The Origins of Virtual Pets: Uncovering the Story Behind Dogz

In 1994, a fighting game called Ballz was released, boasting a spherically-focused gameplay mechanic and a title that sparked both amusement and curiosity. The game's developer, PF Magic, had already made a name for itself in the gaming industry with this unique approach to combat. However, what might be considered an unusual choice of title at the time would prove to be a crucial stepping stone in the development of virtual pets.

The question on everyone's mind was how Ballz led to creating virtual pets. To understand this connection, it is essential to delve into the background of Rob Fulop, a designer at PF Magic who worked on both Ballz and Night Trap. Night Trap, released in 1992, received significant negative media coverage due to its depiction of violence and the perception that it was "ruining children." This backlash had a profound impact on Fulop, who felt the need to create something that would bring joy and happiness to children.

In an interview, Rob Fulop revealed his desire to create a game that would be "so cute and so adorable" in response to the negative reception of Night Trap. The solution came to him when he discussed the topic with Santa Claus over the holiday season. Santa, being the embodiment of childhood wonder, provided Fulop with valuable insight into what children truly desired. When asked about the most popular gift children requested every year, Santa replied that it was a puppy. This answer proved to be the catalyst for the creation of Dogz.

By building upon the graphics and gameplay mechanics of Ballz, PF Magic developed Dogz in 1995. The game's packaging proudly proclaimed, "Your Virtual Petz," setting the stage for what would become a beloved franchise. While it may seem like an unusual connection at first glance, the link between Ballz and virtual pets is undeniable.

The development of Dogz marked a significant milestone in the evolution of virtual pets. This was not only the first game to utilize the concept but also laid the groundwork for future titles in the Petz series. The franchise would eventually be acquired by Ubisoft, which went on to create 14,000 games for various platforms, including the Nintendo DS.

It is worth noting that the Petz series continued to expand upon the initial concept, introducing new characters and gameplay mechanics over the years. However, the foundation laid by Dogz remains an essential aspect of this beloved franchise. The story of how a fighting game like Ballz led to the creation of virtual pets serves as a testament to the power of innovation and creativity in the gaming industry.

