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Please check out the new game I developed for teaching how to identify birds by sound. Details can be found here. I welcome your feedback. The game is set up right now for children so its pretty easy but we are adding a new Levels feature that will make it more difficult for experienced birders.

 

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iBird Explorer: Finally a field guide as light as a feather. See it at http://www.ibird.com

The graphics are beautiful, and the game is fun and educational.  I would like to see better instructions.  I fumbled around before I discovered there were multiple birds and that I needed to pan the frame.  But once I caught on, I enjoyed it and learned the sounds.  I like the binoculars too.  I think children (and teachers too) will like this.

Julianne

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Julianne Bockius

Hey thank you for looking it over and leaving me this feedback. Plenty of poeple have looked at it but yours is the first comment.

Can you tell me a little more about what was missing from the instructions? You say you did not understand there are several birds and  you must "pan" to see them. How could I say that? Like this:

"To see the birds you must click on the frame and drag to the right. This will cause the background to scroll. You can scroll up, down, right or left. When a bird comes into view you will hear its call and see a pulsating green circle which indicates its location -- but it will be invisible at first. Try to guess what the bird is by listening to its sound, and select its name from the box in the upper right part of the screen. If you want a visual hint click on the Visual button. Each time you click it will make the bird less transparent -- but it will also take points off your score."

We plan to add a lot more features, including multiple difficulty levels (so advanced levels only show part of the bird such as just its head, the transparency is not as strong, etc), much wider worlds, animation such as rippling water and rain, many more birds, more habitats, better integration of birds in the world and so on.

Thanks again,

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iBird Explorer: Finally a field guide as light as a feather. See it at http://www.ibird.com

Those instruction are very clear.  You might consider telling how many hidden birds are in the picture.  You might also consider putting the instructions above the game.  (At first I didn't see the instructions because I didn't scroll down far enough -- my fault.)

The enhancements all sound like they will be good additions.  Actually, I was eager to try another habitat, but alas I couldn't find one.

 

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Julianne Bockius

Good suggestions! I moved the instructions to the top, and you are right, that is way better. I can't really tell how many birds are in the game as it will change frequently. Part of the fun is NOT knowing and finding them all. Certainly the glints make it pretty obvious, but for the more advanced game you will have a harder time because the only indicator will be the sound you hear as you scroll the background. If you are a keen birder you should be able to locate the bird because the sound volume increases as you get closer to the bird.

There are two habitats: Lake and Marsh. Links to them are on the upper right of the game. Did you see those?

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iBird Explorer: Finally a field guide as light as a feather. See it at http://www.ibird.com

The kids and I tried the game again today and the Lake Habitat pulled up for us this time. We also experienced the background music this time (didn't before) and IMO, I thought it interferred with the bird sounds. I'd prefer the game without the music.

M.

M: we are going to make the background sound optional in the next version so you can turn it off or change its volume. Glad it worked for you.

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iBird Explorer: Finally a field guide as light as a feather. See it at http://www.ibird.com

I played with the game again today, and have one more suggestion.  I think kids should be encouraged to use binoculars, so I think points should not be deducted for using them in the game.  They don't seem to help much with the identification, but they are good for getting a better look at the bird after it has been displayed.

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Julianne Bockius

Here is what I have been thinking about visual hints and the binoculars, I think you will like this.

Visual hints and the binoculars

 

What would be very cool is if instead of having visual hints that simply change transparency we combined the visibility feature with the binoculars. The idea here is to make this more like real life.

 

Suppose when you wanted a visual hint you used the binoculars and there was no V button. Rather then having transparency as the effect, instead we make the bird out of focus (not the background which would as you say be CPU intensive). Each time you magnify the bird it becomes more in focus. We may or may not want to remove points for using the binoculars depending on the level of difficulty.

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iBird Explorer: Finally a field guide as light as a feather. See it at http://www.ibird.com

When I played this game the first time, I only went by sound -- didn't use binoculars or view. Then when I tried those, just for fun, I was a bit disappointed -- they gave me too much information right away. The first level of either should be a rough outline of the bird -- just shape, and maybe location -- in a tree, on a snag, in marshy weeds, etc. No plumage or color. Even the first couple of zoom levels should leave out details, I think.

Nonetheless, this game holds GREAT potential, and I'm eager for more birds, habitats and levels of difficulty. I'm not great at bird vocalizations, and this could help me -- a lot!

--dawn, Bloomington, IN

Im going to change the hints so they work like you describe, very good suggestion. I dont think the location idea makes sense as the pulsating green circle already tells you the location. See my previous message about the binoculars, I think that is a better way. Im working on adding more birds and backgrounds.

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iBird Explorer: Finally a field guide as light as a feather. See it at http://www.ibird.com

Fun! I really enjoyed it. Thanks!

I've started a contest to come up with a name for our mascot for the Bird P. I. game. Please see details here.

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iBird Explorer: Finally a field guide as light as a feather. See it at http://www.ibird.com

I thought the game was pretty neat and has lots of potential.  With only 3 choices of birds, I didn't feel the need to use the hints, so I didn't really play around too much.  I hope the more difficult version has more choices.

Just thought of a couple more things.  The announcer's voice seemed much louder than the bird calls, though possibly I wasn't always centered exactly on the bird.  And it takes FOREVER to load at dial-up speeds.  The graphics are beatutiful, but please take us poor dial-up folks into consideration whenever possible!