New Project Blog

Hi guys. This is the new blog for Cat and Bat. For some reason the last one stopped working completely.

I'll start with a quick update on the progress of the game. Omar and I have now completed the plan of interactions for the demo. All the major events are now worked out. Additionally I've now finished planning the screen by screen layout of the demo which will make it much easier for me to give you all more specific descriptions to create concept artwork from. I've put this layout down below and will explain the run-through of the demo as it currently stands.

Each grid space represents a screen of gameplay. The camera view is fixed and only changes when the player moves from one screen to the next. There are 14 screens in total for us to create for the demo (screens like (B,3) are inaccesable and for reference only). The full game will likely have sections where the camera follows the player but not for the demo. The yellow dotted line indicates areas that Cat can go. The orange blob at (C,4) refers to an abandoned nest inside the tree. The sizes of the characters shown is approximately right, Dog and Owl are significantly larger than Cat and Bat. This difference in scale may be exaggerated further. We're not going for realism here. I'm looking for something more expressive and this difference in scale makes the antagonists much more intimidating.

GAMEPLAY OF DEMO:

1. Cat (the player character) enters from the bottom left (A,1) and pursued but the vicious sound of Dog chasing him, runs into the hollow tree through a gap in the roots (A,2). 
2. Dog is unable to pursue as he is too large but he tries to reach his paw in to try to grab Cat every time Cat comes close(A,2). Cat is now trapped inside the tree.
3. With no alternatives, Cat begins to climb the tree looking for some way to escape. he climbs along the branches to see if they can lead to some form of escape but they don't. 
4. While on the branches, Cat can see his home in the distance where his owner is standing and calling to him. He calls back but is much too far away to be heard.
5. While ascending the tree, he encounters an abandoned nest, this nest looks warm and inviting and represents the only slightly comforting place Cat can reach in the demo.
6. The cat automatically rests in the Nest the first time you reach it. It subsequently acts as a place for the player to take Cat to rest and recover.
7.  As Cat ascends the tree further, he sees a family of bats flying around (D,3 D,4 E,3) through holes in the tree.
8. Reaching the top of the tree, he finds Owl perched on a branch. Intently watching the bats flying around below.
9. Owl then dives down, clearly intent on catching one of the bats. With no ability to go further, Cat is forced to go back down the tree too.
10. As Cat descends, he hears Owl has struck one of the bats and the cries of the injured bat can be heard
11. By following these sounds, Cat finds Owl perched on the broken part of the branch (C,2) with bat lying injured below and to the right. Owl has not finished him off as he is distracted by Dog barking and trying to jump at him (the dog is not seen but his attacks do knock the main branch causing it to shake
12. This distraction allows Cat to Pull Bat to safety unnoticed by Owl through the hole (3,C) that is too small for Owl to follow.
13. The moment Cat and Bat are safely through (3,C) Owl reaches his claw through the hole in an attempt to grab them. as before, this happens every time they come near. This effectively closes off access to the higher levels of the tree meaning Cat and Bat are now trapped between both predators.
14. Bat is still in shock at this stage so Cat must pull him down to the nest in order for him to recover. Once he is on the nest, he goes to sleep and cannot be interacted with.
15. Unable to go back up because of Owl, Cat then goes back down to the bottom to see if Dog is still there waiting for him. When he gets close to the entrance (A,2), Dog tries to put his head through the entrance to bite him, this will be more intimidating than the paw he used before.
16. At this point, the sound of breaking wood is heard above and the shriek of Owl.
17. With nowhere else to go, cat climbs back up the tree to find that Owl has broken into the nest through the rotten shell of the hollow tree (from the direction of (C,5) into (C,4)
18. The nest is largely covered by wood now and there is initially no sign of Bat whom Owl is clearly looking for. When Cat enters this screen, he is not visible to Owl and is relatively safe until he climbs up to where the two pathways merge where Owl will then chase and attack him.
19. Bat appears briefly, calling to cat from a hole (marked by the blue cross (C,4) then dissapears heading along the path marked by the blue dotted line
20. Cat is unable to follow directly as he can't hang upside down like Bat, so he must run to the left when the Owl is looking the other way and try to follow Bat along the branch before he notices.
21. Owl is soon in pursuit and chases Cat along the Branch which is looking increasingly precarious from the added weight of Owl.
22. Bat is waiting at the end of the branch (C,1) for Cat to jump on and he is able to fly him away from the tree.
23. Owl's weight as he gets towards the edge of the branch causes it to break and drop him into the reach of Dog (off screen again) and moments later he flies away scared.
24. The final shot shows Bat and Cat flying (tracking shot), relieved that they have escaped the situation while the credits roll. 
25. That's everything for the demo

CONCEPT ART

Ok so now we can actually start creating some specific concept art for some of the scenes using the layout image above as a reference. Try to keep the rough layout the same if you can but if you really feel you need to change something, then give it a try and we'll se if it can work afterwards. 

I'm going to assign specific scenes for each of us to create concept artwork for, if you want to swap with each other I don't mind but you need to stick to the selection of scenes I've specified. I want you to use a differrent visual style for each scene, Please experiment with ideas and take a few risks. The final design style will combine the best and most suitable ideas in all of our designs so variety is important. Try to stay true to the feel of the demo as described in the Project brief though. Anything that feels too sugar coated or zany will not be considered.

Garry: 1,4
Omar: 7,8
Joe: 5,13
Brian:  15,24

Get in touch if you have any questions :)