Pleo's Designers On Game Design and the Future

OK, so Pleo, Ugobe's robotic baby dinosaur, isn't exactly a game, but Leigh Alexander did take him for a week-long spin, and has interviewed Ugobe's chief technology officer, John Sosoke, on Pleo's design, NPCs, and its future as ... a little game platform? The NPC connection is more immediately apparent:

He likens developing Pleo to "building this really cool NPC that exists in the real world." Non-player character AI is getting more and more sophisticated with time, he notes, and part of the appeal for players is discovering just how deep that sophistication runs, and figuring out the rules - and the absence thereof - of interaction with those NPCs through experimentation. Like Pleo, says Sosoka, they do things you expect, and then you gradually come to understand what special, unexpected things they can do, too.

Leigh's experiences with the little dinosaur and this followup make for good reading. I think Pleo is adorable (and would love to see the look on my dog's face when the thing woke up), and it is interesting to think of the game-like components of a more physical object. Pleo as a platform? I'm not so sure about that, but Ugobe has clearly left a lot of room for creativity and user-driven creation.

Ugobe's Sosoka On Pleo's Game Design Philosophy [GameSetWatch]

4:00 PM on Sat Mar 29 2008
By Maggie Greene
1,086 views
13 comments

Comments

Aethyr at 04:13 PM on 03/29/08
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Connectedness Index: 357

From Leigh's article, it seems like it has a horribly short battery life. That alone limits its potential to pretty much a novelty toy.
excel_excel at 04:15 PM on 03/29/08
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Connectedness Index: 105

Maggie was your dog's face when it it woke up to Pleo a look of curiousity or a look of...fear??

"to think about taking all your skills from building a NPC or a hero character, and create one that can see things and can hear things and can detect things and can feel things."
This is really REALLY interesting but I think we've got a long way to go before Pleo can be something like that
t0yrobo at 04:22 PM on 03/29/08
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If anything it's a really interesting experiment into how people intact with npc like characters in a real life situation. It might not be a very viable platform on it's on, but it could have some very col implications.
IntelSilver at 05:22 PM on 03/29/08
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I LOVE dinosaurs.
NPC at 06:44 PM on 03/29/08
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NPCs can be smarter than you think.
...
marissa_melee at 07:12 PM on 03/29/08
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I want a Pleo! So cute and sweet!!!

@NPC: Wait a second...
chip5541 at 12:02 AM on 03/30/08
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I have been pushing pleo for about 2 years now. Very cool little robot.
$Image of Evil Tortie\'s Mom$ Evil Tortie's Mom at 12:23 AM on 03/30/08
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Cute, neat, plays well with others... $350?!

No longer want.
chip5541 at 02:04 AM on 03/30/08
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AIBO was $1500 which was cut back from $2500.

I still want one though. Both AIBO and Pleo.
IntelSilver at 02:19 AM on 03/30/08
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@NPC: Dude, that's scary.
chip5541 at 03:50 AM on 03/30/08
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Back in the early 80's I had wanted to sell robots. They are no where near what they are now but they ranged from build it yourself Heath and Heath jr. ($399 if my memory is correct) to animatronics ($30,000 as an average)
KMatt at 06:11 AM on 03/30/08
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I'd prefer a chia pet over Pleo.
NotTheGuy at 09:53 PM on 03/30/08
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Not once I've programmed it to act like a velociraptor.