Slugpup

Slugpups are creatures added in the Downpour DLC. They are unlocked after completing the food quest and travelling to Journey's End, where they begin spawning in 's, 's, and 's campaigns. being the infant form of the, they rely almost entirely on the player for their survival.

Appearance
Slugpups are the juvenile versions of s, being roughly half the size of an adult (the player). The Slugpup's bodies and eyes come in a variety of different colors, with green and yellow hues being the most common and red and violet being the rarest.

Food
On the first cycle after sheltering with a Slugpup, 3 food pips are required to hibernate, and none can be stored for the next cycle.

On every subsequent cycle, 2 food pips are required to hibernate, while 1 may be stored for the next cycle.

Abilities & Behavior
Initially, Slugpups ignore the player until interacted with by means of grabbing or feeding. Upon being fed, Slugpups become friendly towards the player. Once sheltered with, a smaller food bar appears over the player's, indicating the Slugpup's hunger. Slugpups follow the player around unless distracted or given a stay command. Although Slugpups are capable of grabbing and eating food, such as on their own, the player may still need to feed them.

Slugpups can tug on the player and point, pick up and throw items like and jump over terrain. Upon entering a room with a hostile creature, like, any Slugpups that are not being held scatter. When captured, their food bar starts blinking red, alerting the player so they can save them. When killed, their food bar fades to a dull grey. While they cannot defend themselves when grabbed, if the player happens to be captured, they may throw spears and rubbish in an attempt to rescue them.

Every cycle, Slugpups have a chance to spawn in the current region inside a random The spawn chance differs per region, being relatively high in regions such as  and  (50% and 40%, respectively) and lower in regions such as  and  (5% and 15%, respectively). However, when factoring in the number of shelters per region and general difficulty, is a recommended region to search for Slugpups, as there is a moderate 25% chance and traversing from shelter to shelter is relatively easy.

Utility
Slugpups can hold extra and  for the player. Slugpups can also throw them to catch food and help the player escape when they are captured by a predator (e.g. a lizard). Slugpups deal the same amount of damage as, and can be surprisingly adept at killing or distracting creatures. When held, Slugpups may take hits for the Slugcat from Spears,  Dart Maggots, and  bites. On Expedition, their attacks count towards the player's challenges and score.

Training & Memory
Slugpups have memory of creature interactions and general player actions in-game. They typically watch and remember what the player does, which leads to them attempting to mimic them. Slugpups can learn to consider different creatures as threats, as well as learn to ignore others. Slugpups also learn to hunt and kill creatures that the player kills often.

Playing & Player Interaction
Slugpups can additionally be given certain commands.
 * If the player jumps while crouched (down + jump), the Slugpup is told to stay in their current location.
 * A singular jump without directional inputs tells a Slugpup to play with the player. In this "play with me" mode, Slugpups stick with the player more and stay closer to them.
 * A jump with the up direction held tells the Slugpup to stop playing with the player.

Idle Slugpups occasionally play with items and shuffle them around in their hands, as a form of fidgeting. They may also wiggle and jump around, and tug on the player's hand. Slugpups may also decide to nap while idle, laying down on the ground and closing their eyes.

Giving Slugpups items and gifts makes them like the player more, as they love playing with them. The player can also wiggle the Slugpup around a lot, which causes the Slugpup to jump and move around slowly as if dizzy.

Food Preferences
Slugpups have unique food preferences. If a Slugpup likes a type of food, it dances around in joy to a level according to how much it likes the food. However, if a Slugpup dislikes a type of food, it closes its eyes in disgust and shakes slightly.

Slugpup food preferences are impacted by personality traits, which can be modeled in the following table:

Personality
Slugpups have six personality traits that affect their behavior: sympathy, bravery, energy, nervousness, aggression, and dominance.

Out of these six, sympathy, bravery, and energy are hard-coded, and the other three traits are influenced by them.

Sympathy

Bravery

Energy

Nervousness

Aggression

Dominance

Variants & Attributes
Like other creatures in Rain World, Slugpups are vastly varying in appearance, as well as attributes that determine how they behave and interact with both the player and the world. These attributes, such as metabolism, stealth, balance, etc. affect their physical appearance and performance. This can be seen in the form of a Slugpup's color, wideness, speed, and lung capacity.

Slugpups have a wide range of color with multiple variables. Pups may come in either a pale or dark range of colors, which is determined in the game files by a variable called. Eye color is based on their body color, with darker Slugpups having pale eyes, and lighter Slugpups having dark-colored eyes.

Trivia

 * Slugpups are a reimagining of Cut Content: another version of Slugpups shown in alpha trailers, which had a different code base and was removed prior to release.
 * Successfully hibernating with a Slugpup for a few cycles grants the Passage of "The Mother." The more Slugpups you care for, the more progress is earned per hibernation.
 * Slugpups can eat, and upon consuming them shake sporadically for a short period of time; the player's perception is unaltered.
 * The ending cutscene in Journey's End for Survivor changes depending on the number of Slugpups the player brings with them.
 * Slugpups can be fed to and increase their tameness.
 * Slugpups can be targeted for tutorials by an . This is most likely an error in the entity being targeted.
 * While Slugpups are accessible to only three Slugcats, every region has a pupSpawnChance number in their properties file.
 * ,, , and have unique pupSpawnChance numbers in their properties files, despite pups being unable to spawn in their campaigns.
 * has a 25% pupSpawnChance in Garbage Wastes
 * has a 30% pupSpawnChance in Shaded Citadel, 1% in The Exterior, and 5% in Subterranean
 * has a 25% pupSpawnChance in Garbage Wastes
 * has a 2% pupSpawnChance in Outskirts, 15% in Industrial Complex, 25% in Garbage Wastes, 4% in Shoreline, 10% in Chimney Canopy, 12% in Farm Arrays, 5% in Subterranean, and 25% in Pipeyard


 * Slugpups cannot ascend with the Player, and are stopped by an invisible horizontal wall. They can swim up to the surface of the Void Sea if the player manages to take them there.
 * Slugpups also do not gain any Karma from or  and are attacked by  upon entering.