The visitors in her yard provided plenty of reference material for designing the shapes and motions for her avatars. “There's been this gradual progression, and now I'm the crazy bird lady that's buying three suet blocks every time I go to the store,” she says. She'd started feeding birds from her home in Seattle-French fries and human snacks, and eventually seeds and suet-and soon began wondering what species were showing up. Fox developed her avian affinity like most folks-slowly at first, and then almost all at once. The game maker’s dedication to realism is, in part, driven by her own budding love of birds. In actual life, “they don't point their beak in the direction of travel they point their beaks where they want to get depth perception,' Fox says. The birds even look off to the side while they’re skating. Her characters hop around as they shift their weight on the board they flutter their wings to maintain balance and they nuzzle up to the giant hand when it descends from the sky to pet them. What Fox is trying to capture is a lighthearted verisimilitude that can make game play more informative. “For instance, it's not like a bird is going to lean into a turn. “The bird doesn’t have to look like a human on the skateboard,” Fox says. Her game aims to engender a fondness that you just don't get with the other caricatures.

There are Chocobos and Angry Birds and Owl Boys, but very few good “birbs,” as Fox likes to call them. Then there's Kazooie, one half of the bird and bear duo of “ Banjo-Kazooie,” spends most of her time cooped up in Banjo's backpack. The owl-like Kaepora Gaebora in “Ocarina of Time,” which greets you the second you leave Kokiri forest and refuses to leave you alone.

Just think of all the great birds in gaming. It's a purely aesthetic choice on Fox's part, but it's one she feels is important, given that there are so few games out there that depict birds realistically. Playing it, avian experts might notice that the Zebra Finches and budgies move just like they would off the skateboard. While Glass Bottom Games has yet to set a release date-the estimate is sometime early next year-it is sharing a demo of “SkateBIRD” through the Kickstarter page. In the weeks since, more than 2,000 backers have contributed to “SkateBIRD,” allowing Fox to add more features: tiny owls, custom vests, and levels that venture outdoors and into the clouds. When Fox launched a Kickstarter earlier this summer, timed to the video game industry's largest convention, the $20,000 goal was met within the first 24 hours. After about six months of trying to adapt the concept, Fox landed on “SkateBIRD.” She demoed it for the first time at an indie showcase in March of 2019, with help from animator Alex Price and composer Nathan Madsen. In this case, it was a parakeet riding a fingerboard down a quarterpipe that Fox's partner showed to her.

Like all good things on the internet, the genesis of “SkateBIRD” can be traced back to a single GIF. The environs are embedded in more familiar settings, including rooftops, office floors, and a post-party dorm room. The game places its avian contestants-with fun and appropriate headgear-in miniature parks made from pencils, thimbles, Solo cups, and similar knick knacks. “SkateBIRD” just happens to be the first idea to involve birds that skateboard around with attitude. But that’s creator Megan Fox’s whole shtick: The company she founded, Glass Bottom Games, specializes in single-user animal-themed play, often inspired by her own encounters with wildlife. Of course, the twist is that you have to pull off the moves in the less-than-flexible body of a bird. Combine the stunts to do big numbers, and score new levels, characters, and pals while you’re at it. There’s a button to ollie, another to do flip tricks, another for board grabs, and yet another for grinds. Who among us wouldn't want to rip around a skatepark made from office supplies as a delightful, wobbly bird? It’s a thrill we can all soon experience, thanks to “ SkateBIRD,” a video game for PC, Mac, and Linux, set to be released next year.Īnnounced on Kickstarter less than a month ago, with more than $60,000 now raised by fans, the game plays like an updated version of the popular “Tony Hawk's Pro Skater” series.

Skatebird skatepark