I Made A Game About Cats
I made an app to help kids learn times tables, and put our own Honey cat front and center
I am a computer dude. In my spare time I making an app to help kids learn their times tables, and when it came to coming up with a theme to build the game around, one thing sprung to mind:
Cats!
Because my own daughter, Penelope, was a big part of the effort, I wanted to give things a personal touch from our own world. So, when you start the game, you have one cat. Our cat, in real life.
Honey!
The real Honey is shown in the picture above, and I have written about her many times in this very publication. The cat in the game looks a little different, though. I am a coder, not an artist. So, I had to find free images that were “good enough” online.
I often wonder if our real-life Honey Cat knows how much we love her. Are we just the people that feed her, and shelter her, or does she know we think of her often, and how much we plan our lives around her?
Before we got Honey, I feel like we were just a family of three living in an overpriced apartment. But after she arrived, by slow degrees, our apartment started to feel more like a home.
So many things in our little home cater to our rescue kitty. I guess it was only natural that I would make a game in which she is featured prominently, too?
My daughter, Penelope, has a good friend from school. Her friend has a grey cat named Ozzy. Guess who else made it into my little app?
Yup! Ozzy.
You don’t have Ozzy right out of the gate, like you do Honey. He has to be earned. You earn him by proving your mettle at multiplying 6s. I call this test the “Half Dozen-er Challenge.” If you pass the test — BOOM! — you have another cat to add to your collection.
“You have earned a feisty, grey cat named Ozzy,” the app tells you.
It is a fun, cute little thing that I am doing. I am targeting kids from grades 3 to 6, that need to learn their times tables. The cats you win by completing challenges get plopped into a little field with a blue sky, rolling clouds, and a fruit tree. The game sort of has a storybook feel to it.
If you are a real math whiz you can unlock every cat, and there are 9 of them. But guess what? Only four have names so far: Honey, Ozzy, Tarnish, and Chubbs. (I don’t mean to fat shame, but yes, Chubbs does like to eat.)
That means I still have 5 names to add, which is where you can play a role.
Do you have any fun cat names to suggest? They need to be easy to pronounce, and suited for a game meant for grade school aged kids. If you have a juicy name for me, please write it in the comments.
I aim to launch my app at the end of this summer. Then, you can meet Honey, Ozzy, and the others, and perhaps there will even be a kitty with a name that was suggested by you?
Thanks for your interest! 🚀
You can really help me and my little app out by:
- clapping and following me ️👏
- helping me hire and artist: 🌱
Indiegogo Campaign 🌐 - visiting: penelopeteaches.com 🌐
