Lizard Doggo

The Lizard Doggo is a short reptilian dog-like creature, which can be tamed by the pioneer. It is widely viewed as the game's mascot after its initial appearance in the teaser trailer and was the first and only thing revealed about the game until the E3 Reveal Trailer. Internally it is referred to as "Shrimpy", or "Space Rabbit".

Appearance
Lizard Doggos are orange in color, with a white stripe on the underside of the belly, and about the height of a pioneer's knees. The parts of the face surrounding the eyes are also white in color. They have four eyes, long floppy ears, short legs, a shrimp-like tail, and scales on the back resembling a carapace and a distinctive blue tongue.

A Lizard Doggo's body language changes dramatically when tamed. Wild Lizard Doggos hold their spines level, maintain a flat expression, and keep rather still when not walking. Tamed Lizard Doggos hold their heads higher, move more, open their eyes wider, pant, and generally appear friendlier and more confident.

Behavior
It occasionally makes a bird-like sound, and will also sneeze at random. It wanders around and will run away from sprinting pioneers, but it can be tamed through the use of a Paleberry. Wild Lizard Doggos are cautious and normally maintain at least 16 meters distance from walking pioneers while looking at the pioneer. Tamed Lizard Doggos will also occasionally sit when the Pioneer is not around.

Taming

 * Doggos can be tamed using Paleberries, which can be found around grassy biomes.
 * Once a Lizard Doggo is found, stop moving and wait until it turns around and starts staring at the player.
 * Avoid running near the doggo (press to toggle).
 * Unequip Blade Runners, if they are equipped.
 * If the pioneer jumps too high or runs too far from the Lizard Doggos, they will become scared and start running away.
 * Open the Inventory. Hold down on the stack of Paleberries to split one from the stack. Drag the one Paleberry out of the Inventory window to drop it on the ground.
 * Dropping multiple Paleberries as a stack may result in the Doggo eating multiple berries, which is a waste. It usually eats only one, but may ate more than one berry by chance.
 * Once the Paleberry is dropped, wait until the Doggo comes over and eats the berry. Do not move while this happens.
 * After the doggo eats the berry, approach the doggo and press to pet.
 * If the procedure was done correctly, the doggo will jump up and begin smiling. It will make sounds of joy if approached by the pioneer now. This means it has been tamed. Its one-slot inventory can now be accessed upon interaction.
 * If nothing happens after the doggo is tamed, try walking further away and dropping another Paleberry to repeat the process. This might happen when the doggo was scared at one point.
 * has to be used to close the UI, closing with the top-right 'X' doesn't work properly.
 * You may now press to enable running and re-equip Blade Runners.
 * To prevent the doggo from getting lost or killed, it should be trapped in a pen. This can be for example a Foundation surrounded by Walls and a ceiling or four Walkway Turns. The step height of the Lizard Doggo is one meter, and they cannot jump.

If the owner dies, the doggo will forget it's been tamed and has to be re-tamed. Its inventory contents will not be lost, but it will not look for new items while untamed. In multiplayer, only the player who dropped the Paleberry to tame the doggo will be the owner, other players cannot interact with the doggo whatsoever.

Lizard Doggos will try their best to follow their owner, but if the player moves too far away, the Lizard Doggo will run away. If the player returns to the Lizard Doggo (for example, from far away), the Lizard Doggo will appear to be joyful: it will jump around and swing its ears. Getting around with your Lizard Doggo is quite a pain because they cannot keep up with anything faster than a walking Pioneer without Blade Runners.

Lizard Doggos can be killed by the player, hostile creatures, and from falling too far. Avoid combat and great heights with Lizard Doggos around. It does not drop any items on death.

Generating items
Tamed Lizard Doggos can be kept in a makeshift farm to gather items frequently.

At random intervals, one of the following items is generated at random in varying quantities in a tamed Lizard Doggo's inventory: Within the Lizard Doggo's inventory, the items are generated out of thin air: they do not remove any items in the world: for example, when a Doggo generates a Green Power Slug, the number of Green Power Slugs on the map will not reduce.

The Lizard Doggo can also be used as a mule of sorts, as the single inventory slot can be used to store an item. However, given the ease with which the Lizard Doggo is scared away, it is easy to lose items this way.

Uranium Waste disposal
When carrying Uranium or Uranium Waste, players receive radiation damage, but the Lizard Doggo does not. Besides, Uranium Waste can't be trashed, which makes it hard to dispose of. This can be dangerous at low tiers. To solve this, build two Storage Containers: One at the Lizard Doggo pen, the other at a location far away from the base, then connect them with a belt. If a Doggo brings you waste, first heal yourself to at least 30%, then pick up the waste and quickly move it into the Container. The belt will send the waste to the 2nd storage and this minimizes the received Radiation damage.

Another quick and dirty way is to kill the Lizard Doggo carrying the waste. Lizard doggos will respawn after approximately three in-game days (3 x 50 minutes) which only makes this method viable for the most patient players as respawning doggos will need to be found and tamed before being able to feed them more waste.

Multiplayer

 * In a multiplayer game, only the player who tamed the Doggo can interact with it and access its inventory.

Current issues

 * The Lizard Doggo's UI does not properly close when clicking the 'X' button. To properly close it, press.
 * Lizard Doggos can easily fall off high ledges, including elevated foundations, and die from fall damage. Avoid keeping them in high places.
 * Lizard Doggos can sometimes suddenly disappear when kept in an enclosure or pen. It happens when the player goes on an expedition for a longer time or moves too far away from the location. The risk of losing the pets is very high when the enclosure is on the ground without a foundation.
 * Their pathfinding will often result in them getting stuck on small protrusions and moving directly sideways along obstacles.

Media appearances

 * It occupies the entirety of the teaser trailer and can be seen attempting to eat a paleberry, while construction work can be heard and shadows and lights can be seen coming from behind the camera.
 * In the E3 Reveal Trailer it can briefly be seen riding a conveyor belt at 1:48.
 * It also made its appearance at the end of the Update 3 trailer.

Trivia

 * Lizard Doggo's name comes from the combination of its scaly appearance which suggests that it is some sort of reptile, but its behavior is comparable to that of a domestic dog.
 * "Doggo" is an informal affectionate term for a dog. It was initially used jokingly but made its way into the game itself.
 * The name "Lizard Doggo" was originally coined by YouTube commenter Chad Mojito.
 * The "Lizard Doggo" may even get its own plush in real life.
 * Lizard Doggos are supposed to be a cross of a rabbit and a shrimp that acts like a dog.
 * Lizard Doggos can ride on top of Trains or Trucks the same way pioneers can, which can be especially useful for transporting them long-distance.
 * The "real-life" Lizard Doggo featured in the Update 4 patch notes video reused one of the animations from the GDC 2018 Teaser Trailer.
 * The "real-life" Lizard Doggo featured in the Update 4 patch notes video was killed by Snutt with DrawingXaos' poster tube.

History

 * Patch 0.4.0.0: Added some additional animation, VFX and sound feedback to the Lizard Doggo
 * Patch 0.3.7.1: Fixed Lizard Doggos moving erratically
 * Patch 0.3.4.14:
 * Fixed a bug where Lizard Doggos could lose track of the player when they jump too high
 * Client players can now properly interact with Lizard Doggo inventories
 * Patch 0.1.11: Expanded the amount of resources Lizard Doggo can find
 * Patch Closed Alpha 3: Texture Tweaks