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INDEPENDENT GAME · APP STORE + WEB · DESIGN + DEVELOPMENT

Beaver Ball.

Softball. With tails.

I designed and built Beaver Ball, a 3D cartoon softball game starring a league of beaver ballplayers at Lodgepole Park, the only regulation diamond ever built beside a beaver pond. It went from a drawing of the park to a full game live on the App Store in fourteen days. It’s free: on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, or in your browser with no download or sign-up.

RoleCreator, Design, Development
Year2026
Built in14 days, October 9 to 23: concept to a full game on the App Store
PlatformsiPhone and iPad (App Store), web (beaverball.app), Android (coming soon)
Built withThree.js (WebGPU with a WebGL fallback), Vite, Vercel with Neon Postgres, Capacitor for iOS, RevenueCat, Game Center, Sign in with Apple
Published · Updated
Play free in your browser Download on the App Store
iPhone App Store screenshot “Time it. Crush it.”: Maple Gnawsley, number 21, at the plate with the strike zone and a Swing button.iPhone App Store screenshot “Batter up, beavers!”: the home screen over Lodgepole Park, with Play ball!, Career, Shop, Locker, Hall of Fame and Leagues.iPhone App Store screenshot “Flip the bat. Admire it!”: Juniper Jaws, number 16, admiring their home run at the plate.

The game

Beaver Ball is a 3D cartoon softball game I designed and built from the ground up. Twenty beaver ballplayers, all attitude, play regulation fastpitch at Lodgepole Park, a diamond gnawed out of the pines beside a beaver dam. You swing from the catcher’s-mitt view, pick a pitch and paint the corners, and send home runs into the pond, measured in beavertails.

A real ball game under the cartoon

Under the cartoon is a real ball game. The ball flies on real physics with drag and spin, fielders chase and throw on their own, runners steal, slide and get caught in rundowns, and a two-beaver broadcast booth calls every play. There’s a career mode, leagues with friends, daily streaks, replays of big plays, and seasonal events like Spooky Season with zombie sluggers and pumpkin-smashing minigames.

Players build their own beaver in a full player editor: hairstyles, any hair color, hats, bats and uniforms.

It runs in any modern browser with no download, plays with touch, keyboard or a game controller, and includes captions, reduced-motion options and an accessibility mode with spoken play-by-play and voice control. Beaver Ball 1.0 for iPhone and iPad is live on the App Store, and Android is on the way.

Maple Gnawsley, a beaver in a blue cap and uniform, waits for the pitch at home plate at Lodgepole Park, a log scoreboard and pine trees behind the outfield.The batter’s view from behind the catcher: a red-uniformed beaver catcher in the foreground and a blue-uniformed beaver batter at the plate with the strike zone between them.A beaver pitcher sets on the mound in front of the log press box at Lodgepole Park while the pitch picker shows fastball, changeup, riseball and drop.Big Timber, a large beaver in a blue number 44 jersey, gnaws their bat into wood chips at the plate as a speech bubble shouts “TIMBERRRR!”The Beaver Ball player editor showing a beaver pitcher beside a grid of hairstyle choices.The Locker screen, where a beaver batter models a bat while a shelf of carved bats with names like Birch Bark Basher and Golden Log waits to be picked.A wide view of Lodgepole Park’s outfield: green grass, a stump scoreboard, pine trees and mountains under a blue sky.
A poster titled “Who’s your fave?” showing twenty beaver ballplayers’ portraits in blue and red caps.

On the App Store

Download Beaver Ball Free for iPhone and iPad. Live since October 23, 2026, fourteen days after the first drawing.

iPad App Store screenshot “Batter up, beavers!”: the home screen over Lodgepole Park with Play ball!, Career, Shop and the rest of the menu.iPad App Store screenshot “Time it. Crush it.”: a beaver batter at the plate, the strike zone, a changeup coming in and the hold-to-swing hint.iPad App Store screenshot “Wind up the windmill”: the view from the mound toward the plate and the log press box, with the pitch picker: fastball, changeup, riseball and drop.iPad App Store screenshot “Flip the bat. Admire it!”: Juniper Jaws admiring their home run beside the catcher.iPad App Store screenshot “Spend your Beaver Bucks”: the Shop, with Maple Gnawsley trying the Golden Log beside a grid of bats.iPad App Store screenshot “Climb the Hall of Fame”: a player card with games, wins, hits, home runs and the longest homer in beavertails.

