Games Cultures ‘Kat Snatch’

Background story Nanny Mc Phee is a senile 82 year old lady living in the suburbs of Pleasant Ville. As a very forgetful granny, she decided to home a cat for every person she came across for as long as she can remember…

Unfortunately one afternoon after nanny had her dentures cleaned she found all her cats stuck in the tree in her back garden. So she asks her next door neighbor to help her retrieve them in return for some home baked cookies. Background Story

The game You play as either

The game The game interface is constantly scrolling. You have to climb your way up the tree while collecting nanny Mc Phee’s cats. You will use the arrow keys to climb up or down the tree or move left to right. You will use the space bar to jump to the branches above you. It is possible for you to move too slowly for the scrolling of the interface, if this happens its Game Over!

The game There is a certain amount of cats to collect before proceeding to the next level. These cats must be collected within the time allocated. If the time runs out its Game Over!

Comparison to Apple Catch Apple catch was very simple, this meant that players would become bored and stop playing. It was lacking the element of challenge. To create this element, we added the use of time. In addition to this we created enemies that needed to be avoided. The enemies affected various aspects of the game. In particular the life of the character. If you life bar runs out its Game Over!

Enemies Coming into contact with the wrong cats causes the game pace to speed up for a few seconds. Squirrels cause the deduction of time Bats cause the deduction of life

Comparison to Apple Catch Users can also become bored or stop playing a game if the game is too difficult. The game needs to be hard enough but not too out of reach. It needs to be attainable. To combat the affect of the enemies, we introduced objects that do the opposite affect of what the enemies do.

Objects Golden leaves make you invincible for a few seconds and completely fill your life bar. Green leaves increases your time. Red leaves slow the pace of the game.

Energy In addition to enemies and life saving objects, we are also using the concept of energy. As you can imagine climbing a tree uses up a lot of energy! As you progress in the game, your energy will deplete. So to maintain high energy levels you will need to eat the fruit available to you from the tree. If you are unable to maintain a high enough energy level to continue its Game Over!

Levels After completing each level the player has an opportunity to collecting bonus points as he or she parachutes down to the ground Each level will basically remain the same. The only differences are: Faster game speed Shorter time limit More cats to collect

Interface There will be a ‘how to play’ and ‘options’ screen The interface in game will compose of: A life bar An energy bar ( shaped like an apple) A counter for the cats A counter for the points During game play phrases such as ‘well done’ and ‘try again’ will appear on the screen.

Sound Sound is integral to our game. As we have seen in Apple catch, sound plays a large part in creating player satisfaction. In addition to sounds that you may hear when coming into contact with objects or when collecting/ or loosing something, we will also be using phrases such as ‘oh yeah’, which occur when you achieve a portion of the objective.

Why is this game better ? There is an element of challenge (enemies prevent you from achieving your objective, and you have a time limit) Your efforts do not go unnoticed, you are rewarded with points and acknowledgements of your achievements through the interface This game creates another dynamic. One that is controlled by the player themselves (Energy Bar) There is a purpose for playing. Nanny Mc Phee needs her cats back and you want those home made cookies !

Things that maybe reconsidered This game may prove too difficult to produce in the time given. If this is the case we will re consider the following: The use of a life bar can be changed to 3 lives that disappear each time you get hit. The use of an energy bar, the game may be immersive enough without it. The extra points that can be collected is just a bonus for doing so well, therefore it wont be missed if time is a problem for us.

Sketches of in game appearance This was the first sketch completed when generating the idea This is the second sketch. This was done after we developed the idea further. It is more detailed.

Sketches of characters/objects

Sketches of the interface