Sneaky Kitten
Game Designer
Released: Dec 2021
Game Engine : Unity
Date : 2020-2021
Development: Stopped
Game Description: Sneaky Kitten is a narrative driven third- person action-adventure game. The core gameplay is stealth, with some elements of platforming.
Eight Lives
Gameplay video from youtuber GLACIAL GAMING
Tasks and responsibilities
This game started as a school project back when I studied at Stockholm University. After graduating we started the company Eight Lives with the goal of releasing the game on Steam. I worked on this in my spare time while doing other jobs and studying at Future Games.
My tasks and responsibilities can be broken down into four areas:
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Level Design:
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I created one level from beginning to finished and was involved in the design process for the rest of the levels.
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I also created a metrics library.
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Gameplay Design:
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I designed, documented, prototyped, and implemented all gameplay elements together with the rest of the team.
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Narrative Design:
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Worldbuilding and writing the story.
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I worked closely with artists on the team to create the cutscenes
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I decided when the cutscenes should play in the game
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Lead Designer:
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I was responsible for communicating the vision of the game to the rest of the team.
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We used Scrum and I was responsible for the designers sprints.
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I was responsible for writing and updating the GDD
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Level Design
Level Design
What I did:
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Planned all levels, which included layouts, flow, narrative.
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I created one level from beginning to end, both level design and environmental set dressing, and I was involved in the process for the rest of the levels.
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I did blockouts using the tool ProBuilder in Unity.
Gallery showcasing both blockouts and finished levels I worked on
Adding hazards
To get more variety in the gameplay I designed the mechanics for a surveillance camera and laser security, which could then be used in the levels. This also suited well with the spy theme.
Video showcasing a room where the player encounter both surveillance cameras and laser security
Gameplay Design
Coming up with the core pillars for the game
The design process began with establishing the pillars for our game, which we could then use to guide us when designing the mechanics. The pillars:
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Sneaky
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Playful
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Problem Solving
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Non-violence
One thing we really wanted to push on was having no violence in the game. This was something we learned during a playtest of the first version of this game in university, where kids liked the game and parents appreciated that it was no violence. So this became one of our strongest selling points and an important thing I had to keep in mind when designing the mechanics.
Designing and implementing the enemies
When designing the enemy I began doing research by reading articles and watching videos on how enemies are designed in stealth games and common mistakes people make. I then wrote down pillars based on the research and the overall pillars for the game, so I could use that to better guide me through the design process. The pillars:
Enemy Pillars
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Transparent
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Consistent
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Intelligent
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Forgiving
I made a flow chart over the enemy statemachine which I could use as a base when implemented it in Unity using C#.
IGallery showing flowchart and detailed information about the AI system
Taking out enemies
Initially, there was no way to take out the enemies, but during playtesting we found that it was needed. When designing this mechanic I had to consider that one of the core pillars is "non-violence". This gave me the idea that the main enemies are robots that can be shut down, where the player can sneak up behind and turn them off by pulling down the tail, that is a lever.
Video demonstrating how the player can shut down the enemy robot dog by pulling down the tail.
Prototyping and balancing the game in my test scene.
I created a test scene where I put in all the mechanics in the game. This was used to test new mechanics, balance the game and find good metrics for the level design.
Video showcasing the test scene
Narrative Design
Worldbuilding
"Enter a world of cats and dogs who can both take human and animal form. Play as a newly recruited cat spy, assigned with a mission to investigate suspicious activities from a dog scientist. It has been rumored that the scientist has become completely mad and wants the dogs to take back power. The cat has to stop this before it is too late."
Growing up, I was a huge fan of stories about spies, so when designing the world and writing the story I drew inspiration from franchises like James Bond, Alex Rider, and Cherub. It was important to me that the main character was a spy and part of a secret agency.
Amazing Art from our artist Malin
Writing the Story
After the worldbuilding was finished I started writing the story for the game. As I was completely new to this I did some research on tools I could use to tell a story, leading me to use Hero's Journey to map out the story for the antagonist. The story and worldbuilding was then used as a foundation for the cutscenes, gameplay and level design.
Hero's Journey map for the protagonist made by me. (In Swedish)
Retrospective
We had a lot of struggles during this project. I think we underestimated the amount of time and energy starting an indie company takes away from development. This was also developed during covid which I think affected both our communication and motivation. Some people left along the the way so it was hard to finish the game, but a few of us kept on working and managed to finally release it.
Even though we had a lot of struggles I am so happy and proud that we created and released this game. Just seeing random players enjoy the game feels so rewarding. I also learned a lot which I can take with me for the rest of my career.