If you’re each a cat proprietor and a YouTube watcher, you’ve almost definitely heard of Simon’s Cat . First launched as a brief video in 2008, the channel has since amassed over 100 million views.
With this in thoughts, we sat down with Paul Smith – UK Studio Head, Simon Tofield – Creator of Simon’s Cat, Edwin Eckford – Operations Director for Simon’s Cat, John Bellamy – Lead Artist, and Luke Earle, Producer.
In a roundtable dialogue at its workplace in Derby, we spoke all about how Simon’s Cat has translated right into a sequence of video games, and the place the crew desires to go together with its subsequent recreation within the sequence.
A primary on Apple Arcade
(Image credit score: Future / Tactile Games)
For these unaware, Simon’s Cat was created by artist Simon Tofield, and printed its first episode, ‘Can Man Do ’, on its YouTube channel again on March 4, 2008. Since then, the video has had over 65 million views, and almost ten years after that, the primary recreation by Tactile Games arrived.
Simon’s Cat: Crunch Time is an easy puzzle recreation, launched in June 2017 the place you organize blocks to progress by means of completely different ranges. Another recreation, known as Pop Time, launched in June 2018, impressed by the Puzzle Bobble sequence. But it’s the extra recent recreation, Story Time, that’s been making the most important impression.
Debuting on Apple Arcade on April 2, 2021, you comply with Simon and his cat by means of 16 chapters as you faucet completely different gems and use power-ups to progress. Story Time is essentially impressed by video games like Bejeweled and Fishdom the place you match the identical icons in a grid, whereas you should use power-ups that can assist you progress to the subsequent stage.
Smith remembers how Story Time got here to be on Apple Arcade. “We were thinking about the next game at the time to be Free to Play. And this was back when it was called Garden Time I believe. At GDC (Game Developer Conference) in 2018, we met with Apple and saw an opportunity. We had already been developing it for a year at that point, and Apple was keen to have it as a first-party game.”
“Looking back, Arcade looked more skewed towards a male audience, so something like this had mass appeal, and I think this was a perfect gap to fill for Apple.”
Earle added that being on the subscription service gave the crew a useful focus. “I think Apple Arcade gave us the focus as we knew we had a concrete release date and it was like, okay, we know where we need to go with this now. And there were a lot of blanks that needed to be filled in because we went from Crunch to Story Time, it’s a completely different game entirely.”
A tactile plan
(Image credit score: Future / Tactile Games)
Compared to the earlier two video games, Story Time needed to stability gameplay with a story throughout 16 chapters. “In Crunch Time, the map is secondary to the actual board itself, where the main gameplay happens. Whereas in Story Time it’s more 50/50,” Earle explains. “So the story had to be as good as the gameplay. We tried to complement both of these factors, so it encouraged you to progress further. Because if one doesn’t help the other, you’re just going to stop. So there’s a lot more thought which had to go in the story side of things, which is a big part of the Simon’s Cat IP really, especially when it comes down to the YouTube videos across the years.”
The narrative of the sport was essential to the remainder of the crew too, because the problem was ensuring the British humor carried over into Story Time.
Eckford remembers how this occurred with Story Time throughout its improvement. “You have those simple narratives in the YouTube series. But then expanding that out to a story over 16 chapters was daunting. And in the beginning, we did ask ourselves, ‘How are we going to do this?’”
(Image credit score: Future / Tactile Games)
“We acknowledged that we had to introduce new characters, and what the narrative was going to be first,’ Eckford reveals. “Whereas in a Simon’s Cat video, normally, its longest narrative was something like, the cat goes to the vet. And in 5 minutes you’re done.”
Expanding the universe of the model was essential to provide Story Time depth to the participant, as Eckford explains. “So it was really helpful for us to kind of start thinking about, “Oh, does Simon have a love interest?” And that was where Lily’s Garden came in too, so it had these kinds of elements. But we wanted to make sure that we didn’t want to push it too far away from the original IP. We wanted to keep Simon’s Cat theme at the core of it all, but make sure the story was not just about Simon and his cat. It could expand to other areas and other characters”
Eckford additionally noticed this as a TV manufacturing with Story Time, the place manufacturing blocks can be created to put out the chapters. “It was helpful to treat it almost like a serious TV production, as the company is involved with a bunch of shows, and it helped us approach Story Time in its narrative in the same way.”
