Sponsored Feature: IJApps hopes gamers will flock to Pop The Pigeon

Pigeons have a fairly tough life. Being chased by small children, getting labelled as flying rats, and serving as shooting practice are just a few of their problems.

Thanks to iPhone title Pop The Pigeon they can add being burst with lasers to that list.

Developed by IJApps, Pop The Pigeon has a simple premise, but it's got more to offer than just light relief for pigeon haters.

Catch the Pigeon

Pop The Pigeon is a target shooter. Each of the game’s levels gives you a laser sight, a few pigeons, and a time limit.

The aim is to manoeuvre your sight (using the accelerometer) over a pigeon and hold it there. Your laser automatically expands the pigeon until its eyes bulge and the pressure causes it to burst like a cartoon balloon.

It's simple, but never easy, especially when there are a variety of pigeons (fast, slow, and heavily armoured to name a few) all possessing wildly unpredictable flight patterns.

IJApps founder Ian Joyner says that getting the level of difficulty in this part of the game was essential.

“Pop The Pigeon is a skill game and crucial to getting a skill game right is the difficulty - it must be challenging, not impossible, not easy,” says Joyner. “We've put a lot of time into this. There's no difficulty setting, we want the leaderboards to be comparable between everyone. The approach to difficulty in Pop The Pigeon is to start somewhere almost anyone can complete with Flock On (Level 1).”

Gameplay to coo over

A finely adjusted difficulty curve is one thing, but Joyner also believes his development team has done well in squeezing some surprises from the game's basic premise.

“It's good to see new things happen in games,” says Joyner, “so there's new pigeon types and several special weapons that become available as the game progresses, all designed to give you a smile and a little break from regular pigeon popping. They also bring in an element of strategy as to which bird you choose to take on first.”

The game has generally gained a favourable customer review rating, but was especially popular in the UK. Joyner has a straightforward explanation for the British boom.

“I'd love to come up with some theory about how every Brit just wakes up wanting to laser a pigeon,” jokes Joyner, “but I think it's really just because we're based in the UK and most of the promotion has been there.

"I'm sure the rest of the world sees the funny side of popping a pigeon. It's not just about the pigeons, though, I think it's the gameplay that keeps people playing and I think that's true anywhere in the world.”

Not just for flanders pigeon murderers

For fans of pigeons (and there are some out there) the game may be difficult to embrace due to its subject matter. Some consolation for such people may be sought, Joyner explains, in the fact the game was not specifically made as a form of pigeon smashing punishment.

“The design began with the game mechanics you see in the final build, but there was no specific theme, or target,” says Joyner. “We knew we needed something that flies and something we could explode, but we also wanted it to be funny and to be something people recognised. But it was the name Pop The Pigeon that really won us over, it was just so unique and silly – sorry pigeon lovers!”

The game may take some heat off the pigeons in future updates, which will also bring extra levels and chapters drawing from player feedback.

“There's a few ways we're looking at taking the gameplay in the future and there's room for lots of new birds, maybe even some non-pigeons,” says Joyner.

“We will wrap the current levels into chapter one, then release further levels as new chapters inside free updates. We get lots of ideas from players about where to take the game. These are great and we'd love to incorporate them where we can, so please keep them coming.”

Flying the nest

Regarding a follow-up to the bird bothering blaster, Joyner doesn't make any promises for now.

“We're not looking as far as a sequel yet, we're just concentrating on expanding the existing game. A follow up would likely come around as part of a significant change to the gameplay, but that won't be for some time.”

Pop The Pigeon may be flocking to other platforms, even if such plans are not yet confirmed.

“We would love to do an Android version,” says Joyner, “but we don't have the resources right now. But it is definitely on the cards for the future. We would like to see Pop The Pigeon on all platforms.”

Pop The Pigeon is available on the App Store on both iPhone and iPad now for just 59p / $0.99 / €0.79, with a free lite version also available.

Download Pop The Pigeon for iPhone and iPad.
Download Pop The Pigeon for iPhone and iPad lite.