Giftscop on PlayStation

Recently, we have made substantial progress on a PlayStation 1 version of Giftscop.

This version has been optimized to run on actual PlayStation hardware, in addition to emulators.

Title Screen

Our goal is for this version to eventually reach parity with regular versions of Giftscop.

If you would like to try it, the latest PlayStation build can be found on our downloads page.

Why

Authenticity

Having Giftscop function on an actual PlayStation brings us closer to achieving our original goal of recreating Petscop itself: The in-universe Petscop is a PlayStation game, so Giftscop is more accurate if it also runs on PlayStation.

Technical Interest

Programming on the original PlayStation introduces unique and interesting challenges that are absent when developing a project in an engine like Unity, which was used for prior versions of Giftscop.

We have had to replace a number of Unity's built-in systems in order to fine-tune certain behaviors, or resolve obscure bugs. Writing the project in this way allows us to build our own engine which, while more challenging to implement, may be tailored precisely to the needs of our project.

Misinformation

We have observed a public perception that Petscop could not possibly function as an actual PlayStation game for one reason or another. For instance, people may claim that the lighting is too advanced, or that features like generation of Child Library rooms were beyond the PlayStation's capabilities.

To be blunt, these people do not know what they are talking about.

As we have worked on this, we have successfully implemented features of Petscop that were commonly claimed to be impossible on PlayStation. For instance:

Dynamic lighting in Newmaker Plane rooms
"Infinite" Newmaker Plane
Semitransparent objects (e.g. "caught" text fading out when catching a pet)
Draw Mode
"Procedural generation" of Child Library rooms
"High-poly" models like the bucket or tool

Draw Mode

While there are a few details which must be changed for the game to function on PlayStation, these are largely superficial. For instance, some sound effects need to be compressed more than in the videos, but this does not result in any major differences.

How

The PlayStation version of Giftscop shares no code with prior versions, but this does not mean previous work will go to waste.

To build the PlayStation version, we have constructed a toolchain to non-destructively convert data—such as rooms, textures, models, audio, and so on—from Giftscop into formats that are usable in the PlayStation version. We do not use any preexisting tools for data conversion, as a customized workflow allows us to make progress more efficiently.

All code had to be rewritten, however the logic is largely based on what we did in prior versions of Giftscop; existing Giftscop code serves as a useful reference when re-implementing Petscop for PlayStation. The PlayStation version is written entirely in C.