Run Kitty Run is a new iOS game for kids in the style of Sonic or Mario. It has been developed by Adam Kahn and his team at Crossborders using the new Adobe Edge platform. We got the chance to have a chat with Adam about the game and what Adobe Edge means for developers and the future of gaming on iOS, what it can do that makes things better.
The premise of the game is great, the graphics and animation beautifully stylized and it has quickly become a favorite of my 8 year old son. The standard two thumb touch controls have been employed and are easy to pick up for those who haven’t yet played this type of game. Of course, this works best on the iPhone, as opposed to the iPad as the weight and size of the larger device makes it a bit tougher to control Timmy as he tries to rescue his love that he met on the swing set.
The story is well crafted and told between levels. Timmy, armed with his super cat suit, takes all all manner of evil critters, including bunnies. But let’s have Adam explain more.
GeekDad: My kids think the game is "awesome." They love the character and the story a lot. Where did the concept/storyline for the game come from?
Adam Kahn: I was actually on vacation after just being hired by Crossborders who had tasked me with creating a new game to be launched to the iPhone. It had been a few days but I had no solid ideas, so I went down to the lake for a walk. Right next door to where we were staying a family had just come in for the weekend with their two kids and their dog. There had been this cat that had been prowling around the lake dock with me for most of the morning, but as soon as the dog saw it they both took off running. As I watched the cat being chased up a tree by the neighbor's mutt all I could think was "Run, Kitty, Run." And that’s when the lightbulb went off. Although, to be fair the game itself was very different originally, more of an endless runner/Doodle Jump idea. And Timmy was actually a cat.
GD: What is the value of the Adobe Edge platform in terms of game development?
AK: Our development team actually got their hands on a pre-release version of the program. Amy, the producer, saw the program and immediately thought that it would be perfect for the cut scenes. Since Edge is effectively the HTML 5 version of Flash it would allow us to build higher quality cutscenes without overloading people's hard drives. And we thought it would be cool to be the first game out there with Adobe Edge animations from launch.
GD: What would not have been possible in other engines?
AK: If it hadn't been for Edge, we would have had to do a comic book style cutscene that pans from side to side, like Angry Birds or a million other games out there. But this way we got to communicate the story more effectively with awesome moving graphics all without making the game 200MB+.
GD: In our family the game has created the unlikely phrase of "Quick, kill the bunnies." Did you have any concern turning a usually cute, lovely creature into the game's minions?
AK: Uhh, no. I think it adds to Timmy's imagination because it's so unexpected. Of course, what that says about Timmy's psyche is up to interpretation.
GD: What do you see as the unique features of this platform game?
AK: The simplicity of it. Unlike other platformers there are no power ups, no RPG elements. Timmy's catsuit lets him jump higher and climb walls: that's it. And to win you really have to master those simple elements.
Also the art and color scheme. All the major games right now use bright primary color palettes with basic backgrounds. We actually tried that for the original build but it didn’t fit for us. Everyone kept saying that it looked like Mario with a fox. So we ended up using darker colors to differentiate it. In my mind this is less Mario and more Where the Wild Things Are. When Timmy puts on his hood he sees the world differently, he sees it through his imagination. And the darker color scheme and background art show off that this is his nightmare.
GD: For what is effectively a platform game, how important are the star rating elements - or has that just become standard in mobile gaming now thanks to Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and the like?
AK: I think it's very important, and for the same reason it's important in a game like Cut the Rope or Angry Birds. It's a very simple way of letting the player know how much he's completed, and more importantly, how much he's missed.
In some ways, I think it's even more important in a game like this than a game like those. Those are very linear games, the entire level is in front of you from the beginning. In TAOT's case, there's an exploration factor to it: you have to go and actively search for things. So the stars serve to help let you know that you have, indeed, found everything on the level. In our case, it's all the coins and enemies. In other games' case it's collectibles and time.
I think it's really an evolution of how to display accomplishment to the user. For now that's the star system but I'm not crazy about it. I'm constantly looking for other ways to showcase that, I just haven’'t found it yet.
GD: How important now is it for games, even mobile games like yours, to leverage the screen space and graphic capacity and have great looking animations to help drive the story line? Who did you draw on most heavily for this in Run Kitty Run?
AK: It's absolutely more important than anything else. No matter how large the screen appears to be some games don't take into account where your hands need to be to control the game and what that blocks off. If I have to constantly hit a power up button that's blocked every time I move, that's gonna be annoying.
One thing we tried to be really aware of was the placement of Timmy on the screen itself. We played with his placement for months: we actually originally had him as double his current size but he took up too much space on the screen so we pulled the camera out to what you see today. We didn't want him to get lost or be constantly squished under your fingers while playing.
The animations are key: it's what separates a great game from a good game since it immediately connects the player to the story and the character. For me, it was games like Limbo, Braid, and (to go old school animator on you) Preston Blair who showed the world how to create the cute character by making it almost a mathematical equation.
GD: If you will indulge, there are a couple of far more important questions... from my eight year old:
1. Exactly how does Timmy turn into a cat? Is the suit magical? If so, where did he get it from?
AK: So the cat suit was originally given to Timmy's father by Timmy's grandfather. Before Timmy's father passed away he gave it to Timmy.
It's not magical, it's more like Where the Wild Things Are or Batman's suit. If he has the hood off he sees the world as you and I see it. But when he puts the hood on he sees this fantastical world of imagination, the world seen through a child's eyes. So really, the suit magnifies his ability to imagine and grants him powers based on it.
2. In World 2, why isn't Timmy back at his mother's? He is a kid, shouldn't he be back home at some time?
AK: Let's just say Timmy doesn't follow the rules very well. He's not trying to get into trouble, but he can't just leave Kitty behind. He's like we all were as kids: what he's doing at that very moment is the most important thing in the world. And he forgets about the unimportant things, like being home before dark.
So, there you go. Run Kitty Run and some ideas and thoughts on design and Adobe Edge. Great to continue to hear game developers committed to great story lines. If you want to play a bit of Where the Wild Things Are and see the world in slightly more fantastical way, go have a look at this new little iOS game that uses Adobe Edge animations.
