Hi all,
Rapid progress has been made on Scaredy Cat over the past few weeks with strides in NPC AI, refining existing systems, LOTS of (heavy and darkly funny) writing and designing engaging, well-integrated narrative and level/puzzle content.
Here's a breakdown of our recent developments:
👯♀️ Integration of Story and Level/Puzzle Design
As a narrative designer, tying the story into the (best suited style of) gameplay in a satisfying and natural way has been one of the most fun (sometimes, type 2 fun) challenges on Scaredy Cat. Therefore, much of this dev cycle has been iterating on this.
- Introduced a series of cognitive and environmental puzzles that complement the narrative into each level - leaning into more puzzle-oriented levels fits the mystery genre and breaks up the pace of gameplay
- Wrote and implemented narrative content to support each level, including NPC conversations, clue object text, puzzle dialogue and barks
- Brought several important game locations to life including Conhaven downtown with distinct districts, a city park, Aerocorp headquarters, new hospital variant for a childhood memory scene
- Refined the flow for the first level (Camille's Loft) which helped better inform the narrative delivery strategy across the remaining levels
- Set up quest scaffolding to support levels and updated quest assets for each pet-sitting level location
✨ Spectacle!
- Added new art assets, which included more urban assets such as moving trains and city props, to signficantly overhaul Conhaven, the main city hub A little video clip.
- Implemented a subtle dust trail effect behind the player, which updates based on their velocity if they are in an outdoor environment
- Improvements to sky object spawning system (changed from cloud spawning to a generic sky spawning system) so it can support all types of objects moving overhead - more randomness and variability in results Click for GIF.
- Experimented with new monster sprites
- Wind shader has been applied to some nature and other environmental dressing to create a more immersive atmosphere Click for GIFs.
- Iterations to lighting and post-processing to enhance the game's visual appeal, as well as an improved lighting workflow for quicker scene dressing
🤖 NPC AI
- Implemented follower and wanderer scripts for navmesh AI and set up animator override controllers for wanderers/followers Wanderer GIF.
- Added functionality to send NPCs away or to another target if they are engaged in conversation while wandering
- Set up navmeshes for several areas to test with pets and other NPCs
🔊 Audio and Immersion
- Introduced spatial audio for more dynamic experience
- Implemented audio for walking on different surfaces and added sound effects to various objects, such as the arcade machine
Misc: UI Quality of Life Improvements, Bug Fixes
- Updated the UI for the dialogue system and made changes to the journal UI for a better user experience
- Fixed various bugs, such as issues with wanderer scripts and teleporters, and teleport issue caused by no default cam zoom being set
Upcoming Developments
The coming weeks on Scaredy Cat are about refining gameplay mechanics, implementing more narrative content and polishing the overall experience. I'll likely be taking more of a break from social channels to really focus on making Scaredy Cat the best it can be, but will try to squeeze in smaller development updates on the below channels:
X: @aeiogames
Threads: @aeiogames
TikTok: @aeiogames
YouTube: aeio_games
Instagram: @aeiogames
Bluesky: @aeiogames.bsky.social
Thank you for your continued support and interest in Scaredy Cat. If there's something specific you'd like to hear more about - about the characters and lore of the world, other gameplay specifics, whatever's on your mind - drop a comment and we'll do our best to bring you the updates you're most curious about.
Sincerely,
Mel and the Scaredy Cat Team 🖤