Dog Door

A dog adventure from Launchway Games

Dog Door

Adopt a mixed-breed dog from the shelter and earn its trust on Birch Street, from the first walk on the leash to a door of its own.

Every dog can finish the story. Your mix changes the way, never the ending.

Play the free demo See the pictures

The demo is the first three chapters, free in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer. The full game, all thirteen chapters, is coming to Steam.

A ginger and white dog stands in a backyard with a raccoon just behind it, beside the orange flap of a dog door cut into a white picket gate.
The first trip through the dog door, with a raccoon close behind. Drawn by the game.

The shelter

Pick a dog to take home

Every dog at the shelter is a cross of two breeds, with a job from each parent. Twelve breeds, six jobs and three sizes, so the dog you bring home is one of a kind. Give it your own name if you like.

  • TrackReads scent from far away, and faint trails nobody else can
  • HerdMoves a flock as one
  • DigDigs through leaf piles, sand and soft earth
  • SwimSwims out past the shallows to bring things back
  • PullHauls wagons and moves heavy things
  • CharmTalks people around: treats, secrets, open doors

A small dog squeezes through gaps in the fences. A large one reaches things up high. Jobs and sizes open extra ways through the story, never a locked door.

Nutmeg
Standard Poodle × Bloodhound
Large · 59 cm at the shoulder · Reaches up high

Swim

Swims out past the shallows to bring things back

From the Standard Poodle: Bred to fetch from water. Pudel comes from the Low German for “to splash”.

Track

Reads scent from far away, and faint trails nobody else can

From the Bloodhound: Can follow a trail days old, and helps search for people who are lost.

Adopt a dog in the demo

Trust is the level-up

It only ever goes up

It starts on the leash, a walk to the park with Sam. Sit at the curb, walk at heel, fetch his dropped glove. Do what's asked and trust grows. Pulling on the leash is never punished, and nothing you do takes trust away.

0On the leash with Sam, the day you come home.
180 trustSam cuts a dog door in the side gate. The backyards are yours.
280 trustThe whistle lines lift and the whole neighbourhood opens up.

Every dog gets there. The main story needs no job and no size, and every mix has room to spare on the way to its door.

A year on Birch Street

Thirteen chapters, one year

From the October you bring your dog home to the fall fair a year later. Each job and size has something of its own to do along the way.

  1. 1 · OctoberIn the demo

    On the leash

    A walk to the park with Sam: heel, the curb, a dropped glove.

  2. 2 · OctoberIn the demo

    Off the leash

    The unclip at the park gate, Maya's red mitten, and a stranger's scent.

  3. 3 · OctoberIn the demo

    The ravine

    The log, the creek, and a raccoon who becomes a friend.

  4. 4 · October

    The dog door

    Your own way into the backyards, and a squirrel with your squeaky bone.

  5. 5 · October

    The neighbourhood

    Maple Avenue, the school, the bakery, and a pie carried home.

  6. 6 · October

    Bath day

    The tub, the zoomies, and Thanksgiving dinner down the middle of the street.

  7. 7 · October

    Halloween

    A witch's hat, trick-or-treating with Maya, and a shy puppy named Button.

  8. 8 · December

    First snow

    Snowballs that grow as they roll, and hockey on the frozen pond.

  9. 9 · December

    New Year's Eve

    Porch lights, cookie tins for the neighbours, and fireworks at midnight.

  10. 10 · March

    Sugaring off

    Sap buckets, the first crocus, and sugar on snow.

  11. 11 · July

    Summer at the lake

    A cottage, a dock to jump from, and a sunset from the end of it.

  12. 12 · September

    First day of school

    Maya starts grade two, and the whole class wants to meet her dog.

  13. 13 · October, a year on

    The fall fair

    The hay maze, the dog show with a rosette for each ring, and the view from the top of the Ferris wheel, looking back toward Birch Street.

The free demoChapters 4 to 13 are in the full game, coming to Steam.

Pictures

Straight from the game

The shelter: a brown Standard Poodle and Bloodhound cross beside a red dog bed, with its card open on the right.
The shelterDemo
Sam walks the dog on its red leash down the sidewalk on Birch Street, under autumn maples.
On the leash with SamDemo
The dog on the park lawn, looking across at Canada geese by the pond, red and orange trees beyond.
The park and the geeseDemo
In the ravine, the dog looks toward a hollow at the foot of a big tree, a speech bubble over its head.
The ravineDemo
Halloween at dusk on Birch Street: a giant pumpkin on a lawn, porches lit, the dog on the path.
HalloweenFull game
The park under snow: a snowman with a carrot nose, children nearby, the dog beside the snowman.
First snowFull game
A summer beach by the lake: Muskoka chairs, a red wagon, the dog and the raccoon on the sand.
Summer at the lakeFull game
The fall fair in the park: agility gates, string lights, the Ferris wheel behind, the dog ready to run.
The fall fairFull game

Start at the shelter

The first three chapters are free in your browser. Play by touch, with a keyboard and mouse, or with a gamepad. Your dog is saved as you go.

Already playing on another device? In the journal, Save to a file, then Load a saved dog at the shelter.

Play the free demo