GSB | Dev Update 3/01/2019
We are working on building a virtual pet game (tentatively named “Peppo,” after the furry animals you are caring for in it) with a singleplayer and pseudo-multiplayer mode. As a result, we have been working hard on the core mechanics and technical development for the game.
For the past couple of weeks, we have been spending most of our time working on shoring up the “main” minigames that form the mechanics for taking care of your pet and the integration thereof. While you have fun with your pet in its Looking Glass home, we wanted to have a larger world on a second monitor where you could upgrade your house, sell stuff, and interact with other people’s pets since ultimately we want everyone to be able to have fun seeing what the other Peppos have grown to be.
To this end, we’ve made a functional outside world (what we call the metagame) that acts as the meeting point between your home, other players, and the shops where you can buy new items. Currently, we’ve created a login and save system for each player so that their Peppo is assigned to themselves, and built a world for them to interact in.
We’ve also been developing the various minigames that go along with the pet. Currently implemented (with bugs):
- Cooking food for your pet
- Bathing pet
- Playing (piano) with your pet
- Slot machine (for those lootboxes — hire us, EA)
In terms of models, we’ve developed a Peppo rig and have been working on getting a furry version that’s simple enough to get on the Looking Glass with a reasonable framerate.
To-do:
Our next biggest priority, besides shoring up the technical aspects of each minigame, is to integrate all of these into a more reasonable and cohesive prototype. Right now they’re separate scenes, and we haven’t done a lot of work on transitioning between them. We also plan at this point to start replacing the placeholder models with our actual art, and developing the UI.