I recently acquired the rights to the flash game Don’t Shoot the Puppy from www.rrrrthats5rs.com. I plan to port the game to iOS within the coming months with a few non gameplay obtrusive additions.
Being a popular little flash game with 40,000,000 pageviews, I decided it would have to be defined in a modern fashion. I’m calling the game a hardcore executioner simulator, with a touch of rage inducing inaction, giving it the right to be the most pacificial game on earth.
It’s really exciting to be porting such a popular game and I’m happy to share the experience and gain some valuable feedback on the way. Expect a fairly constant progress update, I hope to see you here.
I have recreated the Don’t Shoot the Puppy starting screen in Unity. What differs from the original game is the three buttons along the bottom, missing their icons. They will move the screen to the level select, achievements and about pages respectively. This may seem like a big jump from the original game but they only exist to extend total play time, not to change gameplay.
The main reason I am adding these features, despite the game being so mobile friendly already, is that it really lacks the content required to keep the player interested. Once they figure out the only thing they need to do is hold the start button to win, 15 levels are simply not enough. This is why I will be shooting for 30 unique levels.
The biggest problem with the larger amount of levels is the original gameplay mechanic stating when you die, you start over. No exceptions. Nobody wants to start over from level 99, so to fix this I’m planning to add a checkpoint system. For every 10 levels you play, you reach a checkpoint. When you beat all 10, you can replay those 10 levels as many times as you want in any order. If you fail a level however, you have to start from the first stage in the 10 level set.
The achievements however are only added as a supplement to gameplay and can be ignored altogether. They will range from awards in total time not shooting the puppy, to total puppies killed, and even more level specific challenges.
I went ahead and switched to the new Unity 4.6 Beta UI system. It’s turned out to be a great help and is well suited for my needs. I have also changed the position of the settings and help menu items to the upper right. This is the result:
Gun tracking now works as it should with a wonderful cubular puppy to shoot.
You will also notice some buttons have been removed. First in the top right, only the “about” button remains. This is because there is no need for a settings button as there will be no music or sound, just like the original game. If you want some additional background, the about text is here:
Also, I removed the large buttons from the bottom that used to lead to level select and such. I considered them ugly and they will be replaced with a swipe to scroll.
It is a download because Unity 4.6 Beta will not work as a webplayer. This is an early demo, only 10 levels, and a development build, which means everything is subject to change.
I finished the scrolling mechanic for the title screen. Swiping will move the ACHIEVEMENTS or LEVEL SELECT screens into view. They are a work in progress.
You will also notice the gun animation is gone. I felt like it was straying a bit too far from the original game and I am working to make it tighter. Along with this I changed the save system from 100 separate scenes to prefab objects. Hell yeah.
The statistics have been completed for the fail menu. In the beginning of development I actually created the PlayerPrefs for “puppies killed” knowing I would want the total number later. 632 dead puppies later I come to you for forgiveness.
The first achievements are in. Below are the first six which are the “special” awards. They are content based which means the remaining 20 achievements can only be obtained by performing special actions.
Great progress getting things setup in Unity already. I recently switched to the new Unity Beta UI as well, and I’m very happy with it so far. Seems as though you’re taking to it as well.
Any plans to port to Droid and/or Windows Store? I can see this game as a great way to get out some frustration when gamedev bugs get me all
Thanks. Good choice switching, the new UI has been pretty sexy so far.
Yes, I do have plans for other systems, Android most likely. However the original flash creator told me that he thought it would be hilarious if it got popular on mobile devices, so I’m taking that as an incentive to push the game as far as I can. I’ll keep you updated.
Hello again! It’s been a long time and with a new year I can happily say I have some time to update the project again. I’ve been testing the build on the iPhone and I think I can say all navigational bugs have been ironed out and I am satisfied with the fluidity of the UI. I made a few changes that depart from the original game’s menu, along with a few other changes I made when I had some spare time.
Changelog:
Moved the start button down to bottom of screen to prevent finger-scene obstruction
All UI hitboxes made larger
Implemented Unity Ads *
Added vibration after shot
Created levels 1 - 15 **
Started achievement system
Created achievement skins
Fixed many, many bugs
Decisions on gameplay:
I’ve decided that making the app paid will completely ruin the spirit of the game. However, I don’t like ads just as much as you do, so I’ve done my best to make them as unobtrusive as possible. Ads will be thrown after dying twice and will be in the form of a picture than can be closed immediately. That’s it, nothing more.
Today I went ahead and changed the scrolling to a simple button tap. I thought this was a bit easier to use on mobile and fit the theme better. What is not included in the image is the play game state which causes the buttons to disappear. As always, feedback is welcome and I’ll see you in the next update.
You’re unlikely to get this past Apple, unless you know someone or just get lucky. I did riff of something like this years ago when the iPhone first launched, but with a wario-ware like progression of mini-games where you have to react fast to save a kitten from a maniac. An old video of it is here :
They rejected it for being cruel to animals; that same week, they let an app go through where you play santa-clause and mow children down with a lawn mower.
Good luck; and at least with Unity, the switch to Andoid will be easy.
I’m sorry about your experience, but from my friends that have published animal related games in the apple store, it seems like Apple has either become more lenient in its policies or you simply got unlucky. I am fairly confident about Don’t Shoot the Puppy because two years ago Addicting Games released a game pack featuring the original flash app without the developers permission. While buggy as hell, it did get past Apple and leaves me to work on this newer version. Thanks for the warning and I’ll definitely look into Android permission or not.
Also, wow! Really similar game concept. Maybe they took it down due to gore? Either way shame it didn’t work out.
