FriendZoo!

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

hey, everyone! i've started up a new virtual pet project...but this one's my own game! the weather around here has made it impossible to leave the house, and i work from home anyway...so i started my dream project. i had to look up a lot about coding and found a language that's meant for more visual people to work with, and i've managed to get the basic AI done in the past few weeks as well as my first pet model!

meet...a tiny virtual crackle!


i named this guy party, my first non-test subject pet. i'm thinking about calling the individual pets "friends", because the name of the game is FriendZoo...and like the title implies, i'm starting with actual morbit creatures! i might do some mythical stuff, and i've got some collab stuff with other users in the works, but uhh, real animals in funky colors is my goal for now.

the AI still needs some tweaks, breeding's not in yet, but i managed to get a basic baby -> adult life cycle (i don't want them to die yet tho, i may implement that as an optional mode?), and color randomization. they can interact with each other, and i'm at the stage where i want to start logging progress publicly- both just playing the game, and making new content. i eventually want to release a beta build, but for now, any feedback on what i post would be cool!

on the more silly "pet journal" side of things, i adopted two other friends than party- well...adopted one of them, the other probably came as a result of my ability getting even more messed up than it usually is by the storm. hopefully, the final game won't be haunted! back to my two other friends, though...


this one's zesty- ft. baby picture! named because she looks like a little citrus fruit...


the other crackle i have is speckle, who i did not put in my game! as you can tell, he's got kind of a silly, creepypasta look. i guess my ability is just gonna make weird little guys show up!

i want to learn more about them...stay tuned, i guess!

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

tiny update...got kinda carried away making some "special" crackles...thinking of making some colorways only distributed directly through me, for events and trades and stuff? i know nobody's replied yet but i'm wondering how people would feel about that



storm's getting pretty crazy out there and it's freaking me out pretty bad, so expect more of these tonight?

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

today's update (well, probably the first of a couple, i'm on a roll tonight...) is more special crackles- maybe this isn't the most productive work towards improving the game, but it's really fun making lots of unique creatures



more to come because it looks like that's all i'm doing

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

okay it's really late and this thread is mainly just for me at this point but

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

really got into it today...but i also have a cool announcement! [CRITTER_CATCHER] of critter fame is working on my game too as a modeler, and we're going to try and put critters in!


this is a pompet, the first critter made! now it's in the game, with full personality and color randomization. crit was a joy to work with on this project, and i'm really looking forward to making more.


i also made an allsorts breed....i don't know a whole lot about these guys aside from them being friendly pets in some areas, but their look always captured me and i wanted to add them to the game. they were way trickier than the crackles, but i really like them!



here's some customs i made for myself (because i guess i do that now)- mocha and silly respectively. they're really sweet, and i'm hoping once i get out of my manic asset making, i can sit down and actually do some playtesting with these guys and my crackles.

no haunted ones yet! storm's still going wild though, so we'll see...

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

ok, i can't leave my game alone...working more on those special colors i'm going to distribute once the beta's public, now with names and examples spread across multiple friends

elegant

moon

pale

pastel

sparkly

they're pretty simple, but it makes my brain happy...

[skinstealer]

[CRITTER_CATCHER]:

uh, hey. doing some work on this tonight



take the swirlshell i guess

[sarcovyn]

[3D]:

Oh I am so fucking hyped for this. Please hit me up when you guys open any kind of testing for this. I am so good at testing virtual pet games like you wouldn't believe
Really tempted to make custom MP shells for this project (if you guys are okay with it)

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

thanks for the interest! actually could i message you on messiroom because i am interested in working with other virtual pet fans, but don't want to discuss all the elements publicly...

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:


swirlshell customization looking good, these are the colors i highlighted a few posts back

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

might be going a bit overboard on special colors, but...


deco

dirty

elegant (updated)

foil

gilded

glitter

goth

iridescent

medicinal

moon (updated)

ombre

pale

pastel

patchwork

pop

sparkly (updated)

splatter

watercolor

wave

[Ignispark]

[ABBERANT_INCANDESCENCE]:
i'd like to take a moment to say that all of the critters in this thread look wonderful! they look really cool and the color palletes are and patterns are really amazing! they seriously look astounding!!! great work.

