[W-A-S-D] [Cursor keys] - move
\n[Space] - jump
\nJump through a window to enter a room.
\nThe Broom will try to kick you out, but more importantly, it wants the room to be clean - leave footprints to keep it busy.
\nThe cat in the trash will pop up sometime, it might push you off the bin.
\nThe dog will sniff around from time-to time - try to avoid it.
\nThe canary tastes good, just like mice and fish.
\nThe eel just wants a hug, but that hurts.
\nThe vases are fragile.
\nThe game is based on Alley Cat (1984) by Bill Williams, SynSoft, IBM. You can find it online, try it!
\nCode, graphics - Gabor Heja
\nOriginal music - Bent Fabric
\n\n","source":"gheja/js13k2025","stars":0,"yt":"lIBMFW7TVNI","comments":[{"at":410416203,"author":"Rob Louie","login":"roblouie","gh":5448110,"url":"roblouie.com","twitter":"rob_louie","text":"Wow, great graphics, and very cat themed! Really like the idea of the different mini games in the different rooms as well, and how they are all “cat things” to do.
\nThe jumps seemed inconsistent, sometimes I jumped higher than others and I’m not sure why. Also, when I was jumping around avoiding the broom or trying to catch a bird, I’d just jump out the window accidently, which was super annoying. I don’t know why I’d even want to voluntarily leave the room once I’m in, but even if you wanted that ability, it shouldn’t be via a huge window in the middle of the room that you will always hit while jumping. When I got to the room with the two dogs, I had no idea what to do, so I gave up there. I tried jumping on them and eating their food, and hanging on the picture on the wall, but nothing seemed to do anything?
\nI think with a minor tweak there and more clear instructions, this would be one of my favorites of the year. The game has a ton going for it, graphics, animations, music, letting you “be a cat”, just a couple small furstrating points. Great work overall though!
\n","games":["Whiskers Witch Adventure"]},{"typ":1,"at":410466595,"re":410416203,"author":"Gabor Héja","login":"gheja","gh":1894642,"url":"https://gabor.heja.hu/","text":"Thank you for the nice review, I am happy you liked it! :) You’re right, the sprite of eating the dog food is missing, the cat should eat the food while the dog is slowly waking up, so you can’t stay too long near a bowl (you have to come back 2-3 times). It will be in the postjam version, along with some other indicator that the cat is eating it and the dog is waking up.
\nI will check the jump height inconsistency, thanks for pointing out!
\nThe window might be annoying, but the broom has to try to get rid of you :) also, I wanted to keep the option to leave the room on your own. I will look into it what could I tweak.
\nI was planning to add hints in the game, but didn’t want to put it in each room - I might just add them to the title screen in the postjam version.
\n"},{"at":410552162,"author":"Homer Dilpleu","login":"HomerDilpleu","gh":66157330,"text":"The cartoon style (graphics, animations,…) is really really really good! For my game I wanted this kind of atmosphere with a black cat walking through garbage cans but I totally failed and went to another direction :) The mix of platformer for level selection and mini games is quite unique and I liked it. Also the jazzy music and all the small details in the game are amazing. I just did not understand what to do with the sleeping dogs level. Very nice job congratulations!
\n","games":["Wash the cat"]},{"at":410565333,"author":"Christoph Schansky","login":"DerBenniBanni","gh":5499976,"text":"AH! Nostalgia kicks in… i got flashback to when i was a little kid in front of an 286 MSDOS PC, trying to get the damn cat into the windows just to be flung out by the nasty broom :-)
\nGreat game! Great music! Had much fun playing it in your fabulous version!
\n","games":["Miami Mice"]},{"at":410614794,"author":"Camilo Ramírez","login":"jucarave","gh":8118259,"url":"https://camiloramirez.dev/","twitter":"jucarave","text":"An awesome remake, this could be evolved into a full fledge alley cat revival, definitively one of my favorites of the js13k this year, congrats!
\n","games":["Guardian Cat"]},{"at":410628969,"author":"smhaaker","login":"smhaaker","gh":10542292,"text":"Wait, is this a alley cat remake? I love it. No more CGA colors for me! Also I guess I must be old… Excellent job.
\n","games":["CatNFish"]},{"at":410635364,"author":"xem","login":"xem","gh":1225909,"text":"LOVELY graphics, sound, animation and overall ambiance. Fun game. Congrats Gabor!
\n","games":["I got up on the wrong foot"]},{"at":410697976,"author":"Daniel Jeffery","login":"d-jeffery","gh":1425457,"text":"Fantastic work - the graphics and audio, and general vibe, mesh really well.
