Charabia

Charabia is a cross-platform riddlegame designed to make problem-solving fun, interactive, and slightly addictive. Built for a French client, the app brings the classic charm of charades into the mobile era with a fresh, game-show-style twist. Players spin a vibrant colour-coded wheel that selects a difficulty level — Green for easy, Yellow for medium, and Blue for hard. Once the wheel stops, users receive three connected riddles where the final answer is a combination of the first two, encouraging logical thinking and wordplay creativity.

The game features a rich French vocabulary that spans modern slang, literary terms, archaic words, and everyday expressions, making it both entertaining and educational. Developed as part of Zartek's cross-platform app development services, Charabia is the name of a playful parrot mascot who rewards players with peanuts and clues as they progress through the game.

The first 50 charades are free, with additional packs available through in-app purchases — implemented natively for both platforms by Zartek's Flutter app development team. The app is live on both Google Play and the Apple App Store, delivered as part of Zartek's end-to-end mobile app development process.

The client, based in France, had a clear vision for a charade-style word game that would feel distinctly French in its language, humour, and cultural references. The challenge was to bring this vision to life as a polished, cross-platform mobile game that worked seamlessly on both iOS and Android, without maintaining two separate codebases.

Beyond the basic game mechanics, the client wanted a rich set of features that would keep players engaged well beyond their first session. This included a spinning difficulty wheel with smooth animations, timed challenges with dynamic scoring, progressive difficulty levels, interactive sound effects, a peanut-and-clue reward system tied to the parrot mascot, in-app purchases for additional riddle packs, player rankings, and a multiplayer host mode that allowed one player to host the game offline for group gatherings and social events.

The technical challenge was significant: building a game that combined fluid animations, real-time scoring, audio feedback, a monetisation layer, and offline multiplayer — all within a single codebase that delivered native-quality performance on both platforms.

Key challenges included:

We designed and developed Charabia as a cross-platform mobile application using Flutter for the front end and Python for the backend services. Flutter's widget-based architecture and high-performance rendering engine made it the ideal choice for this project — it allowed us to build the rich animations, smooth wheel spins, and interactive transitions the game required while shipping a single codebase to both iOS and Android with native performance.

The game's core mechanic — the colour-coded spinning wheel — was implemented with custom Flutter animations that deliver a satisfying, game-show feel. When the wheel lands on a colour, the app dynamically serves three connected riddles at the corresponding difficulty level. The timed challenge system tracks player responses in real time, feeding into a dynamic scoring algorithm that rewards speed and accuracy. Interactive sound effects and visual animations accompany correct answers, wrong guesses, and reward moments, keeping the experience lively and engaging.

The peanut-and-clue economy is tied to the Charabia parrot mascot. Players earn peanuts through gameplay, which they can exchange for clues when stuck on a difficult riddle. This reward loop was carefully balanced to encourage continued play without frustrating users. The first 50 charades are free, and additional riddle packs are available through in-app purchases, implemented natively for both the App Store and Google Play.

The multiplayer host mode was one of the most distinctive features. It allows one player to turn their device into a game host for offline group play — perfect for family gatherings, parties, and social events. The host device manages rounds, displays riddles, tracks scores, and announces results, all without needing an internet connection.

The Python backend handles riddle management, user accounts, rankings, and in-app purchase validation. The French vocabulary database was carefully curated to include a rich mix of modern, slang, literary, archaic, and colloquial terms, giving the game its distinctive linguistic character. Player rankings are synced when online, allowing users to compete with others and track their progress over time.

The result is a polished, culturally authentic French word game that combines the charm of classic charades with modern mobile game mechanics — available on both iOS and Android from a single Flutter codebase.

1. Front End - Flutter (Dart) — single codebase for iOS and Android

2. Backend - Python — riddle management, user accounts, rankings, IAP validation

3. Architecture - Cross-platform with offline-first design for multiplayer host mode

4. Animations - Custom Flutter animations for spinning wheel, transitions, and reward effects

5. Audio - Interactive sound effects and audio feedback integrated throughout gameplay

6. Monetisation - In-app purchases on Google Play and App Store for riddle packs

7. Database - Curated French vocabulary with progressive difficulty categorisation

8. Multiplayer - Offline host mode — one device serves as game host for group play

9. Rankings - Online leaderboard system synced across users

10. Platforms - iOS (App Store) and Android (Google Play)

Gameplay:

Engagement & Monetisation:

Social & Multiplayer:

Q: What is Charabia?

A: Charabia is a cross-platform riddle game available on iOS and Android. Players spin a colour-coded wheel to select a difficulty level and solve three connected charades where the final answer combines the first two. The game is designed in French and features timed challenges, dynamic scoring, a peanut-and-clue reward system, in-app purchases, player rankings, and an offline multiplayer host mode for group play.

Q: What technology was used to build the Charabia app?

A: Charabia was built using Flutter (Dart) for the cross-platform front end and Python for backend services including riddle management, user accounts, rankings, and in-app purchase validation. Flutter enabled native-quality animations and performance on both iOS and Android from a single codebase.

Q: Does Charabia support multiplayer or group play?

A: Yes. Charabia includes a multiplayer host mode that allows one player to host the game offline on their device. This is designed for family gatherings, parties, and social events where a group can play together without needing an internet connection.

Q: Is Charabia free to play?

A: The first 50 charades are free. Additional riddle packs can be unlocked through in-app purchases on both Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Q: Who developed the Charabia riddle game?

A: The Charabia game was designed and developed by Zartek Technologies, a product engineering company based in Kochi, India, specialising in cross-platform mobile app development, custom UI/UX design, and full-stack product engineering.

Q: Why was Flutter chosen for Charabia instead of native development?

A: Flutter was chosen because it allows building high-performance, animation-rich mobile apps for both iOS and Android from a single codebase. This reduced development time and cost while delivering the smooth wheel spins, transitions, and interactive effects the game required, with native-quality performance on both platforms.