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Post by griffy on Sept 15, 2019 7:02:51 GMT -5
From what I see, I also feel the recent games are too rigid and based around mini games. Even though such games have better graphics the petz seem somehow less real. They may have flashy outer graphics, but with a lack of anything behind the game. Although I am sure they still have effort put into them. I think if you tried it is still possible to hex the newer ones though. I did play like one of the newer petz games on ds but I didn't really get the point of it, I probably would have liked it as a kid though! lol but again it is no nintendogs. Also with virtual pet games in general it feels as if they haven't really progressed at all in quality or design. There are attempts for VR and AR games I guess, but I feel as if more could be done.
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Post by Sasha on Sept 16, 2019 2:48:54 GMT -5
I think it's because the original petz games were experiments about virtual life, connecting with a digital character on a new level, making AI seem real and all that sort of thing. P.F. Magic wrote several papers about it.
Whereas the new games are merely meant to be pet care simulators, so they are mainly focused on gameplay rather than AI. As they aren't the greatest titles, the gameplay isn't the greatest either. So, this is where Nintendogs excels and stands head and shoulders above these new petz games! Nintendo knows how to make a simulator and minigames entertaining even if those animals don't have any interesting AI either.
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Post by Thor on Sept 16, 2019 18:37:57 GMT -5
There's just no market for old Petz :\
PF Magic put a lot of time and effort into the AI system and it seems as tho the majority of people don't really play as often as they collect/breed/hex. People like collecting/showing off their creatures-- people like breeding their creatures and getting unique combinations-- those virtual pet websites do super well (flightrising, etc). And its like much easier to program a collecting/breeding/genetics website than it is to program Petz 3.
So in short, if the "easier to program" games sell, and sometimes sell better, why bother making something more complex?
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Post by Alexzander on Dec 14, 2019 10:14:03 GMT -5
I'll be honest. I play OLD games far more than new ones. For me, it's about the gameplay not the graphics. Petz, Zoo Tycoon and the original Dungeon Siege are among my favourites. I even have an archaic PS2 and three old games I play infrequently because the games are good. I don't give a flip about graphics - what gets me is whether or not I want to go back and play the game again and again. Petz has been dragged through ten computers over the last 21 years. It started on a 1998 Packard Bell (which I ended up calling a "crappard hell" when I got older), a Gateway, a Dell, another Dell, a Dell laptop circa 2005, a Toshiba laptop, Another Dell laptop, another Dell Laptop, a Dell desktop, and now an HP laptop. I've dragged Zoo Tycoon all over as well and I still play and enjoy it even if I have a million hacks I will admit I do a lot of hexing, but I play in the PKC and I like some of my dogz to be unique-ish. I actually find myself PLAYING with them more now and appreciating the complexity of the personalities and interactions. I also find I play more with my ragtag collection of catz than I do the dogz sometimes! The catz are way more wacko and they make me laugh with the antics. If only we had a lazer pointer that worked in game!
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Post by Thor on Dec 24, 2019 23:55:08 GMT -5
I really appreciate the games a lot as an adult-- especially now that I'm a Computer Scientist and can see the love put into this game with its amazing AI <3
I've actually been doing a little experiment with kids playing Petz in my class and I'm seeing that these kids have no patience for just watching and observing the pet. They don't have patience for watching him get to know toyz or letting him try to eat.
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Post by Sue on Jan 14, 2020 11:33:15 GMT -5
^This sounds familiar. My granddaughter loved the game right off the bat, but wanted to use petza to create strange-looking mixes. It seemed after a bit of play, she lost interest. I was a bit surprised. I found so much enjoyment in all aspects of the game, and she didn't seem at all interested. It made me a little sad. I still bring out petz from 2000 and get all silly. I've missed petzing recently. *sighs* (Super glad to see everyone! )
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Post by Thor on Jan 21, 2020 0:37:59 GMT -5
Nice to see you again too :)
I feel like a lot of little kids love the making monstrosities part xD I wonder if there's a game out there that does that? Like imagine making your own monster in some 3D engine and having the monsters mate together and have odd offspring? Wonder if that would be fun/popular as a little mobile game or something. ((I feel tho that giving people the ability to create their own monsters would end up making a lot of nsfw monsters))
Also, on that note, I'm surprised Oddballz didn't get re-released at all or that IP used ever again. I feel like its cartoon-y random silly nonsense is really fun for the age group I'm thinking.
