| Not to be confused with the game's official group, The Feather Family. |
"🕊️ Explore the world as one of many types of birds! Choose your species, customize yourself, hatch from an egg, grow up, build your own nest, and join flocks!"
Feather Family is an animal role-playing game on ROBLOX. Players select birds to play as and fully customize to create scenarios with other players. The game is available in several languages and on all forms of accessing ROBLOX.
Birds
Birds are the birds and bird-like animals playable in Feather Family. Birds can be customized in many different forms and renamed. There are currently three kinds of birds based on their obtainability.
Standard
For the category page, see Standard.
Standard birds are accessible to the player as soon as they join the game. These birds all work fairly typically aside from Egg which serves as its own kind of playable.
| Bird | Skin | Flight Status | Sexual Dimorphism |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egg | - | Flightless | No |
| Sparrow | - | Flying | No |
| Pigeon | Rock Pigeon | Flying | No |
| Mourning Dove | Flying | No | |
| Cardinal | - | Flying | No |
| Robin | North American (Thrush) | Flying | No |
| European (Flycatcher) | Flying | No | |
| Chicken | Leghorn | Limited | Yes |
| Silkie | Flightless | Yes | |
| Duck | Mallard | Flying | No |
| Mandarin | Flying | Yes | |
| Goose | Canadian | Flying | No |
| Chinese | Flying | No | |
| Quail | Valley (New World) | Limited | Yes |
| King (Old World) | Limited | No | |
| Turkey | - | Limited | Yes |
| Swan | - | Flying | No |
| Pheasant | Ring Necked | Limited | Yes |
| Golden | Limited | Yes |
Unlockable
For the category page, see Unlockable.
Unlockable birds are purchased with the game's main currency, Feathers, which are earned over time as you play. Most of the game's birds are unlockables. Unlockables range in price from 10 to 3,000 Feathers.
Every bird above 500 Feathers in price is an extinct bird and added in the various Summer of Fossils events. All except Dromaeosaur and Skeleton have brown names with bones on their menu icons. The two exceptions have yellow names and stars on their icons.
| Bird | Price | Skin | Flight Status | Sexual Dimorphism |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chickadee | 10 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Swallow | 10 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Jay | 10 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Guineafowl | 10 Feathers | Helmeted | Limited | Yes |
| Vulturine | Limited | No | ||
| Parakeet | 25 Feathers | Budgerigar | Flying | No |
| Ringneck | Flying | No | ||
| Raven | 25 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Gull | 25 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Sandpiper | 25 Feathers | Western | Flying | No |
| Timberdoodle | Flying | No | ||
| Peafowl | 50 Feathers | - | Limited | Yes |
| Woodpecker | 100 Feathers | Pileated | Flying | No |
| Red Bellied | Flying | No | ||
| Hummingbird | 50 Feathers | - | Hovering | No |
| Magpie | 50 Feathers | Eurasian | Flying | No |
| Australian (Butcherbird) | Flying | No | ||
| Cockatoo | 100 Feathers | Cockatoo | Flying | No |
| Cockatiel | Flying | No | ||
| Macaw | 100 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Auk | 100 Feathers | Puffin | Flying | No |
| Dovekie | Flying | No | ||
| Cuckoo | 100 Feathers | Common | Flying | No |
| Roadrunner | Flying | No | ||
| Crane | 150 Feathers | Common | Flying | No |
| Crowned | Flying | No | ||
| Hoopoe | 150 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Penguin | 150 Feathers | Emperor | Flightless | No |
| Rockhopper | Flightless | No | ||
| Loon | 150 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Cormorant | 200 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Rhea | 200 Feathers | - | Flightless | No |
| Kiwi | 200 Feathers | - | Flightless | No |
| Heron | 200 Feathers | Blue | Flying | No |
| Great Egret | Flying | No | ||
| Kingfisher | 250 Feathers | Common | Flying | No |
| Kookaburra | Flying | No | ||
| Pelican | 250 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Toucan | 250 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Gannet | 250 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Flamingo | 300 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Hornbill | 300 Feathers | Rhinoceros | Flying | No |
| Red Billed | Flying | No | ||
| Bird of Paradise | 300 Feathers | Greater | Flying | Yes |
| Superb | Flying | Yes | ||
| Emu | 300 Feathers | - | Flightless | No |
