Turbo Pudding

TirraleeFriday pudding

Who dozes off on the Skyward Tree

· The Turbo Pudding team · 4 min read

A storybook page from Tirralee at night: inside a round hollow in a tree, under a dark purple sky with stars, Tirra, a round apricot fledgling with a crest of three feathers, sits wide awake with big round eyes beside a red berry bitten in half, while Lee, a round lilac fledgling with a curl on the crown and a long tail feather rolled into a curl, has dozed off on the other side of the berry with eyes closed and a faint little “z” floating up

It’s Friday, so here’s a small thing we love about Tirralee: half the Skyward Tree would rather be asleep. Lee most of all.

The picture at the top is the storybook page after level 3. Tirra and Lee spend the night in a hollow, with one berry bitten in half for the two of them and stars showing through the leaves. Tirra is still wide awake and looking around. Lee lasts about three seconds.

Eyelids at half-mast

Look closely at Lee in any room, and the eyes are never all the way open. Our drawing code lays a lilac lid over the top of each eye, and the comment next to it just says “sleepy half-closed lids.” Only a blink shuts them all the way. Tirra’s eyes are big, round and wide open, with two white sparkles in each.

The game’s own site sums Lee up as “calm and dreamy, a sleepyhead with a sweet tooth.” The sleepy look hides sharp eyes, though. Lee notices the little things, so Lee is the one who finds the hidden notes.

First to drop off

In the storybook, only Lee ever falls asleep, and it happens twice. The first time is the very first page. Mama is singing in the nest at the top of the Tree: “Sleep now, Tirra. The Tree is singing to you.” The song is for Tirra, but Lee is the one already asleep, tucked in on Mama’s other side, while Tirra stares off toward the old cuckoo clock. The second time is the hollow at the top of this post.

When Lee sleeps, the whole bird changes shape. The body squashes lower and wider, each breath takes about three seconds instead of less than two, and a small “z” floats up and fades, over and over.

Lee also gets the storybook’s only sneeze. After level 4, it starts to rain. Tirra says, “Rain! The canopy must be close.” Lee says, “Atchoo!” And a big green leaf goes up over the two of them like an umbrella.

What they do while you wait

In the levels, Tirra and Lee never stand like statues. Stop pressing buttons, and they keep breathing in a slow, soft bounce. They blink every two to five seconds, and their eyes follow whichever spirit is nearest.

After about five and a half seconds of quiet, they do a little something for a second and a half. It might be a long stretch that makes the bird taller and thinner, or a twirl that rocks it from side to side. Or it might be a hop with the stub wing flapping hard, which our code calls “trying to fly.” Neither fledgling can fly yet, but nobody told the wing. A couple of seconds later comes another one.

The title screen has the same habit. Tirra and Lee stand on a hill while bubbles drift up past them, and every so often one of them stretches, hops or twirls.

Daisy, the first room of the meadow: on a grassy floor under soft green hills and a pale sky, Tirra, a round apricot fledgling with a crest of three feathers, stands stretched up tall and thin in the middle of a stretch; right beside, Lee, a round lilac fledgling with a curl on the crown and a long tail feather rolled into a curl, looks to the right with sleepy half-closed lids at a Stompling, a little brown root spirit with two green leaves and a gray scribble of a cloud over its head, walking toward them; a row of sandy blocks with grass on top floats above
Searched “cute bird platformer.” This one is mid-stretch.

Other dozers on the Tree

Lee isn’t alone. Up in the night levels live the Nimblings, chubby little clouds from Nimbo’s flock, with gray faces and tiny feet. Our code calls them “always half asleep,” and they look it, with heavy lids, until one turns grumpy or is set free.

Then there’s the rain cloud. Some bubbles hold one. Pop it, and a small cloud comes out and rains for four seconds straight down onto the first ledge below. Spirits in the rain slow to half speed, and the ones soaked through are set free. The cloud does all of this with its eyes shut. It has a sleepy little face.

A night room in the Tree, in deep blue and purple with lilac stone blocks: two Nimblings, chubby little white clouds with gray faces, heavy half-closed lids and tiny feet, sit on the floor, each with a small gray scribble of a cloud over its head; above one of them a white rain cloud with a sleepy, closed-eyed face rains blue streaks straight down onto it; on the right, Lee, the lilac fledgling, and Tirra, the apricot fledgling, stand together facing left toward the Nimblings, next to a tall wall of lilac blocks
Typed “sleepy cloud game.” Got three, and one is raining.

And then there’s the Duskmoth. Linger in a room too long, and dusk falls, and this big soft night moth drifts in through the walls after the nearest fledgling. If it bonks one of them, it bumps off and dozes under the ceiling for about five seconds, swaying from side to side with two little z’s floating up. Then it wakes up and comes back. It only leaves for good when the room is lit again, with three bubbles popped at once or a firefly, or when the room is cleared.

Daisy at dusk, in soft blue light: the Duskmoth, a big gray-lilac night moth with pale spots around the edges of its wings, two feelers and two glowing yellow lantern eyes, hovers near the top of the room with a faint “z” drifting above it; below, on a floating row of sandy blocks with a strip of grass on top, Tirra, the apricot fledgling, faces right and Lee, the lilac fledgling, faces left, the two of them looking at each other
People also ask: do moths take naps?

Lullabies all the way up

Even the gifts and the music lean sleepy. Mama’s gray lullaby feather turns up on a ledge now and then, and picking it up makes every spirit in the room stand still for six seconds under a thin coat of frost. The night levels play a real lullaby, in three-four time: a music box over soft piano first, then celesta and flute with strings. The level map plays the title tune on a music box. And if you lose all your hearts, you get a soft sigh and a little music-box tune that, in our notes, means “there, there, try again.”

The first two levels, the whole meadow, are free to play in your browser at tirralee.com. Play alone, or with a friend on the same keyboard. The full game, the night levels and their Nimblings included, is $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on the Tirralee page.

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