“Goat Simulator” has few instructions but a “high score” isn’t the point. The computer game lets players wreak havoc in a virtual town as an animated goat. There is even a jetpack for the goat to fly and land on a hang glider.

Think “Grand Theft Auto” meets petting zoo.

“It started out as a complete joke,” says Armin Ibrisagic, a designer at Swedish gaming company Coffee Stain Studios, which released the game on April Fools’ Day.

The software writers have locked horns with the fad meme of the moment. “Goat Simulator,” which bills itself as “the latest in goat simulation technology,” has become one of the most popular independently produced games of the year, with more than one million downloads. Coffee Stain says it has garnered over €10 million ($11.78 million) in revenue.

“Goats have become ‘a thing’ now,” says Ben Callner, writer and director of an award-winning ad for Doritos featuring a malevolent, chip-chomping goat. The ad ran during the 2013 Super Bowl.