Highlights

  • 3D toon look: flat two-tone cel paint and hand-tuned ink outlines, all built in code
  • Physics-driven ball flight, bat contact, bounces and fence plays
  • Fielding AI, baserunning and rundowns, a live broadcast booth with recorded voice lines
  • Career mode, leagues with friends, ten regional leagues with a draft, and a Home Run Derby with its own records
  • Daily streaks, a Recap Show, Lodgepole Radio and seasonal events like Spooky Season
  • Full player editor with face, hair, body and gear options
  • One codebase for the web, iPhone and iPad: fourteen days from the first drawing to a full game live on the App Store

Fourteen days, first idea to the App Store

Lodgepole Park · October 9 to October 23, 2026

On October 9 Beaver Ball was a drawing of a ballpark on a pond. Fourteen days later, on October 23, Beaver Ball 1.0 was a full softball game live on the App Store, and free to play in your browser. Here’s every feature that shipped, day by day, in the order it happened.

14
days, first idea to the App Store
1,000+
changes to the game
9
beavers per team
29
songs on the radio
Twelve Days at Lodgepole: the making of Beaver Ball, narrated by Peg Driftwood and Stu Buckwater from the booth. 2:14

  1. Day 1 · Friday, October 9

    Milestone: The first playable game

    Play ball!

    The first day started with a picture: nine beaver players in uniform and a softball diamond the beavers built on their own pond. By the end of the day it was a game you could actually play.

    • Nine beavers and Lodgepole Park Two teams, the Lodge Logrollers and the Mudflat Chompers, on a regulation fastpitch diamond with a log fence, a stump scoreboard and the dam out in right field.
    • A real softball game Ball physics, pitching, swinging, fielding, outs and innings, plus plenty of physical comedy.
    • The booth and the umpire Peg and Stu call the game from the booth, and Gavel Gert calls balls and strikes. Every player got their own set of hollers.
    • Sound, starting muted A sound engine for voices, crowd and ambience, with a sound button so nobody gets surprised.
    Turnaround sheet of Birch Woodsworth, number 7, from the front, three-quarter, side and back.
    The original art for Birch Woodsworth, #7. Every player still gets checked against sheets like this one.

  2. Day 2 · Saturday, October 10

    The players find their voices

    • A cast of voices Each player, the booth, the umpire and a heckler in the stands got a voice, and a writers’ room added hundreds of new lines. Every holler a player can reach now plays out loud.
    • Music A title theme under the menu and the first game cues.
    • A park worth looking at Warm sunlight, drifting clouds, meadow grass and wildflowers, a snack stand, a lodge and the ridge behind the outfield.
    • Batting help See the pitch coming, where it will cross the plate, when to swing and how fast it’s going.
    • Stealing bases and catching flies Steal a bag, tap the field to chase a fly ball, and a catcher who squats to take the pitch.
    • The Beaver Ball icon A softball with buck teeth and a beaver tail.
    An early Beaver Ball game: the batter at the plate, speech bubbles from the players and a Swing button.
    One of the first games, on day 2. The trash talk was already flowing.

  3. Day 3 · Sunday, October 11

    Every beaver built from code

    I threw out the 3D model files and rebuilt the whole cast from code: every body, face, cap, tail and ponytail, plus 15 animations from the windmill pitch to the home run trot. That’s why players can be customized down to the last whisker, and why the game loads fast.

    • Settings and pause Plus hit-by-pitch, bench-clearing brawls (all tail slaps and belly flops) and fairer fielding.
    • The Tail Whip and home run films Special moves and a little movie for every home run.
    • Night games A night mode with the tower lamps on.
    • A family line book Every line rewritten for kids and recorded in the cast’s own voices: 627 takes.
    • Players bump into each other Runners and fielders can collide, and a runner can knock a catcher over at the plate.
    • The press box Peg and Stu got a real booth on stilts behind home plate, and Gert got their signals.
    • More music Three menu themes, between-innings songs, a victory song and walk-up music.
    • Keyboard controls, a welcome and a tutorial Every control on a key, a first-run welcome and an interactive tutorial.
    Both teams lined up: the blue Logrollers on top and the red Chompers below, each beaver with their own number and shape.
    The rebuilt cast, all drawn by code. Logrollers on top, Chompers below.

