Train Your Puppy

Play this unique, role-reversed puzzle game where you discover what commands do to an unusually obedient virtual puppy, inspired by a real-life disobedient (but incredibly cute) dog.

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Inspiration

"Train Your Puppy" was inspired by my real-life dog, Scooby. Unlike the obedient virtual puppy in the game, Scooby is quite the opposite - he hates being told what to do unless treats are involved. This contrast between my stubborn pet and the game's compliant character adds a layer of irony and humor to the project.

All the yelpings and pantings you hear in the game are actual recordings of Scooby, who did not want to cooperate during the recording process. This authentic touch brings a piece of Scooby's personality into the game, making it a truly personal project.

Learning Experience

Developing this game has been an incredible learning journey. I've gained valuable experience in:

  • Game design and puzzle mechanics
  • Audio processing and integration in web applications
  • Animation techniques using sprite sheets
  • Using Speech-to-text API services such as Amazon Transcript (even though I removed this in the end due to the latency of the API calls affecting game immersion)

The process of creating this game has allowed me to combine my love for dogs, puzzle games, and web development into a unique and personal project.

Building the Project

The project was built using

  • Solid.js: For building the user interface and managing the application state
  • Tailwind CSS: For styling the components and creating a responsive design
  • Procreate Dreams: For drawing the animations
  • Audacity: For editing and cleaning audio recordings of Scooby
  • ImageMagick: For creating the (animation) sprite sheets

The game's audio features real recordings of Scooby, which were processed using ffmpeg to convert them into web-friendly formats. The animations were created using Procreate Dreams and exported as sequences of images, which were then processed using ImageMagick to create sprite sheets for efficient rendering in the game.

Challenges Faced

Some of the main challenges I encountered during development included:

  1. Audio Recording: Convincing Scooby to cooperate during the recording sessions was quite the task! His reluctance to follow commands in real life made capturing the necessary audio clips an adventure in itself. I spent multiple days just following him around and recording with my iPhone.

  2. Animation: I quickly found out I lacked the drawing skills needed to draw my dog properly. So, I switched to drawing a blob instead. Getting this blob to feel alive was surprisingly difficult, as was getting the animation and audio to sync well with each other.

  3. Performance Optimization: Ensuring smooth animations between animation cycles and responsive controls, especially when dealing with sprite sheets and audio playback, required optimization techniques to maintain good performance across different devices. Because of performance considerations, I ultimately had to remove a voice command feature due to the latency the Speech-to-text API added.

Despite these challenges, the development process was incredibly rewarding. It allowed me to combine my love for dogs, puzzle games, and web development into a unique and personal project. I hope you enjoy playing "Train Your Puppy" as much as I enjoyed creating it!

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