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Post by griffy on May 14, 2021 15:36:18 GMT -5
Also, on that note, I'm surprised Oddballz didn't get re-released at all or that IP used ever again. I feel like its cartoon-y random silly nonsense is really fun for the age group I'm thinking. Yeah i'm sure there was so much they could have done with it. I love the experimental part about it and discovering their unique personalities and that, messing around. I dunno if ya know tomodatchi life on ds with the miis and that but they had unique personalities to discover and food tastes. Another game that reminds me of it is the talking tom app with several characters in there is a part where you take the characters for medical treatment and idk the part where u have to whack them and all reminds me of oddballz haha. They didn't even have other rooms and that like petz or babyz got I could think of many sorts of cool rooms they could have had. Im sure the idea at least still has appeal today. And they were considering a babyz 2 for sure before they scrapped it. I do wonder if they ever did any development or planning on a petz 6 game that wasn't 3d and concepts.
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Post by Wisteria Fantasy on May 15, 2021 7:24:15 GMT -5
I actually like some of them, but
Old Petz > Nintendogs and Nintendogs + Cats > Dogz GBA, Dogz DS, Petz Vet GBA, Hamsterz DS, Bunnyz DS (I may be forgetting a few more I actually still think are good - never played the final "New Petz" games so those could belong here too) > the rest of the "New Petz" games > Petz Fantasy (hated that one even as a kid - much too repetitive) > mobile games with unlimited price tags (sorry, I just had to throw that in)
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Post by lobb on May 16, 2021 16:21:29 GMT -5
I've never played any of them because by the time they came out I thought I was too cool for games like these. While my younger self was wrong about that, I'm glad that's what I thought because it saved me from ever playing them. xD They just look so bad to me, and I say this as someone who loves cute, casual games nowadays.
I did play a game I almost never see mentioned, which was the GBC (not GBA) version of Petz! It was like a more limited version of the PC games. It seems like it got bad reviews for not having as many features as the PC versions, but I couldn't compare them so it seemed so different and so much better than other pet games I'd tried. I loved it back then.
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noluckduck
Petz Walker
I'm back to work! Way less active but still here!
Posts: 53
Petz Versions: 4
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Post by noluckduck on Aug 15, 2021 0:27:22 GMT -5
I did play a game I almost never see mentioned, which was the GBC (not GBA) version of Petz! It was like a more limited version of the PC games. It seems like it got bad reviews for not having as many features as the PC versions, but I couldn't compare them so it seemed so different and so much better than other pet games I'd tried. I loved it back then. I also played that one! Got the Catz GBC game at a flea market. I may still have it actually. They did try, but it just doesn't work as well on a GBC. Now if PF Magic was still making their style of Petz games during the DS days... I bet that could've been a fun way to play on the go! While I wouldn't say there's, like, a HUGE market for a PF Magic-esque Petz-like game, I do think a well-made title could perform decently well. Maybe not among children, but among the 16 and up crowd. Retro 90s and 00s stuff is "in" in general these days. In the PC gaming world retro graphics are just as popular as high-def realism. People are always actively looking for calm, relaxing, and cute games. Plus, old 90s and 00s games and genres seem to be having a bit of a renaissance lately. So if they made a Petz game that combined some of the retro feel with lots of nice quality of life improvements, more mechanics, and connectivity options? I'd like to think it could work, at least from an indie dev perspective. Ubi's more of a big games and big profits kind of company these days so our best bet would be for Ubi to go open source with it (then the community can mod it into a more present-day friendly game), or for some creative type to do what Stardew Valley did and make something really really similar without getting into legal trouble.
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Post by lobb on Aug 15, 2021 10:44:00 GMT -5
I did play a game I almost never see mentioned, which was the GBC (not GBA) version of Petz! It was like a more limited version of the PC games. It seems like it got bad reviews for not having as many features as the PC versions, but I couldn't compare them so it seemed so different and so much better than other pet games I'd tried. I loved it back then. I also played that one! Got the Catz GBC game at a flea market. I may still have it actually. They did try, but it just doesn't work as well on a GBC. Now if PF Magic was still making their style of Petz games during the DS days... I bet that could've been a fun way to play on the go! While I wouldn't say there's, like, a HUGE market for a PF Magic-esque Petz-like game, I do think a well-made title could perform decently well. Maybe not among children, but among the 16 and up crowd. Retro 90s and 00s stuff is "in" in general these days. In the PC gaming world retro graphics are just as popular as high-def realism. People are always actively looking for calm, relaxing, and cute games. Plus, old 90s and 00s games and genres seem to be having a bit of a renaissance lately. So if they made a Petz game that combined some of the retro feel with lots of nice quality of life improvements, more mechanics, and connectivity options? I'd like to think it could work, at least from an indie dev perspective. Ubi's more of a big games and big profits kind of company these days so our best bet would be for Ubi to go open source with it (then the community can mod it into a more present-day friendly game), or for some creative type to do what Stardew Valley did and make something really really similar without getting into legal trouble. Yeah, it's apparently pretty limited, but back then I hadn't played the PC version so it blew my mind. (Plus, I was a kid and not very picky about games with animals.)
