CATastrophe Initial Thoughts

I wrote this when I first was spit-balling concepts for my second game for the Game Engine Lab class. I am posting it here so I can keep everything in one place.

Life hit the fan in the past week and is currently inhibiting the fan’s movement and it’s sort of short circuiting and smoking, but who cares? I wanted to give an update for the next game I am making for the Game Engine Lab course! Here’s where I am at with CATastrophe (working title).

Quick reflection: 

So I have had a week or so to get started on this version, but I have not had the time between all of the projects I have to do. However, that did not stop me from thinking about what I wanted to do. As with the last one, we have requirements we need to fill for this assignment. A few of them are the same, but this time we need to include more mechanics and an AI.

I decided to focus on creating the mechanics first and then creating everything around it. I started by brainstorming common mechanics: running, jumping, shooting, healing, and so on. I considered doing a camouflage mechanic, which made me think of an octopus. I started brainstorming different mechanics a player could use as an octopus, thought of what the challenge could be (the most obvious being escape form the aquarium). However, there was no free octopus model in Unity’s Asset Store. Instead, there was a cute free cat model, so I decided to go with a cat game.

The early concept:

The player controls a cute cat whose goal is to get through the day without making the owner so mad they kick the player out of the house. The goal is to let the players feel what it’s like to be a cat for a day. They can do this by simply doing nothing until time is up, but that would get boring. Instead, the player should try to cause as much damage (collecting points for each object damaged) while keeping the owner’s anger meter down. The cat is able to run, jump, scratch, push objects, hide, and nap. The biggest mechanic I want to implement is, as I call it, “Cute Eyes”: the player activates the special skill allowing them to lessen the owner’s anger. If the player maxes the owner’s anger meter, then they loose; if they manage to get through the day, then they win.

Side Note:

Now, I was not aware at the time that there is a game with a similar concept of “being a cat destroying everything” called Catlateral Damage(such a good name). With that in mind, I will be focusing mainly on the interactions between the owner and the player’s character. What I want to try to portray in this game is why cats have a tendency to destroy things: (1) because they get bored and (2) because they want to see how much they can get away with because (3) they know they can get away with a LOT.

Now that my initial thoughts are out on the table, I will be creating a separate post that I will be continuously editing with what tangible updates have been made up until I turn in the game.