A GameLab experiment
Lodestar
The Night Migration
You are a young Swainson's thrush. You have never been south. Tonight you leave the Manitoba spruce for the mountains of Costa Rica, flying only in the dark.
Best on a phone, standing up, outdoors or by a window. Also plays on a computer with a mouse and keys.
Your senses
A thrush steers by stars, the sunset and the Earth's magnetic field. Your phone has two senses most games never ask for. Each is optional.
Compass
Uses the magnetometer. The night sky in the game lines up with the real one, so to fly south you turn to face south.
Sonar wings
Your speaker plays a 19 kHz tone most adults can't hear, and the mic listens for its echo off your hand. Wave your hand over the screen to flap. Sound is analysed in the moment and never recorded.
Dogs and some young people can hear it. If yours stares at you, turn sonar off in Settings.
Without them
Drag to turn and look. Tap the Flap button, or press Space. Arrow keys or A/D turn, W/S look, C calls, M opens the map.
Field kit
Five short exercises, one per sense. Nothing here can go wrong.
Lab
One night
Pick a leg. The weather is a clear night behind a cold front, tonight's real date and sky. Nothing is saved.
Choose where to land
Paused
Field journal
Your journal lives only in this browser's local storage. Export keeps a copy.
Settings
Talamanca, Costa Rica