I thought it might be helpful to give a little bit of direction to the site, because it's still in early beta and so much information is scattered across a variety of update posts and threads. I'm also going to give a little update on where I'm at with Adventuring in this thread!

About the Developer

First of all, I am pretty much a one-squid team (and work full time outside of this)! I started this project in September 2019 after years of devising overly-elaborate forum games and collectable programs on Flight Rising. My shift to learning to code and building a pet site was mainly because my ideas for what I wanted to run as far as events and programs go outgrew what someone could do on a forum with a team of volunteers. (I am of course, eternally thankful to those volunteers for getting me as far as I have.)

The Alpha phase (with just 10 playtesters) started in late December of 2020 and we just moved into Beta this February!

As far as other important information goes... I've got one kitty of my own. Her name is Pilot, and she is the best kitty. Here she is:


The other admin account you might see around on occasion is my somewhat reclusive editor and wrangler of mods/helpers, @Naja. He's been super helpful and you might be seeing more of him in the future when the site starts to get a little bigger.

Development Priorities

The following is quoted from my Beta announcement post. I'm including this information because I think it'll help you to get a better idea of my vision for the game and the direction I'm headed in. These are the things that lie at the heart of what I'd like to see in Cat's End.



What does it mean to be in Beta?

For those who are wondering: There will not be any kind of reset, so your cats will stay!

Essentially, this means I'm still actively in development. Think of it as an equivalent to Early Access on Steam. There are a few core features that I'm still working on implementing, and it's great to have a group of users around to test things out and experience the site as this happens.

Infrastructure is fairly weak - you will probably spot some lag around midnight with so many of you around (I did not anticipate nearly this many)! This usually settles down within the hour, so if you notice the server getting a little fussy, it shouldn't be too long before it quiets down again.

Here's what happened last night for reference (load time in seconds):


The Primary core features still in development are Adventuring, Seasonal Festivals, Usermade/Custom Content, and a Premium Currency (because the server costs aren't cheap).

Adventuring is the biggest of these, since this is the "active" gameplay feature that will quicken the pace of the game. Right now, all the activities on site are once a day and done. Adventuring will be something you can do at your leisure. If you're left hungry for more after doing your dailies each day, know that that is normal, and it will improve some with Adventuring.

The good news is that Adventuring is well on the way, so it's something you can look forward to dropping this (irl) Summer. I don't currently have a more precise ETA for the feature.

So tell me more about Adventuring?

Adventuring is the system where your cats are given classes, skills, and abilities and sent out on little adventures that are modeled after a simplified D&D and other tabletop games.

I have now implemented 7 classes, 60 abilities (4 starter and 56 unlockables), and 21 unique skills! So there's huge potential for a variety of strategies.

With Adventuring, you'll send your cats out to a location and steadily work your way deeper inside it. Each location has 4 unique zones/phases that each get progressively harder, so you might need to level up in the earlier zones a few times before you are able to make your way to the end. At the end of each location, there will be a one-time boss battle with special unlocks and events! (You'll get new scenes, expand your catpacity, and more).

Within those zones, there will be two types of encounters: Skill Challenges and Battles.

Skill Challenges are text-based and will feel very similar to the Daily Scenarios, but instead of cats interacting with each other, they'll be navigating a mini-cyoa that can be passed or failed.

For example, your cats will be faced with a cliff and must all either jump or climb it, or you find a locked safe and you have to pick which cat will attempt to get into it, and then whether they'll pick the lock or force it open with a crowbar.

Every zone of a location has 10 unique skill challenges that can occur.

Battles take place on a small top-down map with its own set of obstacles (trees, water, cliffs, etc.) and work very similarly to d&d. Your cats and the monsters will move and then use one of their abilities (could be a melee or ranged attack, first aid to heal, or any number of special abilities.) When you defeat the monsters, you'll get loot, a small chance of taking the monster home as decor, and delicious experience.

There are 5 unique monsters in each zone, and each monster comes in three recolors (common, uncommon, and rare).

Here are some screenshots that I've shared with friends that can give you a little sneak peek. The UI may change quite a bit between now and when you see it. My focus right now is making it work. I'll worry about making it pretty later on.



Pictured above: Pilot escapes the board and begins to run for the hills.
Context: From this weekend's work on pathfinding, movement, and line of sight (which are now successfully completed).


Pictured above: Leaf crab rave
Context: A (failed) experiment with exclamation points (since removed) in the battle intro sequence.


Pictured above: Ominous nonsense and some rolled dice
Context: Back when I first started working on skill challenges, the bit that types text when you roll dice was a little.. quirky to say the least. This is, of course, fixed. However... it was extremely funny to watch it type in nonsense out of nowhere.



Currently, adventuring development is as follows:

Code/Infrastructure Work
Backend database infrastructure: 100% complete
Classes, abilities, leveling: 100% complete
Zone progression, snack breaks, scripted/plot encounters: 100% complete
Battle encounters: 40% complete
- - - - Movement, pathfinding, line of sight: 100% complete
- - - - Abilities and using items: 20% complete
- - - - Monster AI: 0% complete
- - - - Loot/rewards: 0% complete
Boss battles and location unlocks: 0% complete

Creative Work for the First Location
Scene backgrounds: 75% complete
Top-down maps: 100% complete
Monsters: 100% complete
Materials, collectables, and trinkets: 95% complete
Unique apparel and decor: 0% complete
Writing: 25% complete

It's still too far off for me to have a precise ETA, but it's definitely significantly on its way and nyooming along quickly.



Conclusion

That's all for today! My current workflow is still along the following lines -

Weekdays after work, when I have energy for it: Art/Writing, content updates as a treat
Weekends: Adventuring coding

You know, like, nya.

Welcome everyone!! There's so many of you now I'm sure you'll all fall in love with this absolutely charming game just like I have!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, congratulations on the successful opening, Winter!

hi new players!!! You Are All So Many

very excited for adventuring

Watching the userbase grow over this weekend has been so fun! Welcome to all of the new users!

Thank you for the warm welcome!!

I've only just discovered this game and I'm already so excited for its growth, especially around adventuring!

So happy to finally join, especially since I've been stalking this site for a month now.