butterfly life Guide: Picking your first butterfly
About
OverviewButterfly life is an open-world flight game where you pick a butterfly, explore a big map, raise caterpillars, and help quirky characters on quests. This guide walks you through getting started, finding rare butterflies, completing quests, and unlocking every badge.
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Contents
Picking your first butterfly
Tips
When you first load in, you choose which butterfly to play as. The roster includes Pinkfly, Icefly, Candyfly, Firefly, Galaxyfly, Rainbowfly, Bonefly, Diamondfly, and Goldfly, plus more beyond those. As you explore and complete adventures you earn new butterflies, which are stored in your nest so you can swap to them whenever you like.
- New butterflies are rewards for exploring, so you will keep adding to your collection naturally.
- Open your nest at any time to switch to a butterfly you have already unlocked.
- You can also play as a caterpillar or a silly human if you want a change of pace.
Quest characters and what they want
StepSeveral hybrid animal-butterfly characters live out in the world, and each one has its own mission. The two main quest-givers are Caterfly and Hamsterfly — land on either of them to start their quest. Other characters need help too, and tracking them all down is a big part of the game.
- Find Caterfly land on her to begin the quest to locate her missing kittens.
- Find Hamsterfly landing on Hamsterfly kicks off Hamsterfly's mission.
- Locate Sam the Snail help Sam out to earn the snail badge.
- Reunite the turtle find the turtle and bring her back to her eggs to earn the turtle badge.
- Finish the race course fly through the full course to complete it and unlock the race badge.
Raising a butterfly from scratch
StepLaying eggs and raising the next generation is one of the core loops in the game. Feed your caterpillar until it hatches into a butterfly — doing this successfully earns the Raise a butterfly badge. Every generation produces a new caterpillar, and each one grows bigger than the last.
- Lay eggs use the egg-laying feature while playing as your butterfly.
- Feed the caterpillar keep feeding it until it is ready to emerge.
- Watch it hatch once the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, the badge unlocks.
- Try different foods mixing food types creates hybrid butterflies that give you extra points.
- Keep going each new generation starts a bigger caterpillar.
Rare and ultra-rare butterflies
TableBeyond the quest characters, the world contains rare butterflies that reward you with a badge just for encountering them. Speed matters for at least one of them.
| Koalafly | rarer encounter, spotted out in the world. |
| Foxerfly | described as wily, so it takes some searching. |
| Pandafly | another world-roaming rare to hunt down. |
| Cheetahfly | the badge text says you have to be really fast, so move quickly when you spot it. |
| Puppyfly | listed as adorable and catchable, so approach when you see it. |
| Robofly / Ghostfly / Mothfly | all three are labelled super-rare, hyper-rare, and uber-rare respectively. |
The mushroom jackpot
TipsScattered around the map are mushrooms with a jackpot mechanic built into them. The badge for winning it describes it as 'figuring out the mushrooms.'
- Fly around the map and look for mushrooms.
- The badge is called 'You won a JACKPOT!' so keep trying until the game confirms you cracked it.
The leaderboard and migration
TipsThe game has a leaderboard driven by flight skill. To climb it, fly through the stars. The world also has a migration event where you fly around and bop critters to let them know it is time to migrate.
- Fly through the stars to build up your flight skill score.
- During migration, bop every critter you find to complete the event.
- Hybrid butterflies from mixing different foods award extra points.
Badge checklist
CheckUse this list to track what you still need. Every badge comes from doing something specific, so if you are missing one, look at what it describes and go do that thing.
- Jackpot solve the mushroom puzzle.
- Save the turtles reunite the turtle with her eggs.
- Caterfly help Caterfly find her kittens.
- Hamsterfly complete Hamsterfly's mission.
- Sam the Snail help Sam out.
- Koalafly, Foxerfly, Pandafly, Cheetahfly, Puppyfly encounter each rare butterfly in the world.
- Complete the race course fly the full course.
- Robofly, Ghostfly, Mothfly find each of the three ultra-rare butterflies.
- Raise a butterfly hatch a caterpillar all the way into a butterfly.
Glossary
Glossary- Nest
- The place where all the butterflies you have earned are saved, letting you swap between them freely.
- Hybrid butterfly
- A butterfly created by feeding your caterpillar a mix of different foods, which rewards extra points on top of the normal hatch.
- Caterfly
- A cat-butterfly character in the world who gives you a quest to find her kittens when you land on her.
- Hamsterfly
- A hamster-butterfly character who starts his own mission when you land on him.
- Jackpot
- A special reward tied to the mushrooms on the map, earned by working out the mushroom mechanic.
- Migration
- An in-game event where you fly around bopping critters to signal that it is time to go.
Common questions
FAQCan I change my butterfly after I start?
Yes. As you play you earn additional butterflies, and they are all saved in your nest. You can switch to any unlocked butterfly whenever you want.
How do I get the Raise a butterfly badge?
Lay an egg, then feed the caterpillar that hatches from it until it fully emerges as a butterfly. The badge unlocks the moment it hatches.
What makes Robofly, Ghostfly, and Mothfly so hard to find?
The game itself labels them super-rare, hyper-rare, and uber-rare.
Does it cost anything to play?
The game runs on free servers, so there is no paywall to join and explore. You can play on a wide range of devices including mobile, console, and VR.
Game updates can change what is on this page. If you spot something, get in touch and let us know.
