(You dream you are the sheriff of a wild west town populated entirely by bird people. Your bird deputy scrutinizes you closely as you mosey along beneath the bright pink sky.)
DEPUTY: (monotonously) State your job title.
YOU: Sheriff.
DEPUTY: And what is the function of a sheriff?
Birdland is a multiple award-winning work of Interactive Fiction by Brendan Patrick Hennessy about Bridget Leaside, a 14-year-old girl at summer camp whose strange dreams about birds begin to bleed into reality.
It can be played here
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The work designated Birdland provides examples of the following tropes:
- Animal Athlete Loophole: After all, there's no rule saying grub-hunting isn't an official camp sport.
- Anti-Frustration Features: While not recommended on the first playthrough, you can enable all mood-dependent choices and the undo button at the start of the game so it'll be easier to try different story paths.
- Dream Sequence: Bridget has many strange dreams during her time at summer camp, and what she does in them affects her mood the following day, limiting your choices.
- Gotta Ship 'Em All: Invoked. Do you have any idea how many ships Liz has going? 14. (Later edited to be 7, but still.)
- Insult Backfire: Bridget, to a bird: "Your mama lays eggs." "That is an anatomically correct statement."
- Precision F-Strike: Played for laughs in the musician dream."Hate. This is a song about me. ♪ I hate myself / I hate myself / I hate my goddamn self / Hate hate hate hate /Hate hate hate hate hate / Fucking / God damn it / Motherfucker"
- Punny Name: Most characters are named after some Canadian or Torontonian landmarks.
- Rules Lawyer: An entire race of them: the birds are forbidden from doing anything illegal, interpreted very, very broadly.
- Running Gag: "What is the function of the __________"?
- Shout-Out: Liz is a Pricefield shipper. (This was removed later, with "Pricefield trash" changed to "Absolute trash.")
- Suspiciously Apropos Music: Most of Bridget's songs in the musician dream hint at her crush.
- Tarot Troubles: Hidden away in the pirate dream, with randomized and obfuscated cards all derived for details accurate to the rest of the plot.(She flips over the last card. It's numbered VI and shows two naked humans holding hands underneath a giant bird.)FORTUNE TELLER: The Romantically Involved Individuals. A companion of yours will prove like-minded in a way that you had intensely hoped but had not allowed yourself to believe.YOU: Wait, what was that last one again?
