Yes yes and one more time yes!
We actually managed to finish the game with all of the features that we had planned for. The full game includes 14 game modes AND a gory secret mode for the real blood-thirsty hunters. There hints on how to activate this in the game. Or you may join our Discord to look it up.
But I'll probably just blurt it out loud if anyone asks. No worries.
. . .
Now I really don't know what more could I say that is not already displayed on our Store page about the game itself. But I can tell you a little story about how this game came to be.
Because the journey here has been a long and stressful one. So... basic game development.
For three years I made a game for my cat, Blanca. It has now finally finished. But she doesn’t even care. And neither did anyone else. That’s okay. I almost went nuts though. This is a short story about the insanity of finishing something you’ve started.
Today is the official release day of Play With Your Cat!. It is a multi-platform game where you control simple virtual objects on the screen for your actual cat to chase and whack.
A concept which was born when I saw how much my cat, Blanca (in the image), loves to play with the TV. The game works much like those cat-tv YouTube videos, but with the significant difference being that you’d have full control on the action. Never have I come across a similar application, so it had to be made.
Back in uni I did my thesis on domestic cat’s and virtual game objects. The study prototype got such a positive reception from all of the 14 game tester cats that I wanted to turn it into a game available world wide.
I managed to lure a few buds and a loved one to join in the project. I recall phrases like “A short 6 mo project tops. A high chance to go viral. Passive income. Quick and easy.”
Oh boy. Now three years later the insanity is finally over. Mostly at least. And this does not include the early solo prototype phases. Though back then it was still fun.
We all did this fully in our spare time which takes its toll of course. The goal was never to break the bank with this thing. Although I was naively hopefully hopeful that *maybe* with some luck this could be something.
I think we launched Android after maybe a year of development. It was the cheapest and most familiar virtual platform for us. I’ve been working on games for the past 6 years now, but mainly on art. I like to do everything myself. But all this business crap, marketing, taxes and stuff was all new to me.
Man I hate those. But you can’t really be a CEO of your own company if you know diddly-squat about ‘em.
And Google Play Console. Know two things about it. If you ever wonder “what does that button do”, you should really find out BEFORE pressing it. Because there are some pret-ty nifty pitfalls that you cannot undo.
All those social media business suites are another world of pain. At some point we were over 3 months in a limbo where the game was ready for launch, but we had no rights to use our Google Play link in our Meta ads. Everything was done right, but Google and Meta were passing us around like a bullet ball.
And this is a thing that unites these companies; they couldn't care less about your tiny little game.
So try not to mess anything up. Because they don’t read anything you write to them.
. . .
Anyway, for the Android we went with the free-to-play ‘demo’ format. Only without any ads, as they were the main complaint with all those AI pet game apps. And no wonder. They constantly break the action and cause your cats to order stuff from Temu.
The launch? A total dud. Hardly anyone played it. No matter how much we shared free keys around the cat-Instagram and posted these “killer shorts” around social media.
Marketing a stupid game with nearly a zero-budget and limited time is hard as it turns out.
Funny thing is that our targeted Meta ad clicks cost was like below 0,01 €. At some point it was rounded 0,00 €. So it was super duper cheap. Only issue was that there were hardly any downloads. I guess people were just clicking for more funny cat gaming...
We tried to iterate the tags and creatives unsuccessfully. And later on gave up and moved on towards PC build.
So, even when you think that your creatives and videos are *pure gold* and sure-to-go-viral type. Be ready for a shocker.
Because the chances are that no one sees and / or cares about your little game unless it’s something really special. So you’ll have to be ready for that.
Unless you already know what you are actually doing and have a proper marketing strategy planned, know that learning and executing all this takes time and energy.
“Okay. No worries. The big screen is the way to go anyway. We’ll make the PC version which people can then project on basically any screen.”
It was true that the PC was always the main platform for the game. The bigger the panel, the better the play. As I’ve seen when testing the games with over 20 cats over the years.
Mobile devices do have touch recognition, but our cats seemed to prefer the bigger play area over the touch functionality crystal clearly.
But who wants to let their cat play with their TV with the potential that they might damage it or fully destroy it? Turns out that not too many.
