Cyte is a one-thumb iOS cell game in the Osmos and 1v1 Agar energy family. You draw a current through a dusk broth. Motes dock. Rivals eat. Phages nick. The climb is endless.
Play is a solo climb through dusk after dusk, with bosses every few levels. Match is 1v1 through Apple Game Center. Lab is the power-up board you earn as you go.
Native Swift and SpriteKit. Publisher: Sleek Tiki. Bundle identifier: ai.sleektiki.Silt.
Gallery
Cyte Play — boss
Cyte Match
Cyte Match in play
Cyte Play — twin boss
Cyte — you won
Cyte title screen
Cyte Lab — power-up board
Cyte Lab — power-up icons
Cyte app icon
Case Study
The Problem
Most mobile cell games either sprawl into menus or hide the field behind two thumbs. I wanted a shipped iOS game that reads in one glance: draw a current, eat, climb. Playable with the phone in one hand.
Design Challenge
The current has to be precise without covering the organisms. Play, Match, and Lab have to share the same world so the player is not learning three games. The cells, bosses, and barriers have to stay painted and readable at dusk, not generic blobs.
Key Design Decisions
I kept input to one thumb and built the world in SpriteKit with painted cytes, motes, phages, and bosses instead of a UI kit of circles. Solo Play is an endless dusk climb. Match is a real 1v1 over Game Center, not a leaderboard with a bot. Lab is an earned board. StoreKit handles lives, power-ups, and remove-ads without a Sleek Tiki server.
Outcome
A native iOS game with Play, Match, and Lab on one device. Privacy and terms live at sleektiki.ai/cyte for App Store Connect. The work listing is here, under 3D and games.
Technical Highlights
One Thumb
Draw a current with one finger. The field stays readable. No dual-stick, no on-screen analog clutter.
Play
A solo climb through dusk after dusk. Motes dock on lock-and-key hues. Rivals eat. Phages nick. Bosses arrive on a regular cadence: spitters, splitters, pulsers, siphons, burrowers, twins, and a crown.
Match
1v1 through Apple Game Center. Same current, same broth, a rival on the other side of the field.
Lab
A power-up board you earn as you go, not a dump of shop items on day one.
Native iOS
Swift, SpriteKit, Game Center, and StoreKit. Lives, power-ups, and remove-ads stay on-device. No Cyte server.