I'll be honest, it's not really a virtual pet game. It's more of a MMBN inspired arcady action game, with a farming game as character building, and some aesthetic virual pet elements. As it is though, it's a really fun and addicting game. But when you're looking for a virtual pet experience, the core design does not scratch that itch. Virtual pets are more passive experiences that integrates into your day with short sessions. Here, the main thing you do is the battle minigame, everything else in the game depends on playing it. And runs can get pretty lengthy. When I launch the game, I think "let's do one or two runs" and not "let's check on my pet".
Having a blast with this game! Loving every part of it so far :) I do agree with the other commenters that I'd like the option to select difficulty, like default is the pet never dies, then maybe a medium and hard option or something where with medium you have more time before the pet dies. Just my thoughts, it's already amazing the way it is!
It would be cool to come back to the game without creating a new pet. I'm not great at managing multiple pets and would have liked to concentrate on just the one for the time being.
Ah thanks for letting me know! I'll go update that. Fortunately the Playdate sideload updating only relies on the build number, which I updated, so there shouldn't be any issues.
Yeah I was thinking about doing that in the beginning, but I decided against it since I wasn't sure if it would be sad to lose your pet. Might change it in the future.
I appreciate not dying since I'm just looking to try it out here and there casually! Some thoughts: I wonder if it's possible to have a "casual" vs "traditional" toggle as options when you hit the menu button on the playdate where casual leaves your stats where they are and traditional drains your stats and kills your pet over time. It could also act like a pause button when "traditional" players are going to be busy for awhile. Another thought: I wonder if counts of the food types you give your pet could also be stored to influence evolution trees. Looking forward to the update video today! Thank you for creating this and other great content!
Hmm well technically you can download the Playdate simulator that comes with the SDK and play it through there, and it will function the same, but it was made to be played specifically on the Playdate.
Sideloading or actually playing the game? To sideload you can find the instructions on Panic's website here. For the game manual, you can find that here.
Fantastic! Absolutely needed for a device like the Playdate. Happy to see a Tamagotchi like come out. I also got a bat which is perfect since we are heading into spooky season soon.
i love this game. in the beginning i acidentally gave my pet all healing foods and cooldowns. (pineapple, apples, corn I didn't know what they do at the time) it became a struggle for me to make money and feed them. regardless it is a fun game once you look at the guide and learn what the foods do in battle. maybe put a guide in the game menu that shows it? getting the cool monsters you fight also as pets would be cool. different environment unlocks would be cool too to add. like a beach or haunted forest. also it would be nice to add a freeze time option in case we can't tend to them for a while. im a tamagotchi /virtual pet collector and want this game to do good.
sidenote: my favorite virtual pet game was always the chao garden in SA2. i loved having the pets walk around the garden together watching them play with toys. the different food you fed would raise the pets different stats, (power,speed, health,) and they had pet racing and fighting. i would try to win all the tournaments to collect medals and trophies for my pets. beating tournament would unlock new toys for they to play with.
Thanks for the feedback! That's an interesting situation that I didn't think of before, where it would be hard to make money if you didn't feed your pet the right foods. I'm adding another minigame that you can earn money with, and I'll be adding a QR code to the manual that's on the itch page in game so hopefully that can go further in addressing those issues. I'll look into how a freeze time option might work. And there's soo many people who love chao garden it's crazy! Never played it myself, but it looks really awesome.
I just fell into a similar problem and had to consult the manual. I had strawberries and apples, so I wasn't doing damage! Gotta diversify my crops differently. Tricky!
I've been playing for 10 minutes and I'm already in love. The little minigame and the chill music are worth hopping in on their own...nevertheless this little garden I planted, and this little crab dude I'm petting and all these other systems I have barely touched yet. I wished on a star and now await my dreams coming true. THANKS POCKET PETS!!!
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I'll be honest, it's not really a virtual pet game. It's more of a MMBN inspired arcady action game, with a farming game as character building, and some aesthetic virual pet elements. As it is though, it's a really fun and addicting game. But when you're looking for a virtual pet experience, the core design does not scratch that itch. Virtual pets are more passive experiences that integrates into your day with short sessions. Here, the main thing you do is the battle minigame, everything else in the game depends on playing it. And runs can get pretty lengthy. When I launch the game, I think "let's do one or two runs" and not "let's check on my pet".
