EyePet developer interview

Discover the magic of EyePet with its Producer Nicolas Doucet explaining more about the next adorable addition to your family.

Can you provide a basic rundown of EyePet?

EyePet is a brand new game for PlayStation 3. Using the PlayStation Eye Camera, the game lets you magically bring a virtual Pet into your living room. You can see yourself and him on screen together, in the same room. He walks on your floor, you can touch him, stroke him, play with him the same way you would with a real Pet. EyePet is aware of the real world - he can see you, hear you, he can even recognise a face! EyePet is about creating a believable and magical experience.

But it doesn't stop there: a magic card comes with the game, and when shown to the screen, it allows for a myriad of new toys to appear in your hands: for example, a trampoline for your Pet, a deck of cards, a container of food or even a shower hose. The magic card makes interactions intuitive and you really feel like you are holding these toys and objects in your hand!

You can also teach your Pet to sing and draw: using paper and a pen, you can make drawings on paper come to life, in the game and turn them into magic toys! For instance, draw a car, a plane, show it to your Pet and he will create a 3D version of those to play with. You can add personal touches too, like materials, so your car could be made of plastic, wood, metal or fabrics of all kinds.

Your Pet is fully customisable: you can change his fur colour and length, and dress him up at will with cool outfits ranging from caps and tops to full-on costumes and suits. There are 250 costumes in the game and you collect those by completing challenges.

The challenge mode is split into 16 days. Every day, you receive a new toy and objectives from the professor at the EyePet Centre. He appears as a video link into your living room. He and his team follow you all the way and give you tips on how to raise your EyePet the best possible way.

Where did the original inspiration for EyePet come from?

When we created EyeToy: Play for PlayStation 2, we put the player into a fantasy world where you punched ninjas and washed windows. It was a huge success. On PS3, we are turning this around and bringing a virtual Pet into the real world.

How have the Pet's look, design and characteristics evolved over time?

We wanted a creature that was believable and high quality, something that could compete with the designs of feature films. But we also wanted a creature that had a hint of fantasy so the Pet could be perceived as more intelligent and allow certain ideas, such as the drawing for instance.

What sort of range of expressions and emotions can your Pet experience?

To give a sense of intelligence and connection with the player, we put a lot of emphasis on the body and facial expressions of the Pet. When the Pet is having a good time, he purrs, giggles and is generally active. If left alone, he will amuse himself, drawing things you've taught him and even start dreaming about you!

But if you completely leave him alone, he cries for attention, dragging his body around, looking sad. If you do not attend to EyePet's need, he will be grumpy next time to start the game and you will need to gain his love back. A good idea is to stroke him loads, feed him, wash him and play with him to keep him happy!

What sort of activities can your Pet do or perform?

There is so much EyePet can do but here is a short list: you can stroke him, you can play fight with him using your hands. If you drag a piece of string on the ground, he will pounce at it, just the way a real Pet would!

The magic toys range from physical such as a treadmill, trampoline or even bowling, to more relaxing activities such as blowing bubbles with the Bubble Monkey toy or playing cards together. You can teach him melodies that he will sing back when he's alone and of course teach him to draw, which is a fantastic way to express your creativity through your Pet.

Is the size of the room your Pet is in important? What other physical factors do you have to consider?

We have kept the set-up as simple and accessible as possible. EyePet can be played on the floor and you need about two square metres of free space so you can have plenty of room for him to scamper around. We have tested this into people's homes and found it to be a suitable space.

As for the lighting, it needs to be average, not overly bright and not pitch black. The PlayStation Eye Camera needs to be set up at about waist height although anything between three and 60cm will do just fine. You could use the edge of your TV stand, your PS3 or even improvise with a stack of DVDs or books.

What sort of unexpected or humorous things has the Pet done to surprise you during the testing period?

We had so many great, impromptu moments developing EyePet! We created a creature with a great awareness and tons of reactions and that has been the cause of some real TV moments. Here are a few:

First of all, the Pet's playfulness often comes through. As we work at our desk and type emails, we often make the Pet pounce at our hands and fingers. This is fantastic because it is exactly like having a real Pet who comes on your table and amuses himself with you as you are busy working.

As we walk around the office, we also often walk past sleeping Pets on our colleague's screens. What's really interesting is that people actually swerve around to avoid walking over the Pets, which says how ingrained EyePet becomes into our heads!

Singing is another classic. One day the Pet had lots of anthems in his head from various team members. Because we're quite an international team working on EyePet, it was really diverse and fun.

Another time, we had our PlayStation Eye Camera pointed at a monitor showing a video of lions in the wild while doing research. EyePet reacted to them: he was running and pouncing at them! It was funny to see such a cute furry ball take on the king of animals!

What do you have planned for downloadable content?

EyePet has its own in-game store that comes with additional toys and outfits for the Pet. Without giving too much away, you can expect lots of new and seasonal content to keep playing with your Pet.