A Pet Compatibility Game Right in Your PAWket!

Pawket is a game for those who want to become a pet owner. This game let’s you take on this role with a particular home, job and amount of free time. Keep your dog’s happiness level high enough or else your newly found friend might want to go back to the shelter. Through living a week in the life of a pet owner—condensed into a few moments of game time—Pawket hopes to teach players what type of dog best fits their lifestyle and offers a glimpse into the significant demands of responsible dog ownership.

Virtual Playtime

Pawket is playable using the ARIS platform, available for iOS devices. Using GPS tracking, location is the most important aspect of the game, and it will actually vary your gameplay by showing you dog parks and shelters near you!

From Keys to Paws

Pawket is currently under production but our current prototype is already playable. Currently, there are two modes that allow the player to play either in their own neighborhood or—on a smaller scale—across the University of New Mexico campus. The welcome scene that presents the setting and goals, is up and running. The small scale version has its first section playable. This part allows the player to walk, play and feed his or her dog by collecting the corresponding item that pop up on the map. This feature aspires to teach the gameplayer these responsibilities that come with owning a dog. The main goal of this design would be for it to be played in the hands of a potential adopter before they adopt, to make them aware that owning a dog comes with responsibility. A good design would be to tailor the game to the kind of dog they already have in mind about adopting, to test if they are compatible with the dog they have in mind. This would optimize the happiness of both the owner as well as the pup.

Call for More Paws

To complete the playable stages of our game, we need to playtest the small scale version a few times to allow for optimum play without difficulties. This includes tinkering with GPS, and testing the effectiveness of adding rewards as motivation for players to keep playing (see Risks and Challenges). We decided to add cute gifs of dogs that would pop up after you completed a task. For example, after the player collected the necessary amount of food in the game, a reward of a puppy getting so excited about eating that it flipped over pops up. These gifs were shown to be appreciated when play testing with a few, outside participants. However, in order to insure motivation (by asking players if they are wanting to complete the tasks so they can see the gifs or for other reasons), we would have to test with a larger population.

Support Pawket

• Approximately 1 in 10 dogs are not in the home of the family that adopted them 6 months after the adoption takes place. (American Humane Society)
• Albuquerque has a 10–15% rate of euthanasia in dogs that are adopted each year, the number of dogs killed is often over 3,000. (Albuquerque Animal Welfare)
• Our project hopes to reduce the number of dogs returned to shelters by making better matches between human and dog. Subsequently, this would also help lower the number of dogs euthanized by helping the prospective owners find what type of dog they can handle.

Risky Behaviors

The largest risk this game faces is that the player will not be motivated enough to complete the gameplay. This game was designed to be a challenge, to teach that owning an incompatible dog (or a dog that does not fit the owner’s lifestyle, ex. an active dog paired with a person who is too tired to take the dog out for physical activities) is a challenge itself, since the owner will have to work harder to keep the dog happy. If an owner is not willing to run around for ten minutes to pretend to exercise a dog in our game, they most likely are not going to go out for longer, if at all, for a physically active dog. This can help incompatible owners realize the challenges of being a puppy parent, and could potentially save a dog from being adopted and surrendered.

We also faced some challenges with the game itself. The GPS can be picky and could result in problems obtaining GPS-based items, where you have to be in a certain range in order to collect the items. This would make the gameplay even more difficult than intended, and could result in lowered motivation.

The Paws of Pawket

Nadia Garcia is a Junior at the University of New Mexico. She is pursuing a major in Biology as well as a minor in Chemistry and Honors. She was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her love for animals began at a very young age, and she is currently a proud volunteer at Animal Humane of New Mexico. Combining her interest in animals with the fun of a game was an experience she is happy she could be a part of.

Jacob Montoya is Chemical Engineering Major with a Minor in Honors at the University of New Mexico. He is a Junior with an interest in Bioengineering techniques. He was born in Albuquerque New Mexico. Jacob’s interests range from music to chemistry to soccer to video games. Designing a this game was an exciting opportunity for him.

Thomas J. Sauters is a Senior Biochemistry major at the University of New Mexico. He is currently applying to Genomics PhD. programs and hopes to one day study the harnessing or viral constructs for genetic editing. Thomas plays tennis and loves the outdoors. He currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his German Shepherd, Luke.

Sergei J. von Huene is a senior at the University of New Mexico pursuing a dual degree in Biochemistry and Russian and is applying to medical school with an interest in pediatrics and neurology He has a love for the outdoors from the mountains of New Mexico to the coast of Maine. He enjoys skiing in the winter, sailing in the summer, and tennis all year long. He currently lives in Albuquerque New Mexico with his Black Labrador, Smokie.