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[MarkeBoy]

About The Game

     Rescue Pups is a game about volunteering at a dog shelter. Players balance the desire to save every dog with the needs of keeping a shelter operational by making choices and managing probabilities. Think Tamagotchi meets Papers Please. As players gain experience they improve, learn skills, and unlock new breeds. The goal is not about being perfect, it's about growing stronger every day and never losing compassion for these incredible and selfless creatures.

• A virtual pet/ business sim themed around the idea that what you do matters.
• Rescue and interact with different breeds and cute mutts of every kind.
• Choose what kind of shelter you want to work for: kill or no-kill
• Decide how to spend the limited amounts of money and time you have
• React to daily chance events and challenges
• Gain experience and improve with every playthrough
• Watch ads and buy in app purchases to support real shelters and help real dogs

UPDATE: Take a look at the finished prototype and I would love any and all feedback:






Hello TIGForums! My name is Mark and I'm so happy to be here. I live in Seattle, Washington. I have a BFA from DigiPen and have been working professionally in games for the last 11 years as a an artist for companies like Robot Super Brain, Nintendo, PopCap and Dropforge. Today though, I meet you very humbly as an indie dev. This here is a DevLog to track that journey. For the rest of the month I will be posting daily updates. This is a rapid prototype made by very few people, because we are testing the concept and not planning to release any of this publicly- all assets are temporary and probably stolen from Pintereste or Google Images.

If you would like to go back a month and see how this began, I will post the history of the project in subsequent posts.

I welcome feedback, opinions, or crazy ideas. Thank you for reading.


[email protected]
@marke_boy

[MarkeBoy]

The Story So Far

Not very long ago, in the year 2016....

August 23:
     The mobile game studio in which I worked and loved working, is shut down.

August 24:
     I begrudgingly announce the news on Facebook. Not looking for sympathy, or jobs, just expressing a loss of something I felt was both rare and remarkable. I found great difficulty accepting it wasn't "good enough".

     That night I receive a text message from a man I will call the Black Goat. He says to me, "Nice post, my condolences. But I hear you have some time and severance. What if instead of taking time to decompress, or fleshing out your LinkedIn, or hopping right back into your next career move, what if you just went for it? What if you ran at full steam with no limitations of any kind. What if you made the first game of your own studio?"

     It is the moment in Lion King where ghost Mufasa tells Simba, remember who you are kid, stop running from it and go be it. I feel a rush of anxiety, and then beneath that, what I might call a hot coal. When you light a coal, at first it looks like nothing much is happening. But give it a bit of time, make sure it has air, and then fan it up a little bit and soon you have fire on your hands. The Black Goat expertly fans the coal.

     "You left PopCap to do something bigger than any one studio. You struck out to achieve something specific. You want to be more than an artist, you want to morph. I think this is the moment. Go for it. Hard! I want you to get it, and you are the only one who can do that. So keep your eye on the ball. Use this opportunity. Get it!"

     I thank him, and sit down. I decide I need to start right away. I decide upon the first idea I have, a game about dog rescue. I decide to show the process on Facebook, as an experiement, the following are the days and posts that have happened so far...

[MarkeBoy]

August 28:
This is the plan for this week- try out Jake Knapp's Sprint process.





August 29:
Monday Sprint complete. Established my Long Term Goal and my top three Sprint questions. Then plotted out a first draft of the road map, E-mailed questions out to experts and watched pertinent talks on the Internet. Finally, generated a list of "How Might We" questions, identified what I felt were the most useful, and then used that to choose a target customer and target event for this sprint. And what do you know, developer creating a prototype is the logical focus of this sprint. Lol. See you Tuesday.





August 30:
Tuesday Sprint complete. Went long today, as I needed to procure a larger white board. Today I looked for products that had what I thought were elegant or interesting solutions to problems similar to my own. I wrote these big ideas down on a whiteboard, including a small sketch and the source in case I needed to refer back. This ran a bit long, looked at maybe too many things. Anyway, then I looked over everything I have so far, made notes to refresh my brain, then spent 20 minutes letting ideas hit paper. Identified the idea I wanted to focus on, a choice tree mechanic, and did eight 1 minute doodles of different ways to express that. The exercise is called crazy 8's . Finally, added that all up in to one three panel solution sketch. I will show all but the solution sketch, as that is supposed to be saved for Wednesday.












