Separated jumping, flapping, gliding, and braking
Running with open wings no longer launches Aurelie by accident; jumping, spreading, flapping, gliding, and braking became separate choices.
The early controls made flight too eager. Opening the wings while running could quietly turn ground movement into takeoff, which meant the player was not really deciding to leave the ground. I split those intentions apart.
Middle mouse now owns the jump. Right mouse opens the wings on land and starts a fresh wing stroke in the air. Running or sprinting with the wings spread stays grounded until a deliberate jump or flap; a partial spread produces partial thrust instead of being upgraded invisibly during the stroke.
“Leaving the ground should be something the player does, not something the controls do to them.”
The resting pose changed with the controls. Wings fold along the flanks, shoulders rise, tips tuck back toward the tail, and the layered feathers follow the folded bones instead of stacking into broad ridges. From sixty-percent spread, releasing can hold the ready pose briefly so the next press becomes a real launch stroke.
Once airborne, W can ease into glide, a double tap requests it immediately, and braking is its own action. The result is not a canned takeoff animation. It is a small sequence the player performs: prepare the wings, commit the feet, then earn the air.