Connected Games DEVLOG 1 (Jan 20 - Feb 8 2026)

Starting Out

Two weeks ago I formed a team in my Connected Games Development module and we were tasked with creating a multiplayer game by April. Some of the marking criteria included extra points for having elements of the game stored in the back end database. With this in mind, we set out to ideate for a game that would be simple enough to make in our time allotted while still being complex enough to be replayable.

Out of all our ideas, we landed on Cat-astrophe, a co-op game where players would take the role of cats trying to cause as much chaos as possible. The game would take place in a smaller map, and the objective would be to fill up a chaos meter within a time limit. There will be other constraints as well, such as a hunger bar the players have to keep an eye on and enemy AI patrolling and looking for cats. Our enemies would be kids trying to stop the cats from causing chaos, as in our game the mess gets blamed on the kids. We also want to introduce a level of meta progression, so there will be side objectives for players to complete. These objectives will give the players points they can spend in an in-between round shop where they can buy upgrades, items, and potentially cosmetics if we have the time to implement that.

While trying to figure out where to take our game, we decided on including "puzzles". Quotes being because they'd be more about level design and how the players will interact with it. The idea is that these will be separate from tasks because we want them to be optional for a reward. We also decided that as the round progresses, things will get more and more chaotic. The enemy AI will get more erratic and due to the scarcity of the food the player's hunger bar will be more empty, causing them to be more detectable.

Ironing out Details

Before we even fully settled on a concept, the programmers were already working on getting a network and database set up. We knew we really wanted to shoot for the database criteria. The designers and programmers are pretty much on the same page about wanting to make sure each other has the chance to really shine. On the design side of things, I made a to-do list of things we needed to work on. The idea is that we'd all have separate things to work on that we could later discuss in a meeting. We also set up weekly meetings outside of class with the whole team so we can discuss what we've been working on and our ideas about the game.

This week, I worked on the player character summary, Distraction Design, and the Shop Design. For player character summary, I laid out who the players were playing as (housecats), what their abilities were, and I made a few sketches as well.

These are some preliminary sketches on how our cats might move. Distractions are similar to the puzzles I mentioned earlier in that they are optional and dependent on the level design. They would be instances where the players can set up a scenario that would "distract" the enemy AI (break it from its patrol cycle) and allow the players time to do puzzles or tasks without interruption. For now, I designed 4 potential distractions. They vary in difficulty to achieve, and that is reflected in how long they would last. One of the easier ones is the players find a remote, turn on the TV in the living room, and the kids get distracted for 45 seconds. Another more difficult one is the player having to get into the pantry, climb all the way to the top without knocking things over and making noise, and finding fruit snacks they could then plant anywhere they want. This more difficult distraction would keep the enemies occupied for 1 minute and 15 seconds. I will point out that until we do more maths and testing, these timings are up for change.

For the shop design, I listed out the things you could get at the shop, what they do, and how much they cost. I also put in placeholder numerical values and like the timings of distractions, these will be up for change when more maths are done. For example, I said the first speed upgrade would make the player 10% faster than their base speed. I also laid out how the shop out work. Everything you could buy would be a physical item the player will have to pick up and put in their basket. The items are randomized every shop visit, adding some R&G to the game.

Next Steps

Right now because of all the groundwork our team has laid out, we have a solid idea of what we want to make and what everyone has to do to make that happen. Us designers need to make sure we have a first draft of everything done by the end of this week so that programmers have a clear idea of what they need to implement. I think I should also make an implementation list to make things very clear for programmers.