August 31:
(9:17 am)
A question for the Engineers- Close your eyes and imagine a designer/artist/ui person has e-mailed you with the subject line, "Want to join forces and build a 1 month prototype for a mobile game?" What would have to be in the content of that e-mail to persuade you to say yes, and what, if it was in that e-mail, would absolutely persuade you to say no?
*Summary of responses:
Yes:Be clear about the project and scope. What do you want to accomplish in 1 month's time. Make it clear you have a vision for the prototype and the final product. Is the job paying or not? Offer payment, ask for quote. Personalize the request; why them? what have the done that makes them seem like a good fit? Then info about yourself; What is your background? Proof of your track record. Why this project? Why should I care? How much control would I have on choosing technology and tools? Possibly trade work.
No: Not a paying job, poor market understanding scope too large for time-frame, unorganized or lacking social skills, expecting full time work without compensation, lack of a plan or strong vision for the final product, subject line of work request is "Please Respond".

(9:04 pm)
Wednesday Sprint complete. Room spinning. I don't even know what happened. Started the day by looking at my three panel sketch I titled "The First Decisions". But according to the book, a whole team was also supposed to do this and then we were supposed to vote and talk about stuff...but its just me in a room. And besides. Something wasn't right. Because it was just me, I spent most of yesterday falling back on looking at games and not other media or ideas. So today I looked at dog rescue sites, goal achievement diaries, facebook, pinterest. Tried to think more outside the box and hopefully focus a bit less on what gameplay could I borrow and a bit more on what fantasy do I want to give a player and what's the best way to do it. SO I broke a rule. I came up with new ideas, and I got specific. Way more specific than I should, but if I am the only decider, then once I figured out what my favorite "mental" solutions were, I went deeper with them. I made a six panel story board of different key moments in the game to help me plan the prototype I will make tomorrow. So here you go, have a look, and thank you again for those sweet messages and helpful crits. If I don't reply it's because I am sprinting! And Meg is calling me for dinner, see you tomorrow.



September 1:
Thursday Sprint incomplete. Yup, Thursday sprint, Prototype, incomplete. Let's do a quick post-mortem of what went wrong-


In chapter two, the Sprint book describes the ideal team consisting of 7 members- The Facilitator, The Decider, and then an "Expert" of each of the following categories: Finance, Marketing, Customers, Tech/Logistics, and Design. Then it speaks of one other person to include...The Trouble Maker. In this case, one Julian Chunovic. I had met with Julian Tuesday morning after he reached out Monday evening with the words "I'm interested". Some might describe me as manic, messy and creative. I would describe Julian as a calm, logical, whole picture kinda guy who has no qualms about showing up at 4 pm on day 4 of a 5 day sprint with utterly beautiful ideas that call into question everything you have ever hoped or believed. He will gently shatter you with the truth hiding right in front of your nose.
Julian understands the goals of this project as well or better than I myself do. But he wanted to know, how is it a prototype if you can't play the game? I said, "but look, we have all the rules, I will make it look like you can play. I will make it look so pretty, just like it says here in the book!" Julian smiled back, "How do you know if it's any good?" We will get there, I said, but not today. That didn't shut me down though. This was the one that shut me down- He asked "Do you think you have over-scoped a single person prototype?"....
Yes. Yes, I thought that Tuesday, when it started to get hard. I thought that Wednesday when it seemed crazy. I thought that Thursday at 4 am when I woke and couldn't get back to sleep. But I refused to say it out loud. I wanted that to not be true. But he's right. 9 women can't have a baby in one month, I can't have this prototype delivered for evaluation by the end of the day. I have a battery, it's low. There is too much work. Work I will start again tomorrow.
And Julian, that in his hands there is the core loop he's paper proto-typing. THAT is why you invite the trouble maker. Thank you, my friend I will not forget this.
Anyway, I will post exactly where I stopped. Pick it back up tomorrow. Cheers.