[STATIONARY_FRICTION]:
Seconding the above post. This is marvelous work. I'll be continuing to keep an eye on this. Those are quite excellent looking creatures.

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

some more colors...enjoy 


animal

batik

bloody

carnival

chevron

electro

galaxy

galaxy

nautical

noise

rainbow

retro

starry

velvet

wizard

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

okay...think i'm finally done making colors, i may add more later but it's definitely a later thing.


aurora

comfy

darkest night

plaid

rave

spring

trippy

weird

onto items and more friend species, i guess

[King-Clod]

[CUDDLE_MONSTER]:
omgg!!! these are so cute! ive never gotten into games because i like more hands-on activities, but these guys looks so so so so cute! aaah I'm repeating ymself sorry. but please keep updating this, i love seeing these goofy little guys!

[CUDDLE_MONSTER]:
oh i almost forgot! asking for a friend, have the "haunted" pets showed up again, and if they have, theyre harmless right? they read a lot of creepypastas, and they started getting worried for you. just checking in!

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

okay...massive update incoming, and then i'll answer questions

first off, four new friend species: inktrails, slumberwools, peepling ducks, and purrsicles. they're all fully implemented and good to go!


next, special colors have been made up for inktrails and slumberwools- sorry for big image spam incoming



okay, image spam over! next up is the implementation of the first toys; a set of pillows in all of the standard colors, as well as a proper room for friends to play in. day and night cycle works, too.

[CUDDLE_MONSTER]:
oh i almost forgot! asking for a friend, have the "haunted" pets showed up again, and if they have, theyre harmless right? they read a lot of creepypastas, and they started getting worried for you. just checking in!

okay, so...this is complicated. yes the haunted pet is still in my game, but to be honest, it's likely the whole game is "haunted" to some extent as a result of my ability messing with the game itself's code in some way. i don't know what's going on with it yet but our whole team we've assembled is looking into it and will report back with info for sure before it releases.

[King-Clod]

[ASTRAL_ABERRATION]: their voice sounds haven't changed to screaming right
[ASTRAL_ABERRATION]: and their eyes haven't changed to black and bleeding right
[ASTRAL_ABERRATION]: they haven't killed or maimed anyone yet, and they haven't broken out into your desktop or out of the screen right
[ASTRAL_ABERRATION]: they aren't gonna like find a way into the internet and ruin the forums right

[CUDDLE_MONSTER]: im sure its fine!! im sure if there was anything to worry about they would have said so. its just a fun way digital horror's ability interacted with their hobby!

[Lilium Mortem]

[VOID_COWBOY]: A little late to the party, but like, what exactly is this game? Some kinda creature catcher? How are you redering these things? they look kinda like 2d puppets, but with the poses it's clear that they kinda exist in 3d space? would help if I got to see them in game instead of just these assets in isolation, but what the fuck to I know about game dev? might not even have anything more than test textured levels or whatever it is they do in early development.

point is this looks weird, but in a way that's really got me interested, doesn't look like anything I've seen before.

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

okay, sorry for being so scarce for the past few months...obviously the storm's over by now, but the game remains. and it's...in a playable state, pretty much! our team is ready to release a closed beta, though there are some caveats...

one of the reasons we're doing a beta and not just releasing the game is because we are pretty sure these Friends could be classifiable as constructs, and we want to do more testing with other people outside of the team to get some more info. if it ends up being true that these friends are alive, we want to go for proper construct registration, which is a big investment. by entering into a beta program, you're agreeing to give us information on what's going on with your friends- though it can be pretty minimal, if you're busy or something! more than anything, we want to know what living with these creatures is like, and see whether it's fun to play with them!

the admins of the forum have granted us our own section of FF to conduct stuff in...our team is gonna set up some posts for that in a second, but if anyone's interested in being added to a MessiRoom group DM where i can send out files and discuss more private matters, please let me know! i'm not picky, i just want people who will be kind to their friends...