(Image credit score: Future / Tactile Games)
Bellamy made certain to say that implementing the paintings into Story Time at a sure level was necessary. “As the animations have gone through improvements over the years, it was trying to see where the balance was, to implement the artwork into the game, and how it fitted into the swap mechanics of Story Time.”
Tofield has all the time been closely concerned with the video games, however extra so with Story Time. Bellamy was appreciative of how nicely he would give you concepts “It is Simon’s baby, and a lot of the stuff that he can just throw down onto the page is quite natural to him. With his ideas and concepts, we try to keep him involved. And he does get into development, and that’s the big difference.”
Earle displays this with Tofield in how briskly he may end a request. “We didn’t know before we started Crunch Time. But we would ask “Oh, could you help us with this?’ And he’d instantly go, “Yep.” A few days later, he is performed it. And we have loads of different deadlines he is received, which is the paint-drawer. He’s a busy man with what the model provides, however he enjoys it and provides up his time to us.”
This additionally prolonged to the Gnomes , an enormous a part of Simon’s Cat, who’re the feline’s greatest buddies within the YouTube sequence. So extending this to Story Time was extra of a enjoyable problem than the crew realized.
Eckford remembers a time when the Gnomes have been almost reduce from the sport. “We had a brand consultant early on, and they had said that they weren’t keen on the Gnomes. Tofield was adamant that they were staying. It’s a very British thing, having Gnomes in the garden.”
(Image credit score: Future / Simon Tofield)
Earle references somebody on his crew who spent a very long time inserting these hidden Gnomes throughout Story Time. “He really went to town on them, such as placing them behind bushes and sticking others out to make players aware of them. Instead of just dropping them in, he really took his time, which worked out.”
Tofield was fast to say how cats have a common enchantment, which can have partly led to the large success of Simon’s Cat. “The main thing is that cats are cats worldwide. So you know, we always say that. It’s a cat in Germany, Egypt, France , wherever, it’s always black like a cat.”
“That’s why people in America get the human character, because that’s what a cat does in the car. Being mischievous. Cat do that whenever you go.”
From a sketchbook to seeing his characters be managed by a participant on an iPhone, it’s one thing that Tofield nonetheless likes to see. “One thing I always say is that it’s nice that I can do this in my sketchbook. Then within around two weeks, it’s in the game and that’s very rewarding for me, to do this artwork and then see it in Story Time.”
iMore was in a position to try a few sketchbooks, and there have been pages upon pages of Gnomes, surroundings, and characters, which have all made it into Story Time – and a few which are but to be.
Image 1 of 5
(Image credit score: Future / Simon Tofield)
(Image credit score: Future / Simon Tofield)
(Image credit score: Future / Simon Tofield)
(Image credit score: Future / Simon Tofield)
(Image credit score: Future / Simon Tofield)
But when it got here to the Gnomes, it was ensuring that they slotted in nicely to Story Time, as Tofield remembers. “I think they pretty much went in as they were drawn, even though they were obviously redrawn digitally and colored and the rest. But again, it makes me feel great because I see this and it gives me all that enthusiasm to do more, such as the gardens you see later in the game.”
Eckford additionally wished to be sure that Story Time was good for the model as a complete – each in its gameplay and narrative throughout improvement for its followers. “I think the retention thing is quite an interesting point in terms of, the Simon’s Cat audience. It’s 15 years so far, and we’ve had a very loyal audience, and they just keep coming back.”
“With this in mind, we have to give them good content. And if you provide that, they’ll keep coming back, so I think that’s a good element that we kept in mind when developing these 16 chapters.”
To Vision Pro?
(Image credit score: iMore)
While the iPhone 15 line is predicted to be introduced on September 12, loads of builders have an interest to see what Vision Pro can carry to their apps. Smith can also be eager to see how Tactile Games may benefit from the headset. “As soon as it was announced, I spoke to the producer at Apple and said that we’d be interested in looking at this.”
