what the hell is this game

But this game isn't new, it has been released almost half a year ago or so, I own it for a longer time myself.

@Rtt you actually preempted me a bit here, I was going to post about some of the kid friendly games in general, and blindfold doggy in particular, since i've been playing a lot of the blindfold games recently for the db (see the update from Christmas eve).

if anyone is wondering,  Blindfold doggy was released in October, and you can find The db page about it here

As to the game, its got an interesting principle behind it. You take care of a dog, you need to brush it, give it food and water, take it for walks and play with it. All of this can be done by swiping left and right to find different buttons on the screen and then swiping up and down.

It even has mechanics for opening and closing doors, and putting a leash (what in the Uk we'd call a lead), on your dog to take the dog out, and you walk by taking steps with flicks up or down to walk away from or towards home.

the interesting thing  that the game is a virtual pet care game and you get notifications, so need to play with your dog etc regularly.

Its practice mode is actually quite extensive, since it comes with 40 portions of food, you need two portions per feeding and must feed your dog every four hours or so, however you can't go to town, buy other items or take your dog to the vet.

The adventure mode (which I've not tried), lets you train your dog so they can go out for a run and come on command, and has other encounters, as well as different toys to buy etc,.

this is actually a very well put together game, I like the notifications system, and activities such as brushing your dog are nice to do, I also like the fact that while you can look at your dog's stats to see what they want, the game has actual dog sounds.

the problems I did find are firstly,  the dog sounds don't always square with the game which can sometimes put you into a difficult position. For example, your dog needs to wee according to how much she/he has drunk, and she/he drinks according to how much they play. Statistically, you can keep your dog happy with one play session every twenty minutttes and only need to take them for a wee occasionally, however to actually get your dog to stop wanting to play you need to then play with them five or six times, which then makes them want to wee, which then means  need to walk your dog, which then means you need to brush your dog. I suppose its the difference between a lazy owner and an active owner, and you do get more points for doing more things , but still, unless you want to spend long cycles  racking up points and taking care of your dog, its wiser, if meaner to play by stats, indeed I'm not exactly sure how much by way of points you lose if you do not pick up your phone every twenty minutes, to play with your dog, though obviously you need to take your dog out and feed it every couple of hours or so.

I also would guess the adventure mode has lots of fun stuff by way of encounters, extra toys to try etc, since when I tried the game, while it was fun enough to do the activities for a short space, there wasn't as much surprise later, you basically just went on and did a couple of jobs to raise your score, but then again, that was the practice mode of the game so it manifestly has limited actions available to you.

This leads me on to another point. The ability to customise your dog is only available as an in ap upgrade. One customizable factors is how often your dog needs to play, since to me every 20 minutes seems a bit excessive.

I also really wish the game had the ability to know a little more about your dog other than just small medium and large, EG it would be great if you could have specific dog breeds, even more so if the specific breeds had slightly different stats, EG a colly would need more walks, a bull terrier more play sessions etc.

I also wonder on what the ultimate end of the game is, if there even is one, though again it wouldn't surprise me if there is a bonus or two in adventure mode.

Lastly, yes, we'll talk about price. To get all of the upgrades etc,  the adventure, mode, extra toys and so on is 12 usd, with the adventure mode costing 10 usd on its own.

Some of the blindfold games I have felt in the past have been the upper end price wise, especially when compared to similar products. This one however seems okay to me, given that your talking about a game which you will necessarily play over days simply by virtue of the game itself.

My only reservation in terms of price, is with the customisation mode, though since at this point that comes with the adventure mode it doesn't matter as much. I also do not know how much in terms of practical difference buying different food or toys for your dog costs, though as the food and toys upgrades are just two dollars each  bought on their own, that doesn't seem unreasonable for an easthetic change.

So, its not a bad game, its marginally expensive, but given the rl time involved (the instructions mention taking your dog to the vet every two days), I mind slightly less on that score.

if I didn't have an actual real world dog to take care of anyway, I probably would be really up for this one, though as it is like all pet care games it pales in comparrison to the real thing, though its one I would consider picking up at some stage for a bit of fun.