In conclusion, the connection between Ballz and virtual pets is a fascinating one. By examining the background of Rob Fulop and his experiences with Night Trap and Ballz, we can gain a deeper understanding of how this unlikely game became the precursor to a beloved franchise. The impact of Dogz on the gaming industry cannot be overstated, as it paved the way for future titles that would bring joy and entertainment to children around the world.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enLet’s talk about Ballz.Or is it pronounced Ball-zee?Ah you know what I mean: BALLZ!The spherically-focused fighting game with a testicular title from 1994.Or maybe you don’t know what I mean; it’snot exactly the most widely-remembered property,despite the chuckle-worthy name.Nonetheless it’s pertinent to the topicat-hand because this was the first time developerPF Magic revealed their balls to the world.Each fighter was built using 2D spheres that mimicked 3D through a clever combination ofscaling, rotating, and animation.The game itself only received a lukewarm reception,but the tech was fast and versatile, whichwas notable at a time before mainstream 3Drendering hardware.But how did this lead to making virtual pets?Amusingly enough you have to look to NightTrap for that.Rob Fulop, a designer at PF Magic, had workedon Night Trap and was really irked by thenegative media coverage the game was gettingin regards to it 'ruining children' and such.On retrospect he said, “the next game Imade was going to be so cute and so adorable...what's the cutest thing I could make?”The answer came to him after talking to amall Santa Claus that Christmas, because whowould know better what kids want than JollyOld Saint Nick?Santa replied, “the most popular thing thatkids ask for every year is a puppy.For the last 50 years! Ho ho ho!”Combine that knowledge with the existing techthey had from the game Ballz,and a winning idea was born.Thanks, Santa!That brings us to the 1995 computer gameDogz, providing puppies for the kids by expandingon the graphics of Ballz, and continuing PFMagic’s tradition of avoiding S-based plurals.“Your Virtual Petz,” it says on the box.That’s right, this is the first in whatwould become a long line of titles in thePetz series, eventually becoming the propertyof Ubisoft who then made14,000 games for the Nintendo DS and such.But back in 1995, Dogz was a trend-setter,being what PF Magic described as...\"the first computer pet, ever.They live on your desktop, you adopt them as a little puppy,and then you grow them up to be a full-grown dog.You play with them their entire life.\"Its combination of cute pets, novel interactivity,and an asking price of $20 proved irresistibleand in the days before Tamagotchi was evena thing the Petz series was a huge hit,selling 1.5 million units in less than 3 years.With the success of Dogz, the logical follow-upcame in 1996 with Catz, altering the softwarein feline ways, while also taking the opportunityto partner withanimal shelters to promote pet adoption...\"The San Francisco SPCA...wants to save every cat.PF Magic wants a home for all its digital Catz.It's a win-win situation!\"PF Magic had a good thing going with Petz,but what was next?Oddballz of course, another title from 1996,but one thatharkoned back to their ballzier roots.It was still a virtual pet sim, but insteadof domesticated mammals, you had weird aliencreatures and sci-fi machinery to play with.And it is just as enjoyably quirky as it sounds.This original trio of Petz programs is whatwe’ll be looking at today, but let’s startwith Dogz and Catz first.These particular programz begin with a menuthat let you play with and adopt one of fivepuppies or kittens, each of which has a uniqueset of traits that affecthow they’ll respond to your commands.Some will be naturally playful or hyper, others arecurious or skittish, but for the most partyou’re just choosing whichever one strikesyou as the cutest.Or you can take a \"pup\" quiz and let the gamedecide for you becauseyou’re actually that predictable.Choose your pet, give them a name, and fromhere you’re given free reign to play.And what does that enTAIL, you may ask?Well, unlike many later virtual pet experiences,Dogz and Catz are more like activity centersor desktop buddy programs, rather than fully-fledgedgames or simulations.While they can be fed, watered, trained, groomed,and played with,none of this is 100% vital to their survival.In fact, don’t worry about survival at allsince Petz can’t die,even when they grow old.Instead, your desktop is a totally safe playarea for your animated dog or cat, and theycan’t be harmed in any way.Well, unless you count painting them stupidcolors, that’s arguably harmful.But yeah, you can ignore pets for ages andthey’ll still be just as alive and happywhenever you return.This is in stark contrast to later games likeTamagotchi, where it was infamously easy tohave your pet die.In fact, with the popularity of Tamagotchiin 1997, PF Magic started polling their playerson the topic of death, asking the question“Should Virtual Petz Die?”The results were overwhelmingly against mortalityin Petz, with an adorable set of responses.Said Shelby O: “I'm 10 years old...I don't think oddballz,dogz,or catz shoulddie.Although somepoeple do need a touch of reality.\"Says JeAnna B: “NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!Don't kill my puppy!”And says the wise W. Melvill: “I don't know”Hehehe, the entire page is worth reading,I’ll leave a link in the video description.But yeah, no one’s being sent to the farmhere, so just click around at your leisureand have some wholesome fun with your virtualfriend.A friend that’s made up largely of sphericalsprites by the way, the same kind of methodused in PF Magic’s ill-fated Ballz.I think it’s used to greater effect herethough, presenting more as solid creaturesthan loosely-connected orbs.Anyway, your mouse cursor acts as your hand,letting you pet them, pick them up, call them,and interact with any on-screen items.Pets are constantly aware of your mouse handtoo, reacting to it even when you’re notclicking on anything, providing a sense of awarenessto your petz that’s adorably convincing.Additionally you have an array of toys andtreats to choose from, each of which can beclicked and dragged into the play area.Dogs have things like shoes to chew, ballsto play fetch with, and bones to gobble up,and cats have even more, including catnip,yarn, brushes,bouncy toys, and cheese to entice mice.Your pets can also be gently scolded usinga spray bottle, or given food, water, andtreats to improve their mood and encouragecertain behavior.For instance if they do a trick, give thema treat, and their AI will learn from thatand seek to do more tricks.It’s also possible to play with your petson top of other applications, even if thisreally just freezes the background programto use as a static wallpaper.You can also let your pets play around ina smaller window while you do something else,although it’s the reverse issue here whereyou can’t interact with them until you switchback to the program.You can also use Petz as a password-protectedscreensaver to guard your computer with cuteness.It’s non-interactive of course, but it’sa nice little addition for the mid-90s whenmore people still cared about unique screensavers.And finally, you can also snap a photo andsave it as a small bitmap file, which youwere then encouraged to share on the PFMagic website.This sharing of content was pushed even furtherthrough the Dogz and Catz “adoption kit,”which is really just a demo version.The idea here is that you’d share the programon floppy disks, or just spread copies online,with the goal being that players would getattached to the pet they adopted and feelcompelled to pony up the $20 to activate itwith PF Magic.This was actually pretty devious because, ifyou refused to pay, the program would say howheartbroken the dogs would be that you didn’tlove them and were abandoning them,followed by sad sound effects...*puppy whining and yelping*Geez, talk about a hard sell.And then we come to Oddballz, which is probablythe weirdest entry in the series -- well,at least until Babyz came along some yearslater buuuuut that’s another topic entirely.Anyway, Oddballz is understandably an oddone, where instead of adopting puppies andkittens, you’re hatching trippy creaturesfrom multi-colored eggs.Each one of them is thoroughly unique, withappendages, proboscises, and body shapes thatrun the gamut from endearing to unsettling.Then you’re provided an assorted of fantasticalresources to play with, some of which resultin the cataclysmic destruction of your Oddball...*BOOM, SPLAT, BOING*well, temporary destruction, it’s all played up for laughs.You’ve got items for shrinking, pulverizing,gravity-altering, dancing, and just goingoff the rails with lighthearted fun.My favorite has to be the transformer ray,which completely alters their physical formand gives them an entirely new existence fora bit.It also sometimes blows them up, and if their eyeballs fall out justplop them back into place like nothing happened.Oddballz also introduced a collecting mechanicto the series, where you’d accrue more monstersby going online and registering to downloadmore.For free, imagine that!Ah what a neat little thing this was.It’s still the same basic idea as Dogz andCatz, but Oddballz went nuts with the creaturesand takes the idea of a pet sim to a sillyextreme that I enjoy.And seeing as digital monster collecting was aboutto become huge due to Pokemon and the like,I’m surprised they didn’t capitalize onit with an Oddballz sequel.But I’m glad we got what we did, and it’sstill enjoyable to go back to some of theearliest virtual pet titles like this.Sure, the Petz series got sequel-ized andcloned to death in later years so it may notseem particularly special now.But I hope that, like me, you at least enjoyedrevisiting one of the most noteworthy startingpoints of the virtual pet trend and its bouncyglobular roots.And hey let me know in the comments some of your experience with the Petz series,or virtual pet games in general. I find subjects like thispretty darn fascinating. And if you do as well thenyou might like some of my other videos. There are new ones every Monday and Friday here on LGR!And as always, thank you very much for watching!\n"