And it didn’t simply make Smith – there have been others at Tactile who wished to study extra about this headset, corresponding to Tactile Games’ Co-Founder and Director, Derek Pettigrew . In the mid-90s, he had been a Programmer at Virtuality . “As Derek has had very early experience in VR, he’s always got an interest in that space anyway. So we’ve been looking into how we could do a puzzle game of matching 3 icons in VR. And there’s obviously a lot of swiping, so it could be fun. I believe no one’s done it yet either, so it’s a possibility, and we’d be up for that definitely.”
Eckford reveals that Taptic has additionally experimented with the class up to now. “We’ve experimented with AR and VR as it’s been improved upon, which is weird for a 2D animation company. But there was a period in 2018 when Facebook and YouTube were experimenting with 360 videos and how you could put on a headset and look around and we looked into it. It was fun and more of a novelty piece, but it was interesting to see how it could work, especially with AR.”
Earle was certain so as to add that in the event that they determined to do it, they’d wish to do it proper.
“To take it from 2D is always a bit risky we thought. And the way Simon draws, that’s the appeal. And so we would rather, I think, as a production team, focus on getting the essence of it right, rather than go and marginalize it into a 3D kind of space.”
“It’s not about necessarily jumping on something because we should, “ Earle cautions. “It’s the mindset of, if we are going to do this, what are we going to do to make it the best it can be and to be true to the IP?”
A giant a part of this was how the sport may make sense for the story of Simon’s Cat – not simply because they felt like they needed to have one thing out there as soon as Vision Pro is available for purchase. Earle agreed with this and contemplated if it may begin as a facet recreation of Simon’s Cat, to begin with. But all of it comes again to the story.
“It has to make sense narratively. Perhaps it wouldn’t be the Story Time game, it would be a side game maybe to start off with. Then it could be built from the ground up to become a game that leverages most of the features of visionOS. You can’t just take what we’ve got and stick it on there.”
See you subsequent recreation
(Image credit score: Future / Tactile Games)
Back in February, it was announced that Tactile Games had entered right into a six-year partnership with Banijay Brands to provide and publish extra cell video games for Simon’s Cat.
So whereas the subsequent recreation is in deep improvement, the crew is already enthusiastic about the opposite video games that can contain Simon, his cat, and extra.
Eckford is wanting ahead to what the subsequent few years carry for the partnership of Tactile and Tofield. “It’s helped us really bed into the knowledge that we can continue to produce games as a trusted partner and carry on with our partnership with Simon which is great. So signing a deal that has a kind of extended date really helps us plan out a future of games that we know we can really invest in.”
Tofield agreed, stating that it was the truth that the crew at Tactile understood the characters and the all-encompassing world of Simon’s Cat. “They get it. Which is important really, and the fans are going to blow their mind when the next one’s done.”
(Image credit score: Future / Tactile Games / Apple)
Smith carried on this level, reflecting that followers wish to see extra of the world in these video games. “Obviously some of our Simon’s Cat fans have been underserved in the Android space. We haven’t released anything since we’ve been so busy doing Story Time. But the fans are desperate to see more of the games on Android, which is what this next game will appear on, alongside iOS next year.”
But with the opposite video games, the crew is new genres for inspiration, with Smith revealing some genres that they’ve been . ”We’ve been a sort of Majjong, we have been other forms of tile-matching video games as nicely, and phrase video games, simply wanting on the core recreation. So there could be some several types of gameplay expertise popping out over the subsequent few years.”
An instance of a fruitful relationship – iMore’s Take
If you grew up within the 90s like me, you’ll see cartoons tailored for video games on the SEGA Mega Drive and the opposite consoles of the time. From Mickey Mania to Taz: Escape From Mars, there have been lots to select from.
Simon’s Cat is clearly the pure evolution of this, and Story Time carries this on with its narrative. Having its creator closely concerned within the improvement of the present video games and what’s arising, is an additional benefit. It’s one thing that the video games of yesteryear didn’t have.
Here, the total bundle of Tofield and Tactile Games makes you are feeling like Story Time is a part of the Simon’s Cat universe. As you play Story Time, it makes you are feeling like the additional Gnomes, Lily’s Garden, and new characters like Penny have been all the time in Simon’s Cat, and it solely makes you wish to play the sport extra.
We’re to see the place this relationship takes Simon and his cat additional in future video games and new platforms. But it’s clear that it is a partnership that’s going to final for a few years to come back.