While the project is purely entertainment based, my goals for it reflect my personal ideals as a developer; ones which are not as common in the current market as I would hope. They include: to create a game that will appeal to an audience of all genders and a wide range of ages; to be non-violent; to include references to various global locales; and to be engaging for the mind [puzzle-based].

Taddug Media produces a number of interactive experience, with an emphasis on mobile content. I designed and am currently developing a 3D mobile game for them entitled “Catnap” in which the player controls a feline who desires nothing more than to seek out sunlight in which to nap. “Catnap” is a 3D puzzle game in isometric view built in the Unity engine for the mobile tablet market. The player uses taps and swipes to both move the cat within the game space and to interact with obstacles throughout the environment.

Each series of levels includes incentives for unlocking future levels, including new environments to explore and new cats with which to play. The cats and environments are based on different appealing themes such as various global destinations and time periods.

Basic mechanics include tap to move your cat, swipe to dislodge items that are obscuring light, shake to destroy distracting items, and drag items to remove temptations to your cat such as mice, fish, etc.

With the goal of moving your cat into the light, various challenges exist: the light sources move [i.e. the sunlight moves from one window to another], the light sources are blocked [i.e. a curtain covers a window, a shade covers a lamp, dust covers and opening], some light sources are not as powerful as others so will not provide as much ‘happiness’, and finally, distracting objects will cause your cat to move to and remain with them yet provide no light. These come in two forms — inanimate distractions that must be removed and animate distractions such as mice or fish which must be encouraged to leave the environment. The final mechanic is the collection of coins which disappear after set intervals of time and can only be accrued by having your cat walk to them. The ability to successfully complete a level requires the acquisition of said coins as well as maintaining your cat’s happiness level for the duration of the level timer which entails reaching and napping in light for a sufficient amount of time.

Currently, I serve as lead programmer, designer, and production lead for the three other members responsible for art, audio, and secondary programming respectively. My role as programmer includes developing and maintaining the programming bible, creating modular classes in C# which are game specific, and integrating the mobile input library. I have created a state manager integrated into the animation manager, a light-source manager for use with the level design tools package, a player statistics manager, and progress manager integrated into an existing level GUI [Graphical User Interface].  I am also the build manager and lead algorithm designer.

I was fortunate enough to have an intern, Jason Oliva, who was a tremendous asset programming the social media integration and level upgrade system, rapidly, efficiently, and independently. Also, he kindly provided 2D menu artwork for his development work — showcased here.