The heyday of virtual pets like Tamagotchi and Digimon may be long gone, reaching the height of their popularity in the late ’90s, but with new mediums come new possibilities, and new ways to interact with virtual pets too. Enter Waba, an impossibly cute, amorphous little guy that aims to wobble your heartstrings.
Created by Los Angeles-based indie studio Edwon Studio, Waba needs your care and attention; you hatch a Waba, feed it, and put the squishy little chub-monster to rest.
The original concept, studio head Edwon says in an introduction video, was to see what it would be like to touch something in VR. Three years later, Waba has grown from a cute concept to a full-featured virtual pet that stretches and wobbles around as you interact with him.
“He really enjoys getting slapped around at first, but if you slap him around too much, he’s going to cry and he’s going to run away. You should really be more gentle with Waba, and he’ll like [you] for sure.”
In your inventory, you have access to a number of locations: a feeding area, a play zone for playing fetch, a paint section to change the color of your Waba, and a bedroom where you gently rock him to sleep after a day of playing and eating.
Waba is launching on Steam Early Access (Vive, Rift, Windows VR) and the Oculus Store (Rift) July 10th. Edwon says he plans on adding more content over the next few months.