Dog Days™

Midsummer, 1999. It's hazy, it's orange, it's nostalgic.

Dog Days is supposed to feel like an old PC 3D or PSX game you played as a kid and forgot most of. Like the Windows 95 startup sound as a game.

Of course, everyone remembers a different time. Especially for us Gen Z, nostalgia is weird. Maybe it's 2008, 2018 after school, or even 2021 when you met your first love somewhere out in nature.

You just want to rest for a moment. Live in a time that feels timeless and promising.

That's the feeling I want Dog Days to have.

What is Dog Days?

It's a small life / exploration game where you don't really have to do anything.

Walk around. Explore. Talk to people. Go shopping. Sit in your garden and drink a beer. Smoke a cigarette. Watch the sun go down. Wander around at night. Break into someone's house.

Or just do nothing.

You don't always need a quest, objective or something telling you what to do next. Sometimes just existing in the world is enough.

But if you want something to work towards, you can grow weed, harvest it, sell it and slowly build a small illegal business.

Think Schedule I in the late 90s/00s, mixed with a walking / exploration game.

The World

I want Dog Days to feel like a place that exists without you.

The world runs on small interconnected systems, schedules and cause and effect.

Every NPC has their own schedule and their own house. They live their lives, have their own wishes and fears, and can react positively or negatively depending on how you behave.

You live in this world, but you're not its protagonist.

Things can happen because of you, without you, or not at all.

Time also moves slowly:

1 in-game minute ≈ 3 real-life seconds

There's a dynamic day/night cycle, with the lighting and atmosphere gradually changing throughout the day.

Things You Can Do

• Explore the world
• Interact with NPCs
• Buy and sell things
• Go shopping
• Sit and sleep
• Sneak around
• Break into places
• Drink beer and wine
• Smoke cigarettes and joints
• Get drunk or high
• Grow, harvest and sell weed
• Build up a small illegal business
• Or waste an entire afternoon doing absolutely nothing

There are many smaller interactions and systems as well, and I want to keep expanding them.

More drugs and other ways to interact with the world are planned.

The Feel

Dog Days is intentionally a little janky and clunky.

I like old games where things aren't completely polished or streamlined. Games where you're not always sure what you can interact with, where you can go, or what might happen.

The awkwardness is part of the atmosphere.

Not everything needs to reward you. Not everything needs to have a purpose.

Sometimes it's enough to sit somewhere and watch the world go by.

Inspirations

Some of the biggest inspirations are:

• LSD: Dream Emulator (1998)
• Mizzurna Falls (1998)
• Silent Hill (1999)
• Shenmue (1999)
• GTA: Vice City (2002)
• Postal 2 (2003)
• Far Cry (2004)
• The Sims 2 (2004)
• GTA: San Andreas (2004)
• Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault (2004)
• Garry's Mod (2004)
• Façade (2005)
• My Summer Car (2016)
• Schedule I (2025)

I'm trying to take the atmosphere, freedom, weirdness and interactivity I love about these games and turn it into something of my own.

Early Development

This is my first game and I've been working on it for around 4–5 months.

It's still very early and I'm learning as I go. I've used third-party assets, some copyrighted music and AI assistance for coding during development.

The concept, direction, design and atmosphere of Dog Days are my own.

There's still a lot I want to add and improve, so feedback is very welcome.

Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what felt weird, or what you'd like to see in the game.

Or don't.

Just enjoy the summer.

Current Version: V0.94
Resolution: 800x600px

Contains references to violence, sex and drugs.