  4. Day 4 · Monday, October 12

    Milestone: The first iPhone build in TestFlight

    Something to play for

    • Fan Level, daily challenges and 48 achievements Every game earns progress, with Results, Daily Challenges and a Locker to show for it.
    • The Locker Bats, uniforms, helmets and celebrations you can unlock and wear in games.
    • Team Builder and Player Editor Twelve preset teams, play any two against each other, or build your own.
    • Hall of Fame Leaderboards for the best players, with weekly boards, and Game Center on iPhone.
    • Your save, everywhere Progress saves on your device and backs up online.
    • The iPhone app The game wrapped as an app for iPhone and iPad, with haptics, and the first test build uploaded to TestFlight.
    • Privacy, support and terms pages Ready for the App Store from the start.

  5. Day 5 · Tuesday, October 13

    Milestone: The website opens

    A home on the web

    • The website A landing page at the front door and the game at /game, family-friendly for everyone. The park’s sponsor is Lodgepole Root Beer (“it’s mostly bubbles”).
    • The Shop and Beaver Bucks Earn Beaver Bucks by playing and spend them on bats, kits and more. Special bats leave a trail behind the ball.
    • Home runs feel huge A big crack at contact, a whoosh over the fence, trot antics and the pitcher’s head shake.
    • Training Points Games pay Training Points, and you spend them to boost a player’s ratings.
    • Lineup browser Swipe through the batting order one player at a time.
    • Offline play The game keeps playing without a connection and syncs when you’re back.
    • Your own names Name your team and players, with a filter to keep it friendly.
    Batting in Beaver Ball: number 21 Maple Gnawsley at the plate with the strike zone and a Swing button.
    The picture that greeted visitors on the first website.

  6. Day 6 · Wednesday, October 14

    Press, hold, release

    • Touch pitching and batting Press and hold to load a pitch on a power bar, slide to aim, let go to throw. Batting works the same way.
    • The runner map A little field in the corner shows every runner, the ball and who has it.
    • Skip the trot A Skip button for home run trots, with an auto-skip setting.
    • A tutorial you can play by touch The game freezes behind every tip until you’ve tried it.
    • Achievements with secret challenges Hidden goals worth Beaver Bucks.
    • The face generator Eyes, brows, lashes, mouths, noses, markings, hairstyles and dyes, with a Randomize button and presets.
    • Sharper on phones Smoother edges on the grass stripes and chalk lines.

  7. Day 7 · Thursday, October 15

    The biggest day

    More than 200 changes landed in one day.

    • Chip, the park’s mascot A costumed beaver who works the crowd from the first-base dugout roof.
    • Career mode Make your own beaver, sign with a team and climb the Pond League, with an All-Star Game, a cup bracket and a Rookie of the Year race.
    • Leagues with friends Start a league, share a join code and play for the top of the standings.
    • Place leagues Standings for your country and state, and a world map of each place’s best.
    • Accessibility mode Spoken play-by-play, sound cues that tell you when to swing, and voice control.
    • Easy, Normal and Hard Easy plays the field and the bases for you; Hard hands you everything.
    • The TV package Replays of big plays, walk-up cards and a box score at the end.
    • Real softball rules The run rule, the extra-inning tiebreaker, wild pitches and slides.
    • Rundowns you steer A thumb stick to dodge your way out of a pickle.
    • Daily streak and Meet the Stars Rewards for playing every day, and each star’s hometown, story and favorite lines.
    • Faces that move Brows, ears and jaws that react, and mouths that talk with the voice.
    • And more Sign in with Apple, a loading screen with Pip gnawing a log, a crowd in the bleachers, players’ faces in the Lineup, step out of the box and call time, and 121 new sound effects.
    The home screen with Chip the mascot cheering on top of the dugout.
    Chip on the dugout roof, with the home screen of the time.
    Pip Paddlefoot four ways: zombie, ghost, golden statue and skeleton.
    Character looks: zombie, ghost, golden statue and skeleton.

