Devlog #2 A ramble by vague_carrier about the inception of A Bird in the Hand

Hi everyone,

I’m vague_carrier, the producer and 2D artist for A Bird in the Hand, and I’ll give you the history of how I came up with the initial idea for our game.

I had a look in my project diary, hoping to lay out the creative process and the first mention I found was “A Bird in the Hand *genius”, which pretty much sums it up and betrays my delusions of grandeur in one fell swoop.

I like birds, I like silly things, I like low poly - the perfect combination.

The gameplay and aesthetics were inspired by Untitled Goose Game, Katamari Damacy, Evolve, Who’s Your Daddy?! and Animal Crossing: Sweet Day.

Sweet Day was the core influence – it’s a minigame from Nintendo Land on the Wii U, I played it once a veeerrry long time ago at a friend’s party. Up to 6 players on a small map, two of them trying to catch the other four, who try to collect and escape with candy.

What I took away from that experience was the silliness, loud shrieks from the players and the couch co-op experience. There’s nothing quite like the mix of screen-cheating, exchanged threats, optional swearing and manic giggling from a good multiplayer game with friends.

I wanted to recapture the player-driven aspects in A Bird in the Hand - making a game with simple mechanics that could be enjoyed by all ages in a local multiplayer setting. 

Pet birds knocking things over while their owner tries to stop them and pop them back in their cage felt like gameplay that could be really fun. I wanted the mechanics simple so that the emphasis could be on the multiplayer experience.

I’m fortunate to be on a fantastic team of incredibly talented people, and you’ll hear from them about more aspects of the game over the coming weeks 😊