Academics
AffectForge
The science of feeling-space. Place a word - nervous, content, restless - where you think it belongs on the map of pleasantness and energy, then see where thousands of real people put it, and reconcile why people disagree. Meridian the manta maps inner weather. Two axes, real rater norms, three-minute labs - and nothing you feel is ever saved. Ages 9-14.
#2F8F9D Distributed-narrative cast
Meet the cast
AffectForge is the first app whose subject is the STRUCTURE of feeling - the affect map with two directions, how pleasant and how much energy (Russell 1980). Meridian the manta is the hero, a cartographer of inner weather who charts a feeling to its place on the map. The companions each embody one part of the science: the two axes, the way real people vary, and the truth that every corner is a real place. It is a map, not a mood log - nothing a learner places is ever saved.
Meridian
Chart the feeling (hero) - a manta ray cartographer who maps a feeling word to its point on the two-axis map (predict, reveal against real raters, reconcile). The mapping act IS Meridian.
Current
The pleasantness axis - a warm current to a cold current; embodies valence (how pleasant or unpleasant a feeling is), the map's left-right direction.
Breaker
The energy axis - still water to a breaking wave; embodies arousal (how still or stirred-up a feeling is), the map's up-down direction.
Shoal
People vary - a shimmering school of many fish, one per rater; embodies the open rater-norm cloud (where MOST people put a word, and how much they disagree).
Skerry
Every corner is a real place - a small rock that is solid ground in every quadrant of the map; embodies inv-2 (no corner is the best, no feeling is bad; which corner a culture prizes is itself variable - Tsai).
What's inside
Learning goal
The science of feeling-space. Place a word - nervous, content, restless - where you think it belongs on the map of pleasantness and energy, then see where thousands of real people put it, and reconcile why people disagree. Meridian the manta maps inner weather. Two axes, real rater norms, three-minute labs - and nothing you feel is ever saved. Ages 9-14.
Question kits
16 curriculum-aligned kits × 25 questions = 400 questions per app, mapped to recognized standards.
On-device AI mentor
FoundationModels-powered hints, feedback, and adaptive difficulty — all running locally.
How AffectForge handles your kid's data
- ✅ All progress, settings, and AI-generated content stays on the device
- ✅ No analytics, no tracking, no third-party SDKs
- ✅ No ads, no in-app purchases — you pay once
- ✅ COPPA compliant under the 2026 FTC amendments
- ✅ Parental controls + session limits + content filters built in
AffectForge runs on ForgeKit — the open-source Swift Package Manager framework that powers every Spark & Anvil app. ForgeKit ensures consistent accessibility, COPPA compliance, and design language across the portfolio, so your kid's progress and preferences feel coherent across every app they touch.
Coming to the App Store
AffectForge is in active development. Email us to hear when it ships — no marketing, no spam, just a one-shot launch announcement.
Email me at launch