Explore a fantastic world laid out on the surface of rotating flying lanterns.

“30 Birds” is an adventure game with visuals like you’ve never seen before in a game. Is it 2D? Is it 3D? Who knows? (look at the GIFs below and tell us!). The universe is unique: the places look like Persian paintings, bursting with colors, patterns and crazy perspectives! They’re filled with bizarre characters: jinns, human beings, magic animals, regular weirdos, and Simurgh, the giant bird Goddess.

A long time ago, Simurgh pinned five gigantic lanterns onto the night sky, before painting the whole city on their sides. But now, she’s been abducted in her sleep! Here comes Zig, our mysterious character. You’ll have to help her explore the rotating Lanterns, solve puzzles, play music games and more…

It is said thirty birds will help her bring the goddess back, so go get ’em!

Features

• Unseen blend of 2D and 3D: most of the game happens on the surface of rotating lanterns
• Tons of mini-games connected to drawing and music
• A card / tile game that involves memory and luck
• The music games double as real digital instruments
• Modular sound system allows you to combine the instruments you collect and record your own music

History

The project started as an art experiment for an exhibition : the goal was to make the audience experience Persian miniature like paintings in a different way, that is, with a gamepad. That’s when we came up with the cube layout : Persian miniatures are vertical pictures, it’s a defining feature (as they were illustrations for books). Hence, putting them around a cube is the trick we used to make the miniatures connect and expand, while keeping that vertical aspect, and at the same time, introducing a third dimension in the setting. We conceived it as a cross between a kamishibai and a magic lantern projector. These small four-sided paper theaters naturally became lanterns in the game.

Other inspirations include the novel “My name is Red”, a magical realist mystery by Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, the city of Istanbul, and the character of Simurgh – a famous giant bird from the middle-eastern mythology, similar to Phoenix. The title of the game – “30 Birds” – is a play on words with the name “Simurgh”, which sounds like “thirty birds” in Persian. This has been used by Attar of Nishapur in his mystic poem “The Conference of the Birds”. In this Sufi text, a group of birds led by the Hoopoe goes on a journey to meet Simurgh, who represents God in that context. Thirty of them make it to the ultimate valley to only find a big lake in which they can see their own reflection…