My game is in stores -- make sure to buy a copy!

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 2:03 pm

I know you all will want to purchase a copy of my latest game(s):

Littlest Pet Shop: Winter
Littlest Pet Shop: Garden
Littlest Pet Shop: Jungle

Basically the same game with different pets in each version, like Nintendogs or Pokemon. Buy them all!

I feel like the low-class developer on the website. Tiny Ogre gets to make awesome Blizzard games that everyone buys multiple copies of, Island Dog works at Stardock, Cryptic D makes his own awesome games -- I work at EA and I'm making DS games based on Hasbro products.

On the bright side, it is supposed to be the biggest seller I have ever done I think. The game is projected to sell 3-4 million copies worldwide. I think the biggest seller I have done before this is Tiger Woods '07, I don't know how many that sold but I don't think it was quite that much.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 2:08 pm

Send me a DS and I'll buy all three.

Gratz on hitting the shelves!

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 3:03 pm

Butterknife wrote:I feel like the low-class developer on the website. Tiny Ogre gets to make awesome Blizzard games that everyone buys multiple copies of, Island Dog works at Stardock, Cryptic D makes his own awesome games -- I work at EA and I'm making DS games based on Hasbro products.

Weren't you the guy on Godfather for Wii? I bought that one. I'm not sure I can support you on this one though.

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 3:47 pm

coopasonic wrote:
Butterknife wrote:I feel like the low-class developer on the website. Tiny Ogre gets to make awesome Blizzard games that everyone buys multiple copies of, Island Dog works at Stardock, Cryptic D makes his own awesome games -- I work at EA and I'm making DS games based on Hasbro products.
Weren't you the guy on Godfather for Wii? I bought that one. I'm not sure I can support you on this one though.

Yeah, I did Godfather on the Wii (and PC). Are you sure you don't want a copy of Littlest Pet Shop? You can unlock cool pets, name them, dress them up in cute little outfits, play fun minigames -- I mean, when is the last time you played a game like that?

I get free copies of the game, and my four-year-old son played for about 10 minutes before giving up. My eight-year-old twins didn't even give it a second glance (just told me "Good job, Daddy!"). I ended up giving away a copy to my neighbors (they have a girl the right age) so that someone I know will play it.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 4:11 pm

Butterknife wrote:Yeah, I did Godfather on the Wii (and PC). Are you sure you don't want a copy of Littlest Pet Shop? You can unlock cool pets, name them, dress them up in cute little outfits, play fun minigames -- I mean, when is the last time you played a game like that?

I have a 2 year old son. I play dress up and play mingames with him all the time. I haven't found any good unlocks though. I'm working on the potty training achievement. I hear there's a nice reward from that.

We have a new Toys'R'Us opening up tomorrow so I'm hoping to take advantage of the B2G1 sale there since the others are all cleaned out. If I can't find a 3rd DS game (DQ4 and Disgaea DS are definites if they ahve them) I'll pick up the Littlest Pet Shop.

ChrisGrenard · Post by **ChrisGrenard** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 4:30 pm

Butterknife: Living the dream. sorta...

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 5:20 pm

coopasonic wrote:I'm not sure I can support you on this one though

coopasonic wrote:If I can't find a 3rd DS game ... I'll pick up the Littlest Pet Shop

Wow, what a reversal! I should be in sales, I'm wasting myself in programming. Too bad I don't get a commission. Actually, once Nintendo and EA get paid ... hmmm. Maybe when I go in for my next raise I can mention that I got an extra copy sold and they'll add the immense profits to my bonus.

In all seriousness though I wouldn't recommend the game for any really young kids unless you are willing to read it to them (there is a fair amount of text). Much better if they can read it themselves. And I doubt males are going to be interested in this game -- we tried to make a game girls would want, naturally.

ChrisGrenard wrote:Butterknife: Living the dream.

I remember back in the Gone Gold days when I got my first job in the video game industry just out of college. I got on the message board and bragged about it. And just look at me now! Good thing I get to swim in my piles of money every day.

Lee · Post by **Lee** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 6:26 pm

I need some present idea for a 9 year old girl who loves her DS. Is that the right age group? She is a very good reader.

KiloOhm · Post by **KiloOhm** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:34 am

My 6 year old LOVES this little pet shop game you plug directly into the A/V ports which sounds similar to what you're describing. Sounds like a good Christmas gift for her.

pengo · Post by **pengo** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:57 am

You work at EA hey, how's the sweatshop?

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:02 am

My 9 year old daughter is crazy into LPS. I would get her this, but that would also mean getting here DS. Hmm. Maybe

?

