Inspiration
Good Migrations came together very naturally. Shortly after the start of the competition, a group of friends had a game night to play Goose Goose Duck, a game that had been on our list for a while. With my screen name and general affinity for waterfowl, it felt inevitable.
Somewhere during the rounds, I joked: “We should make a game with a goose that poops on cars.” It was half a nod to Untitled Goose Game, that special brand of benign, inconvenient chaos, and half just the simple truth that it’s fun to be a little bit of a menace in a video game.
The next day, Proto messaged me asking if I was serious. I told him I was as serious as he wanted me to be. And just like that, we got to work.
What it does
Good Migrations puts you in the feathers of a migrating Canada goose with one goal: eat, honk, and cause a little chaos on your flight to California. As you soar over cars and ponds, you earn points by dive-bombing unsuspecting vehicles, fueled by an accurate Canada Goose diet.
As the round goes on, your speed increases and the game gets harder, encouraging quick reflexes and a bit of strategy. The goal is to get the highest score you can before your energy runs out.
To celebrate each run, the game ends with a personalized collectible postcard featuring your avatar and the goose at an iconic California landmark. These postcards are formatted for social sharing and encourage players to keep playing to collect more.
How We Built It
I jumped right into animating the goose’s flight cycle, frame by frame. My professional background is in animation and illustration, and I’ve been waiting years for the right moment to bring that into Horizon. Even with just 20 simple frames, bringing this goose to life with custom art and animation was a joy.
Environment Design
Our original plan was a large rolling cylinder beneath the player, but we pivoted to seamless modular ground panels. This gave us more flexibility and replay variety. The panels are randomized, but none have standout landmarks, an active choice so they never feel repetitive.
Eating Minigame
From the start, we knew “eating” would be a core mechanic. It gives the player a purpose beyond mischief, and it fuels the chaos. I wanted the food to be accurate to a real Canada goose’s diet: freshwater shrimp, snails, diving beetles, algae, pondweed, and waterweed. Hazards like human trash help reinforce a light environmental message. All textures such as food, trash, and ground were custom illustrated by me.
Cars
The cars are basic shapes to match our simplified art style, and we skipped convertibles to keep things from getting too gross.
Sound Design
I knew from the first conversation that I wanted a honk button, even if for no mechanical purpose other than joy. When I started building, I had been listening to the Beach Boys, and a pun popped into my head: Good Migrations. I renamed the draft and started rewriting the lyrics on the spot.
Before long, we were using ChatGPT and Suno AI to rework a custom theme song. That gave us a new idea: What if this goose was migrating to the Golden Coast of California?
Suddenly, our whole visual theme shifted: beach scenes, surfboards, sandcastles and our music adopted subtle surf rock influences. It felt cohesive.
We added 11 authentic Canada goose honk sound effects and, for the eating sounds, I sourced relaxing ASMR clips from real ducks and geese munching on watermelon, peas, and ice.
Challenges We Faced
UI was our first major feedback moment. I’d laid out the mobile buttons in a way that looked visually balanced, but didn’t feel good to hold. We fixed that quickly.
One of the main challenges during development was balancing ease for new players while also providing a progressive sense of difficulty. As players reach higher scores the goose flies faster making the cars more difficult to hit and the ponds more scarce. Also by awarding more points to hitting oncoming cars it unlocked a level of strategy for competitive players. We also refined the visual and audio feedback elements to keep the experience engaging and addictive without being overwhelming.
Another issue was the ponds, they weren’t reading well visually. We added actual water meshes into the ground planes, doubling the pool of modular tiles from 3 to 6. This not only fixed clarity, but also encouraged players to move across the map instead of hovering in one lane.
Leaderboard competition also kicked off fast and we added new leaderboards to reward that drive.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We’re proud of how cohesive the final game feels, from the visuals to the sound to the gameplay loop. The custom art and animation gave it heart, and the sound design made it sing—literally.
One of our most creative achievements is the collectible postcard system. Since Horizon's mobile app doesn’t support Quest Cloud Media, we designed custom 1:1 "Game Over Postcards" that feature your avatar with the goose at famous California landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge or Malibu Beach. They’re optimized to screenshot and share on your mobile device, and we plan to rotate in new designs for holidays and events.
Finally, it would be perfect if some kid playing this game takes away how important it is to not litter around wetlands as it makes life difficult for the wildlife, just as experienced in the eating minigame.
What We Learned
We learned that even in a solo mobile experience, social features are key in Horizon. Leaderboards and quests weren’t enough. The postcards became our solution for social connection and content sharing. We also learned how to scope efficiently. Our original idea had more locations, more mechanics, and different visuals, but by refining our scope and focusing on quality over quantity, we made a polished, replayable experience that feels complete.
What’s Next for Good Migrations
We’re planning to expand the collectible postcard system with time-limited themes and holiday events. Mother’s Day is already ready to go, and we’re looking forward to adding more. Because of our use of modular panels for the ground plane, there’s room to grow there as well. This game came together so organically. It’s one of the smoothest creative collaborations I’ve ever had, and I’m thrilled with the result. We had fun every step of the way and I think that joy and humor really shines through. Going forward I think our priority is just maintaining the core vibe of the world: silly, surprising, and joyful- just like a goose.
Built With
- autodesk-sketchbook
- desktop-editor
- maya
- suno
- vs-code-with-github-copilot
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.