Pokémon Go developer Niantic has a new virtual pet game, Peridot

The launch of Pokémon Go, the mobile augmented reality game’s developer, Niantic, is creating an original digital pet of its own. Niantic made the announcement Wednesday Peridot, a new game coming to mobile devices that focuses less on catching ’em all and more on caring for, raising, and breeding unique digital creatures.

Peridot, players will raise magical beasts called Peridots “that feel real,” Ziah Fogel, the game’s senior producer, said during a press briefing earlier this week. Each Peridot is “100% unique and 100% yours,” Niantic says, differing in visual appearance, personality, their likes and dislikes, and their abilities. Peridots will be raised by players from their birth to adulthood. They can also breed with Peridots in nests and produce multiple generations. This leads to exciting new discoveries.

As seen in the game’s teaser trailer above, Peridots come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and patterns. They’ll follow real-world archetypes in their designs, which Niantic says are a mix of hand-created assets and procedural generation; some Peridots will share traits inspired by unicorns or peacocks, while others will look like rabbits or clownfish. There are also other, more literal Peridot archetypes, such as glitter, jester and metallic. Peridots can breed with other Peridots and create new Peridot breeds using a system that is based on real-world DNA.

Similar Pokémon Go, Access, Pikmin bloomOther Niantic Augmented Reality Games PeridotWalking around the world and discovering new things will be a major focus of my life. Your Peridot’s happiness and survival depends on your daily care. Peridots will require daily care from their owners. Peridots will have “desires,” meaning you may have to take them on walks, feed them a certain piece of foraged food, or visit a nearby point of interest to keep them satisfied.

Peridot will be played in camera-based augmented reality, using Niantic’s Lightship technology. That AR tech helps Peridots “recognize different real-world surfaces such as dirt, sand, water, grass, and foliage,” Niantic says, from which your pet can forage different types of food. AR is a great way to capture cute images of your Peridot. Niantic states that users will be able share Peridot photos directly within AR.