\nI’m impressed you managed to get in so much content; I made a platformer and wanted to add a similar mechanic to entering house holds and creating chaos, but I fell short. I really like your take on this years theme!
\n","games":["Miss Fortune"]},{"at":410738184,"author":"Mohammed Saud","login":"rottencandy","gh":20013884,"url":"saud.wtf","twitter":"rotttencandy","text":"Nice art style and music, after completing 2 goals, I didn’t know I could climb up so I was stuck wondering what to do, but eventually figured it out. This is a lot of content for 13kb!
\n","games":["Non-Mewtonian Cat"]},{"typ":1,"at":410915228,"re":410738184,"author":"Gabor Héja","login":"gheja","gh":1894642,"url":"https://gabor.heja.hu/","text":"Thank you, I also liked your Non-Mewtonian Cat :) I was also thinking about adding an arrow or something when that part is unlocked - maybe in the postjam version! I am glad you enjoyed it!
\n"},{"at":410897873,"author":"Cliff Earl","login":"Antix-Development","gh":17822130,"text":"Wow. Great use of colors and the flat vector graphics are really good!
\nA lot of the time it was too easy to be jumping and go back out a window when I didn;t want to. Still, great little game!
\n","games":["Black Cat - Nine Lives, No Mercy"]},{"typ":1,"at":410914560,"re":410897873,"author":"Gabor Héja","login":"gheja","gh":1894642,"url":"https://gabor.heja.hu/","text":"Thanks for the feedback, I am really glad you liked it :) I wanted to keep the option to leave the room and also let the broom to do its job and nudge the cat out :D But I agree, it might be a bit too easy to accidentally exit, I will think how I could fix it in the postjam version.
\n"},{"at":410961607,"author":"Jonathan Vallet","login":"jonathan-vallet","gh":5329099,"text":"Impressive! The cartoon-style graphics look fantastic, and the music is great too.🎵 It’s a bit hard to control at the start, but once you get used to it, it becomes very fun.
\n","games":["Witchcat"]},{"typ":1,"at":411376872,"re":410961607,"author":"Gabor Héja","login":"gheja","gh":1894642,"url":"https://gabor.heja.hu/","text":"Thanks for the review, I am glad you liked it! :)
\n"},{"at":411019684,"author":"João Lopes","login":"lopis","gh":2715751,"url":"www.jlopes.dev","text":"Great job. It’s very faithful to the original, but far, FAR easier :) The original had atrocious controls, the trash can cat and the dog appear way more often. And I’m sad the cheese level didn’t make the cut.
\nI wasn’t able to finish the room with the painting? What am I supposed to do there? Is this game winnable? Other than that, the graphics were great, and the music too. Missing some sound effects.
\nedit: just read your other comments that I’m supposed to eat the dog food in the room with the painting. Maybe child me never understood that level in the original either
\n","games":["Meow Mountain"]},{"typ":1,"at":411377218,"re":411019684,"author":"Gabor Héja","login":"gheja","gh":1894642,"url":"https://gabor.heja.hu/","text":"Haha, yes, it is far easier than the original one :) I didn’t want to discourage the casual player, while that one didn’t care about anything like this :D I wanted to add both the “throwing stuff out the window” (it is only a minor change now) and the cheese level, as well as a final level and outro - I am working on the postjam version (it will be linked as director’s cut).
\nThe jam version is missing the sprite for the cat eating the food - that’s totally on me!
\nThanks for the great feedback, I really appreciate it :)
\n"},{"typ":2,"at":411048032,"author":"Michelle Duke","login":"mishmanners","gh":36594527,"url":"mishmanners.info","twitter":"MishManners","text":"Cute video! Add it to your README :)
\nInteresting that the cat has to move to “Go”. Maybe a text on screen saying “move the cat”, I tried clicking “GO” with the mouse a few times.
\nThe graphics and music fit together nicely. Great movement controls, nice and fluid. Be great if you could add the “Space” bar as jump (this is a very intuitive gamer control). I like that you allowed for both arrows/WASD movements. (I can see you mentioned using Space bar, but it wasn’t working for me).
\nAdd some sound effects to make it more immersive. I got stuck after completing 2 of the rooms; another window didn’t open. Lots of fun though, and fairly intuitive.
\n"},{"typ":1,"at":411376841,"re":411048032,"author":"Gabor Héja","login":"gheja","gh":1894642,"url":"https://gabor.heja.hu/","text":"I am really happy you liked it, thanks for the great feedback! :)
\nI planned to do some intro/tips/warm up on the title screen, but I had to cut it - I will update the postjam version with your hint.
