In November 2002, we were lucky enough to conduct an interview with Ashley Bushore from Ubisoft and the Petz Team from Ubisoft/Mytho. We received answers to many questions about Petz 5, the community in general, and the future of the Petz brand. We thank Ashley and the rest of the Petz Team for taking time out of their busy schedules for the interview. And now on to the interview...
You're very welcome Abby! Thanks for organizing this and compiling all the questions. Mythos, Sarah and I like to answer the fans' questions. We get an average of 30 emails a day and many of the fans have similar questions. It's great that they can find the majority of their answers here, on petz.com and within the Petz Community.
We're very excited indeed! The Petz Community means so much to us on the Petz Team and we're really looking forward to hearing their thoughts. Speaking on behalf of the Programmers, I can tell you diving into other people's code is very, very difficult to do. I'm extremely proud of what they were able to accomplish in such a short time!
Many people at Mythos, as well as Sarah and myself contributed to the answers.
There are 2 core people at Ubi and 17 core people at Mythos. Many other people have been involved as well, such as the people who make the CDs and box or who have provided advice. It is definitely a team effort to make a video game! If you count everyone who's helped in some way there are 23+ Ubi people around the world as well as those who have provided support with Mythos.
Wow, that's a really tough question for me to answer because of all the history and people involved with getting a project started. I'll try to keep a long story short, but to answer your question in one word, it was - timing!
So, many of you know that the Petz games were started by a development company called PF.Magic. They agreed to be purchased by Mindscape, who published Petz 3 and 4. I started working on Petz as the Production Assistant on v4. Around the time of v4 The Learning Company had purchased Mindscape. Shortly after that Mattel (yup the big toy company) bought TLC. That's when Petz dropped off the radar. Mattel wasn't really interested in the brand for whatever reason and before long they sold TLC. Getting back to your question, while I was working on Myst III during that time, Ubi Soft bought the 'Entertainment Division' of TLC and they were in fact interested in the Petz Brand! Yahoo! If any of the fans happened to have seen the press release, Ubi Soft listed Catz and Dogz among the top brands they had acquired in the purchase of my group. Before long we were looking for a new developer and I was thankful that I'm a packrat and kept so many things from the Petz brand!
Our decision on what new breedz to put in Petz 5 was based on many things. We wanted to have more unique breedz, but still add some common ones that had not been in previous Petz versions. Keeping that in mind, we did research on various breeds of dogs and cats and many online Petz fans' sites and message boards. So you, the fans, had a lot of input into the new breedz without even knowing it! The breedz had practically been decided before the game had even been announced.
All breedz are based off of two core models. There is one for Dogz and one for Catz. It did of course make sense for certain breedz to use previous models since the body types are so similar.
Yes, the new breedz come in various colors and body types. If you look carefully there are slight body proportion variations just like in real life. Some Petz have a little longer back or slightly shorter legs.
No, previous breedz have not been changed.
We are certainly planning to take that information into consideration for either future downloadz or a Petz 6. As of right now however, there are no definite plans to make a Petz 6 or create downloadz.
We think the fan sites are great! Very creative! They are one of the many factors that keep Petz alive.
Yes and no. While we are flattered that our fans enjoy the Petz games that much, there is also a downside. Since hexed breeds are not "officially" created, if something goes wrong with the game because of them, the user will not be under warranty and therefore cannot ask Ubi Soft to help fix their game.
WEBSITE QUESTIONS
Many of our fans are curious about these! :) Yes, we do have plans to make these available, but right now cannot offer an ETA.
We definitely have been considering to make these things available and know how important downloadz are to the community. Unfortunately there are many factors that go into getting the approval to proceed with these extras and things are still up in the air.
Each petz in the litter will look different, having traits from both of the parents. Unique litterz and breedz are part of what makes Petz 5 so much fun!
Yes, you can have multiple pregnant mothers at the same time, but you can only visit the Nursery with one mother and her litter at a time.
The mother will carry her first born into the room and the rest of the litter will be already in the room resting on the carpet.
We wanted to make it very homey looking and have a warm feel to it.
She plays and takes care of all of her babies one at a time.
The number of offspring in a litter is random from 1-4.
No, only the mother and her litter can be in the Nursery - this allows the game to support more than one baby. Dad can play with them when they are old enough to be on their own and explore outside of the Nursery.
When we started to develop Petz 5 we spent a lot of time looking at all the Fan websites and reading emails and discussion boards. A common feature that fans wanted and liked about Petz was the kittenz and puppyz. We really wanted to give the fans more of what they loved about the previous Petz versions.
The light in the Nursery can not be turned on and off, however there is a new toy that will work like a light and you can turn it on and off in the Nursery and other rooms.
The time for the Petz to age is still the same, though each pet grows at a different rate. The games counts real days, not day and night cycles within the game.
Yes the seasons change from rainy days to sunny and snow. The weather is very random which gives more variety to the Petz' world.
In the option menu there are a few settings you can choose from. One lets you have normal time, where days are based on your computer clock. Compressed time speeds up day and night cycles, but this does not affect the aging of your Petz. There is also a setting for it to always be night time.