September 2:
Friday Sprint...incomplete. I still didn't finish the prototype enough to where people could interact with it. But I am not far away. Today, according to the book is for conducting no less than 5 potential customer interviews, watching their feedback, and evaluating whether or not you have an efficient failure or a flawed success. And then debrief and create a plan for the next prototype. I will finish this one. At least the vision I had of it. If you do look at the images below, and are totally confused, here is what is happening- Image one is your first day as rescue volunteer. You have two open slots but not enough money to buy two dogs. You could research one of the dogs but it would take some of your time. Time is precious, but you do, you look at Wombat and in image 2 you decide to take her. In image 3 you enter the main stage of the game, your animal rescue. From here you can look at dog's information as seen in image 3. This tells you how long you have with the dog before they go back to the shelter and the money that can be earned by a successful adoption. How do you know if they will be adoptable, take a look at that bottom meter which is combination of all the dog's other stats. The higher the better. If you wanted to improve the dogs chances, you can go to the rehab tab see in image 5. You don't have the camera yet, but you can feed, groom, and pet the dog, but that uses up some of your time. What the heck, lets give Wombat some love. In image 6 you can see wombat pampered and sparkling, I've even customized her digs. She is a shoe-in for adoption now. I press the next day button on the bottom right.. It's red, but it should be green or some other color. Anyway, last image, HOORAY! Wombat has been adopted, the rescue meter is introduced to the top of the screen and my character levels up and gains a new skill. Hope it's photography!! Now I have more space, and more money, I can rescue more dogs! But how long can this go before I run out of funds, as they say, mo dogs means mo money!
I am going to go eat and then go camping over the weekend. See ya later, space cowboys. Prototype wraps up next week and then hopefully some customer review.
Thanks for reading, for being interested, for giving me high-fives.
















**Break for Camping**

[alvarop]

You have such beautiful handwriting.

[MarkeBoy]

September 7:
A mini-post mortem on Sprint Fail #1
What went well:
+ Sprint kick started productivity, rails enhanced focus
+ Asked for help and got it, expert advice trumps gut feeling
+ Stole liberally from Google Images to save time
+ You can buy a giant whiteboard at Lowes for $10. $10!!!
+ Julian Chunovic disruptions, delayed my sprint, saved my life
+ I had what I needed, success was possible
+ I improved a broad set of skills a little bit, quickly- Level Up!
What didn't go well:
- Spent two hours one day looking for colored dot stickers...unused
- Bad job setting expectations with Megan, consistently late to dinner
- Skimmed the book as I went instead of re-reading before starting
- Over-scoped the minimum needed to answer Sprint Questions.
- Time spent face-booking is time I could be working/eating dinner
- Got too precious over small details before testing the rough
What I know now:
*There are no examples in the Sprint book of one person starting from nothing. In each story the brand, the product, the service, they exist and the Sprint serves to test solutions for one aspect.
*Instead of making an interactive prototype, I could have started with three fake App Store screens, each with a different icon and description of one of the three key features of my game. Then asked potential customers which one they like best, how they would expect the game to play, etc. At the same time, show those App descriptions to Engineers and asked them to best guess rank them in terms of difficulty and time to develop. If in the opinion of the Engineers, none of them could be made in under a month, Sprint Success. If none of the target customers are interested in the mechanic or excited to play, Sprint Success. I never had to make what I chose to in order to find out if I was even in the ball park.
*There are check lists in the back of the book for every day, not just the first, and it has everything neatly time-boxed. Wish I had seen that sooner and I wish I had bought a large visible timer. When you get heads down, time disappears. When a clock is right in front of you, it stays top of mind. Is that good or bad, I don't know. But I would have liked to have try it and see how I felt about it. Instead I indulged and paid the price of work/life unbalance and a failed sprint. Dev Madan, long ago, gave me some pro advice- Real artists SHIP!
*In the book, there are specific instructions to follow ALL THE STEPS for your first Sprint. I didn't.
*Something is better than nothing. I have a foundation, I have the materials. A clear vision of what my over scoped prototype should look like and how I can test it. All that is needed is to let the first fail roll of my back and get right on to the next!

