Babydow (lost French baby-raising browser game; 2009-2014)

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Game main infos

Babydow was a browser game in the pet raising game genre, developed by the french developing society Owlient. Owlient is known for other games such as Equideow, or Howrse in its english version, which is much more known by players around the world.

Babydow was first launched on the 20th of January, 2009 ; its first name was then Howchet, before becoming Babydow.

The game knew a fairly great impact, in France - the game's origin country - but also in other european countries such as Germany, and english speaking parts of the world, reaching some players in the USA.

The objectives of the game revolved around taking care of a baby, or multiple babies, raising them up until they reached 3 years old and went off to school. The player had to feed, bathe, clean up and play with the baby everyday.

The gameplay

Beginning of the game

When they first subscribed to the website, a player gets to create their first baby ; they choose its sex, its name, ethnicity, hairstyle, hair and eye color, as well as its facial expression.

The game allowed for a great amount of different combinations possible for the babies ; some charts still can be found on the internet, documenting every possible element and the way it would evolve with the baby growing up.

Raising a baby

Everyday, a player ought to log in into their account, to take care of their babies. Every baby needed multiple actions to be taken care of : bathing, playing, feeding, napping...

The player had the possibility of changing their baby's clothes, to take them out for a walk for example - the baby then needed to be clothed according to the weather report the game provided.

Everyday, babies would age up 3 months. Once they hit certain ages, their appearance would change to illustrate them growing up. They were 4 different stages of growth.

One of the game's goal was to make a baby develop enough, by filling up their development bars. Babies had milestones they needed to reach, such as first word, first laugh, etc. Every milestone happened whenever the baby's development bar would be high enough.

They were different development bars ; hygiene, mobility, speach...

Once they reached 3 years old, a baby was sent to school ; the level of its development bar would translate into a school uniform. Every color was tied to a level of development : very good, great, middle, bad.

Passes

The game included some paying options, by buying passes, the game's paying currency ; the player could then obtain some advantages : the ability to take care multiple times a day of a baby, for example. Special clothes, items, and options were available.

Marbles

Marbles were the game's currency ; they allowed the player to buy milk, food, toys, and every item needed to take care of their baby.

The birth of a new baby

Babies would be born in the player's garden. For a new baby to be born, the player would need to plant a seed ; a rose seed for a little girl, a cabbage seed for a little boy.

Everyday, the player would need to water the seed for a certain amount of time, until the seed has grown and blooms into a rose or a cabbage.

The birth of every baby is the same as the first player's baby.

Ethnicities

The game included three main ethnicities : asian, white, african. Every ethnicity came with its different hairstyles, adapting to the ethnicity's hair types.

In exchange for passes, the player could also adopt an indian baby, a whole special ethnicity not available at the birth of the baby ; a baby would need to be changed into this ethnicity after birth. Indian babies had their own skin color, eye color and hairstyles available.

Paranormal babies

The game also included some fantasy babies, such as elfs or orcs. These babies were special babies that wouldn't grow up like the other ones, would speak a fantasy language, and stay little forever. If other players said hello to these babies, they were subject to winning passes.

Eye colors, expressions, hair styles and colors

Every sex, age and ethnicity had their own hairstyles, hair and eye colors. Charts can still be found online that document these different traits, and their evolution through the different stages of a baby's growth.

Nurseries

A player had the ability to enroll their baby into a nursery in exchange for the game's money, marbles. Once they hit 30 days of subscription to the website, a player could open and manage their own nursery.

The game's closing

The game was closed to the public on the 30th of June, 2014, due to a lack of changes in the game's development and player's departures. Since then, old players have been trying to revive the game with petitions, but to no avail.

Recently, a discord server was founded, trying to reach out ot Owlient, in order to get a revival for the game.