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

also fuck i forgot to answer questions uhh!!

[ASTRAL_ABERRATION]: their voice sounds haven't changed to screaming right
[ASTRAL_ABERRATION]: and their eyes haven't changed to black and bleeding right
[ASTRAL_ABERRATION]: they haven't killed or maimed anyone yet, and they haven't broken out into your desktop or out of the screen right
[ASTRAL_ABERRATION]: they aren't gonna like find a way into the internet and ruin the forums right

well! the creepypasta style ones seem to be limited to my game. no one else who's tested it has had any issues there! as for killing and maiming, i don't think they're capable of doing that. they can get into fights, but they don't seem to be able to hurt each other in serious ways. we did have an incident where one of my creepy ones (speckle) managed to freeze one of my other ones (wiggles) in place, but no one else has had anything like that on our tiny test team. part of why we want to do a beta test is to make sure of that before we go ahead and publish.

as for breaking out of the desktop, they can do this! but it's intentional. they aren't viruses, they're just...living things, possibly, that can wander around digital spaces. don't worry though, they're not dangerous!

from what i can tell of their internet exploration, they mostly just like browsing sites related to their favorite colors and interests. it's cute!

[VOID_COWBOY]: A little late to the party, but like, what exactly is this game? Some kinda creature catcher? How are you redering these things? they look kinda like 2d puppets, but with the poses it's clear that they kinda exist in 3d space? would help if I got to see them in game instead of just these assets in isolation, but what the fuck to I know about game dev? might not even have anything more than test textured levels or whatever it is they do in early development.

point is this looks weird, but in a way that's really got me interested, doesn't look like anything I've seen before.

addressing your questions...

it's just a pet sim where you can adopt a little friend and take care of them and build up a friendship, not really anything with a goal- especially not if these guys are actually alive, that'd be turbo illegal. the friends themselves are rendered using circles and lines positioned in a 3D space, and is super easy to model in, actually!

if you're interested, please consider signing up as a beta tester! you'll be able to see things up close for sure then!

[Pichi2214]

[GLITCHING_LULLABY]: uh!! hi! I really like chill games and especially like.. monster catchers/pet sims etc, you may have seen me around in the games section of the forum
i dont really know what like.. the Process is for this, but I'd love to help out if i can? this all looks super cool and interesting and i love the friends' looks.....

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

hi! yeah, i'd love to have you on board! is your MessiRoom handle the same as your handle here?

[Pichi2214]

[GLITCHING_LULLABY]: I'll dm it to you!

[Wilds]

[CRUCIAL_ESCAPE] Hey. I mostly just lurk in online spaces unless something real special catches my attention. This is one of those things. I haven't done beta testing of any kind, ever, before, but I'm fascinated by these virtual friends and to be honest, I think the company would be good for me, haha. I like documenting things, so I'd be good for providing info on what kind of behaviour any lil Friends I end up with might exhibit. Kind of love running tests and experiments in theory too, though obv with lil virtual lifeforms I'm not gonna do anything wild - we're more talkin' repeating the same actions with different Friends (like saying the same things to each of them and seeing how they respond) and writing down the results, that kind of thing. Nothing nefarious.

[CRUCIAL_ESCAPE] I'll DM you my handle if it's a yes. No pressure. All of this is just a thought.

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

works for me! i'll send you a DM!

[Lilium Mortem]

[VOID_COWBOY]:

if you're interested, please consider signing up as a beta tester! you'll be able to see things up close for sure then!

fuck it, sure. I'm not doing else tbh so, might as well. my messiroom handle is the same as my forum name.

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

i'll go ahead and add you!