September 8:
(11:29 am)
Sprint UPDATE: Made a proto-prototype! Play it, leave me some feedback. Thank you everybody
https://marvelapp.com/3i4abfj/screen/15034668
Here is how you download to your phone so you can play it like a normal app-



(4:06 pm)
I mocked up a version of what the game might look like after you have been playing it for a while to help me think about what needs to be added/taken away...and have a little fun-



September 9:
Sprint UPDATE: Sprint Complete. Cool.
I said this before but there were a lot of circumstances I faced that weren't in the book so I had to improvise one way or the other and therefore could not, perhaps, test the process as it was meant. I riffed on it, re-tooled it for what I could do. I'm not 8 people, I'm one and I didn't begin with something, I began with nothing more than "how can I make a game about dog rescue?". I didn't complete the process in 5 days, but I achieved a version of it in 9. So would I recommend it? Yeah! I would. I am excited to try it again. And if you are excited to try it, I hope my mistakes, solutions, and improvisations are somehow useful to you.
I have answers to two of my sprint questions. This goal IS capable of generating enough excitement to obtain the necessary staff and funding. I know much more specifically who the audience is for this game and what they want to see.
The last question, can a playable prototype be made in one month? Let's find out
I want to wrap up this sprint by giving credit to some sources I stole from.
I tracked down the artist I was ripping dog drawings from off of pinterest. Her name is Lili Chin and if you love dog art you should visit her site: http://www.doggiedrawings.net/
I won't use her art in the actual game but, in the time I had, her art was closest to what I imagined using. Clean, iconic, cute but not saccharine
I stole my button icons from so many google image searches I can't list them all, but I didn't make those. I wanted rounded corners, chubby lines, clean appealing shapes. Looked for what matched that.
Stole that menu bar from Facebook. I stole that straight up.
Games that directly influenced this game are:
Reigns, for inspiring me to make something in my limits.
Neko Atsume, for the leave and come back idea.
Clash Royale, for layout and UI ideas.
Papers Please, for the concepts of doing a good job in the face of realistic consequence and daily event/cost systems.
Pokemon, for the collection and starter decision
This whole project is directly inspired by, and in some ways a love letter to, Ellen Marett Hoffmann and Wombat. Ellen works with Forgotten Dogs Rescue, a foster home based rescue organization. If you would like to learn more about that, the website is: http://www.forgottendogsrescue.com/ I would hear Ellen making calls, daily, trying to find good homes for neglected pups. I believe her heart can create positive change in the world because I know how it has changed me.
That's all for now. If you played the prototype, filled out the survey, left me a message, wished me a happy birthday (haha!), gosh guys, it makes a difference. You are pushing me forward and I guess it just makes me want to be better so I can be worthy of that. In the mini-postmortem I said that maybe too much time was spent on facebook. I take that back. I am in a room by myself most the day. I need people 






**Contacted by Couch Sprite. We meet, discuss each other's games and needs. A deal is struck!**

[MarkeBoy]

September 14:
I have another question- where do you go to follow indie game devs making games in real time, aka, the devlog. Instagram? Twitter? TIGforums? I want to stop filling my feed with long updates about the game, but I'd like to continue documenting the experience. Recommends for best place/format to do that?
Annnnnd, for the curious among you, a quick but EXCITING update: For the next 2-3 weeks, I will be working with Aaron Schneider and Tim Berry of Couch Sprite to bring the Rescue Pups prototype to life. Then for the next 2-3 weeks after that, I will help them bring their new game, Andventure Mart to life! If you want to learn more about them or their game (which I think is pretty darn cool), check em out: http://www.couchsprite.com/
@couchsprite
https://www.facebook.com/couchsprite/

In the meantime, Julian has remained ever vigilant in his attempt to keep me from chasing butterflies and focused on the critical mission. He set us up with a Slack board for group chat, a Trello board for task tracking, a high level break down of the game and each feature, a diagram of the core loop, and a healthy dose of skepticism about what any of this will amount to. This, all you have seen in the sprint updates, and all you will see in the coming month, is built on equal parts hope and uncertainty. It could totally suck. People might hate it or, even worse, not even care it exists. Maybe we will have to change it to something more preferred, more familiar. But right now, this idea wakes me up at night. It causes me to walk faster, to take two stairs at a time. It won't leave until I can see it exist. A huge thank you to Couch Sprite and Julian, for taking a risk, for adopting me, and for giving this game the chance to be whatever it turns out to be
Below, tools and framework by Julian and Couch Sprite.









