What if you could have the companionship of a dog without the cost, the shedding or the unwanted behavior? It’s a dream game designers have been chasing for decades, but Wendelin Reich of indie startup Virtual Beings is poised to push the virtual pet genre to new levels. Join Wendelin in a talk from Casual Connect Europe about how Virtual Beings has striven to make it so players can feel the sort of companionship that having a dog can give you. In the presentation, Wendelin refers to the game as A Dog’s Heart. The title has been changed to Dog Story. Tune in below for a preview of this beautiful game. Within this game, “There is an emotional arc. There is progression. You meet her in a situation where she is distressed, where she is scared. You gain her trust, you build up a relationship with her so your report changes.” This is how Dog Story is different.
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Wendelin Reich has lofty goals. Founder and CEO of the South France-based game developer Virtual Beings, Wendelin wants to create AI characters that people form strong bonds with.
“Our very ‘humble’ mission is inspired by Walt Disney, who was probably the first to create animated characters that triggered deep emotions in people, as in Snow White (1937),” Wendelin says. “We want to do the same for interactive animated characters.”
The subject matter of Virtual Beings’ upcoming debut should help further that end: Dog Story, a mobile and AR title slated for release next year, stars a dalmatian puppy named Mimi with complex behaviors and a deep backstory. This blend of technology, storytelling and psychology results in a virtual pet that requires effort to build a connection.
“Mimi is very smart, but because of her background she is also very cautious,” Wendelin says. “The game is about taking care of Mimi and playing with her, but in order to do that, the player has to earn her trust first!”
The company’s website brings up the popularity of Nintendogs and posits that while the game’s success was well-deserved, it had its limitations. “The game rarely gave you the feeling of being in a world together with your dog. Why? Because an open-world pet game would require very sophisticated AI. Dog Story will be that game.”
Players will be able to freely roam the game’s island setting with Mimi, building a relationship with the castaway dog. The game will progress through four emotion-based chapters: Fear, Excitement, Joy and Companionship.
Credentials
A quick glance at Wendelin’s background brings up a few good reasons to expect an innovative experience from Dog Story. As researcher in social and behavioral AI, Wendelin did post-docs at Cornell and Cambridge and had research fellowships at Stanford and SCAS. During those years in academia, Wendelin laid the technical groundwork for creating interactive, social characters. But the various strictures of university life didn’t allow Wendelin to make a fully-realized version of such characters. “You need to be free from the pressure to publish, to teach, to administer and all that (also, I hated administering and was probably bad at it),” Wendelin says.
Months after leaving a tenured position at Uppsala University, Wendelin founded Virtual Beings in 2015.
Emotional Roots
In addition to research, Dog Story also draws on some of its creator’s more poignant experiences. Last year, Wendelin’s dog died of illness at a young age.
“I tend to think that nothing good really comes from having a pet die on you,” Wendelin says. “No lessons learned, no uplifting emotions, no closure.”
And while Wendelin acknowledges that programs will probably never be a replacement for or an improvement on living, breathing pets, Virtual Beings can at least promise that they won’t program their virtual pets to die or force players to buy virtual dog food.
Virtual pets also hold other advantages — they’re not as expensive, you can’t be allergic to them and your landlord can’t ban them — all factors that help motivate Wendelin in their work.
“If I can bring a small part of that (dog ownership) experience to people who cannot have dogs,” Wendelin says, “I’d be so proud. That’s really my main inspiration.”
Testing
Testing a demo of Mimi, especially among kids 10 to 12, proved interesting for Wendelin.
“The first time they see her running about, they observe very carefully, respectfully, and longingly,” Wendelin says. “You can tell from their eyes they want to play with Mimi, but they don’t know her yet!”
Rather than seeing that hesitance as a setback, Wendelin says it’s what they were going for: A true-to-life interaction between someone and a new dog.
“Unless you’re very young (or a social maniac), you don’t throw yourself on a living being right away,” Wendelin says. “You first try to read its emotional state and allow it to do the same with you. I love seeing that mixture of fascination and caution in my testers, because it means I’m on the right track.”
The Start of Something
And Virtual Beings seems to be starting off on the right track, as well. It’s a new company, but when Wendelin was first ready to show the game-in-progress, they submitted it to Stugan, a Swedish nonprofit games accelerator. Then, when program sponsors Jana Karlikova, Tommy Palm and Oskar Burman contacted Wendelin to say the project had been accepted, it was the highlight of a budding career in games.
But Wendelin plans to be in the industry for a long time to come. When asked for their advice to others starting out in the industry, Wendelin recommended seeking advice actively but always taking advice with a mountain of salt. Your situation is unique, and what has worked for one developer or startup may not work for you. Wendelin has found one bit of advice to be universal so far, however: “Watch your burn-rate and your runway, and take care of yourself and your health. Whatever you do, try to live and work in a way that allows you to continue for as long as possible.”
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