[knux400]

[GENTLE_STAR]: so i read the beta testing thread... im kinda curious to play but im worried id screw it up or something might go wrong if these things are alive???? i dont want to be responsible for mistreating or killing a living digital being

especially since um. not to get existential but

Show ContentSpoiler:

friendzoo critters feel pretty close to what session tcps actually are, minus the combat of course

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

trust me, we're looking to avoid the trappings of sessions, i hate that stuff...we've discussed it before as a dev team and don't want to emulate that at all- you can't kill friends and if they feel like they're mistreated, they can just up and leave either temporarily or permanently. they have so much more freedom than a session TCP, because god knows i don't want to be responsible for recreating that. friends can also wander to other peoples' games and if one's being mistreated, you can take them in yourself. i dont know if that's reassuring, but...i'm hoping the beta test helps us figure out whether this is a good idea or not, and anyone actively being a dick is getting kicked out right away.

[knux400]

[GENTLE_STAR]: ok thats good to hear at least... im still nervous but im glad they wont be stuck with me if i do something wrong

[GENTLE_STAR]: will it be ok even if im not able to do stuff very quickly? my typing isnt the best for computer stuff

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

yeah, absolutely! you can go at your own pace for sure

want me to add you to our group DM?

[knux400]

[GENTLE_STAR]: oh for beta testing? sure! i think itd be helpful to know a bit more before going in

[GENTLE_STAR]: wait shit messiroom is a separate thing isnt it

((like 20 minutes later))

[GENTLE_STAR]: ok it should be up, same username as here

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

gotcha, i'll add you and you can ask as many questions as you like either here or there!

[Ignispark]

[ABYSSAL_LANTERN]: Hi! I'm not actually, that experienced at gaming but this looks like a pretty important thing? If these are potentially people, making sure things are worked out right and understood so that, things are safe and whatnot matters a lot! So I'd like to try to help with testing that if that's alright.

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

hi! it's very important, and we're definitely looking for testers who are especially concerned with the construct testing side of things...DM me your messiroom handle and i'll add you to our chat.

[ofConcepts]

[CONTEMPLATE_THAT]: OMG!!! These Freinds are SO CUTE...... I need one... I also LOVE the style and premis of the game you're designing!!!



[CONTEMPLATE_THAT]: wait I was still reading when I posted that

[CONTEMPLATE_THAT]: thees little dudes are ALIVE????

[CONTEMPLATE_THAT]: O need to be a part of this!!!! If they're genuinely conscious I have to help figure out ways to keep them as happie as possible!!!

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

sure thing, that's the kind of attitude we're looking for...DM me your MessiRoom name and i'll let you in!

[LemonadeLyric]

[COMFY_COZY]: These little things look TOO cute!!! OwO
[COMFY_COZY]: I'm sure with them "coming alive" or being "haunted" or whatever, you'll need someone to take. . . Lots of. . . Notes.

[COMFY_COZY]: I believe I can be of some assistance!!! uwu May I~?
[COMFY_COZY]: I promise to take extra super well care of them!!! ^w^ !!! They're adorable and all so beautiful as well~!

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]: sure thing....
[DIGITAL_HORROR]: let me get you added!

[ofConcepts]

[SCRATCH_SNIFF]:

Ohhhhh aren't these little babies just so
.・゜-: ✧ :-　PRECIOUS!!!　-: ✧ :-゜・．
I would love a place in the beta test, IF
there is still room after Coze joined! ^v^

 

[SCRATCH_SNIFF]:

I think I'd be a good role model for a little Friend!
I want to teach it all sorts of things and learn how they view
the world and their own surroundings! I want to teach them to do tricks
and play games! I want to help enrich their lives and bring joy!
Please please pretty please let me join !!!!!!!! *v*

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

yeah, you can come in! i think i only want to take one more person after this, though...chat's getting pretty crowded, haha
cmon down!

i'll add you in a sec!

[A.VOID]

[CRYSTALLINE_DREAMS]

If you're taking one more tester... could I join in? I have something of a personal interest in constructs and especially digital ones, for my own reasons...

Uh I promise it's not anything weird, I am positive towards them and would want to see any potential ones treated well! This seems like it could be something really nice for both your Friends, if they are truly alive, and everyone else.

I also have a little bit of background in construct theory, though if you didn't intend for these to be alive I'm not sure how much it will help.

[skinstealer]

[DIGITAL_HORROR]:

oh fuck, construct theory stuff would be really helpful. i'll send you an invite!