| Ostrich | 350 Feathers | - | Flightless | No |
| Nightjar | 350 Feathers | Standard Winged | Flying | Yes |
| Great Eared | Flying | No | ||
| Shoebill | 350 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Hoatzin | 350 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Falcon | 400 Feathers | Peregrine | Flying | No |
| Kestrel | Flying | No | ||
| Owl | 400 Feathers | Great Horned | Flying | No |
| Barn | Flying | No | ||
| Secretary | 400 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Stork | 400 Feathers | Marabou | Flying | No |
| White | Flying | No | ||
| Cassowary | 450 Feathers | - | Flightless | No |
| Vulture | 450 Feathers | Griffon (Old World) | Flying | No |
| Condor (New World) | Flying | Yes | ||
| Eagle | 500 Feathers | Bald | Flying | No |
| Harpy | Flying | No | ||
| Albatross | 500 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Hawk | 500 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| 'Ō'ō | 600 Feathers | - | Flying | Yes |
| Sapeornis | 700 Feathers | - | Limited | No |
| Great Auk | 800 Feathers | - | Flightless | No |
| Elephant Bird | 900 Feathers | - | Flightless | Yes |
| Dodo | 1,000 Feathers | - | Flightless | No |
| Confuciusornis | 1,100 Feathers | - | Limited | Yes |
| Archaeopteryx | 1200 Feathers | Updated | Limited | No |
| Classic | Limited | No | ||
| Jeholornis | 1,300 Feathers | - | Limited | No |
| Moa | 1,400 Feathers | - | Flightless | Yes |
| Hesperornis | 1,500 Feathers | - | Flightless | No |
| Gastornis | 1,600 Feathers | - | Flightless | No |
| Kelenken | 1,700 Feathers | - | Flightless | No |
| Pelagornis | 1,800 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Harpagornis | 1,900 Feathers | - | Flying | No |
| Argentavis | 2,000 Feathers | Updated | Flying | No |
| Classic | Flying | No | ||
| Dromaeosaur | 3000 Feathers | Deinonychus | Flightless | No |
| Microraptor | Limited | No | ||
| Skeleton | 3,000 Feathers | - | Hovering | No |
Game Pass
Main article: Game Passes
Game Pass birds are purchased with ROBLOX's microtransaction currency, Robux. Game Pass birds currently make up the least of the bird roster but are still notable in the fact that each one is unique in some form from the standards and unlockables. All game pass birds can hover fly in some form, they all have a unique stage and all have a Magic action and coloring option. Griffin and Peryton in particular are very unique for their completely overhauled coloring.
| Bird | Price | Skin | Flight Status | Special Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix | 400 Robux | Updated | Hovering | Unique egg, magic action, hover flight, rebirth ability, unique flight particles, spawns in Volcano |
| Classic | Flying | |||
| Cockatrice | 500 Robux | - | Hovering | Unique egg, aquatic, sexual dimorphism, lie and rest actions, magic action, flight trail, spawns in Fantasy Field |
| Peryton | 600 Robux | - | Hovering | Unique egg, sexual dimorphism, magic action, flight trail, spawns in Forest |
| Griffin | 600 Robux | Updated | Hovering | Fledgling stage, sexual dimorphism, lie and rest actions, magic action, flight trail, spawns in Skylands |
| Classic | Flying | Fledgling stage, lay and rest actions, magic action, flight trail, spawns in Skylands |
Gameplay
The player is able to customize their selected bird in the Character Creator to adjust the bird's colors, texture, markings, particle effects and size. All but effects and size have an 'Advanced' option that offers more options for the mode of customization. Colors have a limited array of relatively desaturated colors but turns into a functionally infinite selection with the Advanced mode which allows use of HSV and RGB color codes plus sliders. Markings by default are applied to the entire body except the beak, eyes and legs but can be placed on individual parts (excluding eyes), resized and rotated in Advanced mode. Texture works very similarly in that it applies to the same parts by default but can be changed to select parts in Advanced, additionally allowing changing of the eyes albeit very limited changing. Effects simply emit from the body and can be recolored. Size simply changes the scale of the bird and the pitch of their call (larger birds have deeper calls and vice versa). Combinations can be saved in 12 different save slots which can be renamed to better identify them.
Once the player is finished customizing their character, they spawn in whatever biome has been assigned as the spawn. Below is a list of all the game's biomes.