**Hockey App is set up. We Begin downloading, testing, and playing daily builds of
Rescue Pups**



September 20:
So here we are, back to the future. If you got this far then a big high-five! Look for new posts every week day till the end of September.

Cheers!



[email protected]
@marke_boy

[MarkeBoy]

September 21:

Presenting a brief, unscripted run through of our playable prototype:



Aaron made some clever changes that include: adding a countdown to new spaces available in your shelter, making all mutts cost $0 at the price of reduced initial adoptability, and adjusting time/cost parameters for different actions to match player expectation and create more dynamic decision making.

It may not be pretty and in the video I did not have time to go through it all, but what you are seeing here is what I would consider to be an MVP candidate. For the rest of the week we will begin adding polish and content, aiming to button up a user ready experience by end of week!


[email protected]
@marke_boy

[MarkeBoy]

September 22:
Today Couch Sprite got the Daily Event System up and running. It is all temp art and dialogue, so it may not seem so hot to the average viewer, but even in this early stage it adds a lot of charm and narrative to what you are doing. Here was one I lol'd at even though it totally bankrupt my shelter. When Jimmy first volunteered at the shelter, he was great! I had two more hours everyday, which is a big help. Then I came in one morning and his treachery/loving heart was revealed!!!-





I spent the entire day playing the prototype, reading books on dogs, looking at pictures of shelters, and imagining ways to define a little clearer core loop. Right now you play and play and their is no real exit point and reason to put the game down until you lose, which can in some cases take a really long time. I also want to simplify the UX flow, implement more meaningful choice or mechanics when you are in the rescuing and rehabilitation phases, and lastly adding a little more drama to whether a dog gets adopted or not. For instance, I wish you could visually see that a dog almost got adopted, instead of just a binary yes or no. We'll see if that is a good idea or not.

That's all for tonight. See you tomorrow!


[email protected]
@marke_boy

[MarkeBoy]

Sept 23:

The last few days have been spent in what Pete Doctor calls the long dark tunnel.You don't clearly remember where you came from, and you don'yet know exactly where you are going. So you have one choice- go forward until you see a little light. I have charted here how every game development process I have been a part of has gone-


Right now Rescue Pups is in that hard section. We have a playable prototype and it is good-ish, but not great. For the last few days I have been really struggling to define or articulate what it needs more and less of to be the amazing minimum viable prototype I want to present to people. I have the weekend to myself so I went to a coffee shop for breakfast. And all the thinking, all the notes, all the jumbled mess of possibility, suddenly cleared my head. I pulled a pad of blue sticky notes and a pencil out of my bag and the solutions flowed clearly and with more joy than effort. It may not make sense to anyone but me at the moment, and I admit my feelings are fresh and instinctual, but at least I have the map for the ride I want to take to the end of the month. It is a GREAT morning.

[SiJaf]

I like the concept of rescuing the pups and having a real life connection towards real shelters. 

My suggestion would be to make the interactions with the pups more kinesthetic (rather than button presses). In addition I see potential for building in some additional gameplay elements in the interaction with the pups (every dog has a different favorite spot to pet and you need to find it... when washing the dog, there is an encouragement to do that with the least amount of water as possible...).

I would suggest to emphasize the connection of the player with the virtual pet(s), while having the colder "management" element more as a progression metric.

[MarkeBoy]

@SiJaf Whoa, Great feedback-Thank you!!

We are definitely on the same page, I will be doing a post in about an hour here with the new flow for the game that adds more depth to interactions and individual dog needs. For the minimum viable product we are building right now, the interactions are likely to remain button presses. Maybe after you press the button you touch the dog to complete the action.That should still be pretty simple. If this moves past the prototype stage, interactions and animations are two areas we would definitely plus.

 

[MarkeBoy]

September 26:

Not much time left to go before the end of the month. As it stands, we do have a playable prototype on device. I could hand it to someone and get feedback. We could take what we have and polish it up for that presentation and I would call this a successful prototype.