  8. Day 8 · Friday, October 16

    Make them yours

    • Body types and hairdos 17 body presets and 9 sliders, bangs for every beaver, an Afro, space buns, a side pony, a monster beehive, and any hair color you can pick. Hats now fit around the hair.
    • No ads, anywhere I took ads out of the apps for good, before launch.
    • Game controllers Xbox, PlayStation and Switch Pro controllers, with rumble on contact.
    • The Recap Show Peg and Stu talk through your last game, your players and what’s next.
    • Pumpkin Smash and Pumpkin Dash Halloween minigames between innings.
    • Pick your ball Optic yellow with a real seam, or white, orange or pink.
    • Captions Every spoken line on screen, in sync, even while muted.
    • Batting practice A short lesson with Peg and Stu, and an Easy swing that connects.
    • The Daily Report Yesterday’s games, homers and wild plays, on its own page.
    • A new website home page A rail of the stars and a section for each feature.
    • Delete my account In the app and on the website.
    The Player Editor on a phone with a beaver on the preview stage.
    The Player Editor.
    Juniper Jaws admiring their home run, with the runner map and score bug on screen.
    Flip the bat. Admire it.
    A Meet the Stars page with a star in their hometown.
    Meet the Stars.

  9. Day 9 · Saturday, October 17

    Milestone: Spooky Season goes live

    Wind-up batting

    • Spooky Season Halloween at Lodgepole Park through October 31: a dusk sky, jack-o’-lanterns, fog on the pond, a pumpkin ball and a Halloween shelf in the Shop.
    • Wind-up batting How long you hold picks a Contact, Full or Power swing. Slide down to bunt.
    • Focus ring and windmill pitch meter A ring that closes on the barrel as the pitch comes, and a meter that shows their arm going round.
    • Swipe to run Swipe a runner toward the next bag to send them, or back to bring them home.
    • Mouse pitching on a computer Hold, drag and let go, just like on a phone.
    • Faster menus The park rests while you’re in a menu, and menu screens load the first time you open them.
    Batting on a phone with the hold-to-swing hint on screen.
    Press anywhere and hold.

  10. Day 10 · Sunday, October 18

    Settings that make sense

    • Commentary controls Choose how much the booth talks, more Peg or more Stu, and mute any voice.
    • Hall of Fame on the website This week’s top three and yesterday’s headline right on the home page.
    • What’s a beavertail? Homers are measured in beavertails. A fold-out explains: a beaver’s tail is about a foot long.
    • Game pictures in the Daily Report The scoreboard and wild plays wear the game’s own drawings.
    • Android The Android app got ready for Google Play.Coming soon

  11. Day 11 · Monday, October 19

    Milestone: Beaver Ball 1.0 sent to the App Store

    Coaches, a Derby and a brand-new Shop

    The second-biggest day ended with Beaver Ball 1.0 for iPhone and iPad going to Apple for review that evening.

    • Coaches A head coach and up to three assistants per team, working the first- and third-base boxes.
    • Home Run Derby Pick your hitter and a round: Outs, Pitches or Practice.
    • The new Shop A stage where your player wears what you’re looking at, a reveal after every buy, item sets with team boosts, selling back for half, and Beaver Bucks that rain down.
    • More Beaver Bucks Every game pays at least 15, and your first win of the day pays 50 more.
    • Lineup photos Every team as nine players on a log, framed in the team’s colors.
    • Lodgepole Radio 29 chill menu songs with album art and your own playlist.
    • Peg and Stu show you around A friendly line the first time you open each menu.
    • A real bunt Square around early; the bat’s angle decides where it goes.
    • Name callouts Peg, Stu and the players say every player and team name out loud.
    • 24 more spooky items Costume kits, helmets, bats and celebrations, plus Monster and Mummy looks.
    • A drawn icon set and a new loading screen The game’s own icons replace emoji, and buck teeth chomp a log while it loads.
    • Report a problem Send a bug report right from Settings.
    The Team Builder’s Coaches tab with a head coach and an assistant.
    The Coaches tab.
    A coach in the third-base coaching box during a game.
    A coach working third base.
    The new Shop with a player on the stage holding a gold bat.
    The new Shop.
    The Team Builder showing teams as framed lineup photos.
    Lineup photos.
    The Play menu with picture tiles for Game, Season and Derby.
    The Play menu with the Derby.