For the category page, see Biomes.
| Name | Teleport Placement | Spawn For |
|---|---|---|
| Village | First | None |
| Sanctuary | Second | None |
| Forest | Third | Peryton |
| Jungle | Fourth | All standards and unlockables |
| Ice Mountain | Fifth | None |
| Volcano | Sixth | Phoenix |
| Desert | Seventh | None |
| Beach | Eigth | None |
| Fantasy Field | Ninth | Cockatrice |
| Skylands | Tenth | Griffin |
All of these can be teleported between at will but are also naturally connected. They each serve as different settings for role plays. Players can assign themselves a name and bio, pick up items (Egg and its variants cannot pick up items), interact with certain things, find NPCs and more. Each bird has a set of actions they can perform. With a few exceptions, the set of actions a bird can perform are very uniform. Below are the arrays of actions birds can have.
This list has copious amounts of information and is collapsible for reader convenience.
Regular Hatchlings
- Run - Increases ground and water movement speed. Can either trigger a unique sprinting animation or simply speed up movement animations.
- Call - Bird makes a noise accompanied by a brief animation.
- Sit - Sits down in place. Any movement will cancel the sitting.
- Eat - Performs an animation reminiscent of the bird eating something. When eating an item, this bird's Eat animation is used.
- Hurt - Performs an animation making the bird appear injured or dead. Any movement will cancel the hurt pose.
- Eyes - A toggle that keeps eyes closed or leaves them open with natural blinking.
Regular Adults
- Run - Increases ground and water movement speed. Can either trigger a unique sprinting animation or simply speed up movement animations.
- Call - Bird makes a noise accompanied by a brief animation.
- Sit - Sits down in place. Any movement will cancel the sitting.
- Eat - Performs an animation reminiscent of the bird eating something. When eating an item or building a nest, this bird's Eat animation is used.
- Hurt - Performs an animation making the bird appear injured or dead. Any movement will cancel the hurt pose.
- Display - Performs an animation where the bird does any form of unique animation. Less uniform than other actions in terms of animation and usually references a unique action the bird performs in real life.
- Preen - Performs an animation where the bird cleans a part of itself using its beak, typically a wing.
- Eyes - A toggle that keeps eyes closed or leaves them open with natural blinking.
- Fly - Depends on how capable the bird is in flying; can either let the bird take flight for an unlimited amount of time, let them fly for a limited time before having them slowly descend or have a popup appear noting that the chosen bird cannot fly. Most flying birds automatically move where they are facing though Hummingbird, Skeleton and all Game Pass birds (except the classic skins of Phoenix and Griffin) can hover in midair and only move on command.
Eggs
- Shake - Shakes to the sides with a brief noise.
- Crack - Toggles a cosmetic feature where the egg has a crack on its shell accompanied by a brief animation on toggle.
Below are sets that reuse standard sets. Actions included in standard sets for their stages will not be included.
Phoenix
In addition to the respective actions for the hatchling and adult, Phoenix has a unique action added for both stages and another unique action for its adult form.
- Magic - Spews a stream of fire particles with an animation and noise. Can ignite items.
- Rebirth - Exclusive to adult Phoenix. Activates its Display animation with fire surrounding its body before morphing back into its egg form.
Cockatrice
The hatchling and adult forms of Cockatrice also have normal action sets with Magic added on.
- Magic - Toggles a mode where the Cockatrice's eyes glow, emitting square shaped particles and a stream of light in its line of sight.
Peryton and Griffin
These two have the most extensive sets of actions and have the same action lineups. They use the same lineups in their adult forms and share lineups between the Peryton hatchling, Griffin hatchling and Griffin fledgling.
Peryton Hatchling, Griffin Hatchling and Griffin Fledgling
- Lie - Functionally identical to Sit except performs a different animation where the bird is closer to the ground.
- Rest - Functionally identical to Sit except performs a different animation where the bird is curled up.
- Fly
- Griffin Hatchling - Displays flightless message.
- Peryton Hatchling and Griffin Fledgling - Takes flight for a period of time before slowly flying down.
- Magic
- Peryton - Turns semitransparent and single colored with glowing eyes. Footstep and flight sounds are muted while the toggle is on.
- Griffin - Mounts on a cloud where it flies the same way a hover flight bird would, though at a slower pace and without the downwards speed bonus. Uses the Sit animation.
Adults
- Lie - Functionally identical to Sit except performs a different animation where the bird is closer to the ground.
- Rest - Functionally identical to Sit except performs a different animation where the bird is curled up.
