Cataminer
A game in active development for release on steam. Won a Fontys ICT SPARC Award in the Summer of 2025.
This game is a 4-player online cooperative game where you and your friends take control of silly space cats during a rescue mission.
I am Art & Design lead on this project. I was responsible for all the 3D Models, Textures and animations with exception of the weapons and the enemy 3D models.
You can view the fully animated trailer to the right.
Check out Cataminer on Itch.io
Initial Idea and Pitch
During a break I got the idea to develop a physics-based cooperative multiplayer game featuring spaced-out looking alien cats.
Why did I choose cats? Well, cats have been funny since the start of the internet.
And they will always be funny pets.
The idea also partially came from a nostalgic childhood game I played called Lego Rock Raiders.
To set this idea apart from many other titles like Deep Rock Galactic, Lethal Company, and Helldivers we bring in cats and a rescue mission.
Now during this rescue mission, the player's mobile drilling base will take damage from enemies.
If your drill takes too much damage, you can not make it through the next level. (As seen on the left overview image)
Players have to work together to find their lost gremlin friends, and rescue them from the caves. Players can each buy their equipment with money earned from kills, objectives and exploration.
The game loop forces players to vary their equipment. This is done by means of multiple damage types; Bullet, Explosion, and Fire resistance differences between enemies. Sometimes players may need to carry the right drill or explosives to progress.
Below you can see some final concept arts of the players and the gremlins that need rescue.
Prototyping
Getting the active ragdoll system to function was rough. After some weeks of development the team and I decided to postpone it.
Instead we opted for a regular capsule player model until further notice.
Around you can see videos of various movement tests run by me.
Snappy Little Gremlins
The primary objective of the game is to rescue these little gremlins. The last thing they will do is cooperate as players try to rescue them.
I designed the looks and attitude of the Gremlins in the game. They are much like hyperactive hamsters.
You can view the Gremlin moodboard below.
Custom Animations
I love animating, and project Cataminer was a good chance to try out the Auto-Rig-Pro Addon. I was amazed on how well it creates an export bridge between Blender and Unity.
This exporting workflow was instantly recommended to our art intern. This way we could streamline our rigs for animation.
If you watch closely you can see the cat is enjoying the scratching pole texture of the wrench. Having custom animations allows for fun easter eggs like this.
Promotional Media
During the development of the Cataminer game, we were starting to get a lot of interest from other students. As a media designer at heart, I decided to use this attention to spread the word of the game more.
In true spirit to the silliness of the game. I decided to feature memes with cats in the promotional material of the game. Parodies of popular characters like Hatsune Miku. And the Hang in There cat poster.
On the Trailer
By the time I made the trailer me and the development team did not have any good gameplay footage to show. So I made the trailer more on the cinematic side, while conveying the idea of the game.
I spend just two weeks to animate the trailer. It was quite the achievement that I pulled it off. Looking back at it, it severely lacks polish.
To the left you can see the storyboard.
Reception and Award
By the end of Spring 2025 the game was praised by many students and won a SPARC award.
This was only the beginning for the actual development roadmap for the game. And I am looking forward to join the team again after my Film Education minor.
