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Shh: A Bird Story dev speaks up about pre-release silence
A Bird Story is Kan Gao's follow-up to To the Moon, a quietly emotional and surprisingly deep game about life and love that's been well-received since its release three years ago. Now, with A Bird Story launching on Friday, Gao is proud of his new game, but he feels the need to warn players that it may not be what they expect. It's simpler, he says. "The one thing that I'd like to be clear about is that I'm certainly not unsure about the game – to me, it's perhaps the one thing I've made that I'd choose if someone were to ask me to," Gao tells Joystiq in an email. "That being said, I don't expect everyone to share that sentiment (it doesn't have a more intricate story like To the Moon, for example), and I think some folks (naturally) have a certain expectation about what the next game is going to be like – I think that's what I'm worried about. I really think it's the kind of game that's best enjoyed with a blank slate." A Bird Story is a short bridge between To the Moon's first and second episodes, the latter of which has yet to be released. The series deals in time travel and the final wishes of people on their deathbeds: The main episodes feature two scientists as they enter a dying man's memories to alter events and make his final wish come true, at least in his mind. A Bird Story stars a boy who grows up to be the dying man in episode two. In a video posted yesterday, Gao says multiple times that A Bird Story is different than To the Moon – for starters, it has absolutely no dialogue. Similarly, Gao hasn't been very vocal about developing A Bird Story, providing minimum updates and releasing just one trailer back in August.
To the Moon follow-up mini game, A Bird Story, set free mid-2013
Freebird Games' A Bird Story, available for PC in mid-2013, bridges the gap between stellar 2011 indie game To the Moon and its coming sequel. A Bird Story is a "narrative-driven, top-down adventure short" that chronicles the young life of the old man in the sequel, and while it is a narrative game, A Bird Story features almost no dialogue. It does have an original soundtrack composed by creator Kan Gao; check out a sample in the title screen above.To all the players expecting certain things in the next full To the Moon game, Gao says even he isn't quite sure what it will look like, but he won't develop it just to meet certain quota or mirror previous games."However, what I can promise is that I'll always be making what truly means something to me - and hopefully, to you too," he says. "I hope everyone could take them as they come, and enjoy them for their own merits."
To the Moon hits Steam September 7, next episode incoming
After teasing in April that a launch would happen "soon," Freebird Games' To the Moon is officially hitting Steam on September 7.To the Moon has been on our radar since last year, when it made our 2011 Best of the Rest roundup. Back then it was available on the developer's site and on Desura, but it was absent on Steam, a service with a wider audience, higher profile and where a game of To the Moon's caliber truly belonged. To the Moon will be available in English, French and German, and likely Italian and Korean, Freebird's Kan Gao says.Freebird is working on another episode of To the Moon, featuring the same doctors invading another dying person's memories in the attempt to make their patient's greatest wish come true, mentally, at least.In April, Gao said To the Moon will be free on Steam to those who purchased it previously, and that it wouldn't include Steamworks, since it's such a short game anyway. Gao confirms that To the Moon won't use Steamworks for achievements or saves, but "it's possible that a new form of cloud saves will be used."Those who bought To the Moon from Freebird's site, and only from Freebird's site, will get a Steam version for free. This will be on a request basis, since Gao has to manually email each person with a free code. He'll announce an email account for retrieving free codes once it's all set up.
