"WanderPets" Is Going To Be A WanderFul Game, So Get In On The Ground Floor
May 10, 2011
WanderPets is a prototype iOS application developed by WanderTeam and looking for funding on Kickstarter. Over the next month, this three-person group hopes to raise $12,500 in order to get the app completed, tested, and submitted to iTunes.
So, basically, WanderTeam has been working on their debut game for some four months and wants to take it further with some help from you and me. Their Kickstarter listing hints at some neat things regarding the core of the game:
In WanderPets, you choose a creature to feed, train and play with. Using your iPhone's GPS, you can discover a wide variety of hidden locations near the places you frequent in real life! Your pet grows, learns new moves, and develops tastes for different foods. Buy food and equipment for your pet at a shop, battle against unique opponents, and check out minigames like air hockey and a slot machine that dispenses sushi!If you're still not quite sure what that means, two quotes from the video ought to clear things up. Essentially, WanderPets is "like a cross between Tamagotchi, Pokemon, and your iPhone," using your unit's GPS to "create alternate worlds filled with unique places to explore. Walking around in real life reveals brand new locations on your in-game map." The art, while not wholly original, is sharp, stylish, and seems something of an appropriate, cross-platform homage to Ico creator Fumito Ueda and Nickelodeon's awesome Avatar: The Last Airbender series. You don't agree? Check this out! No doubt there are other influences at play, but anything that tips the hat to those two powerhouses deserves (and gets!) my undivided attention. I must say, WanderPets does look promising. I have no qualms about forking over a few dollars to these folks, and -- if you like what you see -- you'd certainly do right by them if you offered up a couple bucks, too. Making sure an app gets all the attention and polish possible by basically submitting what amounts to a pre-order is not a bad way to go. Good luck, WanderTeam!