Description

How to Summon a Cat (for dummies) is a simple game about summoning a cat, as the non-explicit title implies. Having access to an assortment of items, players need to juggle their position on the field as to attract the feline companion closer and closer. Some items attract the cat, while others make the creature veer out in opposite directions. By combining both, the summoning might be achieved.

Contribution

As it is usual with game jam games, there is an overarching theme guiding the projects created, but this time around, regarding the 55th edition of Ludum Dare, the "Summoning" theme had us a bit stumped. Having spent most of the first 24 hours going back and forth on the course of action, with several ideas being rejected for varying motives, we ended up landing on the possible chaotic nature of luring a cat by throwing objects at it, scraping by in the remaining time we had.

In terms of task sortment, dev wise the project had a pretty unique approach, with the cat implementation being divided into head and body. While I seized myself the body portion of the ordeal, both entities had to communicate with each other, so while they were developed by different people, the process was done in such a way that entry points were established allowing for such communication to occur. Even then, the balancing of both entities' state machines could use some work, as well as some design decisions regarding the throwable items, preventing "repel items" from just being chucked away, for example.