Catniptic is a 3D psychedelic platformer set in a cat's dream. Players grow and consume catnip to unlock more abilities as they battle against invading rats in the world. In the game, players must flatten mice to get coins, spend coins at shops to get catnip seeds, plant them and collect the catnip, then return to the cat house to convert the catnip to levels. As the game progresses, the world evolves with each cat level, with mice becoming bigger, cars getting faster, and new areas becoming accessible.
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My goal with this project was to invoke cat-like play within a video game. As I made this project, I was in deep thought about how cats view the world. Along with the types of actions they do, what they are scared of, what they think, and what is fun for them.
Catniptics’ strengths are in the silly animations, gameplay mechanics, and objectives. These were informed by my research of the game Goat Simulator, along with the effects of catnip on cats. To keep things fresh the game evolves with each level of catnip consumed in the cat house. The player gets faster, stronger, and bigger. Along with a plethora of additional wacky game-changing abilities.