Curse That Magic Cat! is a lighthearted, single-player PC game in which players strive to balance quiet stealth with loud destruction. After having been cursed and transformed into a cat, you must race Magnus the Wizard to use three spell books in each level and free yourself. Along the way, you can exact your revenge by destroying his home, angering him, and making him curse that magic cat! The theme was selected to show off artists’ stylization and environmental skills, while the gameplay showcases the work of the software developers through elements like AI programming and user interface. Level designers worked to balance the competing goals of the game (stealth versus destruction versus time) and to construct compelling levels for players to explore.
The game was made over 12 weeks’ worth of three-hour SMU Guildhall capstone classes at part of the Team Game Production curriculum, using groundwork laid by the team during the summer semester. Ultimately, Curse That Magic Cat! provided the team experience with a focused, fast-paced development cycle while producing a full game in the Unreal 5 engine. The developers also gained further experience with teamwork as they built team culture, established norms and pipelines, and collaborated across disciplines to create the game.