Orchard — fruit trees that grow themselves

Orchard is a meadow where fruit trees grow on their own. Nobody draws them: each tree is scattered with invisible points of light inside the shape of its future crown, and grows toward them bud by bud. Apple, cherry, pear and plum trees blossom in spring, carry fruit in summer, drop their leaves and fruit in autumn, and stand bare under the snow in winter. Then the year starts again.

How to play

Tap the meadow to plant a tree. The higher you tap, the further away it grows: distant trees are smaller and fade into the haze. Drag across the screen to blow a gust of wind in that direction: branches bend, leaves shiver and fall faster in autumn. The toolbar picks a season, pauses or resumes the cycle of the year, switches the wind between calm, breeze and storm, reveals the points of light the trees are reaching for, replants the whole orchard, and saves the scene as PNG.

How a tree grows

Three rules, known as the space colonization algorithm. Each bud grows toward the nearest points of light. A point of light that a branch reaches goes out, and when none are left, the tree stops. A branch is as thick as everything it carries, so trunks come out stout and twigs thin, just like real wood.

Why it's satisfying

Every tree is different, and none is designed. Watching a trunk rise, hesitate, then burst into branches that fill the crown is the same quiet pleasure as watching a time-lapse of a garden. The seasons keep turning without you, so you can simply leave it open.

About

Orchard is part of Alcy, thirty-four free contemplative micro-games on the web. Also try Vine, Bloom, Wind.