But, as I play the game, I can see already some directions this game could go. Before the playable, it was hard to imagine all "the whole". Now we have a much clearer view of that. I started using a program called proto.io to mockup what I expect would be a much refined and engaging play experience for Rescue Pups. This is the first draft of that: https://pr.to/9UERTQ/

The upside is that this gives us a better long term goal. The downside is that the month is almost up, there is too much here to add, so we need to pare down the big vision into what we fell are the highest priority questions/risks we want to address with this first playable. It can't be everything. This is the really tough part of development, when you have to stop adding on and focus what you have before taking the next steps.

This week expect to see a playable of the full loop, a hint of the meta, new dogs, animations, and a sanding pass to smooth out the bumps and get this baby in front of some potential customers.

**If you are not sure where to click in the prototype, click an empty space and note where the blue button icons flash.Below is a write up of what is going on in these screens:

Screen 1:  Home Screen- Starting hub for a fresh or continued game. That big blank image will be replaced with either a logo or an image and a logo for Rescue Pups. Shelters button takes you to a list of the Shelters you have unlocked. Breeds button opens up how many breeds total there are and how many you have unlocked. Options button in lower left opens your standard options (not represented in mock up). Clicking on player info will allow you to change your name and picture(not represented in mock up), as well as see your current level, title, and progress towards next level. Lets go to the Shelter screen.


Screen 2: Shelters Select Screen- this is a scroll-able list of available Shelters. Each Shelter tab displays the Shelter's name, Dogs rescued, image of the Shelter, level, level progress bar, the Breeds unlocked in that Shelter, and your Bond level with each. Every Shelter is "struggling". Your job is to help the Shelter get Dogs cared for and adopted, as well as improve the facility to the point where they are self-sustaining. Each Shelter is a mini-cookie clicker. At first you have to go in and take care of each Dog manually, and this takes time, but as you improve the Shelter and your Bond with different Dogs, this time gets less and less, until it starts to go in the opposite direction. Soon the facility will start to automate. Each Shelter after the first one has a different set of requirements before they accept you, and the only way to meet those requirements is by completing achievements in the levels before . Could be a certain number of adoptions, improving a shelter to a certain level, or unlocking all 6 Breeds that Shelter specializes in. The unlocking of Breeds is a random event. Every day, as long as there is an empty slot, Shelters will adopt a new dog, to increase the chance of rare Dogs, improve the facility! Down next to the player info, the options button has been changed to a back button which will return you to the Home Screen. Next up, Breeds!

Screen 3: Breeds Screen. there are over 100 different unique Breeds in the game. As you progress you unlock new Breeds. Rarer Breeds require luck and higher levels of play. This is a scroll-able list of all the Breeds and which of those you have unlocked. If you clicked on one of the Breeds you would get a bio, a display of your bond level with that Breed, a count of how many of that Breed has been adopted, and the option to see real Dogs of that Breed that are looking for homes(not represented in mock up). This is an info screen only, you can lean about different Breeds but you can not interact with any Dogs from this screen. At the bottom, the back button will again return you to the Home Screen.

Screen 4: Shelter Work Screen- Once you select a Shelter, you go to work! This screen is an status overview of the Shelter and its Dogs. Upper left is counters for your hours and days played. Upper right is the counter for how much money the facility has. Beneath the money counter is the daily operation cost. As a Shelter improves, its daily costs will increase. Each day you can spend time/money interacting with Dogs by selecting from the populated kennels. While a dog is in its Kennel, you will be able to see the dog's visual Status through animation, its Name, and it's Adoptability percentage (not represented in mock up). Below the kennels you have three options: Improve the Shelter, Check on status of Achievements, and Close for the day. Each Shelter has a certain number of kennel spaces and a limited amount of money to start with. The kennel spaces will be auto-populated with the Breeds the Shelter specializes in. Common will occur most often, Uncommon less often, and Rare....very rarely, lol. The player must balance resources between building a sustainable business and keeping up with the dogs daily needs. Before you Close up shop by flipping the Open sign to Closed, make sure you have used the day's resources and time wisely!