The fact that my Sony LCD TV panel from 2014, has taken 5 years of cat’s physical play without a single scratch or a dead pixel on it is still kind of a null pointer. As the durability is completely dependent on the screen in-use. And it’s panel stand. Aaand if the owners trim their cat’s nails.
So yeah, a super niche product.
This is a game for people who are willing to take a chance that their pet might or might not destroy their screens as they potentially hurt themselves if underprepared. Worst case scenario of course. Because the game can be projected pretty much anywhere. Which was the point of the PC build. Not the breaking and hurting part.
Obviously the idea is to use it with panels that actually *are* durable enough not to break. Like my oldie goldie yet still so amazing Sony TV. Did I mention? Not a scratch. Over 20 different cats.
However, for the users to start researching if *their* panels would possibly be strong and sturdy enough is a pretty high expectation.
At this point a team member fully lost morale. Which is totally understandable. We’ve been running towards a brick wall with this whole concept for way too long already. Spending our precious free time on a dud just to finish it. With the obviously high chance that the game would ever become basically… anything. But because of this we had multiple failures joining Steam Next Fest, which I really wanted as we had failed to gain any free visibility.
The game had become my personal obsession at this point.
“We’ve come so far. Everything is like 90% done. It would be foolish not to see what happens even if it fails.”
I had been telling that to myself (and the team) probably for a year at this point.
When you do everything yourself with a small team living their busy lives and wasting their time on a nonsense game you tend to… procrastinate. And we now had one less programmer to develop the PC port.
Dear lordy, the last days of the development have been hell to get done with. As I write this, the game is button-press-ready to be launched on Steam.
I mentioned before that this nightmare is finally over. Sadly, that is a lie. Because I still have to prepare all possible guerrilla marketing plans and schemes that I can possibly muster out of myself.
And possibly start contacting companies who might be willing to take this devil’s spawn off of our hands. Companies with the resources to market this to the right people. People with cats, solidly built TV’s and gaming controllers.
For that specific group this is the most polished, thought-out and best god dang doozie of a game they’ll find on the market.
Anyway,
We participated in the Steam Next Fest February 25. Now this was actually an enjoyable and interesting week. We got 4 / 5 of our wishlists that week completely free of charge. It was fun to keep track of the stream watchers and other numbers. Even if they were little.
But if you scale that number up with some smarted and more appealing product, with actual meaningful numbers, that might be a pretty big deal for you.
Do the Next Fest.
I pre-recorded a sort of introductory video about the game which can be found on our Steam page. As this game was not very suitable for live streaming. Cats average playtime is 5-15 min. When they feel like it.
Now with a whopping 666 wishlists we are finally finished with the game and ready to launch the game. And we are closing in on the present day as I write this.
I have zero expectations for the launch. But I could not be happier. We have finally finished this project development-wise (another lie) with such thought and polish to it.
The whole scope of the game grew exponentially during the development. Regarding the modes and the features, but we still made it all happen.
*Except for a stand-alone phone controller app for Android users without a gaming controller at hand. That would have been a life saver for all those 400 Android users we got. Totally not a waste of solid 4 months.*
I am super proud of our core team who stood with this foolish expedition until the very end. Could not appreciate the time and work they have put into this thing in their spare time, no matter the circumstances.
We created a quality cat game application which design choices are based on animal-computer interaction science, and which has been developed in a constant feedback loop with our lovely designer / gamer cats, Blanca (16yo), Tiivi (6yo) and Kirppuliina (9mo) <3
It is a game that has never-before seen mechanics like the ability to fully take control of the action on the screen. Thus providing you the best damn tools for interspecies computer-mediated play a cat could pray for.
Not to mention that we are the first and only interspecies game on Steam which is also kinda cool.
Blanca, who originally gave me the idea, has been actively playing my prototypes for the past 5 years regularly irregularly. Only now as she’s soon turning 17 she has started to lose interest in virtual gaming. But for a long time this was one of her favourite activities which always got her excited.
Thank you Blanca for this horrible plague of an idea. But because of you cats around the world with very specific homes are able to enjoy a game truly developed *with and for cats* prioritizing the cat’s preferences to the max.
This game is Blanca’s legacy for gamer cats all around the world.
What has your cat done with its life?
Mine almost drove me mad.
Addition:
Blanca posing with her game now live on Steam. Totally not a bribed photo.