digital Crown, making haptics carry gameplay, surviving App Store review, and the numbers behind an indie studio betting on the smallest Apple screen. Guides for our games live here too, from trap counters to unlock routes. No filler posts; if a week has nothing worth reading, we skip the week.
- Analysis ·
Apple Watch complications you unlock by playing
Watch face art that starts locked and opens up as you play, and why every Crown game ships it
Some Apple Watch games put art on your watch face that you have to earn. How Soar's 17 world tiles work, and why every Crown Games title ships them.
- Guide ·
How to fly further in Soar
The rules the game never tells you, taken from the physics that actually runs
Eight rules for flying further in Soar, taken from the physics that ships: why holding dive too long drains you, and how a clean landing gains speed.
- Dev log ·
Keeping a SpriteKit game at 60fps on Apple Watch
Eight changes that mattered, including two that cost more total work and still ran smoother
Eight SpriteKit performance changes from shipping Soar on Apple Watch, including two that added total work and still ran smoother.
- Analysis ·
Is there a Tiny Wings for Apple Watch?
The short answer is no. The longer answer is more interesting than it sounds
Tiny Wings and Alto's Odyssey never came to Apple Watch. Here is what actually does exist on the wrist, checked against the App Store in August 2026.
- Guide ·
Crown Heist trap guide: beat all 10 traps
Every trap in the game, what it does to your crack, and the counter that works
Every Crown Heist trap explained: 8 active traps plus decoy pins and false clicks, when each appears in the campaign, and the counter that beats it.
- BTS ·
Welcome to Crown Games
What we're building and why
Crown Games is an indie studio building native Apple Watch games. The thesis, the games shipping now and next, and what this blog will cover.