Pokemon Go creators announce a new real-world AR mobile game – Times of India

Peridot is a new virtual pet game that has been created by the developers of the popular game Pokemon Go. Niantic has announced this game after developing it for two and a half years. This game is going to be Niantic’s first original property since Ingress. Peridot is the developer’s latest attempt to recreate the success of Pokemon Go, but this time the experience will be focused mainly on casual audiences. The game is all about breeding, raising and playing with mystical creatures called Peridots, who will be awakening after thousands of years.
Peridot, just like other Niantic games, is designed for players to explore the real world with their virtual pets. Peridots will be able to recognise various terrains like — grass, water, or sand using the developer’s Lightship ARDK technology. The gameplay will also change depending on different weather patterns and Niantic also claims to be working on implementing snow into the game.
The game will feature daily tasks for the players which will include — petting, feeding, and walking their pet creature. Certain pets can also have their desires like eating a blue tomato or visiting a specific destination. However, there will be no consequences if you neglect your Peridots. These creatures will not die if you get busy and decide to avoid this game for a while. Moreover, Niantic is planning to offer players rewards for frequently coming back and playing the game.
As per an IGN India report, the game’s producer, Ziah Fogel has said, “To be perfectly honest, we looked at a lot of pets in games. Our game design team was playing most of them while were iterating on them.” The game even allows players to breed Peridots together upon reaching maturity, however, each pet creature will have different — ikes, dislikes, abilities, and appearance.
The game includes various imaginary creatures like Unicorn, Clownfish and some other abstract themes like Jester. Different Peridots will have special nests for breeding while some of them will be able to mutate one feature and others will have the capability to mutate multiple features.
Niantic has mentioned that some concept creatures will be very rare and will be prized among the players. Each Peridot is going to have its unique DNA created by combining hand-created assets and procedural generation. Peridot will be more about raising a lineup of virtual pets and it will be different from Pokemon Go as it will feature lesser raids and battles. The developers have assured that it is considering the needs of rural players.
Niantic has said that Peridot will feature a “wide variety” of in-app purchases that will include things like — the ability to make the creatures grow faster or to easily breed them in a particular habitat or place of interest. For reference, Pokemon Go earned $1 billion in 2020 through micro-transactions.
Peridot will be available in select regions for both Android and iOS platforms later this month. However, Niantic has not mentioned the markets where the game will be initially available.