Carpinchito
Carpinchito is a virtual pet with artificial intelligence, where you get to take care of and interact with a friendly little capybara. The game mixes mini-games, resource management, and a stat system that reacts to the player’s actions. It was developed in Unity.
The process
This project was developed during the “Programming for Mobile Devices” course at university, with iOS as the main target platform.
One of the most exciting challenges was integrating Google services, such as voice-to-text, text-to-speech, and Google Gemini, to give Carpinchito a conversational personality powered by AI. The AI doesn’t just respond randomly — it has context: it takes into account the capybara’s stats (happiness, hunger, health, energy), its name, its level, and even the fact that “he is a capybara.” Whenever the stats, coins, or level change, Carpinchito’s responses adapt accordingly. To make interactions more personal, the game also keeps a chat history during the session, so conversations feel continuous until the game is closed.
I also experimented with running local LLMs through LLM Unity. However, the responses from smaller models weren’t natural enough, so I relied on cloud-based AI for a smoother experience.
On the visual side, I animated the 3D model and implemented blendshapes linked to the pet’s stats. This way, Carpinchito’s appearance reflects its condition:
-When sad → it shows a sad face.
-When hungry → it looks thinner.
-When tired → it has a sleepy expression.
To make conversations feel even more alive, I integrated uLipSync so the character’s mouth moves in sync with the AI’s speech, enhancing immersion.
Alongside this, I built several core systems:
-Interactive mini-games to earn coins and level up.
-Dynamic stats that evolve in real time.
-Themed rooms, each with specific activities to care for Carpinchito.
-An in-game economy, combining progression with resource management.
Screenshots
