Critter Cards
Critter Cards is an augmented reality (AR) virtual pets game that I am creating. The game's current iteration served as my thesis project for my MA. I plan to fully realize this game at a later date.
Critter Cards combines the portability of older virtual pet designs (such as Tamagotchi) with meaningful breeding and collecting mechanics. I wanted Critter Cards to embody all the positive traits of pet ownership and virtual pet video games, without the stressors associated. As part of my MA research, I isolated features that can cause stress and anxiety in users in order to either eliminate or lessen those mechanics. I also presented the "science of cute" and what objective design elements make a character cute, and therefore help increase our attachment to that character. I also researched the concepts of scarcity, ownership, and the pathos behind collecting. And finally, I came to the conclusion that by having a virtual pet exist in the physical play space through AR, players might feel an even deeper connection to their virtual pet.
In Critter Cards you can design basic Critters (give it a try yourself by clicking the link at the end of this post!) and breed them to create a unique hybrid Critter that has the chance of inheriting rare attributes. In its current iteration, as seen in the video below, a child Critter has an equal chance to inherit any of its binary attributes, such as eyes, horns, and markings. A child's ear shape is a 50% blend between each of its parents ears, and its colors are a random blend of its parents' colors. The virtual elements of the game are demonstrated in the following video.
Eventually Critters will have more accurate genetics that will have varying influences over their appearance--instead of being a 50/50 split between parents, they will have dominant and recessive genes as well as rare mutations.
Eventually Critters will have more accurate genetics that will have varying influences over their appearance--instead of being a 50/50 split between parents, they will have dominant and recessive genes as well as rare mutations.
To demonstrate what AR features the game would include, I allowed for the player to choose which of their Critters they wanted to play with in the physical play space by allowing them to assign their Critters to 3 different AR marker cards. Then, the player could sample two different mini-games. The first is a Simon Says style mini-game, where the player must remember the sequence of directions the Critter tells them and repeat it each turn. The second mini-game is a color matching game, where the Critter asks for a specific color and the player provides it with real-life object of that color in order to satisfy its needs.
I created every aspect of this game apart from the music, which was composed by the talented Jamie Day. This game was coded in C# and created in Unity using the Vuforia AR Engine. Its save system is currently a basic JSON system I designed, and all the assets were drawn on my iPad Pro with Apple Pencil.
If you want to design your own Critter, be sure to click the itch.io link below! And, if you're feeling extra inspired, please send me a screenshot of your creation--I'd love to hear from you!
If you want to design your own Critter, be sure to click the itch.io link below! And, if you're feeling extra inspired, please send me a screenshot of your creation--I'd love to hear from you!
