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Last week, Nintendo Life held their Indie Sp0tlight, in which they revealed Atooi’s new project: Petadachi.
Atooi’s Jools Watsham describes the game as a hybrid of Animal Crossing and Tamagotchi, and revolves around raising a pet in a relaxing world where the player can engage in tasks like fishing or gathering food.
Sadly, Watsham lost his longtime family dog in 2018, but the loss of his furry friend led him to consider the meaning of the bond between humans and pets, and helped inspire the concept for Petadachi. He spoke to Nintendo Life about the experience:
Care for your very own little penguin and other pets in Petadachi – coming to Nintendo Switch in 2021. ❤️https://t.co/vAWqXGUxvI pic.twitter.com/Rmo1HVbHnt
— Atooi (@AtooiLLC) September 21, 2020
“We have always had pets in my family. Pets add so much love and joy to our lives. They really become part of the family. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to our puppy of 16 years in 2018. That was heartbreaking. It got me thinking about what pets mean to me and the bond that grows between a person and their pet.
Being a videogame designer, it also got me thinking about designing a virtual pet game. I have always wanted to enjoy playing a virtual pet game more than I do. My mission was to improve upon the design of standard virtual pet games to make Petadachi something special.”
And while Watsham described the game as part Tamagotchi in nature, caring for your pet won’t be as simple as scrolling through a couple of different commands and pressing a button. Players will have to source their own ingredients to make food to feed their pets, and will have to pay attention to their pet’s needs in order to determine what care they must give:
“The heart of Petadachi is a virtual pet experience: care for your pet. Your pet has four meters you must keep an eye on: Health, Hunger, Hygiene, and Sleepiness. Different activities and situations will cause a specific meter to deplete and you must determine what your pet needs to replenish that meter. This is where many virtual pet games reach their limit. However, in Petadachi you must also consider how and where you will get the needed items.
This led me down a path of expanding on the virtual pet experience with simple life simulation features. Where do you buy the food and other items needed to care for your pet? How do you earn money to pay for the items? Can you grow your own food or even find some in the wild? Where do you live? Who are your neighbours? These are the sorts of questions that came up and ultimately influenced the design of Petadachi to blossom into a unique hybrid of virtual pet and life simulation that is a joy to experience.
To keep the vision of Petadachi in focus, everything we create for Petadachi is filtered through these words: Love. Joy. Relaxation. Escapism. Community.”
Petadachi will release on Switch in 2021, and will be published by Limited Run Games. Are you interested in this pet care/life sim? Let us know below.
Source: Nintendo Life
