"Little Kitty, Big City: Former Half-Life Developer Crafts a Hit Game for His Children"

One unexpected success story this May is the game Little Kitty, Big City. Since its launch on May 9, the heartwarming adventure game featuring a cat's quest to find its home has seen tremendous popularity, selling more than 100,000 copies within 48 hours. Additionally, it has amassed over a million plays on Game Pass and is consistently among the top five downloads on the Nintendo eShop.

This overwhelming success has pleasantly surprised the game’s creator, Double Dagger Studio, a new company led by Matt T. Wood.

With a game development career starting at 3D Realms in the late '90s and spanning over 16 years at Valve, Wood eventually ventured out to establish his own studio. The formation of Double Dagger Studio stemmed from Wood’s aspiration to explore new challenges within the gaming industry.

"Choosing to leave Valve was incredibly difficult," Wood admits. "It was an excellent place to work, but I wanted to pursue fresh challenges and innovate in the industry. Establishing new partnerships and trying different things was crucial for me."

Striking out on his own also allowed Wood to spend more quality time with his three children, who became his primary sounding board for game ideas. Though he tried various prototypes, the concept of playing as a cat resonated most with them.

"I quickly put together a prototype and shared it online. It went viral, much to my surprise," Wood recalls. "Seeing the interest, I decided to develop the idea further."

The main challenge was defining what actions should be available to a player embodying a cat – capturing that unique sense of feline behavior and interaction. Wood wanted to ensure the game maintained that core feeling of joy people experience from watching or interacting with cats.

"The challenge was translating that spark and connection of playing as a cat into an engaging interactive experience," explains Wood. For instance, early iterations of Little Kitty, Big City featured survival elements, but this brought unwanted stress and danger into the game, something Wood wanted to avoid.

"I soon realized that a survival approach wouldn’t work because people connect differently with animals. They don’t want to see them in distress," Wood notes. "Our goal was to create a fun, joyful experience where the cat wouldn’t need to face significant dangers."

"When people want to play or connect with a cat, the last thing they want is to have that cat struggle, fail, get hurt or be in distress"

Wood's experience with games like Half-Life 2 and Left 4 Dead taught him that while players can cope with human characters in peril, it is different with animals. "Seeing a cat in danger just isn’t appealing," he asserts.

Ensuring the game was stress-free was a key priority. "Parents reached out to express their concerns about potential harm to the cat," Wood says. "I reassured them that this game wouldn’t feature such distressing elements. We aimed for a family-friendly experience where everyone could enjoy the game together."

The worst scenarios in Little Kitty, Big City involve the cat touching water or being gently shooed away by shopkeepers. Even falling from a height poses no risk as the cat always lands on its feet. Instead of survival, the game focuses on exploring the city, interacting with other animals, meeting humans, knocking over potted plants, and finding sunny spots for napping.

The game aims to replicate authentic cat behaviors, a task that required meticulous attention to movement animations. Wood reports receiving numerous videos and pictures from players whose cats were captivated by the game’s realistic feline movements. This served as validation for their efforts to get the animations just right.

Thanks to Micah Breitweiser, an animator, they managed to achieve their goal. Wood expressed, "When I collaborated with Micah, she created animations that felt incredibly natural, surpassing my expectations for this game." He added, "Our next task was to emphasize these animations and showcase her work more prominently."

Breitweiser’s work significantly elevated the standard, prompting adjustments to other aspects of the character, like the cat’s movements and jumps.

"Valve was a really great place to be, but I wanted to bring something new to the industry"

Wood continued, "We frequently revisited and improved many things. I adopted a system where the spine follows the head, ensuring smooth and realistic movements for the cat. Previously, turning and stopping animations felt abrupt, common in many video games. But when scrutinizing the cat with such detailed animations, it felt off. Thus, I focused on dynamic spine animation, enhancing natural movement."

Animating the cat’s jumps, integrating platformer elements, posed unique challenges. As Wood explains, “Platformers often have idealized jumping arcs and timings, which didn’t fit our realistic animation goals. Floating jumps felt wrong in this context. Although challenging, the realistic approach proved essential."

Concerns often haunt new studios regarding their debut's reception. Wood tried managing expectations.

"You focus on positive playtest feedback," he mentioned. "Balancing worries about the game’s various shortcomings with past experience is crucial. Ultimately, many initial concerns became irrelevant."

Wood’s caution was justified as Little Kitty, Big City rapidly gained popularity. "I was taken aback," he admitted. "Our modest year-end goals were met quickly, and I’m thrilled that players connected with it as I hoped."

Another pleasant surprise was the game's reception on Game Pass. "I expected it to fly under the radar," Wood said. "However, I received messages from Xbox players, often racing game enthusiasts, praising the game. It was very gratifying."

With the success of cat-themed games like Stray in 2022 and the burgeoning interest in Little Kitty, Big City, and the upcoming Copycat, the genre is thriving. Wood feels fortunate to have seized this opportunity.

“These games introduce the concept of playing as a cat, a novelty that future titles might not capitalize on as much. It’s essential for new games to innovate and offer deeper experiences,” Wood noted.

He elaborated, "Future cat games must go beyond the novelty, providing richer, more interesting gameplay. Creating genuine cat experiences rather than caricatures can open a lot of opportunities. I eagerly anticipate these developments."