“And one bird
takes off right now”
(Two microphones, two pairs of headphones. Clouds drift past the booth window. This post writes one run of WingMaster as a radio announcer script. The commentators’ banter is invented; the words, order and numbers in each “On-screen text” box under a scene come straight from the game’s source.)
This WingMaster announcer script follows one run from start to finish. All the way through, the game flashes one big line of text in the middle of the screen and wipes it again: a bird’s name, “FLY!”, “DANGER AHEAD”, “MADE IT”, “STRONG WIND”, “OBJECTIVE CLEAR!” and so on. For the player, that text is the commentary. Let’s walk through the order it appears in, and why it appears right there, from the booth.
The starting line · the first two captions
Cue #1 Booth · just before the run
(The countdown screen. A bird hovers at one side of the screen.)
Announcer Sky Let’s meet today’s competitor first. You see the name up on screen?
Analyst Cloud Yes, the bird’s name pops up once, and a short description sits beneath it. What you’re flying is the whole premise of how the controls feel.
The four lines at the bottom are the first run’s practice sheet: “TAP TO FLAP”, “RELEASE TO FALL”, “AVOID OBSTACLES”, “COLLECT COINS”.
- The bird-name banner stays up for a moment (1.3 seconds) and passes, then “FLY!” (subtitle “Tap to fly”) appears.
- Any taps made during the countdown are thrown away, so a pile of queued presses doesn’t all fire at once.
- The first-run hint is four lines: “TAP TO FLAP”, “RELEASE TO FALL”, “AVOID OBSTACLES”, “COLLECT COINS”.
Cue #2 Right after takeoff
Announcer Sky And we’re airborne! There’s a gauge at the top, do you see it?
Analyst Cloud It reads “TO NEXT ZONE” with a distance in meters. The run is cut into a zone every 500m. That puts tick marks on the flight.
The “TO NEXT ZONE” line at the top is the game’s first tick mark.
The crunch · going in and coming out
Cue #3 Booth · the mood turns
(The sky bleeds into a reddish purple. Red text lights up on the booth monitor.)
Announcer Sky Oh, “DANGER AHEAD” just popped up on screen!
Analyst Cloud That’s the entry into a crunch section. The sound turns into a wind warning, and the phone gives a short buzz. The difficulty steps up one notch here.
“DANGER AHEAD” in red. The color speaks first.
Cue #4 The crunch ends
Announcer Sky The text turned green! “MADE IT”!
Analyst Cloud Yes, and did you hear the bird’s voice just now? A short “yahoo”. That voice isn’t a recording; it’s made up in code.
“MADE IT” in green, the partner of the red “DANGER AHEAD”.
- It announces both “DANGER AHEAD” (red text, a slight screen flash) and “MADE IT” (green text). If it only told you when you went in, you’d stay tense without knowing when it ended; if it only told you when you came out, you’d be through it without knowing.
- “DANGER AHEAD” brings a wind warning sound and a short vibration; “MADE IT” brings the “yahoo” voice.
- The voice is synthesized in code, not played from an audio file. It’s an interjection you read by its pitch, not as words, so it works in any language.
Strong wind warning · a one-line bulletin
Cue #5 Bulletin
Announcer Sky A bulletin, folks. In yellow text: “STRONG WIND”!
Analyst Cloud It’s a one-liner that tells you before the wind picks up. A cue to get your head ready.
“STRONG WIND” in yellow, a color one step milder than the red “DANGER AHEAD”.
- Like a crunch, the strong-wind notice comes with a wind warning sound and a vibration, and its banner is yellow.
- Text sits in the middle of the screen briefly and disappears. It’s one line at a time, so the environment name is shown after the zone banner has passed, to keep two lines from overlapping.
Zone clear · objective · new record
Cue #6 The 500m mark
(Rays of light burst across the screen.)
Announcer Sky Five hundred meters! “ZONE CLEAR!” with a “ZONE” subtitle underneath!
Analyst Cloud This is the loudest “you did it” the game gives during a run. Twelve rays shoot out behind the letters and twenty-eight fragments fly off. If it passed quietly, eyes busy with flying would remember nothing happening.
Cue #7 New zone · the objective line
Announcer Sky When a new zone begins, one objective line appears.
Analyst Cloud There are four kinds: “COLLECT … COINS”, “PASS … OBSTACLES”, “REACH COMBO …” and “… NEAR MISSES”. It announces this line only once. Leave it up and you’d miss the gap while reading it.
Cue #8 Objective complete
Announcer Sky Gold text, “OBJECTIVE CLEAR!” The reward coins show up with it.
Analyst Cloud We deliberately made the reward small. Make it big and the objective becomes the real game, and flying far becomes secondary.
- ZONE CLEAR! — every 500m. The subtitle is “ZONE N”. A big effect with rays and fragments bursting out.
- Objective — announced once when a zone starts. Four kinds: coins, obstacles passed, combo, near misses.
- OBJECTIVE CLEAR! — gold text. The reward is 20 coins plus 5 times the zone number.
- NEW RECORD! — the moment you beat your previous best. It gets the same big effect as a zone clear, shown for 1.9 seconds. The design is that both have to be spoken at the same weight to be remembered.
The next bird · end of the run
Cue #9 The swap
Announcer Sky Oh, a collision. But “NEXT BIRD” is up on screen!
Analyst Cloud That’s the banner when play moves on to the next bird. Three birds line up at the top. Lose one and the next competitor carries on flying.
“NEXT BIRD”, with the new bird’s name under it, the caption at the moment the bird changes.
Cue #10 The final scene
(The last bird has fallen. The screen darkens and the result box rises.)
Announcer Sky A shame, but that’s all. “GAME OVER”.
Analyst Cloud It isn’t over yet, though. Below, there’s “CONTINUE” and “RETRY”. Continue is the way to fly again right where you fell.
The result screen: the “TO BEST” line becomes the reason for the next run.
Read only the captions and you can see the whole run
| Caption | When | Color · feel |
|---|---|---|
| Bird name · FLY! | When the run starts | Name banner, then the start |
| DANGER AHEAD | Entering a crunch section | Red text · warning sound · vibration |
| MADE IT | Once the crunch is passed | Green text · “yahoo” |
| STRONG WIND | Before strong wind arrives | Yellow text · warning sound |
| ZONE CLEAR! | Every 500m | Rays · fragments · big effect |
| OBJECTIVE CLEAR! | When a zone objective is met | Gold text + reward coins |
| NEW RECORD! | The moment you beat your best | Big effect for 1.9 seconds |
| NEXT BIRD | When the bird is swapped | One-line banner |
(Mics off, clouds drifting by)
Eyes are busy and hands are busier, so the commentary ends with big letters and a single color. On your next run, glance at where the bird is each time a caption appears.
Play WingMaster now
Playing it is much faster than reading about it.
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