Rive Animation Projects in BristolRive Animation Projects in BristolCursor Camp, A Real-Time Multiplayer World, Built with Rive
Cursor Camp (https://neal.fun/cursor-camp/) is a live multiplayer playground where up to 1000 real cursors from around the globe share the same space simultaneously. A beach, lazy river, clubhouse, campfire, soccer pitch, cave, treehouse and more, brought to life through over 40 Rive-powered interactions and animations spanning environments, characters, objects, and interactions.
My role was building the entire Rive layer. Starting from the illustrator’s artwork, I translated everything into interactive systems, rigging and animating scenes, characters, and objects while developing the state machines and behaviours that make the world feel dynamic and alive.
The real challenge was making it data-aware. Using ViewModel data binding and Luau scripting throughout, every animation responds to live runtime input, with cursors picking up objects, triggering states, and reacting to a constantly changing world.
That includes moments like players duetting on a piano in real time, progressively eating an entire cake with each click, adding sticks to a fire to increase its intensity, or dropping ingredients into a cauldron to dynamically change the colour of the broth.
The result is a Rive system ready to be wired into Neal Agarwal’s multiplayer backend, where WebSockets keep thousands of players in sync in real time.
It hit the front page of Hacker News on day one, with people asking one question over and over:
How is this running in a browser?
That’s the impossible UI. I was commissioned to bring a brand mascot to life for a reading app. The character, Bonny, a friendly virtual bonfire, supports and motivates users to achieve their reading goals.
Built in Rive, the animation was designed as a flexible, scalable runtime. Bonny supports multiple visual themes, emotional states, and contextual actions, enabling the app to respond dynamically to user behaviour. From calm idle loops to celebratory bursts, subtle reactions, and reward moments, each animation reinforces positive feedback and deepens the connection between reader and product.
The rig was structured to stay performant across devices while still allowing rich expression, resulting in a lightweight yet highly characterful system that enhances the overall experience.
