Factsheet
Developer:
Sheado.net
Orange County, California
Release date:
Beta - available now
Winter 2012 for Version 1.0
Platforms:
Android - all devices
Google TV
Amazon Kindle
Languages:
English
Japanese
Website:
http://www.Sheado.net/pet
RSS Feed
Social:
Facebook
Twitter
Google +
Tumblr
Pinterest
Instagram: furdiburb
Regular Price:
Free / Freemium
Inquiries:
pet@sheado.net
Phone:
657-201-7635
Quick Stats (as of August 2012)
1.5 million downloads (beta version)
Over 45k followers on social networks
In development since summer of 2009
Team size: 3
Cups of coffee consumed: 2086
Cups of tea consumed: 1042
Description
Furdiburb is a virtual pet, puzzle, and adventure game mashed into one. After vacationing on Earth, Furdiburb's alien parents accidentally leave him behind. Players care for their newly adopted pet by feeding and cleaning him. They may also customize his looks, furniture, and house with fun-themed designs. The main goal of the game is to explore gorgeous lands, play mini-games (fishing, star jumping, bug dodging, and music writing), and solve puzzles in order to collect parts to fix up a broken spaceship so that Furdiburb may return home one day.Features
- Non-Linear Adventure
- Game may be experienced (e.g. acquiring spaceship parts) in any order
- Adventure puzzles must be solved through object manipulation or action-based mini-games
- Mini-games
- Fishing
- Star jumping
- Bug dodging
- Music puzzle
- Farming
- Minimalist Interface
- Few onscreen buttons
- Direct interaction with the environment. e.g User must grow food to feed the alien rather than press a “feed me” button
- Customizations
- Alien’s eyes and antenna are modifiable
- Change/decorate the house and furniture
- More than 1700 possible pet appearances
- More than 1 million possible house and furniture combinations
- Virtual Pet Aspects
- Pet can grow through more than 30 stages of age
- Multiple types of illness
- Multiple stages of dirtiness
- Fun environment
- Dynamic sky that changes according to the time of day
- Holiday events - special holiday fruit and poop
- Fun items - grow squirrel and sushi off of plants
History
Started as a part-time project, Furdiburb has been in development for nearly 3 years. Early on, the developers planned for a community-influenced project, so they released a minimally functional version in order to get immediate feedback. The earliest builds began with a focus on purely virtual pet aspects, resulting in a Tamagotchi-like experience. Users enjoyed these features but wanted more to do with the simple pet. Given this feedback the team (aka Team Furdi) decided to focus on the storyline of Furdiburb returning to his home planet via action and adventure gameplay. In summer of 2011 Team Furdi made the switch to working full-time on Furdiburb in order to pursue this goal.
Developer Commentary
On the subject of social gaming: “As a bonus side effect, Team Furdi created a truly social game,” said Alice. “There are lots of discussions about Furdiburb on Facebook. We leave cryptic clues in our games, and many players manage to figure out, then go on Facebook to help others. We don’t think other ‘social’ games have such social players. And by social, our fans are not simply spamming ‘add me’ to our Facebook comments.”
On individual experiences: “We have a lot of users who start out caring for their pet, but then begin exploring the adventures and puzzles. Casual players are suddenly finding themselves having a blast with the adventure elements. It also means that people play through the game at different stages of their pet’s life... the experience is unique to each individual.” -Danny
On moving from casual to adventure gamer: “I don’t know if there’s another game out there that straddles such unlikely genres like our game does,” remarked Chad. “In fact, dare I say we have managed to trick some of our casual players into becoming action and adventure gamers?” commented Alice. “Yes, yes, our secret plan of creating more adventure gamers is working,” said Chad, rubbing his hands with a devilish grin.
Videos
Furdiburb Trailer
YouTube
Reviewers: Basic Walkthrough
We know game reviewers are super busy. Here's a detailed walkthrough to help you quickly hatch the egg, feed the pet, play one of the mini-games, and solve a puzzle: Show/Hide Walkthrough
Recognition & Selected Articles
Android Authority: "Best virtual pet apps for Android"
Independent Games Festival 2013: IGF Entrant
Furdiburb Original Soundtrack
Merchandise
About Sheado.net
Founded in 2010 by two guys and a gal, our goal is to make the world a happier place, one app at a time.
LinkedIn
Sheado.net
Furdiburb Credits
As with most small startups, we wear many hats. These are our primary roles, but each of us had a part with the game’s design, direction, writing, customer support, etc.
Chad Ata
Lead Developer
Danny Ata
Artist
Alice Lo
Developer, Composer
Contact
Inquiries
pet@sheado.net
Bios
Chad
At age 7 his father brought home a Sinclair 1000 with a 16K ram expansion module - quite an amazing thing that was to Chad. He spent his entire summer inches away from the family television as he copied and played computer games from the Sinclair instruction manual. By the end of the summer, Chad needed glasses and was well on his way to becoming a video game developer. Eventually he earned a masters degree in computer science and worked in video conferencing and dabbled in robotics before moving on to video games. “I’ve always been fascinated by multimedia and artificial intelligence and the possibilities of combining both to produce something anybody can appreciate - such as Furdi!”
Chad’s favorite games include Super Mario Brothers, Mario Kart, Street Fighter II,Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max, Shadow of the Colossus, 007 (for Nintendo 64), Halo, Gears of War, Limbo, and Super Meat Boy.
Danny
Danny is the art department at Sheado.net. Inspired by the "Superflat" art movement marked by artists such as Takashi Murakami and Chiho Aoshima, he strives to bring this happy yet dark style to video games. He also holds close Wabi aesthetics, and you can easily pick up on these influences in Furdiburb; Nature, whimsy, and colorful yet eerie environments. His favorite game is Tales of Symphonia which he sometimes rambles about - to everyone's puzzled looks. Other favorites of his include Shadow of the Colossus, Katamari Damacy, Mass Effect, Red Dead, Harvest Moon, and some of the old school games like Kyrandia and King's Quest. Danny also has a diploma in business administration which he may or may not have folded into a paper plane, or an origami frog.
Alice
Alice’s gaming experience first started when, ignoring her whiny wishes for a Nintendo, her parents brought home a Sega Genesis. Her father said that the only reason they even bought the console was to get her interested in computers. She did, and also got addicted to video games. Because her parents refused to buy her any more games, she relished in playing the same games over and over again, pushing herself to improve as a player. She enjoys a wide range of games “but I’m not into sports or flight sim games”. Following her childhood patterns, she prefers to “play the heck” out of what few games she has. Favorite games? Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Okami, Silent Hill, Left 4 Dead, Odin Sphere, Diablo II, Shadow of Colossus, and Plants vs. Zombies. She currently plays World of Warcraft and Diablo III. She majored in computer science but worked in the financial field for several years before returning to her old flame.
presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks