Dog Street Studios is a video game studio based in Canada's Waterloo region, part of the Waterloo-Toronto technology corridor. We are creating games that allow players to talk with non-player characters (NPCs) in natural language, and exploring how natural-language interfaces can be used to create novel gameplay mechanics and unique player experiences that can't be achieved with any other interface.

Our natural-language conversation technology is not LLM-based, runs entirely on the player's own machine, and is anchored to a concrete representation of characters' knowledge, beliefs and relationships. We focus on symbolic approaches that are both flexible and robust, giving players unparalleled freedom of expression in conversations while ensuring that the NPCs behave reliably and predictably - crucial if they are to serve as a foundation for real gameplay.

Our first game, West of Jupiter, is a bounty hunter simulation set in a space western universe. A hybrid RPG/strategy game, West of Jupiter is currently in pre-production. Prototyping of West of Jupiter has been made possible in part by the support of Ontario Creates.

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