Cat-astrophe Proposal
Cat-astrophe is a game where you play as a cat with one humble goal: to destroy your human’s life. If you wreak enough havoc in her apartment then she’ll have to give you attention, right? The game mechanics will be simple, look around (move mouse) , walk into things to knock them over (WASD), jump onto the desk (spacebar), paw the computer power button (right click), bite the headphone cable (left click).
The player character in this game is a cat, who lives alone with their* human. The human is a grad student, who has been spending long, sleepless nights slaving away at her thesis, rather than playing with her cat. Tonight she pays. (Gender of the cat is undecided, while I consider punny names).
The game will take place in a studio apartment, where this cat and their owner live. Large landmarks will include the bed area, the living room with a desk, the bathroom, and the kitchen. The setting is modern day, in the afternoon. Some key objects will include the computer setup (featuring a monitor, a keyboard, and mouse), and some easy to knock over objects like a blender, a lamp, a plant, etc. The gameplay hook is the simple joy of chaos. Players will enjoy seeing what they can toss around and ruin in this contained area.
My intended audience is people who like cats and people who like chaos. It will be designed to appeal to a wide demographic, as children can enjoy the chaos of a cute cat throwing things, and older players will wince at the pain that the human will feel when they get home. I think the cuteness of the cat will be important to appeal to players, the cat should seem devious, but still very cute.
The game style is a comedic adventure game. And I want players to feel like devious problem starters. The experience goals include funny moments, both from laughing at the grad students room, and the laughter that could come from messing it up.
For the art style, I am thinking of using a cel shader, with an environment with realistic proportions. The art should be relatively simple, to fit with the genre. I also want to use more interesting colors than are usually present in realism. In terms of art comparables, I want it to be shaded similarly to the shading on link in Breath of the Wild.
Finally, I’m thinking of using a third person view, so that the player can enjoy watching the cat cause chaos.
Concept Sketch
Reference Images
I am very pleased that your game is about an animal because I love animals! Was this game inspired by your own pet cat?
Yes it was! I have an older cat who hardly ever causes mischief, but recently I adopted a kitten, and she causes so much mischief that I can’t help but wonder if its on purpose like in this game lol
I am happy that you chose a lighthearted theme, but also are attempting some interesting color schemes. I think the fun colors will make for a more interesting game environment. My question is will you be creating a 3D model of a cat with more detail, or less detail? Will the cat be more cartoony?
I am thinking of making a more stylized and cartoony cat, because I think it will fit well in the environment, but I also want some stylized details, like the hair spikes that I drew on the chest and the ears.
The idea of playing as a mischievous cat is fun. Will the player character have some kind of risk factor to more strategically ruin their human’s life?
I considered making it so that the character had to cause mischief without waking up a human who is asleep in the apartment, but I decided that applying those sorts of consequences and risk would be hard for me to do on my own in Unity, so I left it out. Maybe a cool idea would be to have a tutorial level without risk, but for later levels in the game to include risks.
I love your moodboard for this game and can see this being a super fun game to get into. Do you plan to counteract the smaller level size with more clutter? Will that clutter be mostly decorative, or interactive?
I love cats and have worked cats into many games I’ve worked on haha. Do you plan on having any outdoor areas or will the scene be entirely indoors? This is purely based on the suggestions on Canvas which I think are meant to encourage learning different lighting and environments. A small balcony with plants and hang-drying clothes could be fun.
A destructive cat only further solidifies that all cat owners are just slaves to their cat master. Jokes aside, I love cats so this is a great idea. Are you planning on having a climbing element for the cat (can climb certain objects or walls)? OR will it mostly be platforming from one shelf to another for example?
This is a really fun concept and I can see this game being a blast to play. It seems like you’ve specifically emphasized the interactions the player can have with the objects around the human’s computer, will other areas of the house have a similar number of objects with unique interactions?