Inside Social Games

When we did our review on the Fuel Industries game, Yack Attack, we stumbled across another title from the company called Pogo Puppies. The Facebook application was actually developed together with Electronic Arts; more specifically, EA Pogo. As a matter of fact, this is one of a handful of games to be developed between Fuel and EA (though the others are not announced as of yet), and despite the fact that Pogo Puppies has yet to see its big, official release push, the game seems to be doing fairly well. As it stands, it has around 90,000 users.

This game is a lot like Playfish’s one oldest and most popular titles, Pet Society, which is especially interesting given that EA just bought Playfish in a deal worth up to $400 million. In Pogo Puppies, players begin by creating a virtual, bipedal, puppy with a small selection of breeds (husky, labrador, chihuahua, beagle, pug, dalmation, and poodle). They can then adjust the ears, eyes, markings, and color of their digital pet.

Once they’re finished with a simple tutorial, players are able to feed, play with, and bathe their animal within their own personal “dog house.” This means the primary goal of the game is to be a virtual space app, allowing users to decorate their puppy’s quasi-3D home in whatever creative manner they like.

Together with this virtual space customization, the game also incorporates avatar customization, granting players the ability to buy an assortment of clothing. These goods range from pirate costumes to Hawaiian leis (even swords are available… though that doesn’t seem too safe for an animal). What’s best, however, is that it looks like the clothing is always changing based on special events, and some of it is for a limited time (i.e. Halloween costumes).

Of course, all of this is great, but it does cost in-game money. In order to earn it, your puppy needs to learn and perform a myriad of tricks. Essentially, when you prompt your pet to perform, a bar appears with a bone sliding back and forth. Clicking the “Do Trick” button or pressing the keyboard shortcut displayed will stop the bone and execute the trick. Should you time it perfectly right — meaning the bone lands in the center — the maximum amount of coin is earned. Furthermore, performing tricks and actions earns experience towards new levels, which unlock more interesting and advanced actions.

Tricks consume your pet’s energy, so only so many can be done without rest or purchasable items such as energy drinks.

Truth be told, there isn’t a whole lot to complain about with Pogo Puppies. Granted, it is an awful lot like Pet Society, but it does have a few key differences (like the tricks). In fact, one feature that it does have is a “central park” that allows players to chat with each other through their canine avatar, regardless to whether or not they know each other. From here, they can also play fetch, collect sticks, or just jump around.

Currently, the developers are still stating that it is in beta, so any real bugs (and there are some) are likely to be fixed before the official EA push. Beyond this, however, the game looks and feels great and is an excellent iteration on the Pet Society concept. That said, however, it could benefit from more differentiating factors. Currently there are some, but they only differentiate it from the Playfish predecessor and do not yet feel like quite enough to make the game truly stand out.