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April 10, 2019 11:08 AM

Video game birds are having a good year: • Falcon Age • Feather • A Short Hike • SkateBIRD • Toripon • Untitled Goose Game • The Pathless [via: Polygon]

Bonus:

• On birdwatching in video games [Eurogamer]

“The appearance of wild birds in games is increasing as open worlds become more lush and complex. Crows will land on your boat as you explore the Volga in Metro: Exodus, Far Cry's turkeys are famously ornery, like World of WarCraft's Plainstriders, but the king of birdwatching games has to be Assassin's Creed Odyssey (a word Oddworld Inhabitants has forced me to check every time I use it). [...] The parallels between birdwatching and PC gaming are many. Both involve expensive equipment that's a bit too big to sling easily over your shoulder. Both need patience - as anyone who's tried to download Final Fantasy 15 with its 4K textures from Steam can attest. And unless you've got a fancy living room setup, both mean sitting on something that's less than optimal.”

posted by Fizz (24 comments total)

Oooh, The Pathless looks amazing!
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:36 AM on April 10, 2019

also, Tiny Bird Garden Deluxe (Trailer, Youtube).
posted by bigendian at 11:41 AM on April 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

also, Tiny Bird Garden Deluxe

200+ hats!!! I'm sold. Take my bird money.
posted by Fizz at 11:48 AM on April 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

Also, previously on Metafilter: Birding Like It’s 1899 (about bird-watching in Red Dead Redemption 2).
posted by mhum at 11:51 AM on April 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

BIRDS
GAMES
BIRDGAMES
posted by overeducated_alligator at 11:53 AM on April 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

We've come a long way since George Plimpton's Video Falconry.
posted by Cash4Lead at 11:53 AM on April 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

Rats - I was hoping that this meant Untitled Goose Game was finally out. I am so excited to be a horrible goose, I can't wait.
posted by queensissy at 12:03 PM on April 10, 2019 [10 favorites]

I was just now trying to think of the oldest game in which the player character is a bird, and I just realized that in Joust, the player does in fact control the bird, not the knight riding it. The button even says "flap" on it.
posted by subocoyne at 12:03 PM on April 10, 2019 [6 favorites]

I like Feather. You can download a free earlier version of the game from itch. They call it a demo, but it has a significantly different version of the island to explore (with different secrets to find) and a fruit-collecting mechanic that is not in the final game. I've enjoyed playing both versions.

https://samuraipunk.itch.io/feather
posted by straight at 12:08 PM on April 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

I was just now trying to think of the oldest game in which the player character is a bird, and I just realized that in Joust, the player does in fact control the bird, not the knight riding it.

Is Q*Bert a bird? Anyway Joust came out before, but only by 3 months.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 12:27 PM on April 10, 2019

I just realized that in Joust, the player does in fact control the bird, not the knight riding it.

But when your knight gets hit, you die. The bird continues flying. I think you're controlling the knight, and he is the one who is making the bird flap.
posted by bondcliff at 12:32 PM on April 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

I feel like I got my money's worth from just watching the pre-alpha gameplay trailer for Untitled Goose Game.

Those first wordless seconds where the goose climbs out of the lake, picks up some poor sap's sandwich and... drops it in the lake.
posted by qntm at 12:47 PM on April 10, 2019 [6 favorites]

I forgive the game for the fact that it stars a duck, not a goose.

Oh don't worry, Duck Game already exists and it is glorious. 🦆
posted by Fizz at 12:49 PM on April 10, 2019

Untitled Goose Game! I've been looking forward to that one!
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:00 PM on April 10, 2019

But when your knight gets hit, you die. The bird continues flying. I think you're controlling the knight, and he is the one who is making the bird flap.

The knight is nothing without his bird. The bird is nothing without his knight. They move and fight as one.
posted by tobascodagama at 1:04 PM on April 10, 2019 [3 favorites]

But when your knight gets hit, you die. The bird continues flying. I think you're controlling the knight, and he is the one who is making the bird flap.

That's a very good point. And when the enemy knights died, a new knight hatched from the resulting egg, which makes me think the knights themselves are perhaps evolutionary advanced birds, or perhaps reptiles. I guess we need to wait for the inevitable Hollywood adaptation to discover more about Joust lore.
posted by subocoyne at 1:05 PM on April 10, 2019 [6 favorites]

There's Ducks Ahoy from '84, where you control a duck-centric gondola service... altho that's more in service of ducks, with you as a sentient animated gondola I believe.
posted by FatherDagon at 1:26 PM on April 10, 2019 [1 favorite]

Though if you were riding a bird, telling it exactly when to flap seems like micromanaging. You don't ride a horse by telling it, step, step, step, step, step, step.
posted by RobotHero at 2:07 PM on April 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

I want all of these. But Untitled Goose Game really captures the essence of what complete assholes geese are. I must have it.
posted by soren_lorensen at 3:08 PM on April 10, 2019

Incidentally, one of the animators for Falcon Age is AZO, who has been featured on this site before. Here's his post-viz showreel of falcon animations.
posted by subocoyne at 3:22 PM on April 10, 2019

Untitled Goose Game will probably be what I buy a Switch for.

That and the Katamari remaster. I'm also hoping that Keita Takahashi's new game, WATTAM, gets ported to the platform at some point, as having to buy a PS4 just for one game would suck.
posted by acb at 3:29 PM on April 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

Does Untitled Goose Game have a “horrible copious pooping” effect? If not, meh.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:13 PM on April 10, 2019

Does Untitled Goose Game have a “horrible copious pooping” effect? If not, meh.

There's probably a steam achievement for this.
posted by Fizz at 5:56 PM on April 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

I thoroughly enjoyed A Short Hike. It really made me enjoy exploring this cool little island with fun people on it. It's a shame that it's kind of weird to get right now (you have to be subscribed to the Humble Bundle monthly), but I think it's worth a play when it comes out on other platforms.
posted by No One Ever Does at 10:59 PM on April 10, 2019