Virtual Pet: Initial Design Assignment

A popular toy a few years ago was the "Tomigotchi" - an electronic toy that simulated pet behavior (displayed on a screen) and allowed its "owner" to respond to various types of behavior by performing actions (generally "pushing buttons").

This is the first assignment (of 5) in a series to create a virtual pet.

You can create your own virtual pet in a web page, using HTML and JavaScript. For this design assignment, you will start by identifying 5 states your pet could be in and choosing two state indicators or types of behavior, such as sound, movement, or color, that will change based on your pet's state. You do not need to create the web page for this pre-lab exercise; that will be the activity in lab.

Simple Example:

Tralfaz, the Wonder Dog

Pet State:

Pet Sound:

Pet Movement:

Design to Complete Before Lab:

• Choose a type of pet to represent.
• Identify 5 states that your pet could be in, such as happy, angry, hungry, sleeping, etc. Choose one state to be the pet's starting state.
• Find 5 images to use as pictures of your pet in its various states. You will need to document on your page where each picture came from so make sure that you are using these pictures legally. The picture should come from a web site that states that the pictures are free for non-commercial use. The image search services for both Yahoo and Google have options for filtering images based on copyright under their "Advanced Search" options. You will be penalized if you incorrectly use any pictures.

• Your pet should also have at least two state indicators or types of behavior that depend on its state. For example, your pet might make different sounds, move in different ways (e.g., jump, wag tail), or even change colors, depending on its mood or state. For example, a dog might bark (make a sound) and wag its tail (move) when it is happy. Create a table like the one below, showing your pet's behavior or how it tells you about its state. (Try to keep the number of repetitions or "no action" behaviors to a minimum.)

  EXAMPLE:

  	State	Indicator 1: ________________	Indicator 2: ________________
  Example	happy	Woof, woof	Wag tail
  State 1 (starting state)
  State 2
  State 3
  State 4
  State 5