- Magic
- Peryton - Turns semitransparent and single colored with glowing eyes. Footstep and flight sounds are muted while the toggle is on.
- Griffin - Mounts on a cloud where it flies the same way a hover flight bird would, though at a slower pace and without the downwards speed bonus. Uses the Sit animation.
Feather Family, being a roleplaying game, relies on other players for optimal gameplay. Many features are in place for players to interact with each other. The most direct kind of cross-player interaction is carrying, activated by clicking on another player's bird. Doing this will prompt three options: pick up on back (bird must be smaller, you must be an adult), pick up in beak (bird must be smaller) or pick up in foot (bird must be much smaller). Egg cannot carry other birds. Players can create and join Flocks, groups hosted by one player for organized roleplay. Members of a flock have a label above their head with their flock and flock rank, can teleport to each other and the flock base, and can receive flock announcements from the owner of the flock. Flocks can be locked to prevent players from joining and have joining restricted to certain birds. Roleplay Servers are the largest scale of cross-player interaction. Only able to be hosted by players with the Very Important Bird game pass, roleplay servers are hosted by owning a private server. The host is able to assign a name and description to the server, manage which birds are allowed and have a wide arrange of commands.
Console players cannot see names and descriptions, make their own, name/see names of customization saves, see flock names and see roleplay servers due to ROBLOX's terms on user-written content on console. They also have the inherent console property of not being able to use ROBLOX's built-in chat feature.
Controls
Mobile
- Run - Run button
- Fly - Fly button
- Actions - Actions button (all actions there done by pressing)
- Interact - Press/hold screen
Computer
- Run - Shift
- Fly - Q
- 1-9, 0 - Actions (varies between birds; typically 1-7)
- Interact - E or click/hold click
Console
Formatted in Xbox button/PlayStation button.
- Run - X/Square
- Fly - Y/Triangle
- Actions - Actions button (all actions there done by pressing)
- Interact - B/Circle
Lore
Feather Family's lore is intentionally limited as to leave the game's world to player interpretation. This covers the few bits of confirmed lore.
Summer of Fossils Lore
A gray scientist penguin named Dr. Penguin can be seen in Ice Mountain's tunnels observing the preserved skeleton of what seems to be a large theropod dinosaur. He explains that this creature is an ancient ancestor of birds and expresses his interest in seeing extinct birds. When Summer of Fossils starts with the addition of Dodo, a lab is added to this area where Dr. Penguin resides and has test tubes with the skull of each bird he brings back. He is responsible for the resurrection of all birds added in this first wave, those being Dodo, Archaeopteryx, Moa, Kelenken, Pelagornis and Argentavis. After Argentavis, he expresses his pleasure with all the birds he's brought back from extinction and encourages the player to explore the lab.
Some time after this initial wave of birds, a new bird is added to this roster. Dr. Penguin is gone in this update and the bird's skull isn't present in the lab. This new bird is Skeleton, a monstrous failed attempt at bringing back the Harpagornis. Though Dr. Penguin is not present, a book written by him is left in his place that explains how he created Skeleton by accident and that he regrets his actions. He says the Skeleton ran loose and he'll quit his fossil studies out of guilt.
Much later, a new character is added to the lab, a younger medium blue penguin with a straw hat named Penguin Jr.. He is the son of Dr. Penguin who has come to use the lab for himself to bring back more birds in his father's legacy. He expands the lab, including adding an entry code to the door, and brings back five new birds: Confuciusornis, Jeholornis, Hesperornis, Gastornis and most notably, Harpagornis, the bird his father failed to bring back. He keeps fossils of the new birds in test tubes, with Harpagornis having a skull in its tube as an homage to the first wave of birds. After Harpagornis' addition, Dr. Penguin returns on the surface around the lab, expressing his pride in Penguin Jr and how he deeply regrets what he's done. Talking to him as Skeleton yields special dialogue where he apologizes for forcing its faulty existence.
A final batch of birds is created when Dr. Penguin finally reunites with Penguin Jr., who together team up to create even more birds. They add another row of test tubes and advance some of the lab's equipment, including redoing the lab door code to be randomized. They bring back the 'Ō'ō, Sapeornis, Great Auk, Elephant Bird, Microraptor and Deinonychus. The skeleton outside the lab that was once a large theropod was changed to a dromaeosaur skeleton around the start of the event, hinting at Deinonychus' inclusion as the final creature. Dr. Penguin and Penguin Jr. are satisfied with their work, with Dr. Penguin even coming to terms with bringing Skeleton into being.
