A lot of imagery in Flicky is intended metaphorically, such as the bicycle and balloons on the opening titles representing the dreams of the chicks, and the space level representing the future that Flicky attempts to prevent the cat and lizard from taking away from the chicks. In addition, the choice to make Flicky a sparrow, but have the hatchlings she protects be chickens, was a representation of how non-parents can experience maternal instincts when seeing children in danger.

Early titles for Flicky include Flippy and Busty, both names were changed due to copyright issues, along with Flippy sounding too close to one of Flicky's inspirations, Mappy, and "busty" being a lewd American slang term. The name Flippy got so far in usage that promotional flyers exist with the title.