Matt T. Wood has spent a considerable part of his career as a game developer and programmer at Valve, which is behind iconic titles like Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. These are first-person shooters that are well-designed. Wood left Valve in mid-2019 and today he heads his own game development company called Double Dagger Studio. The Seattle company has a project that’s unlike what he is known for — a game called Little Kitty, Big City.
The premise of the game is simple: You’re a little kitty, lost in the big city and you need to find your way home, urgently. The game focuses on exploration as players take on the role of adorable Kitty, who is trying to find a way home through a bustling downtown. The vibe is friendly and so is the music. During the journey, Kitty discovers nooks and crannies and makes discovery a joyful process.
Kitty navigates an open-world packed with adorable animals to befriend, people to pester and hats to wear… hats that come in various forms, “including a fish head, a half-shucked corn cob, little devil ears, a cowboy situation, a hedgehog and even some root vegetables”.
“As a game designer, you kind of sit down and go, what is the purpose of this thing that you’re doing?” Wood has told Engadget. “You always need a function, a purpose, a reason for doing the thing. I think 10 years ago, I would have said, OK, hats are gonna give you this ability, or, like, there’s going to be all of this gameplay tied to all this stuff. And while that is true for some things regarding the hats, largely, they’re cosmetic. It was refreshing to come to that conclusion to say, no, these are just for fun.”
Little Kitty, Big City is on track to come out in 2024 for Switch and PC.