ChrisGwinn · Post by **ChrisGwinn** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:29 pm

My daughter's too young, sadly.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:10 am

Butterknife wrote:
coopasonic wrote:I'm not sure I can support you on this one though

coopasonic wrote:If I can't find a 3rd DS game ... I'll pick up the Littlest Pet Shop
Wow, what a reversal! I should be in sales, I'm wasting myself in programming. Too bad I don't get a commission. Actually, once Nintendo and EA get paid ... hmmm. Maybe when I go in for my next raise I can mention that I got an extra copy sold and they'll add the immense profits to my bonus.

Sadly I couldn't even find a 2nd DS game... and they didn't have Littlest Pet Shop either.

ChrisGwinn · Post by **ChrisGwinn** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:51 am

How can we be sure that there are no smaller pet shops?

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:40 am

ChrisGwinn wrote:How can we be sure that there are no smaller pet shops?

Oh, it is the Littlest all right. It may not be the Smallest though.

Lee wrote:I need some present idea for a 9 year old girl who loves her DS. Is that the right age group? She is a very good reader.

The game was made just for girls like this. PM me if you decide to pick it up and I'll let you know a couple cheat codes that unlock extra stuff.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:56 am

Butterknife wrote:
ChrisGwinn wrote:How can we be sure that there are no smaller pet shops?
Oh, it is the Littlest all right. It may not be the Smallest though.

Littlest Pet Shop 2: Even Littler
Littlest Pet Shop 3: Under the Microscope
Littlest Pet Shop 4: Strange and Charming

KiloOhm · Post by **KiloOhm** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:59 am

I saw them at target this weekend - there was like a mob of kids banging the glass to get at them!!!

(not really - but I did see them there!)

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:19 pm

I'm waiting for Littlest Pet Shop: Extreme Edition.

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:22 pm

Freezer-TPF- wrote:I'm waiting for Littlest Pet Shop: XXXtreme Edition.

You're a monster.

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:38 pm

Freezer-TPF- wrote:I'm waiting for Littlest Pet Shop: Extreme Edition.

Well, I can't tell you guys what I'm working on next. It's a secret.

ChrisGwinn · Post by **ChrisGwinn** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:43 pm

Butterknife wrote:
Freezer-TPF- wrote:I'm waiting for Littlest Pet Shop: Extreme Edition.
Well, I can't tell you guys what I'm working on next. It's a secret.

Biggest Pet Shop?

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:59 pm

ChrisGwinn wrote:
Butterknife wrote:
Freezer-TPF- wrote:I'm waiting for Littlest Pet Shop: Extreme Edition.
Well, I can't tell you guys what I'm working on next. It's a secret.
Biggest Pet Shop?

Debris · Post by **Debris** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:19 pm

I saw a commercial for this on Cartoon Network last night. I must have been completely engrossed as my wife was talking to me and I was ignoring her while watching the commercial.

She snickered and asked if that was the next game on my list.

I gave her a snarky "noooo" and continued with the conversation.

"I know a guy who made that game."

"Really, who is that?"

"ummm...Butterknife..."

"You know a guy named Butterknife? What kind of name is that?"

"Well, I don't really know him, but he's from OO, you know that forum I frequent..."

She looks at me shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

"You are such a dork..."

Dramatist · Post by **Dramatist** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:28 pm

Debris wrote:I saw a commercial for this on Cartoon Network last night. I must have been completely engrossed as my wife was talking to me and I was ignoring her while watching the commercial.

She snickered and asked if that was the next game on my list.

I gave her a snarky "noooo" and continued with the conversation.

"I know a guy who made that game."

"Really, who is that?"

"ummm...Butterknife..."

"You know a guy named Butterknife? What kind of name is that?"

"Well, I don't really know him, but he's from OO, you know that forum I frequent..."

She looks at me shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

"You are such a dork..."

I now officially refer to OO as "my team of guys that search the web for stuff to entertain me". Makes me sound like less of a dork.

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:59 pm

I have yet to find a way to refer to OO that doesn't make me feel like a dork.

msduncan · Post by **msduncan** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:30 pm

Thanks for the heads up. My little girl has asked for a DS for Christmas, and I'll definately pick up one of your games to go along with it.

Seriously. I think she'll love it considering she already has the real Littlest Pet Shop toys.

Dan_Theman · Post by **Dan_Theman** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:38 pm

If I had a DS, I'd buy it just to support you ... but I don't. Regardless, congratulations - that's no small feat!

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:16 am

pengo wrote:You work at EA hey, how's the sweatshop?

You know, for this project we didn't have hardly any overtime (I think I did about 4 hours of overtime total). It was quite a change, and something I could definitely get used to.