I don't think a dev making a petz-like game would get into trouble. Ubisoft don't own the concept of virtual pets! That's the good news. We could well have a similar game that's actually good.
I've looked into it since I'm into making games, but I think the work would be immense and it's a relatively niche thing, which might be why there are many pet games with varying degrees of popularity but none come close to the complexity and variety of petz.
I'm still holding out hope, though! It would be awesome, especially considering that AI has come a long way since Petz and there could be so many great features. Not to mention that it would probably be easier to accomplish than it was back then.
Unfortunately, I don't think Ubisoft will make Petz open source. They just don't seem to care about the games, even though, like you said, there could be a market for them. It would be relatively simple for them to put them on sale somewhere and let nostalgia work its magic. It wouldn't make them a fortune but it would make them more than they do now. Except... they don't even seem interested in doing this. I have no idea why :/ Let alone making it open source, considering big studios are so protective of their IP.
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noluckduck
Petz Walker
I'm back to work! Way less active but still here!
Posts: 53
Petz Versions: 4
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Post by noluckduck on Aug 15, 2021 20:46:32 GMT -5
I don't think a dev making a petz-like game would get into trouble. Ubisoft don't own the concept of virtual pets! That's the good news. We could well have a similar game that's actually good.
I've looked into it since I'm into making games, but I think the work would be immense and it's a relatively niche thing, which might be why there are many pet games with varying degrees of popularity but none come close to the complexity and variety of petz.
I'm still holding out hope, though! It would be awesome, especially considering that AI has come a long way since Petz and there could be so many great features. Not to mention that it would probably be easier to accomplish than it was back then.
Unfortunately, I don't think Ubisoft will make Petz open source. They just don't seem to care about the games, even though, like you said, there could be a market for them. It would be relatively simple for them to put them on sale somewhere and let nostalgia work its magic. It wouldn't make them a fortune but it would make them more than they do now. Except... they don't even seem interested in doing this. I have no idea why :/ Let alone making it open source, considering big studios are so protective of their IP.
Yeah I think both things (a Petz "copy" or open source) are unlikely, but I'm also holding out some hope! While not as bad as EA, Ubi isn't exactly known for being super responsive to fans/taking anything that could be remotely considered a risk. As for a game from someone else, yeah, it'd be A LOT of work to do from scratch. I also don't think Ubi is likely to care much about infringement on a game they may have forgotten exists, unless of course they decide "hey, we could be making money off of that!" which would be unlikely. That could only happen if a game was made, was VERY similar, and was popular enough to get on their radar. Even then that doesn't guarantee they'd care, since stuff like Assassin's Creed is such a reliable money maker for them that they've even seemed to stop with their shovelware publishing. Maybe part of not putting them up on like GOG or steam is having to work out system requirement issues? I'm not sure who ends up being in charge of making things work on newer systems when old games come to new platforms. So if they had to take people off one of their other projects, maybe they wouldn't want to lose the productivity? And yeah, companies can be weird about IPs. I feel like the best way to increase the likelihood of new Petzy stuff is just what we've been doing: keeping the existing community alive and trying to help new folks discover these amazing abandoned games. The more people who know and care about these games, the more likely it is that good, cool, amazing things can happen! Just seeing that there IS still a community gave me such a huge boost of hope! I'm definitely going to keep hoping that Petz can have a revival. Lol and maybe if I ever get around to learning to code I'll make that new Petz game.
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Post by griffy on Feb 4, 2023 12:04:17 GMT -5
It is strange(or i guess not so much given money) considering how far AI has come there aren't a lot of newer pet games which try to utilize this tech. Petz was leading at the time, but in terms of improvements I don't really see that many. Maybe vpets you can talk to or like AR type stuff, but I don't really see this technology utilized much to it's potential. I guess it would take a lot of work though and people are happy with games with simple cutesy graphics, but even as a project just for like research or for fun I dont see a lot. Like at this point maybe this technology is more accessible? I would be interested though on how such a game using such newer advances would work, or even just something similar to AI workings of past but with a more modern implementation. Like petz had a proper detailed state system, breeding and such. They felt alive but feel that very little other games do, nintendogs was nice in graphics and had many fun elements (well developed compared to many games) but I could see a repeating pattern where as petz had a bigger sense of randomness to it.
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