Interview: Ugobe’s Sosoka On Pleo’s Game Design Philosophy

GameSetWatch recently visited with Pleo, a robotic dinosaur that its developers, Ugobe, call a “life form.” We found it quite complex – sensors under the rubbery skin respond to touch, and Pleo is sensitive to light, sound, obstacles and a variety of interaction.
Out of the box, it “knows” a variety of different behaviors, and Ugobe has been releasing more Pleo behaviors accessible with an SD card.
A lot of interaction with the little creature, then, is surprisingly game-like; Pleo’s manual is minimized, prioritizing interaction and discovery rather than specific instructions on how to get it to do various things.
The developer intends to expose the Pawn-based SDK to developers, to allow them to create, share and elaborate on Pleo behaviors. When GameSetWatch’s Leigh Alexander spoke to Ugobe chief technical officer John Sosoka, he said he sees Pleo as… a new development platform for gaming?
A Real-World NPC
“We draw from game […]

Original post by editors@gamesetwatch.com (Simon Carless) and software by Elliott Back