Quilts and Cats of Calico News

[h2]Quilters, cat lovers, everyone![/h2]

We’ve probably been waiting for this day as much as you have. Today, we’re super excited to announce Quilts and Cats of Calico’s release date and we’re even more excited that it’s just around the corner, just like your cat when you least expect it. So, without further ado…



That means it’s less than a month until you can discover Cat City and help its denizens, create your own cats to score points during the games, and challenge your friends and players all around the world to see whose quilt is the quiltest (they’re all beautiful, by the way)!

We’ve also prepared a date reveal trailer for this special occasion and it’s a bit CATastrophic - don’t worry, though, the kitty’s ok and we gave it some nice in-game pets afterwards. Have a look:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We think the original board game has a charm that’s rare and we hope that we managed to bring the charm - and maybe even add an additional pinch of it - to the digital adaptation and we absolutely cannot wait until you get your hands and/or paws on the game next month! We hope that the work we put in the digital adaptation of the fantastic game Calico has paid off and you’ll be satisfied with how it turned out!

We also want to thank you once again for your various help and support throughout the development process! We’re finally close to the finish line and while we’ve poured our passion and dedication into crafting the game, this couldn’t have happened without you. We hope Quilts and Cats of Calico will provide entertaining puzzle gameplay to both seasoned quilters and new adepts alike.

[h2]Thank you for joining us on this exciting adventure, and we can't wait to see you in Cat City (and in online matches) soon!
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Oh and be sure to come over to our Discord if you haven't done so already! Click the banner below to join:

Hey quilters!

Meow are you doing this Valentine's Day? 😻

Whether you're spending it with a loved ones, together with your cute fluffy feline furballs, or solo (hey, there's nothing wrong with that!), we wanted to share some love with you! So basically, we're each others' Valentines today! 💞

And since we can't share cat-shaped chocolates online even with how powerful the internet is, what we can do is share a Valentine's Day card with all of you cat-loving people! 💌 And yes, it's cat-themed, and yes - it's two cats forming a heart with their tails and oh my it's cuteness overload! We hope you like it - happy Valentine's to everyone!



❗Psst, hey, but if you're really into surprises, be sure to be here tomorrow. There's something special we'll be sharing, a belated Valentine's surprise! Ok, we're getting to excited 🤐 See you tomorrow!

Hello, Quilters!

As you know, in Quilts & Cats of Calico, besides addictive gameplay, the cats are the most important for us. We wanted you to be able to create the most unusual kitties (sometimes even other species) and recreate your real live feline companions who are close to your hearts.



In today's Kitty Diary, we would like to introduce you to the process of creating a cat editor from the perspective of our 3D Artist/Animator Maks, and 2D Artist/Animator Monika, whose work (among others) you can see and experience using cat editor. Read how they created cat models and accessories, the colors and textures of cat fur, and the introduction of broad color palettes that allow you to create all those unique kitties.


[h3]Monika, on creating fur patterns:[/h3]
The cat editor underwent many changes over the months. Originally, we didn't know if we would be able to provide players with extended customization options. Therefore, in the beginning, many ready-made fur patterns were created, exclusively in natural colors. Many of them were precursors to what is now in the game because based on those patterns, masks (masks in Photoshop work as kind of stencils and are made and implemented from Adobe Substance Painter) used in the game were created. It had its limitations, since, as I mentioned, we only considered natural colors and natural patterns. So, there was no purple raccoon, a cat with a moon on its forehead, or a cat that has both dots and stripes on its fur and looks like someone spilled markers on it.



However, manual fur coloring allowed for a much wider range of colors. Furs could have gradients, could be two-colored, and the lighting could be enriched with other shades, instead of just black and white at different % as light and shadow.



Currently, it works on a completely different principle. Despite predefined patterns being a pretty good system, the creator that allows rich customization is much cooler than the one we had. The fur creation process is also completely different now. The texture now determines the fur texture, where shades of gray determine which elements should be light and which dark. We also have separately the inner ears, nose, and paw pads, so the player can color these elements freely. However, all patterns are black-and-white masks, where the white color determines what will actually be colored. Such solutions allow for creating a realistic cat that one might have at home, as well as a rainbow alien.



Creating textures itself wasn't a challenge. Of course, there were more troubling moments where we had to decide exactly what would end up in the game, but I would say that creating the cat editor as a, working, coherent whole was the biggest challenge we faced. In the beginning, we didn't really know what options we had; there were dreams and ambitions, but there were also frustrations, and its concept could evolve from day to day (when we thought we couldn't add a color wheel, the next day the color wheel appeared in the project :)).


