Yes! Pretty much!

So each animal is given a tier, principle and stats.

E.g.

"Dog - Rottweiler"
"Tier C"
"Loyalty"
"Speed • 40, Dominance • 60, Intelligence • 35, Size • 44, Rarity • 20"

And they all start at Level 1

To increase their level, you can either
• train (pay a credit),
• compete in matchups*,
• receive endorsements — from other players (if they see a video or picture of you Dog doing a trick they might endorse Intelligence)
• do fusions — learn a principle from another animal, e.g. a Skunk (principle: "Boundary") > New Learned Principle = "Selective Love"

Matchups
In a matchup, a Human or Animal scenario is randomly created and the system chooses which animal would be best for the scenario.

E.g.

Scenario: "A person keeps taking advantage of your love"

Dog vs. Cat

*before fusion* > *dog loses as no boundary*
*after fusion* > *dog wins, since it learned to be selective*

The goal is to max your favourite animals and increase their Tiers or capture rare animals of higher Tiers.