Mind the Cat

Mind the Cat — Mischief & Metamorphosis is a kind, cosy game for families and friends: up to four players on one couch, sharing a split screen, getting up to gentle mischief together. I have been making it on my own for about five months, and I do every part of it — the environment, rigging and animation, the gameplay code in C++, the sound, and the entire user interface. The UI is the part closest to my day job: I designed every screen you see here, then built all of them myself in C++ — a component library, design tokens, keyboard and gamepad navigation, and accessibility settings that every screen follows live. It is the same discipline as front-end work, in a game engine. The story and the details of the play stay under wraps until the reveal.

Unreal Engine 5 and C++. Local co-op for one to four players with split screen, each player tied to their own keyboard or gamepad, and button prompts that follow whichever one is in use. I designed the whole interface — every screen shown here, from the title to the HUD, the inventory and the settings — first as an interactive prototype, then rebuilt it in C++ UMG from reusable components, with an intent-based router between screens and a confirmation step before anything that loses progress. Every effect and every button press has its own sound. Input through Enhanced Input, AI through StateTree, state described with Gameplay Tags. Accessibility is designed in from the start: one store is the single source of truth for every setting and every screen follows it live — text size, dyslexia-friendly type, flash limits, motion, subtitles, full remapping, family comfort assists, and characters told apart by shape and sound, never by colour alone.

In development — I am aiming to finish it this winter. The environment, characters and animation are my own work in Blender and Unreal; the screens here are from the UI design.

• Open image: Mind the Cat — Mischief & Metamorphosis: the title in gold blackletter under a ginger cat in a diamond frame
• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: Title screen — solo or local co-op for one to four players

  Title screen — solo or local co-op for one to four players

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: Choosing solo or couch co-op, gathering the crew, and family comfort assists

  Choosing solo or couch co-op, gathering the crew, and family comfort assists

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: Picking a goblin — each player locks in their own

  Picking a goblin — each player locks in their own

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: Save slots, solo and co-op

  Save slots, solo and co-op

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: Loading screen with a hint

  Loading screen with a hint

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: The in-game HUD — objective, awareness meters, forms and quick slots

  The in-game HUD — objective, awareness meters, forms and quick slots

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: Two-player split screen, each half with its own HUD

  Two-player split screen, each half with its own HUD

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: The satchel — inventory and crafting

  The satchel — inventory and crafting

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: The book of forms

  The book of forms

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: Caught — nothing is lost; wriggle free or call a friend

  Caught — nothing is lost; wriggle free or call a friend

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: Chapter complete

  Chapter complete

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: Pause menu with the party and progress

  Pause menu with the party and progress

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: Settings — game, controls, graphics, audio, accessibility

  Settings — game, controls, graphics, audio, accessibility

• Open image: Mind the Cat UI design: Accessibility — presets, reading, flashing, motion, hearing, vision, motor and pacing, with a live preview

  Accessibility — presets, reading, flashing, motion, hearing, vision, motor and pacing, with a live preview