\nOh, I just checked, it is not your fault, I actually forgot to add [Space] as jump! :O
\nAfter one level is completed more floors get open to explore above (jumping from the upper clothes line), I wanted to add a sign when they unlock, I forgot about it.
\nThanks again for the useful feedback!
\n"},{"at":411083365,"author":"Anthony Cosgrave","login":"anthonycosgrave","gh":1410114,"url":"https://imtoospexy.com/","text":"This was a lot of fun to play, the gameplay is very cat-like. It has a very distinct style and the music fit really well too. When trying to get the canary, I ended up hanging off the book case at one point, really made me laugh.
\n","games":["Chickpocalypse Meow"]},{"typ":1,"at":411377276,"re":411083365,"author":"Gabor Héja","login":"gheja","gh":1894642,"url":"https://gabor.heja.hu/","text":"I wasn’t going to keep the bookshelf there, then I also hung on it and thought it was fun - I am glad I left it there then :) Thank you for the feedback, I am happy you enjoyed it!
\n"},{"typ":2,"at":411093280,"author":"Ania Kubów","login":"kubowania","gh":51362610,"url":"javascriptgames.online","twitter":"ania_kubow","text":"Oh wow! This game has an incredible nostalgic feel which I absolutely loved. The theme of ‘Black cat’ was kept to perfectly and you really did feel like a cat on a lone mission for fish. If you have a cat - you will know this is very accurate with most of their characters. The fish bowl side quest was very creative - extra points for that! I did find getting into windows a bit challenging at times - but this should be an easy fix. Well done!
\n"},{"typ":1,"at":411377544,"re":411093280,"author":"Gabor Héja","login":"gheja","gh":1894642,"url":"https://gabor.heja.hu/","text":"Thanks for the nice review, I am glad you enjoyed being a cat :D (I have to admit sometimes I also spent minutes just jumping and grabbing on things instead of getting back to working on it - in the game, I mean :D) I will adjust the windows a bit in the postjam version - at least for the early levels :)
\n"},{"at":411124581,"author":"Elias Ku","login":"eliasku","gh":3038174,"url":"https://eliasku.win","twitter":"eliaskuvoice","text":"Cool game with a 2D world - loved the cute music and the cubism-style graphics! 😄\nIt was really interesting to play, even though I wasn’t sure what to do with the dog.\nGreat work! 🎮✨
\n","games":["Cat Survivors"]},{"at":411276775,"author":"Jasper Renow-Clarke","login":"picosonic","gh":26137750,"twitter":"femtosonic","text":"Loved the game
\nThe music was brilliant, and catchy
\nI liked the graphics, simple yet effective
\nI wasn’t sure what to do in the room with the sleeping dogs
\nJumping up the washing lines was fun
\nA really enjoyable game, I’ve not seen the Alley Cat game on which you based this on before, but will check that out too
\n","games":["Mochi and the midnight escape"]},{"at":411277908,"author":"Gleb Volkov","login":"malec-palec","gh":2181873,"twitter":"volkov_ayyy","text":"The jazzy soundtrack, bold cartoony art, and mischievous cat vibes are spot on. Climbing lines and popping into rooms felt nostalgic and fun; I only stumbled a bit with the sleeping-dogs room and the occasional window exit. Overall, a charming, compact gem I’d happily replay.
\n","games":["Catapoolt"]},{"typ":2,"at":411363465,"author":"Christer Kaitila","login":"McFunkypants","gh":2111957,"url":"http://www.mcfunkypants.com","text":"This game is so amazing! I love the graphics so much; all the sprites, from underwear on the washing lines to the interiors and the cat avatar animation are so good and stylish. I remember the original game very well! This was so much fun and I played all challenges but I couldn’t eat the dogfood in the final challenge, I went in and out of that room ten times and touched every single part of it including the food bowls. That one stumped me. Additionally, at first I thought I was sitting at a title screen and had to CLICK the go button, I didn’t realize the game was running and ready to play! I ALMOST left, thinking the game was buggy. In any case, this was one of my favourite games of the entire js13k and it made me smile. Great work.
\n"}],"results":{"theme":{"rank":4,"min":1,"score":4,"max":4.24},"innovation":{"rank":81,"min":1.2,"score":2.84,"max":4.03},"gameplay":{"rank":23,"min":1.18,"score":3.52,"max":4.37},"graphics":{"rank":19,"min":1.6,"score":4.08,"max":4.56},"audio":{"rank":26,"min":1.75,"score":3.56,"max":4.22},"controls":{"rank":68,"min":1.6,"score":3.28,"max":4.45},"primary":{"rank":20,"min":8.68,"score":21.28,"max":24.89},"label":"Overall"}}