Locomotion and movements in "The Cat"

Disclamer

This is the cycle of posts and articles about development our game:

• What is "The Cat"
• Why cats lead games
• Audience for "The Cat"
• "The Cat" Game Design philosophy
• Camera in "The Cat"

In our last article, we dove into our unique camera approach, explaining why we chose a specific type of camera and how we positioned it for optimal gameplay.

But now, let's move on to something even more exciting: how our cats actually get around!

The natural cat walk

So, how do cats walk?

Obviously, they move forward (and sometimes backward ??), but the key difference is that they do it on four paws, unlike us humans.

?This type of walk called a "diagonal walk"

This means they move opposite legs at the same time: like the left hind leg with the right front leg, and then the right hind leg with the left front leg.

While they walk, their heads bob slightly, and they shift their weight onto one of their front paws.

Types of cat movement

Cats are more than just cute pets; they’re apex predators!

Nature designed them as the ultimate hunting machines:

• Lightweight and flexible skeletons allow cats to move with incredible agility
• Soft, stable paw pads help them move silently—perfect for sneaking up on prey
• Powerful muscles give them the ability to leap great distances and sprint at high speeds

These traits enable cats to use a variety of movements that are ideal for hunting and survival:

• Casual walking: The basic, elegant strut of a cat
• Fast running (trotting): A quick, efficient gait for covering ground

• Galloping: Full-speed sprints when they’re really on the move

• Stealth mode: Slow, low-to-the-ground stalking. They can either creep along slowly or move quickly while staying low

• Jumping: Leaping from one surface to another, whether it's a horizontal leap, a high jump, or a drop to a lower level

Designing movement for gameplay

We’re working under the principle that our game is a true cat simulator. We want players to actually feel like they’re a cat. Just lowering the camera to cat-eye level isn’t enough.

During the prototyping phase, we made a design choice: in our game, we won't fully display the cat’s body. Instead, part of the movement logic will be faked.

The cat acts as an atmospheric element in the frame, animating its paws, head, ears, whiskers, and so on when the player inputs commands. But the actual movement is controlled by the camera.

This setup is somewhat similar to how first-person shooters visualize weapons: the cat in the frame is like the gun in your hands.

But to maintain immersion and really make you feel like you’re a cat, we decided that the camera should reflect different types of cat movement through corresponding effects.

Animating the movement camera

As I mentioned earlier, cats have a distinctive walk: their heads bob, and they shift their weight onto one of their front paws.

How humans perceive motion

When humans walk, we also exhibit similar behavior: we sway slightly from side to side, shifting our weight to the supporting leg.

Interestingly, our brains filter out these motions while we walk, so our eyes don’t really pick up on this swaying. This keeps our visual system from getting overloaded, allowing us to see the world clearly with only minor movement in our field of view.

Cats, however, have a more pronounced sway when they move, but their brains also filter this visual information.

To let players feel this difference, we decided to add noticeable — but not overwhelming — swaying to the camera when the cat moves.

But we can’t make these effects too intense! We have to consider players with sensitive vestibular systems, who might get motion sickness during gameplay ??

Types of Camera Animation

For each type of movement, we’ve developed specific camera animations that mirror the cat’s body behavior in different scenarios:

• Walking: Gentle up-and-down bobbing with a slight side-to-side sway

• Trotting: An accelerated version of the walking sway

• Galloping: A wave-like motion, forward and backward, with a “tunnel vision” effect to heighten the sense of speed

• Stealth mode: The camera lowers closer to the ground and moves more slowly, with a subtle sway.
• Jumping: A sharp jerk during takeoff and a light jolt on landing.

Final dynamic camera system

The result? We’ve created a flexible camera animation system that can finely tune a cat’s movement.

And the funny thing is, after playing around with the parameters, we realized this system could simulate more than just a cat. It could recreate the movement of any living creature: whether it’s a bunny, a frog, or even a fly.

But that’s a story for another day and another one of our future projects... :)