    Built this day, coming later

    • Harvest Hoedown and Snow Day park themes with their Shop shelves.
    • The Beaver Dome, a ballpark inside a beaver lodge whose roof a pop-up can hit, with a Dam Off instead of a brawl.
    • The Magic Dome, home of the Fairy Beavers, and a Maps Pack of five new parks.

  12. Day 12 · Tuesday, October 20

    Milestone: The website gets everything

    Regional leagues and Derby records

    Everything built so far went live on beaverball.app that evening.

    • Ten regional leagues across the US Computer teams play every spot, and anyone can follow along. Taking over a team comes with the Beaver Ball Club.Club coming soon
    • The draft, waivers and swaps Draft beavers at season start, sign free agents, request swaps, and earn when your drafted beaver plays for another team.
    • Derby records Derby homers get their own record and leaderboard, and the game tells you when a score makes a board’s top 10.
    • Fresh looks mid-season Send new uniforms and gear to your league team without starting over.
    • A website just for Beaver Ball The site now talks only about the game you can play there.
    Four phone screens: the list of regional leagues, a league page, standings and a team’s week.
    Regional leagues on a phone.
    A league draft board.
    The draft board.
    A Derby homer that set a new number one record.
    A new number one Derby homer.

  13. Day 14 · Friday, October 23

    Milestone: Beaver Ball 1.0 live on the App Store

    Approved, and live

    Apple approved Beaver Ball 1.0, and it went live on the App Store: fourteen days from the first drawing of the park to a full game anyone can download.

    • On the App Store Free for iPhone and iPad, with everything from the fourteen days of building: the full game, the player editor, career mode, the Derby and the Shop.
    • Your save comes along The App Store link is on beaverball.app and here, and a website save can come along to the app.

What’s next

The first app update

Beaver Ball 1.0.1

  • The Beaver Ball Club, a yearly membership that lets you take over a regional league team.
  • Leagues, Derby records and name callouts in the app, as they are on the website today.

November 1 to 30

Harvest Hoedown

Lodgepole Park dresses up for Thanksgiving, with flannel kits, kitchen bats, trophies and daily challenges.

November

New ballparks

The Beaver Dome, the Magic Dome and the Maps Pack: Frozen Pond, Bayou, Treetop, Old Mill and Lunar Lodge. Every park plays on the same regulation diamond.

December 1 to January 1

Snow Day

A winter park with Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year’s looks, including the Candy Cane Hood.

In the works

Also on the way

  • Beaver Ball on Google Play for Android.
  • Beaver Bucks packs on the website.

Plans can change, but this is what’s in the works. Everything above the “Coming soon” tags is playable free in your browser today.

Dates are when each feature was finished. Pictures are from the game at the time, so older screens look a little different today.

Made for the feed

Hit by a pitch? Charge the mound. 15 s
They flipped the bat. 15 s
Softball, but pumpkins. 15 s
Bench-clearing beavers. 30 s
Build your own beaver. 30 s
A “What’s new?” story: Peg Driftwood, the play-by-play beaver, in the Lodgepole Park press box, saying Beaver Ball just got a big update and they have prepared notes. Many, many notes.A “This or that?” story: Birch in blue number 7 (“Sit. Stay. Strike three.”) versus Bucky in red number 99 (“Sends it on vacation.”).A “Zombie sluggers.” story: a grey zombie beaver in a red number 99 uniform at night. Spooky Season is on, free through November 1, pumpkin ball included.A “Play free now” story: the Beaver Ball logo above three beaver players and the line “Tap the link. Pick a beaver. Hit the pond.”, with beaverball.app.A “Meet the Stars” post for Old Oakley, number 50, the coach from Old Oak Bend: “In MY day we hit river rocks!”

GOT A GOOD “WHAT IF”?

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