Thankfully magpie season is largely behind us in Australia, meaning your walk to work or home won’t be interrupted by a swooping bird. But if you want to revisit that chaotic time of the year, or even see it from the bird’s perspective, then do we have news for you.
An Aussie bloke has worked his backside off to create a video game which allows the user to play as a magpie. The sole aim of Swoopie Boi is to literally swoop ‘posties, hipsters, and a bunch of other characters’.
The game’s creator, Rohan Nowell, told LADbible that he made the game his passion project and is very happy with the results.
“I’ve always wanted to make a game,” he told us.
“Last year I decided to make that dream a reality. I was racking my brain for ideas when I came across videos of people being chased by magpies.
“I thought it had a chance so I toyed with the idea and a couple hours later I had a prototype. The idea made me laugh and the prototype was fun so I just had to finish it.”
Swooping might be the main aim of the game, but you have to make sure you avoid cyclists with zip-ties attached to their helmets – and, of course, some posties will fight back.
The higher the score, the more characters you unlock, according to Rohan.
He explained the game is a reflection of a couple of personal run-ins he’s had with the bird.
“My first after-school job as a kid was for a chemist delivering medicine on my bicycle to old people in Sydney suburbs,” Rohan said.
“During those years I got chased by lots of dogs, and of course magpies too. It was always pretty scary but also kind of a fun thrill – I can still hear the clicking sound they made in my ear.
“I flipped the roles in the game so that the player is a magpie. Now having had a go myself, I don’t blame them for chasing people – it’s fun watching people run.”
Every year when spring hits, magpies get very territorial, mainly along the east coast of Australia.
It’s nearly always male magpies that swoop people and it’s usually to protect the nest during mating season, which is roughly between September to November.
According to the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, ‘smaller – especially younger – people, lone people, and people travelling quickly (i.e. runners and cyclists) appear to be targeted most often by swooping magpies’.
