Since the start of this project, I have to admit, I have been thinking about all the mechanics I could add to Birb Spotting. How the storyline could unfold. How XP is gained. How the focus on the binoculars could change due to the character’s skill gains. The level designs. All good stuff, right?

But not if the birbs aren’t behaving!

Initially, as I was building a concept for Birb Spotting, I had birbs spawning in key spots in between trees every (random1-15) seconds, and then disappearing after a few seconds. In the wooded levels this simple solution works well, because of how most of the screen is covered with tree with a few peep holes every now and then to spot birbs.

But this did not look good in the gardens and I imagine any open space like the coasts, meadows, wetlands etc. The above description of birb spawning behaviour was just a simple way for me to build up some concepts and “feel” for the game, and for me to test the binocular mechanics (probably more on that next time) and was always going to be improved.

So, I wanted to test how I could have my birbs move from place to place and have different species of birb spawn at different rates depending on location and rarity, and also later in development on the season and player XP upgrades.

Birb Movement: The birbs are not always on the move in the game, and often will move only to come onto/off screen and within screen from one perch to the next. This makes the video showing birb movement slightly untrue to the game as I am not planning on having the birbs flying like crazy Gully here. The flight from perch to perch is achieved using waypoints that move a little and the decision whether or not to move to another waypoint, and if so which one, being decided by dice roll. This is great in the game, as to capture that magic of bird watching (irl), it is necessary to have the birbs move unexpectedly to a place you can’t easily predict. (Much better than the initial have birbs spawn at places you can predict then disappear).

As I say, the birbs in game won’t use the waypoints to remain in constant, crazy to and fro flight like the video, but will “land” when they reach a landing type waypoint (on a branch, ground, fence etc.) and may take off again after some time, or not. I just need to get round to animating landing and taking off…

Birb Spawning To achieve birbs spawning at different likelihoods birbs are grouped into common, less common, (and rare will be implemented later in development when that mechanic is crafted). Currently, every second, there is a 60% chance no birbs will spawn, a 40% chance that a birb will spawn. When birbs spawn in-game they spawn off screen and move in screen or spawn behind a bush etc. and move into view, potentially… if you’re lucky.

If a birb does spawn, then there is 80% chance it will be a common birb and a 20% chance it will be a less common birb (for that region/habitat, as birbs that are not commonly found in a habitat currently will never spawn there).

As a side note life… finds a way… so later when I have more birbs grouped by habitat I will incorporate something like a 1% chance you could see a birb out of its normal habitat, but anyhow…).

This means that as things stand, every second there is 28% chance that a common birb will spawn and 8% chance that a less common birb will spawn. However, because the actual species of birb within that group to spawn is random it adds an unpredictability every time to which birb species, specifically, will spawn. During the game-testing phase, these numbers may change, but for now I think it works well at capturing the unpredictable nature of bird watching (irl) and aids gameplay mechanics in having rarer species being rarer sightings.

Of course, in-game the player’s chance of spotting any birb depends on things like; where they are looking, how focussed their binoculars are, and how fast their reactions are (as a double tap/click on the birb is required to registered the spot).

Also, in the video converted gif there is the Birbpedia. This is a small component added to aid the player in keeping track of different species, which comes in handy if their mission that (in-game) day is to spot a particular species.

It’s great to have got these components into Birb Spotting, and I think really aids my desire to replicate and gamify bird watching.

Thank you very much for visiting and supporting Birb Spotting by reading the devlog and keeping up-to-date with the project.