Peryton/Rita Lore
A ghost appears in the Forest graveyard at midnight around October accompanied by a light blue female penguin named Rita. Rita sits in watch of the ghost, explaining her sightings of it and that she wants to come closer to it. The ghost can be interacted with which brings up distorted dialogue where it asks the player if they can see it. Ghost is temporarily removed and Rita is relocated to an icy spot in Forest near Beach where she talks about mythical creatures, the ghost and her husband who doesn’t believe in mythical beings and is a ‘stern man of science’. Ghost comes back with a slight coloring change and new dialogue where it claims it wants to be seen. It also lets out high pitched howls during the night. Shortly after this return, ghost changes into Peryton, using the same model as the playable version added in that same update. He does this when finally revealing herself to Rita who comforts him. The peryton expresses its gratitude to not be feared when talked to.
Rita is implied to be the wife of Dr. Penguin and mother of Penguin Jr., which eventually leads to the two lore branches connecting. After the Peryton is removed, Rita is also removed. Dr. Penguin is seen at the graveyard explaining that Rita died years ago, implying Rita herself was a ghost. He explains that she was the mother of his son who died when their child was young. He says his latest memory with her is arguing over the existence of mythical creatures and he wishes they could’ve had fonder memories. The icy spot where Rita was between Ghost’s removal and re-addition has dialogue in the spot where she once stood with no speaker, saying that a cool breeze passes through.
Game Passes
Main Article: Game Passes
Game passes are extensions of Feather Family that can be unlocked with ROBLOX's main currency, Robux (R$), which is primarily gained by purchases with real-world money. Very Important Bird offers many expansions to customization and roleplay, while the other four game passes are unique birds.
Very Important Bird - 300 R$
"Very Important Bird Status"
★ Premium textures and aura effects
★ Play music with custom Audio IDs
★ Color and Texture nests and flock bases
★ Host Roleplay Servers
Phoenix - 400 R$
Morph into the legendary bird, the fire-breathing Phoenix.
★ Phoenix Egg
★ Phoenix Chick
★ Adult Phoenix
★ Modern + Classic Skins
Griffin - 600 R$
Morph into the legendary creature, the lion-eagle hybrid.
★ Griffin Hatchling
★ Griffin Youngling
★ Adult Griffin and Griffiness
★ Classic+Modern Griffin Skins
Cockatrice - 500 R$
Morph into the legendary monster, the chicken-serpent hybrid.
★ Cockatrice Egg
★ Cockatrice Chick
★ Adult Cockatrice
Peryton - 600 R$
Morph into the legendary bird, the deer-owl hybrid
★ Peryton Egg
★ Peryton Fawn
★ Adult Peryton Buck and Doe
Trivia
- The original name was "Chicken's Life", as it started with a step on chicken morph. This technically means that Chicken was the first bird ever added to the game.
- The game's description has a link to a DevForum post by ShinyGriffin which serves as credits.
- For a short period of time, the game could hold 20 extra players, likely for testing. This has been changed back, probably because the servers didn't perform well.
- Before Moa was added, the game used the default ROBLOX leaderboard, which caused problems fitting species names like Archaeopteryx and Bird of Paradise as well as longer roleplay names or usernames.
- Excluding things like ROBLOX shutting down or the game being discontinued, it could functionally be updated forever, as there's an estimated total of 18,000 bird species in the world.
- The first alternate language the game was translated to was Spanish.
- The game used to turn you into a faceless R15 character with the 1.0 body and gray skin which was visible for only around a second, though the Quality of Life update removed this.
- Some of Feather Family's map elements are public models from ROBLOX's toolbox. These models are gradually replaced as the game progresses. Every bird is custom built.
- During a reintroduction of scam bots, which would post links to websites that try to steal your account, ShinyGriffin added an additional line to the game's description: ⚠️Urgent message from ShinyGriffin: Please do not follow links to websites claiming to give you Robux. They are dangerous because they are FAKE, and they will steal your information!
- Because ShinyGriffin does not own gaming consoles, Feather Family's console compatability was tested on an emulator. Console controls originally had a design flaw where the interact button was X/Square (Xbox/PlayStation), the same as the sprint button. This was briefly changed to A/X, but this is the jump button so it ended up being put on B/Circle.
Gallery
For the full page gallery, click here.
