Priority Cats by Tom 7
Priority Cats in "It's dangerous to go alone. Take sis!"
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This is a short platformer written in Flash for the competition. I used (and modified) the same "physics engine" and tile library I used and modified for "Disco? Very!" and some other games. All the content is new and then some.
The chief innovation here is that the game is controlled entirely with mouse motion (no buttons). It's fairly intuitive, although it may be realistically frustrating. :) The ending should be pretty easy to find. If you're hardcore enough to collect everything then there's a little bit extra.
Features:
- 4 original tunes, some with lyrics and everything! A new record!
- 25 accessible rooms, some more interesting than others. :)
- Biologically plausible seeking behavior!
- Single-input gameplay! Go ahead and use an eye-tracker!
- Surprise ending!
I may polish up some of the jumps for a post-compo version, since some are fiddly. Hint: Line-of-sight matters and the cats have different behaviors.
I recorded a timelapse, with picture-in-picture webcam. It's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUphCeVHoWg
--------------------------------------------------------
This is a short platformer written in Flash for the competition. I used (and modified) the same "physics engine" and tile library I used and modified for "Disco? Very!" and some other games. All the content is new and then some.
The chief innovation here is that the game is controlled entirely with mouse motion (no buttons). It's fairly intuitive, although it may be realistically frustrating. :) The ending should be pretty easy to find. If you're hardcore enough to collect everything then there's a little bit extra.
Features:
- 4 original tunes, some with lyrics and everything! A new record!
- 25 accessible rooms, some more interesting than others. :)
- Biologically plausible seeking behavior!
- Single-input gameplay! Go ahead and use an eye-tracker!
- Surprise ending!
I may polish up some of the jumps for a post-compo version, since some are fiddly. Hint: Line-of-sight matters and the cats have different behaviors.
I recorded a timelapse, with picture-in-picture webcam. It's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUphCeVHoWg
Ratings
| Coolness | 4% | 142 |
| Overall | 3.56 | 33 |
| Audio | 4.26 | 2 |
| Community | 3.40 | 45 |
| Fun | 3.07 | 101 |
| Graphics | 3.52 | 62 |
| Humor | 3.40 | 28 |
| Innovation | 3.89 | 15 |
| Theme | 2.96 | 98 |
If you scrolled along the map instead of just changing the screen it would have been better. When you have to go up, in the following screen you'll appear in the botttom, but the pointer will still be in the top and it isn't easy to control the cats movements in that situation. Besides that, liked the controls and the initial music. GJ
The idea is clever, though, and has a lot of potential.
I like the player movement mechanism a lot. With a bit more iteration this could be really engaging.
Good work!
The control scheme is a different matter. I commend you, sir, for trying something as difficult as this :) For better and for worse, controlling two cats with a laser pointer is as difficult as it is in real life.
The theme didn't really seem to come into play as more than a nuisance when trying to get two cats up on a platform from a screen below, but really the game quite good none the less.
Some jumps were very frustrating. I stumbled into the end without feeling like I'd explored the place to my satisfaction.
Could do with a sound effect when you catch a fly, general cat sound effects would also be nice but possibly get frustrating quite quickly (not a reason not to do it though).
Loved the music, and the cat animations. As others have said, maybe scrolling levels rather than screen transitions?
Controls are a bit frustrating when getting them to jump.
The screen transitions were irritating as the pointer would effectively jump across the screen causing the cats to dash off wildly, usually back of the platform you spent ages trying to coax them onto. Quite fun once you get the hang of it.
The music is great though some sound effects would have been nice.
spoiler
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the tree top platform.. where you have to jump the gap and on to the high wall on the other side!(and from there on a moth flying at the top of the first screen) well, challenges your patience more than anything
It may look like a cute game but if you plan on making that last jump. . . it requires mastery of the game.
Very interesting and fun effort, however I think there are some design issues*
1. The orange cat is pretty much dead weight.
If the gray cat is hard enough to control.
The orange cat simply does not respond most of the time.
More often than not you are only controlling the gray cat and hoping the orange one stays put so she doesn't fall into some gap while the gray one is making his way to the intended goal.
This goes against the theme.
It is dangerous to go alone, yeah it is.. it is more dangerous to go together.
2. When you switch screen while jumping up, you often find that it is more difficult since it somehow affects control.
This is noticeable in the area where you can re-enter the forest from within the cave.
It is also noticeable on the way to the end, inside the cave.
3. The cat always seems to jump one moment too late.
This is noticeable when you have to make a quick jump.
It always seems like the cat jump is a little delayed.
Overall one of the cool games in the compo.
Whatever, if you're interested, I made a small review in french on my blog (http://oujevipo.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=398:priority-cats&catid=36:10-minutes&Itemid=55)