Whiskered Away: February Game of the Month

Our Game of the Month segment is back yet again! For the month of February, we'll be highlighting Whiskered Away. Whiskered Away is the product of 6 game development students and the winners of the Phoenix Global Game Jam 2017. And as always, be sure to check out Truth & Requiem on Twitch for the Game of the Month streams each week!

As winners of the Phoenix Global Game Jam 2017, the Whiskered Away team will be showcasing their game (thanks to our awesome sponsor, Clique) at the Game CoLab booth in the GDC Play area at the Game Developer Conference (GDC) this coming March 1st-3rd.

If you're in San Francisco at that time, make sure to stop by, say hi, and give the game this cute and exciting 4-player local multiplayer game a try!

Until then, we asked the team a few questions about game development, please see their responses below.

Who worked on Whiskered Away?

The team working on Whiskered Away consisted of six of us. Two artists Audrey McEvoy and TJ Tapia. Two programmers Noah Stumpf and Jersey Calderwood. And one designer Kenny Ryan. There wasn’t a hierarchy when it came to development due to the size of the team.

Which game engine did you use for this game?

We're using the Unity Engine 5.5 to develop the game. The engine fit our needs and was something that we were all comfortable with using. There wasn’t much more thought than if we’d be able to accomplish what we wanted in this engine. And sure enough the team had enough knowledge on 2D development in Unity to reach all of our goals.

What platforms do you release on now/plan to release on?

We aim to release on PC. With a little testing possibly on other OS such as Mac. We also are interested in releasing the game on Steam, and will be setting up a Steam Greenlight page before the GDC. Stay tuned for news on that!

What are the development tools you use the most?

The team is using Unity and Photoshop for the development of this game. Technically we used Premiere as an audio editing software as well, but there weren’t too many other programs used for Whiskered Away. The team does still use other programs such as 3DS Max, Maya, and Unreal 4. However, they weren’t needed on this specific project.

What advice would you give to someone new to game jams?

The advice that I would give to someone new to game jams would be to do what you are good at. As a team each person needs to do what they can, and collectively you will be able to plan out the game's development based on your team's skills. Doing this you can make a quality game without having to stress. Game jam’s need team communication. And, while you are doing what you’re good at, you will still learn new things from the team around you. In the end game jams are all about learning new things. So don’t worry if you fail, because what you learned will help you next time.

What marketing resources do you use/plan on using, if any?

We currently have a Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. You can find them all on our website: whiskeredawaygame.com

Any mistakes or hiccups you have made so far, something you would advise a new studio to avoid?

We made a lot of mistakes in our past on previous projects, but that comes with learning. Currently on this one it has been very smooth, because we know what to look out for. Some advice that we could give a new studio is to be ready to fail in order to learn. The only way that a person will discover is through trying something out. And in the past working on 2D we have come across all sorts of issues such as ones regarding colliders and source control.

Where can we find Whiskered Away?

We have a version of Whiskered Away for free through the Global Game Jam website. However, people interested in the full updated version should expect to see it on Steam at a later date. Check out the website for news and updates: whiskeredawaygame.com/

Have any of you been to GDC before?

Only one of our group members has been to GDC before. For most of us this is our first time, and we’re extremely excited.

How excited are you to go to GDC?

We are certainly excited to go to GDC. It’s a big opportunity for all of us. We look forward to getting ourselves out there and joining the industry we all love. So this will be a great experience for all of us.

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