Thanks for this game.. i enjoyed it lots!
Having a blast with this game! Loving every part of it so far :) I do agree with the other commenters that I'd like the option to select difficulty, like default is the pet never dies, then maybe a medium and hard option or something where with medium you have more time before the pet dies. Just my thoughts, it's already amazing the way it is!
It would be cool to come back to the game without creating a new pet. I'm not great at managing multiple pets and would have liked to concentrate on just the one for the time being.
me too
Love to relax and play this game! When you want some action it has that to, just battle. It is worth every cent I spent! Than you for making it.
Thanks for playing it :)
I like the higher stakes. Is pet death or 'flying the coop' when not properly cared for, in yet?
Thanks!
No, pet death is not currently in the game. Might change it in the future, but currently no plans to unfortunately.
Looks like you forgot to update the version string in the pdxinfo, I imagine it might cause issues when updating via playdate sideload
Ah thanks for letting me know! I'll go update that. Fortunately the Playdate sideload updating only relies on the build number, which I updated, so there shouldn't be any issues.
Shouldn't your pets die of starvation? I feel the stakes are a bit low if they can't die. ;)
Yeah I was thinking about doing that in the beginning, but I decided against it since I wasn't sure if it would be sad to lose your pet. Might change it in the future.
I appreciate not dying since I'm just looking to try it out here and there casually! Some thoughts: I wonder if it's possible to have a "casual" vs "traditional" toggle as options when you hit the menu button on the playdate where casual leaves your stats where they are and traditional drains your stats and kills your pet over time. It could also act like a pause button when "traditional" players are going to be busy for awhile. Another thought: I wonder if counts of the food types you give your pet could also be stored to influence evolution trees. Looking forward to the update video today! Thank you for creating this and other great content!
Can it be played on windows pc or is made for playdate only ?
Thank you :D
Hmm well technically you can download the Playdate simulator that comes with the SDK and play it through there, and it will function the same, but it was made to be played specifically on the Playdate.
That's great! Thank you very much! :D
please help i wanna play but im too dumb to figure out how to run it
Sideloading or actually playing the game? To sideload you can find the instructions on Panic's website here. For the game manual, you can find that here.
thank you kind sir you are gods gift to this world
its very funny
Fantastic! Absolutely needed for a device like the Playdate. Happy to see a Tamagotchi like come out. I also got a bat which is perfect since we are heading into spooky season soon.
Love the game. But it would be great if pets had a few more animations than just moving around: maybe sleeping, jumping, playing with stuff...
i love this game. in the beginning i acidentally gave my pet all healing foods and cooldowns. (pineapple, apples, corn I didn't know what they do at the time) it became a struggle for me to make money and feed them. regardless it is a fun game once you look at the guide and learn what the foods do in battle. maybe put a guide in the game menu that shows it? getting the cool monsters you fight also as pets would be cool. different environment unlocks would be cool too to add. like a beach or haunted forest. also it would be nice to add a freeze time option in case we can't tend to them for a while. im a tamagotchi /virtual pet collector and want this game to do good.
sidenote: my favorite virtual pet game was always the chao garden in SA2. i loved having the pets walk around the garden together watching them play with toys. the different food you fed would raise the pets different stats, (power,speed, health,) and they had pet racing and fighting. i would try to win all the tournaments to collect medals and trophies for my pets. beating tournament would unlock new toys for they to play with.
Thanks for the feedback! That's an interesting situation that I didn't think of before, where it would be hard to make money if you didn't feed your pet the right foods. I'm adding another minigame that you can earn money with, and I'll be adding a QR code to the manual that's on the itch page in game so hopefully that can go further in addressing those issues. I'll look into how a freeze time option might work. And there's soo many people who love chao garden it's crazy! Never played it myself, but it looks really awesome.
I just fell into a similar problem and had to consult the manual. I had strawberries and apples, so I wasn't doing damage! Gotta diversify my crops differently. Tricky!
I've been playing for 10 minutes and I'm already in love. The little minigame and the chill music are worth hopping in on their own...nevertheless this little garden I planted, and this little crab dude I'm petting and all these other systems I have barely touched yet. I wished on a star and now await my dreams coming true. THANKS POCKET PETS!!!
Thanks for the kind comment! Glad you're enjoying it!