This May, GaMaYo #24 is being held at Project House, Leeds where 38 games are demoing, with 300+ developers, game industry publishers, investors and platforms in attendance. Head to Project House, Leeds to see all of the demos live.

This event is brought to you by Game Republic along with their Official Partners Barclays Games and Creative, Xsolla and Red Kite Games, with event sponsor Plus Accounting.

Today we are looking at ‘Good Boy’ which is confirmed to be at the event, from Observer Interactive!

Good Boy by Observer Interactive

What would be your description of your game?

Good Boy is a cosy, ecosystem-driven metroidvania packed full of fun, exploration and discovery. All wrapped in a heartwarming narrative about friendship and community. With Dogs!

In Good Boy, you play as a LAIKA Rover, a little robot infused with the consciousness of a real life dog! After a Human crash lands on Terra II, you team up to help them track down a mysterious anomaly. Explore the different alien biomes of Terra II, unlock equipment, capture and sell creatures, all while forming an unbreakable bond with your new best friend. Along the way you’ll encounter other sleeping Space Rovers too! Wake them up and help them recover the lost memories of their lives as Dogs back on Earth.

How did development start? (Were there any key inspirations or ideas that drove you?)

The original concept was heavily inspired by the Mars space rovers such as Spirit and Opportunity. We were fascinated by how we as humans grow attached to and form bonds with robots. After initially developing the prototype we started to explore how that relationship was similar to that of a human and their dog.

As a studio with a massive love for animals and dogs, it was only a matter of time before we decided to put them in the game. Rather than making our in-game rovers just mimic dogs we decided to have them embody the spirit of a real life dog. This gave us the opportunity to really explore the bonds that humans have with their pets and tell what we think is going to be a really heartfelt story. We had shown the game to some publishers and it was actually at a GaMaYo event that we touched base with Team 17 again and showed them an updated version of the game. Shortly after that we signed a publishing agreement and started full production.

Tell us about the team behind the game!

We are an independent studio based in the North of England, although we have several remote workers. The studio is a mixture of experienced developers and those new to the industry. Many of us have previously worked together at other studios or been lifelong friends from our school/uni years.

We started the studio as a chance to make games the way we love it. We are inspired by the golden age of gaming and aspire to create incredible experiences that resonate with players long after the controller has been put down.

“Retro sensibilities for a modern audience” is at the core of our approach to game development. We firmly believe that smaller, focused teams working well together can still produce unbelievable games.

Our debut title “Good Boy” is heavily inspired by our love of animals ,and in particular, our dogs. The space rovers in the game are all based on our real life pets. Everything from the appearance, mannerisms and dialogue are all linked to the real dog’s personality. When players complete a quest line for a rover they are rewarded with a memory tape of that real dog’s life.

What kind of experiences do you hope to bring players?

We hope to bring a really cosy and heartwarming experience to players. For those who haven’t played a lot of metroidvania games this will be an approachable introduction to the genre. There will still be plenty of depth for players who want to uncover all the mysteries of Terra II. We hope players will fall in love with the characters and their individual personalities and stories as much as we have. And overall we just want people to have fun immersing themselves in the world of Good Boy. Its packed full of gorgeous visuals, interesting characters and hidden depth.