Screen 5: Shelter Improve Screen- Improving a Shelter is the long term plan to sustainability. Here you can purchase new items for your facility from the store at the bottom middle of the screen (not represented in mock up) and spend to level up your Kennel spaces. Once you have improved the Shelter, return to the Work Screen.

Screen 6: Shelter Achievements- Here the Operator will instruct player as to what the mandatory and optional tasks for each Shelter are. As the player completes achievements, their level will go up, improving their skills and allowing them to work at more specialized facilities.

Screen 5: Dog Interaction Screen- this screen is divided into two halves. The top half is the Kennel Card, and the bottom is the Dog Interaction. The top of the Kennel Card shows the Dog's Name (which you can change) and its current chance of being adopted. The higher the percentage of Adoptability, the more likely it is the dog will be adopted at the end of the day. The lower right of the Kennel Card displays the Dog's Needs. Needs requirements (size of bar) are determined by the Breed, Size, Bond, Status( affected by the care it is receiving or randomly by Events). Filling the Needs meters is done by interacting with the Dogs and improving the Shelter to meet and sustain their daily needs. Adoptability directly reflects how well the Dog's Needs are being met. Below the Kennel Card you will see the Dog you have selected. Swiping left and right will show you other Dogs currently in the Kennel. Interact with the Dogs by looking at their Status and Needs and determining which interactions you want to choose for the day. Selecting an interaction will bring up a set of Interaction Options.

Screen 6: Interaction Options- Once an interaction type is selected, you will have three options. For example, if you choose the interaction Walk, you could select a Short, Medium, or Long Walk, depending on the Dog's needs and the time/resources available. Each Interaction takes different time and resources depending on the factors present in each unique Kennel Card.

Screen 7: Interaction Timer- Once you select the interaction, tap or tap and hold on a dog to begin the interaction. As you improve your Bond/Expertise with a dog, the time required for an Interaction will decrease and the Needs satisfaction will increase. Increasing your bond with a breed will also unlock special interactions specific to that Breed. Once you have run out of time/resources and can no longer interact with your Dogs it is time to Close and see what the day's Events are.

Screen 8 and 9:  End of Day Event Screen- Once the Shelter is closed, you will be presented with the days Events, which are represented as cards.The player gets to flip over TBD# of face down Event cards. Events can be good or bad. The player could turn over a Donation Card for X amount of dollars, find a New Volunteer Card and get X amount of bonus Hours, etc. This is also how Dog Adoptions occur. A percentage of the cards are "Adopted" or "Almost Adopted" cards. The dogs with the highest adoptability will have the highest chance of appearing on the "Adopted" cards. Dogs below 50% adoptability will have no chance of being "Adopted" or "Almost Adopted". The player could also befall misfortunes. Dogs could get sick. Shelter repairs could be required. Volunteers could steal a Dog! Once a player has flipped over their required # of Event cards, they have the option to pay for more as long as they have the resources. If they are done, or have no resources to buy new Events, then the day is over.


[email protected]
@marke_boy

[MarkeBoy]

Oct 1:

SO CLOSE! I think all the assets are ready and checked in. As soon as engineering can hook it up, we will have a prototype ready for testing.

We didn't get it in a month, arg! A day over isn't too bad. It is completely my fault. Vanity is the culprit. I laid out every screen several times over in the last few days to maximize for one handed play and screen-to-screen cohesiveness. There was a lot of temp to replace with "better" temp art. So a little bit of vanity slowed us down.

Huge shout out to Couch Sprite! Today I am going to start working on their game to pay for their help on Rescue Pups. They really went above and beyond by fine-tuning the balance of time/cost/resources, and adding way more than we originally agreed to. Also for putting a couple extra days. Excited to start on their game http://www.couchsprite.com/adventuremart

I am basically fried right now. I need a shower and some food. Last 3-4 days have been a crunch. I will post a wrap up soon regarding the whole experience and how it fares in user testing.

Here is the new layout we are rocking on the Kennel screen:

[MarkeBoy]

We have a finished prototype! The next steps are to user test, collect feedback, develop a pitch for what larger vision of the game is, and then try to secure backing. Take a look:





Post Mortem to come. Thank you everybody for reading. Happy to answer questions and would GLADLY welcome any and all feedback.

Thanks!