Well in terms of price, one problem is that the limited coin to play model tends to feel more restricted than it actually often is in practice, and if you work the games out in terms of what you actually need to buy in order to play them they're less expensive than you think, indeed I'd say on average the price tends to work out at about 4 usd per game/mode, as with say blindfold basketball, its just that the games often sell different variants of the same game for a similar price, while they sell complete bundles of all modes for a slightly higher price for both, EG in blindfold basketball, you can buy the coach play mode and play with other players modes separately for four dollars each, or both at once for 7 dollars. You can play the coach games quite happily on their own, indeed I played several when I was working out the db entry.

Similarly Blindfold wheel of fortune initially looks bloody expensive since the full pack of everything costs about 24 dollars. However, the game initially comes with 1200 different puzzles. That means you'd need to play the game 1200 different times to see everything (and that is assuming that you don't have the repeat phrases option on).

You can buy unlimited play after the initial 25 plays for two dollars I believe, and again, there is no need to buy the other question categories if you don't want to, indeed on this model Blindfold wordsearch works out as the same price as Game world, ie four dollars to unlock all categories.

the one thing I do think the blindfold games are expensive for, is charging money for essentially either small customisations or minimal play options or adaptations.
For example, customisation of other players, or of dog stats in Blindfold doggie, or of the regain health for each invader shot option in Blindfold invaders.

I also find some of the charges for chips in the casino style games like Blindfold Blackjack and Blindfold roulette less than reasonable when considering that games like Fruit pot, the casino games in Gameworld and Spolken 21s are already available for Ios for a much reduced price, particularly considering that its possible to lose all chips in one go (blindfold Blackjack does give dayly chip topups, but roulette doesn't).

Indeed, one design fault I often feel with the Blindfold games is that they  sacrifice challenge for customisation, EG instead of letting you unlock harder game modes, simply having harder game options possible to set in the preferencces or require you to actually pay money for them, rather than having them available as rewards or discoveries as you play.

that being said, I have very much liked the design in many of the games, in particular the use of haptic control methods in games like Blindfold breakout and blindfold juggle, heck, many of the sports games like blindfold bowling and shuffleboard can be something of a fine art in themselves to get the distance and movements down pat.

So, while I do think there is a little justification for the common accusation that the Blindfold games  are both on the pricey side and designed primarily for novice gamers, at the same time I don't think dismissing all the work without giving them a try is exactly fair either.

Indeed I have bought several of the games myself, including blindfold Barnyard, Blindfold breakout and blindfold hearts and haven't been unhappy with them, I'm even considering treating myself to Blindfold runner or Blindfold doggy as a late crimbo present .

I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean.

All of the blindfold titles may be downloaded free from the ap store, howevver, to actually play the games beyond either a tutorial or practice state, or to play more than the 10 (or sometimes 25), initial coins you get usually takes money, heck, even the feature to watch add videos for extra coins is not available in many of the more recent games.

As I said above, for the most part the prices are fair imho when compared to similar games, and when considered that extra game modes function as virtually separate variations on the same games (though I am less sure about some of the customization or casino chip options), however I'm afraid I wouldn't say any of the games I've tried thus far accept perhaps blindfold blackjack with its five chips a day option provide a full gaming experience for free, this is why the games are usually listed as either "trial" or "Shareware" in the database.

Not that this is a problem, I don't mind paying to support developers and as I said I have already bought several of the blindfold titles and will probably pick up others in the future.

How much by way of extra events etc are there in the adventure mode? Ie how much longevity does the game have?
I tried the free version, and it was fun for what it was, but I couldn't escape the feeling that progress was essentially limited by the fact that after you've got to the point your dog can swim in the river and you've bought the toys etc your just racking up score for its own sake by performing continuous actions.

If the game had award meddles, different dog types to unlock through continuous play  or something to work for  would be glad to give it a try, but I do hesitate to pay 12 or so dollars for something which has a simple static progression over a few days and then no definitive end or final state.
Indeed, this seems a regular problem with many of the blindfold titles, opting for customised games of various types rather than progressively playable games, despite some excellent mechanics (I was quite surprised how much fun I found Blindfold pool)