‘Pet the Pup at the Party’ is the the most relatable game about social anxiety

We've all been there.

You've been dragged to a party full of too-cool-for-you hipsters and those guys who bring guitars to social events. You hate every minute of it. All you want to do is go home. Because, I mean, is it just you... or is everyone staring at you? Why are they all staring at you?!

But, like a choir of angels, the sound of salvation rings out: a bark. There is a dog in attendance.

This is not a drill. It's Pet the Pup at the Party.

Indie designer Will Herring, best known for his previous title My Garbage Cat Wakes Me Up at 3AM Every Day, captured the universal experience of dreading human interaction in his latest game. There's only one objective in Pet the Pup at the Party. Wade through the maze of people, and find the good boy.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Every dog you can uncover in the game (a whopping 51 in total) is based on a real-life dog owned by Herrings IRL friends. Each would tell him the most rad, unique stories about their personalities, which "really informed the design and animation of each doggo."

"It goes without saying that they are all very good pups," Herring assured. "Across the board. A+ pups."

Herring even hinted that his IRL cat (and inspiration behind his previous game) is, "incredibly spoiled and whiny and needy and might also be the 52nd pup in Pet the Pup at the Party but who knows??"

The game isn't all about good boys who deserve lots of pets, though. "At it's heart, Pet the Pup at the Party is a game about anxiety," Herring said, explaining how he himself struggles with generalized anxiety. "So I wanted to make a game that touched on the everyday act of dealing with it."

So Herring created a game about hunting down doggos and smothering them with love. Because "animals are great and sincere and they're almost always very happy to see you!"

However, it was important to Herring that the game not make it seem like anxiety was something that can just be "cured." There are no true win or fail states in Pet the Pup at the Party, especially because he didn't want the game to inadvertently induce anxiety in the player.

So, instead, he focused on coping mechanisms, since "just going to a social gathering when you're anxious is already a big triumph."

If the clock runs out before the player finds the pupper, a screen pops up that states that you just... go home, and do something relaxing instead -- like watching cartoons or ordering "an aggressive amount of food delivery."

Ultimately, the true goal of Pet a Pup at a Party isn't actually petting a pup (though that's an important part of it.) It's about how we can deal with anxiety in healthy ways when we find ourselves in stressful situations.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"Anxiety can make things feel like life or death in the moment, but that doesn't mean they truly are life or death -- and by extension, that doesn't mean that getting through a really stressful situation doesn't warrant a bit of self-care," Herring said.

He also hopes that the game itself serves as a fun, silly stress-reliever. And for people with social anxiety, like himself, it might even provide an avenue for connection from the safe distance of your computer.

"The indie games scene has grown in this tremendously diverse and personal way," he said. So, no matter how small the game, many of the games it produces are "sincere, heartfelt experiences that feel so genuinely pulled from someone's life or identity. There's this really wonderful connection to the creator that can happen in an interactive medium like games."

In fact, one of his favorite parts about making games like Pet the Pup at a Party and My Garbage Cat Wakes Me Up At 3AM Every Day is when people write to tell him that playing helped cheer them up on a rough day.

"If I can ever make anything that helps someone along the way, then that's really all I want to do."