The Game Design and Interactive Media capstone group’s goal this semester was to bring the spy in Spy Cats and create a new level. We started the semester by brainstorming new mechanics, the story of Spy Cats, and level ideas. Then, we moved on to create the 2nd level in the game.

First, we started with brainstorming mechanics, where we had over a dozen ideas split into categories such as combat, movement, and abilities. Below is a screenshot of our jam board with all that we brainstormed.

That's a lot of ideas! We're a small team with a limited amount of time to work on the game, which means we're unable to do everything, so the team narrowed the list down to a handful. The ideas we decided to run with for abilities are the extendo-tail, where the player can use their tail to attack enemies from a distance, the meow enhancer, which players use to stun enemies, and the hacking ability, which sees the player complete a minigame to unlock doors and other secrets as they traverse the level. For movement, we decided to include wall climbing and a jump boost. Lastly, we decided to include the ability for the players to disguise themselves from enemies.

Next, we brainstormed ideas for future levels and changes to the level currently in the game. Below is a screenshot of the several different ideas we had. Just as the mechanics, we narrowed this list of ideas to three and decided on one to work on this semester.

Now that the brainstorming sessions were done, we got to work on creating the level and programming the new mechanics we decided on for the semester. The team started with programming the wall-climbing mechanic and drafting concepts of the main and the sub-world we decided to include at the research facility level. Below is a video showing the wall climbing mechanic in action.

While the programming team got to work on the wall climbing mechanic, the level design team started blocking the vents subworld in-engine after the concept paper drafts were made. Here, players use the wall-climbing mechanic to traverse a maze-like world as they travel between floors. As the design team started work on the new mission, the art team drew concepts for new enemies that players may encounter.

The level design team then moved on to blocking the main world. Here, the player must traverse the different floors of the facility, find notes, fight rats, and avoid detection by the security cameras to find out what the rats are doing in the facility at night. Below is a video showing off the completed first version of the level.

And that's the progress we have made on Spy Cats this semester. Stay tuned for future Spy Cats Intel reports, and please wishlist the game!