Petz always need love and affection, and depend on you for their warmth and well-being. They can get sick for many reasons, just like in real life, and look to you to help them to feel better.
Petz love playing in the rain and we did not want to make any too scared that they would run and hide.
In the snow scene you Petz are subject to the cold. You'll need to take care of them to make sure that they are dressed properly.
Canada will also be November 19th, Europe and Australia will be early December.
The English version is expected to release in Singapore just before December pending import procedures. It is also expected to release in Brazil, Hong Kong, China and a few other countries! You can expect a lot of newbies to the community soon! We sure bet they'd love to know all your tips and tricks about Petz that you've learned over the years.
Petz 5 will be available at all major retailers that carry software and games. Toys R Us, Electronics Boutique, Amazon.com, and Ubi.com, etc.
No, each game is sold separately. However, you can purchase both games as a bundle at Ubi.com and receive $10 off at checkout (unknown how long this offer will last). For those that prefer to shop in a store, we're offering $10 off, via mail-in rebate, if you buy both games. See the homepage of www.petz.com for details on this!
All the features of previous Petz versions will be available except adopting Pigz & Bunnyz and Voice Recognition. The Pigz and Bunnyz have moved into the Backyard.
They are now host characters for the Backyard scene.
Well, something like this would be very close to the same size as the new program anyways so there isn't a benefit to the user. It's not like it would ever be 5 MB or anything. We're sorry.
The Mini Games are how you collect toyz, treatz and other surprises for your Petz! They are only activated when you click on part of the environment to start them.
Not completely hidden, but now it can be minimized even more! In addition, it now acts like the Toy Closet so there's no need to make multiple trips to get the toyz you want into the different environments. Instead, once you collect an item and place it in the case you can pull out as many of that item as you want!
Yes, the Petz 5 Web Fun Pack has new clip art for the new breedz and toyz as well as new backgroundz and buttonz.
It's a surprise! But from the box cover we're sure you've seen at least one of our favorite new toyz.
We fixed a number of bugs from both versions to make Petz 5 more stable.
That's the Lost and Found board. When one of your Petz runs away you now have the chance to go to the Lost and Found board to readopt your pet. Remember if you keep mistreating you Petz they will not be found and you will not be able to readopt them.
Absolutely! The graphics of the case can be changed. We have provided a Skinz section where you can choose from the Skinz we have provided or create your own. Petz.com may also host your best ones for others to download for their very own.
Yes, all the old playscenes are still in the game. We just upgraded the graphics, and added a few mini games to some of them.
Well, there's only one resolution 1024x768. So the optimum resolution would be anything that size or larger =) If you were to try and run the game on a smaller resolution, you wouldn't be able to see the entire scene.
Yes, all the old toyz (except the Sunflower seeds that were accidentally left out of v4) are still in the game and there are new toyz and yummy treatz too!
It's installed with the game like before. If you want the Petz Player all by itself, you can download a new one from Petz.com soon. In the released version of Petz 5, we found a bug where the Petz Player doesn't let crossbreds work in the web pages. The new Petz Player coming soon fixes this. Though honestly, we haven't found any fan sites that put their Petz in their pages. If you know any, we'd love to see!
The Petz behaviors are the same as in previous versions. For example, some Petz will only fall in love one time (because there's no one like your first love!). Others only fall in love with that one other special petz over and over, while others find beauty in everyone. Even though there are some traits exclusive to certain breedz or even found very frequently within a breed, all Petz are unique.
The wall outlets are for the Nightlights. When you find one, plug it into a wall outlet and see it light up during the day and night!
We have learned a great deal from making Petz 5 and feel that after all the research and development we would love to make a Petz 6. We are brainstorming on our end to come up with all news ideas. You can help too! We love to read your thoughts on your websites like we did for researching v5. Please don't stop showing the world what you love and want more of!
As part of our research we are looking for new ways to make the Petz game more fun and a new engine could be part of that plan. If there are features or aspects of other games you like, discuss it on the message boards, on your webpages and share it with your friends. Don't worry, we'll see it! (You can email too, but we already know you don't need any encouragement from us to do that =D )
Everything is open right now and we are watching the fan sites to see the reaction to Petz 5. We're also looking to read your thoughts on new ideas.
Currently, there are no plans to continue with either of these franchises.
So today is the big day! Can you believe it? The Petz Team and I, really hope you enjoy playing Petz 5. You wanted Litterz - you got it! You wanted weather - you got it! You wanted nighttime - you got it! You wanted to be able to get your Runaways back - you got it! You wanted new breedz - you got it! You wanted new Playscenes, toyz and clothes - you got it! You wanted Petz 5 to be different from Petz 4 - you got it! True though, we don't have leashes and collars, but it's not because we don't want to. It's a limitation of the technology.
Now I'd like to hear from you. I know you all have great imaginations and play lots of other games too, and that YOU know what makes the Petz game, Petz. What is it you like about other games that you wish Petz could do? What more do you wish you could do with other games and with Petz? Go ahead and let us know, and please forgive us if we don't always write back. But do know we read each and every email. Even those that just say 'Thanks!'.
Best wishes and thank YOU,
Ashley
This page last updated Feb-02-2025.