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# Introducing Aviary Attorney, a game about a bird lawyer
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/aviary-attorney-sources-its-stylized-art-public-domain/
- Published: 2014-12-09T21:17:00.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T17:09:31.000Z
- Description: Hatoful Boyfriend goes to court.
- Author: Michael Pedersen
- Tags: News, Art, aviary attorney, hatoful boyfriend, law, phoenix wright, public domain, satire, visual novel, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

While *Aviary Attorney*, a stylized visual novel, looks on the surface looks like some woebegotten *Phoenix Wright*–*Hatoful Boyfriend* mashup, its actual influences trace back a little further. In fact, the game’s developer pulled them from some public domain images.

“I had an urge to give the drawings a new life, so I started work on a narrative-heavy lawyering game that made use of the assets,” Jeremy Noghani, Sketchy Logic’s programmer, designer and writer, recently wrote on [Tumblr](http://aviaryattorney.tumblr.com/post/96716025929/aviary-attorney-birdseed-for-all?ref=killscreen.com).

The character’s drawings are taken from *Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux* (*Scenes of the Public and Private Life of Animals*), a book of satirical drawings illustrated by French caricaturist Jean-Jacques Grandville. For consistency in the aesthetic, *Paris révolutionnaire* and *Paris à travers les âges* have been used a source for the maps and backgrounds.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/previously/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/aviary2_big.jpg)

“We were looking through it specifically to find art that could be adapted to make a game, and came across J.J. Grandville’s wonderful illustrations,” Noghani said. “It was amazing how much of the humor carried across from 170 year-old drawings.”

Sketchy Logic has compiled [a list](http://aviaryattorney.tumblr.com/post/98050312934/where-did-you-find-your-art?ref=killscreen.com) of public domain sources stumbled upon while working on the game, drawing from sites like [Wikimedia commons](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main%5FPage?ref=killscreen.com) and [Internet Archive Book Images](https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages?ref=killscreen.com) on flickr.

“There’s an enormous collection of public domain book illustrations on the Internet,” Noghani said.

A lawyering game was not Sketchy Logic’s first idea, however. Noghani explained that the initial plan was to make a card game, an RPG, or a traveling game similar to *Oregon Trail* or *80 Days*.

“But then I saw a drawing that looked like a scene straight out of *[Phoenix Wright](https://storage.ghost.io/c/25/84/2584b75d-4bd6-4cce-8259-f1d1c65abbb5/content/images/eqln3ln.jpg?ref=killscreen.com)*, and the design decision became obvious,” Noghani said.

“The hottest bird lawyering game to come out of 1840’s France” is currently in development for a targeted release in Spring 2015 on Mac and PC, with a mobile port afterwards “very likely.”

You can keep track of the developer’s progress on [Tumblr](http://aviaryattorney.tumblr.com/?ref=killscreen.com) or on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AviaryAttorney?ref=killscreen.com), as well as their recently launched [Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1873107026/aviary-attorney?ref=killscreen.com).

*Interview by permission of [Chris Priestman/SiliconEra](http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/03/talking-bird-lawyers-and-the-unusual-origins-of-aviary-attorney/?ref=killscreen.com)*