ChrisGwinn · Post by **ChrisGwinn** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 12:34 am

Apparently a lot of people listened. According to EA's most recent earnings report, this was (across platforms) a huge hit.

EA Press Release wrote:EA released five LITTLEST PET SHOP video games in 2008 on the Wii(TM), PC and Nintendo DS(TM) platforms and sold 2.8 million copies worldwide. In the holiday quarter, LITTLEST PET SHOP was a top-five title on the Nintendo DS in Europe and North America, based on NPD data. A sixth game, LITTLEST PET SHOP Spring for the Nintendo DS, is due to hit retail shelves in March 2009

You working on the new one too?

Kagath · Post by **Kagath** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:33 am

Awesome, congratulations!

I wish I knew something about game design/programming. I'm trying to edumacate myself in C# now. Maybe some XNA or something later. I tried C++ but that was 13+ years ago before any of the Visual stuff was available to me. I also tried some Java at school for a bit a few years back but didn't care so much for it at the time.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:13 pm

Way to go, Butterknife! MONEY FIGHT!!!!

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:02 pm

ChrisGwinn wrote:Apparently a lot of people listened. According to EA's most recent earnings report, this was (across platforms) a huge hit.

EA Press Release wrote:EA released five LITTLEST PET SHOP video games in 2008 on the Wii(TM), PC and Nintendo DS(TM) platforms and sold 2.8 million copies worldwide.

Yeah, it sold like crazy. This is far and away the best selling game I have ever made. Something to be ... proud of?

EA Press Release wrote:A sixth game, LITTLEST PET SHOP Spring for the Nintendo DS, is due to hit retail shelves in March 2009

I did make the Spring version. Actually, I was even promoted to be Development Manager for that version! Oh, the power! I had -- wait for it -- one person reporting to me. She and I pretty much made the entire game ourselves (not too hard as it was just another version of the first three, backwards compatible and so on.) We got it done a few months ago, there is quite a bit of lead time getting it approved by Nintendo, getting the carts made, shipping to the stores. You know.

ChrisGwinn wrote:You working on the new one too?

I'm still sworn to secrecy on what I'm working on now, and of course I could lose my job if I tell you what it is. But read that press release again and I bet you can figure out what I'm working on now.

Freezer-TPF wrote:Way to go, Butterknife! MONEY FIGHT!!!!

Ahh, if only royalties were still paid to programmers! Actually EA already announced that nobody is going to get a raise this year, regardless of performance. And I'm not holding my breath for a bonus, either. My reward for doing a good job is that I haven't been laid off. Yet.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:44 pm

I think it's awesome. Even making little kid games, you're doing better than 99.8% of us on these boards.

Though I find it a tad disturbing that the evil empire (EA) is indoctrinating our youth behind the disguise of puppies and kitties.

lildrgn · Post by **lildrgn** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:27 am

Butterknife wrote:I have yet to find a way to refer to OO that doesn't make me feel like a dork.

I call you guys the "guys I know on the internet, that I don't really know, but you know, know".

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:02 am

lildrgn wrote:
Butterknife wrote:I have yet to find a way to refer to OO that doesn't make me feel like a dork.
I call you guys the "guys I know on the internet, that I don't really know, but you know, know".

"Someone from a web forum." I usually lose her at 'web'.

BTW, congrats BK. I missed this thread first time around, but i'll keep any eye out for the game for my kid.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:42 pm

lildrgn wrote:
Butterknife wrote:I have yet to find a way to refer to OO that doesn't make me feel like a dork.
I call you guys the "guys I know on the internet, that I don't really know, but you know, know".

You're all my "imaginary friends".

No offense.

razgon · Post by **razgon** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 9:23 am

My Littlests girl might be interested in this ,actually... I'll see if it makes it here

Creepy_Smell · Post by **Creepy_Smell** » Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:49 pm

I'm waiting for the Littlest Pet Shop of Horrors!

KiloOhm · Post by **KiloOhm** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:30 pm

I'm thinking of picking up the Wii version of this for my daughter who had her Tonsils taken out yesterday. Is this the same as your game? Any opinions on it or should I just get the DS one? This one looks to be the same game except on the Wii (with more stuff).

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 3:57 pm

KiloOhm wrote:I'm thinking of picking up the Wii version of this for my daughter who had her Tonsils taken out yesterday. Is this the same as your game? Any opinions on it or should I just get the DS one? This one looks to be the same game except on the Wii (with more stuff).

Both games were developed simultaneously, so a lot of the content is the same on both (meaning that they both have about the same amount of minigames, clothes to dress up in, same amount of pets to unlock, and so on). I would go with whichever version you think she is more likely to play. My name is in the credits for both games, so I won't feel slighted no matter which you choose.