STEM
DriftForge
Selection has a direction; drift is pure luck — and in a small population, luck wins. DriftForge runs evolution on synthetic beetles: predict an allele’s frequency after a generation of selection, drift, migration or a bottleneck, then reveal the maths — and run 24 generations yourself to watch selection trace a smooth curve while drift wanders and a crash loses an allele by chance. Ages 15–18.
#3a7d44 Distributed-narrative cast
Meet the cast
DriftForge is text-forward (R-OLDER-TEEN-DN-ADAPTED, ages 15–18) — no illustrated cast; the 'characters' are the four forces that move an allele frequency across generations. Selection is directional and deterministic: fitter genotypes leave more copies, so a beneficial allele climbs predictably (and a harmful one falls). Drift is the opposite — random sampling of which finite individuals happen to breed, with no direction, and it swings harder the smaller the population. A bottleneck is drift turned to maximum by a population crash, so an allele can fix or vanish by pure luck. Migration is gene flow that pulls a population toward the frequency of its arrivals. Selection and migration are exact arithmetic; drift is a seeded binomial sample, reproducible on-device. Illustrated portraits/chapters/audio are N/A for the older-teen band, not a follow-on.
Selection
The directional, deterministic force — fitter genotypes leave more copies, so a beneficial allele rises predictably (and a harmful one falls); run it again and you get the same climb
Drift
Random change from finite sampling — no direction, and larger swings the smaller the population; with drift you predict the SPREAD, not a single value
The bottleneck
Drift turned to maximum by a population crash — an allele can fix or vanish by pure luck regardless of fitness, so crashes lose genetic variety
Migration
Gene flow that pulls a population toward the frequency of its arrivals, keeping far-apart groups genetically similar until it is cut off
What's inside
Learning goal
Selection has a direction; drift is pure luck — and in a small population, luck wins. DriftForge runs evolution on synthetic beetles: predict an allele’s frequency after a generation of selection, drift, migration or a bottleneck, then reveal the maths — and run 24 generations yourself to watch selection trace a smooth curve while drift wanders and a crash loses an allele by chance. Ages 15–18.
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 DriftForge 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
DriftForge 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
DriftForge 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