[h3]Maks, on creating cat models and accessories:[/h3]
The cat model itself was originally created for animation purposes. Of course, there were considerations about adding the possibility of creating custom cats even then, but it wasn't clear at that time what it would involve. Only loose assumptions such as the need to edit the cat model to "some" extent, change textures, and so on. So, I kept that in mind, but it was still waiting to be determined. I must admit that when I started working on the editor, it dawned on me that I should devote more computational power of my mind to think about the editor in the context of what I can do to best prepare the model before adding the skeleton, weights, and animations. Fortunately, the blend shape function is incredibly flexible and powerful, which allowed me to achieve a very satisfactory effect (despite the greater workload).



The process of adding blend shapes or pose morphs, as this function is called in the program I use - Cinema 4D, is quite simple. For the cat model itself and each of the additional objects such as both eyeballs and the tongue, a tag called Pose Morph is added. It allows for "virtual" editing of the model on many planes, such as position, UV maps, or points (vertexes). The last option is the one we use because it allows editing the model at the level of individual points, which is the most basic because each polygon consists of four points connected to each other.

When we virtually edit the model in Cinema 4D, the state of the model at the time of assigning the Pose Morph tag is saved, allowing for changes without the risk of losing our base. After making modifications, we can easily use sliders in the tool to smoothly transition between the base state of the model and the edited state. This way, we don't switch binary between these poses, but we actually see the process of transforming the model or morphing it between two extreme states. After adding all the blend shapes, we can easily export the model in .fbx format and import it into Unity.



Before I even started working on accessories, I conducted substantial research on the subject matter. Searching for things/items that are characteristic enough of the event so that even after checking it against the low-poly model (because our accessories cannot be too large due to optimization on various devices), they will retain their silhouette and recognizability.

Later in the process, we had a significant meeting with the Quilts and Cats of Calico art team to choose accessories we’d like to make regarding our capability and time. After such a planning phase, I make final decisions and start the creation process.



I would say the most challenging thing about working on accessories is restraining myself from adding many details because I have to keep the models within certain limits in terms of polygon count. This is difficult, but not entirely bad because it forces me to think more deeply about what the object I'm working on really is at the moment, what truly makes it THAT object, and those parts I still have to consider regardless. Of course, in individual cases, I allow myself to slightly shift the boundary because I believe that a particular object will gain a lot through "special" treatment.

While working on the models, two moments gave me a significant dopamine boost: research on some accessories connected to certain cultures and holidays, and, of course, finishing each project. It made me feel that I was developing my knowledge by discovering new and fascinating things and also felt the satisfaction of being able to look at my work and describe it as effective.



We hope we've given you a little insight into the background of working on the cat editor. As a team, this was the first time we've implemented such a system, so each new texture, model, each option, was a new adventure. All this brought us a lot of joy, and, hopefully, it will give a lot of joy to you.

Thank you for reading!

[h3]We recently held an achievement naming contest on the official Quilts & Cats of Calico Discord. The council has decided - we have the winners! The choosing task was not easy as we got a lot of ameowzing answers but we made it, with some scratching, catnip chewing, and power napping in the meantime.

Below you'll find fourteen achievements with their brand-new, community-made names![/h3]

1. Get 60+ points in a single game - So fur, so good
   
   
2. Get 65+ points in a single game - Senior discount
   
   
3. Get 70+ points in a single game - 10 in dog years
   
   
4. Get 75+ points in a single game - Quilting virtuoso
   
   
5. Get 80+ points in a single game - Meowstermind
   
   
6. Get 85+ points in a single game - Purrfectionist
   
   
7. Finish a game without getting any buttons - Zippered Quilter
   
   
8. Finish a game without attracting any cats - Someone's a dog person
   
   
9. Finish a game getting a rainbow button - Somewhere, Over the rainbow
   
   
10. Finish a game without completing any Design Goal Tile - Too busy petting the cat
    
    
11. Get at least 1 token of all three cats in a single game - All Paws On Board!
    
    
12. Complete at least 2 Design Goal Tiles of a bigger amount of points in the single game - Stitching Savant
    
    
13. Complete 3 Design Goal Tiles of smaller amount of points in the single game - So close yet so far
    
    
14. Finish tutorial - Kitten Steps

[h3]The winners will be contacted via e-mail to confirm their name/nickname put into game credits. Thank you all for taking part in the contest and making Quilts & Cats of Calico special. Soon I'll be back with some very exciting news, stay tuned. [/h3]

[h3]Exciting news! Join our achievement contest on the Quilts & Cats of Calico Discord. Propose creative names for FIVE achievements, and if selected, see your name/nickname in the game credits! 🎮✨

The contest lasts until February 6th, 11:59 pm CET.

More info below (check out the Discord's announcement channel):[/h3]



[h3]Waiting for your creations![/h3]