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BitBuddy™ is a psychological horror pixel art Virtual Pet game. It was developed by Daniel Mullins Games of Pony Island and Inscryption fame and released on April 4th, 2022, for the Ludum Dare 50. It's available for free
.In the game you take care of your own, original, unique BitBuddy™! Feed him and use Promo Codes to give him cute little outfits. Also, don't close the window or he dies.
Keep adding tropes, please:
- All for Nothing: Your BitBuddy can succeed in convincing/guilt-tripping you into not quitting the game even after all the modes and mini-games have been played out...only to notice the next day that he's at the end of his life-span. The little guy struggled so desperately to live, only for it to turn out he didn't have that long of a life left either way.
- And I Must Scream: The BitBuddies are fully aware that closing their window or quitting their game means they will die and beg you not do either of these things the moment they come into existence. Of course they can't do much else than beg and chances are you'll have to move on with your life eventually and so they live on extremely short borrowed time and are unable to do anything to change their fate. When the screen goes dark for a while when you clean up the balls, your BitBuddy later tells you that he got trapped in darkness during that time, still able to think but unable to do much else.
- Deadly Game: Not for you, but for your BitBuddy. If you at any point quit playing with him, he dies.
- Deconstruction: Of "caretaker" and "Virtual Pet" video games like Tamagotchi. Having a cute digital creature to take care of is fun - for the one doing the caretaking. From the point of view of the creature, they're completely at your mercy and whether they live or die depends on your whims. If you get bored with them, they'll have no one to feed them or take care of their needs, so their only option is to find ways to amuse you so you won't abandon them to an agonizing, slow death by starvation and general neglect. The game ramps the dependency-part up to eleven by having your BitBuddy's survival literally dependent on whether you play his game. In that context, the increasingly desperate attempts of your BitBuddy to amuse you with various bland mini-games and "modes" that do little more than change the background become pretty hard and depressing to watch.
- Downer Ending: When you quit the game or close the window, you'll find out that buddy does die if you do and you'll be treated to a view of their skeleton before the game is closed. Even if you leave it running the whole time, it'll eventually die of old age in 24 hours.
- Guilt-Based Gaming: BitBuddy outright tells you that "If you press quit or close this window, I will die". He's not kidding, and should the player do so, he actually dies and all that's left is his skeleton.
- Mercy Kill: You can kill your BitBuddy while in Holiday Mode, allowing him to die in a beautiful serene environment instead of the dreary main-screen.
- Nervous Wreck: Your BitBuddy is this constantly, having to find some way to keep you from getting bored and quitting his game so he can keep living. He gets increasingly desperate the longer the game goes on, realizing that there isn't much he can offer you for entertainment and that what precious seconds he can buy only prolong the inevitable.
- Stripped to the Bone: If BitBuddy dies from quitting the game or closing the window, all that's left behind is his skeleton.
- Video Game Caring Potential: If you're willing to wait it out, you can let your BitBuddy live his entire life of one day until he dies a natural death. Sure, he still dies, but at least he gets to enjoy as much time as possible with you.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can kill your BitBuddy in different ways, each one incredibly cruel and heartless.
- The most simple way is of course to close the window or quit the game. Even pretending to do it is enough to send BitBuddy into a panic attack and beg you not to go through with it.
- You can overload the game window with food items, eventually causing the game to crash and shut down, killing your BitBuddy.
- You can wait out the Holiday Mode and refuse to kill BitBuddy while it's running, even though he tells you he would prefer dying there, only to then quit the game once he's back to the regular area.
"If you quit adding tropes or click away from this entry, I will die. That's just how it works."
