Interview with the Developer of Scratch the Cat
As huge fans of 3D platformers like Spyro the Dragon and Banjo and Kazooie, the Six One Indie team loved the look of Scratch the Cat as soon as we saw it. It reminds us of the classics that we fell in love with as kids and couldn’t wait to have them in the showcase.
A huge thank you to FlatPonies for being part of the showcase and for answering my questions about the game.
Can you tell me more about the team and how you got started working on Scratch the Cat?
Scratch originally started off as a student project back when I was studying sound design. I had to make an original character for the game because I was afraid of getting into trouble with my portfolio, as the gameplay was a carbon copy of another 3D mascot platformer. Regardless of getting in trouble or not, I ended up coming up with the character and the idea of a musical world but it was far from fleshed out.
After I joined FlatPonies, I was asked by my boss Julie Heyde if I had any ideas for our next game, and I pitched Scratch to her. She loved it, despite the fact that it deviated in many ways from our other games, but there had also been an internal interest in doing something more ambitious on the art side. In the beginning it was just me and our art director Christian Weatherley working on it. We'd do so in the downtime in between our other games. But in August 2023 we officially started pre-production with the entire company. The team itself has grown quite a bit the last few years, being relatively young, but we're composed of the generation who grew up in the golden age of platformers, hence why it was a perfect fit for us.
Can you tell me about what the gameplay is like in Scratch the Cat?
The game is classic 3D platformer collectathon with a dash of metroidvania in the way that you return to previous levels with new ways to progress as you go through the game. Scratch has quite a few ways to navigate around, opening up the way players want to tackle challenges. Levels are open ended, so you have a multitude of directions to go in. We tried to make the game easy to pick up for a young audience, while still providing depth for the skilled players. We're really excited on the team to see speedrunners pick up the game for instance!
Are there other characters that Scratch will meet on his adventure?
There's plenty. You meet most of the important characters at The Hub. They're basically Scratch's fellow employees running the club, like Scratch's best friend the bouncer guard dog Woofer, or Moody the Cow, who runs the bar and whose milkshakes you'll find as health replenishment throughout the game. You'll also meet the natives to each level, who have all been disrupted by the rats in some form. Your job is usually to help them out, and as a reward, more of them will appear back at your club to interact with.
What are some ways that players can customize Scratch?
One of the characters the player meets at The Hub is Change the Chameleon, who handles the club's wardrobe. Unfortunately certain guests have forgotten to pick up their belongings before they left, but Change, diligent as he is, can't hand them out without receiving Wardrobe Tags in return. Players can find these scattered across the world to receive new cosmetic outfits for Scratch. Finally, we have a secret character hidden in every level who gives you additional color schemes and patterns for the outfits.
Can you describe just a couple of locations that you’ll visit in the game?
All of our locations are themed around music, so you have places like Bluegrass Fields, a countryside level with actual blue grass/wheat or the Arpeggio Archipelago where islands rise up and down like an arpeggiated stairway. My personal favorite is probably Patch Bay, where you're literally scaling a massive modular synthesizer.
What are coins used for in the game?
Juke Bucks, as they're referred to in game, are used to purchase additional Record Fragments at the Hub. The player can hand them in at a living jukebox called Jukie. This provides an alternative way to progress for those who want to look through every nook and cranny.
What’s something you’ve collected that you’d be upset if your arch enemy stole it from you?
Honestly, I've mostly switched to digital media at this point. Last year I sold off most of my physical media. However, there is still one physical collection I have left, which are my vinyl records, and I'd be quite sad if someone was to take those away, cliche as it sounds.
What does “indie” mean to you?
I think it means we're in control for a much larger part. We create what we want, how we want, when we want, to an extent. I think that fosters a lot of really creative games you wouldn't see otherwise, and that is exciting for the medium. For Scratch, that meant we could really create this love letter to the genre but also to certain musical concepts that might otherwise not get represented much.