Vpets like Human Player?

[astrobeast]

Hey! I was wondering if there are any other vpets like Human Player or Cube World? Preferably with humans. 

Something where we're more of an observer than a caretaker? If you've played Little Computer People, something just like that. 

Thanks! 

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Wow! Someone else who remembers Little Computer People!

I've heard of Cube World, and owned one or two of them once, though I haven't heard of Human Player. As far as I know, there aren't a ton of virtual pets with human characters as it is, and the only ones that I can think of off of the top of my head require care, so they don't meet the "virtual fish-tank" definition. Still, if you're curious about those, the ones that I know of are;

Nano Baby

Smarty Time/Rikou Rikou Chan

Giga Fighters

Pocket Biscuit

I quickly checked Tamenagerie.com while writing this, and it seems that there were a few more human/humanoid ones than I could think of, though: https://www.tamenagerie.com/Humanoid1.html

 

[astrobeast]

@Penguin-keeper Thank you so much! My Google-fu has been awful lately. And yes, haha. Even though I wasn't even born when that came out. It's nice to know someone other than me knows what it is!

Thanks for the lead, hope I find something cool. Would you recommend Cube World? Is it worth it if you just have one? 

 

[Penguin-keeper]

@Penguin-keeper Thank you so much! My Google-fu has been awful lately. And yes, haha. Even though I wasn't even born when that came out. It's nice to know someone other than me knows what it is!

I was around when it was released, though I didn't pick it up until a later budget-priced re-release when I was a bit older, which means that I grew up with it - it's been interesting seeing its influence pop up in other places throughout my life, I must admit.

I still didn't expect to see it mentioned here, though, especially since TamaTalk often seems to lean towards virtual pets from the Tamagotchi Connection era and onwards - Little Computer People was long-forgotten by most when TamaTalk came to be! It was mentioned by some people (though of course not here) during the early days of the original Tamagotchi hitting the West in 1997, though - I do remember that.

Thanks for the lead, hope I find something cool. Would you recommend Cube World? Is it worth it if you just have one?  

I had one when they'd just been released, so it's been an awfully long time, now (hence why I can't remember whether I had one or two of them), but from what I remember I found it amusing to watch, but not especially engaging - but that's the idea of it, isn't it? That said, with the Little Computer People approach in mind, it'd probably be right up your alley!

I'd imagine that with more than one of them, it'd be something a bit more like the scrapped Little Computer People sequel, where you were supposed to take care of an entire apartment's worth of them (something that, of released games, Tomodachi Life for the Nintendo 3DS is probably the closest thing to - if you don't have that, and would be interested in something best described as "Little Computer People but extremely weird", I'd recommend it).

 

[astrobeast]

I was around when it was released, though I didn't pick it up until a later budget-priced re-release when I was a bit older, which means that I grew up with it - it's been interesting seeing its influence pop up in other places throughout my life, I must admit.

I grew up with it too! I think I was 12 when I accidentally stumbled upon it while I was looking for emulators and games for them. It's really nice to meet someone who is familiar with it! 

I'd imagine that with more than one of them, it'd be something a bit more like the scrapped Little Computer People sequel, where you were supposed to take care of an entire apartment's worth of them (something that, of released games, Tomodachi Life for the Nintendo 3DS is probably the closest thing to - if you don't have that, and would be interested in something best described as "Little Computer People but extremely weird", I'd recommend it).

Funny you should say that because I was watching a video about Cube World and that's exactly what I thought! I didn't really think of Tomodachi Life that way before haha. It still somehow doesn't cut it; maybe there's something about those pixelated sprites that is alluring. Thank you for your suggestions! I didn't know that there was going to be a sequel to LCP where you manage an entire apartment. It's a shame that didn't pan out. 

Thanks, have a great day! 

 

[Penguin-keeper]

I grew up with it too! I think I was 12 when I accidentally stumbled upon it while I was looking for emulators and games for them. It's really nice to meet someone who is familiar with it!  

Likewise! It's not often that I meet others who know of it.

Both the era of the original game and the era when emulation started to take off were very interesting ones for gaming, for sure. The latter brought a lot of spotlight to titles that would otherwise have been forgotten, as well as to preservation issues.

Funny you should say that because I was watching a video about Cube World and that's exactly what I thought! I didn't really think of Tomodachi Life that way before haha. It still somehow doesn't cut it; maybe there's something about those pixelated sprites that is alluring.

Oh, I agree, and I don't think that there'll ever be anything quite like Little Computer People again, mainly because in the era when it was made there was a mystique about computers and video game consoles that simply doesn't exist today.

For anyone reading this who's not familiar with Little Computer People, it was sold as a "house on a disk" or a "house on a tape" (yes, we used to load games from cassette tapes, kids, though unfortunately the budget tape version of Little Computer People had some features removed for space reasons) that came with instructions, written in the form of research notes, that told you about how these little people had been found living within computers, and that the digital house you'd bought contained all of the necessities to entice your very own Little Computer Person to show themselves to you - the lore was an important part of it. You could even use your keyboard to write them, and they would use a typewriter in their digital house to write back to you; You could also ask them to play the piano or perform other tasks, and they would acknowledge you, whether or not they chose to actually do what you'd asked them to do. The disk version even had its LPCs have different names and appearances - though there were only a set amount of them (if memory serves, an article exists somewhere out there about how these things were generated), if you knew another person who owned the game, their LPC was unlikely to be the same as yours, which further kept up the illusion about the Little Computer People and their independent lives. It was pretty magical for the time.

Thank you for your suggestions!

You're very welcome - I hope that they help.

Because the original virtual pets boom was so huge, Tamenagerie only scratches the surface of it, so there may be other human/humanoid virtual pets out there that the site doesn't cover. If I encounter any, I'll be sure to let you know!

I didn't know that there was going to be a sequel to LCP where you manage an entire apartment. It's a shame that didn't pan out.  

Yeah! I think that that's all that they ever said about it, unfortunately - I don't think that it made it out of the planning stages. There's a little mention of it here along with a citation pointing to a 1996 issue of Computer Shopper.

Thanks, have a great day!  

You too!

 

[TamagotchiTreasury]

Little Computer People... now that brings back some C64 memories. I miss my childhood so much.