This jam is now over. It ran from 2020-10-09 08:00:00 to 2020-10-19 11:00:00. View 8 entries

The Tentacle Zone and Cats Protection have partnered to bring you this wholesome, accessible and low pressure game jam!

Game developers taking part will create a game tackling one of the themes chosen by Cats Protection.

The jam itself takes place between the 9th and 19th of October (ending at 12 noon GMT), giving developers enough time to work on their games, over two weekends.

At the end of the jam, a panel of judges made from game developers, charity workers and streamers from Cats Protection's Pawesome Players programme will create a shortlist of games which will be featured on the Pawesome Players streams!

Everyone interested can join the community of makers on Discord here: https://discord.gg/egHG9v2

About Cats Protection

Cats Protection is the UK's largest feline welfare charity. They help around 200,000 cats and kittens every year thanks in no small part to our network of over 230 volunteer-run branches and over 30 centres.

The partnership is part of Cats Protection’s efforts to explore video games as a way of attracting more support for its cat rehoming, neutering, education and advocacy work.

Last year the charity launched its own online community of gamers called Pawsome Players and so far it has attracted over 100 members who have raised £37,000 through gaming marathons and streaming live content.

About the Tentacle Zone

The Tentacle Zone is Payload Studio’s community-centric initiative to take shared space with indie developers at consumer shows and since 2016, they’ve supported 200 games.

The Tentacle Zone brand has extended into the Tentacle Zone Workspace where other like minded devs share office space with Payload as well as technical know-how/ skills / networking and has now evolved into a programme to support our resident developers & our public events.

Donations

If you would like to donate to Cats Protection: https://www.cats.org.uk/donate Your donations will help Cats Protection carry on their work to ensure a bright future for all the cats and kittens in their care. Your donations help save the lives of cats, no matter how big or small.

Social Media

The hashtag for the jam is #PurrposefulJam. You are also helping us by sharing your progress on social media!

What can you make?

You can make any game you want following one of the themes, and provide a download to a playable game (the game can be opened from an executable and played). We are also admitting board games submitted in pdf format.

It’s your first jam or you just want to work on a small game?

Check these engines:

● Bitsy

● Twine

● Construct

Themes

Theme: The De-chonking

The importance of healthy weight in cats -

Did you know?

It’s thought over 50% of cats in the UK are overweight. Cats who are overweight have a poorer quality of life, keeping your cat at a healthy weight is a key responsibility of being a cat owner.

Although beloved by the internet ‘chonk’ or overweight cats are a real problem we see with cats in our care and with owners searching for advice. Sooty came into our care earlier this year weighing a massive 10kg!

Like in humans, excess weight in cats can cause health problems so it’s important they maintain a healthy weight. Obesity in cats can increase the risk of diabetes, osteoarthritis and heart problems, so it’s important to tackle the problem as early as possible. Overweight cats also can’t partake in normal cat behaviours such as grooming as due to their increased size they can’t reach all areas easily, this often leads to stress and other health issues as well as hairballs in long haired cats.

Thoughts to get you started

What’s the best way to communicate that being ‘chonky’ is not a desirable trait for a cat?
What are some slippery slopes for owners that could lead to them overfeeding their cats?
What would a healthy-cat exercising and dieting regime look like?

5 top tips for keeping your feline fit and healthy:

Weigh out cat food on a daily basis, being careful not to overfill bowls. If giving cat treats, reduce the overall amount of food given at meal times
Encourage your cat to exercise with toys such as fishing-rod toys or placing their daily ration of food inside a fun feeding ball to encourage activity
Avoid giving your cat treats intended for humans, such as milk, cheese or chocolate. Many cats cannot digest cow’s milk products and chocolate contains a compound that can be toxic to cats
Never starve overweight cats or put them on a crash diet. A gradual, steady decrease in bodyweight is ideal and it may take up to a year for a severely overweight cat to reach their ideal body condition
If your cat is overweight, seek advice from your vet before embarking on any change of diet

Resources

Theme: Ain’t misbehavin’

Did you know?

Common cat behaviours are often seen as your cat acting up or purposefully misbehaving when they are often displaying natural behaviours in the best way they can, or have an underlying medical condition.

It’s really important to understand why your cat might be weeing on the carpet, loves scratching your sofa, has started hiding more or persistently wakes you up at 4am. Sometimes the cause can be a health issue, or that they may have a scratch post but prefer to scratch horizontally and need a scratch box.

Thoughts to get you started

What could stress your cat and cause them to ‘misbehave’?
How would a cat let their owner know about the main needs they have?
How could you organise your home to better suit your cats’ needs and ensure they are not stressed?

Resources

Theme: Feline Family Planning

Did you know?

The scale of cats breeding is not to be underestimated – one unneutered female cat can have 18 kittens in a year! Unneutered cats are very good at finding each other and unplanned, unwanted pregnancies are all too common. Cats also aren’t fussy, it doesn’t matter if they’re siblings or only four months old so it’s really important to get your cats neutered as early as possible.

Thoughts to get you started

How would a feline family planning session look?
Why could the potential multiplication effects of cats having up to 18 kittens in a year be dangerous?
Why is neutering seen as a potentially dangerous thing for cats, although it is perfectly safe?

Facts to dispel the neutering myths

Cats can start breeding from just four months of age – meaning kittens have kittens!
Kittens can be safely neutered at four months of age or earlier
Cats will readily breed with their brothers, sisters and parents
It is not beneficial for a cat to have a season or ‘just one litter’ before being spayed
The length of pregnancy in cats is just nine weeks and a female cat can often come into season again just six weeks after giving birth
A cat can quite easily have up to three litters a year with five or six kittens in each. That adds up to 18 caring homes for Cats Protection to find each year, just for one cat’s kittens!
This level of breeding is very draining and can be harmful for the mother cat
Neutered cats do not ‘miss’ their organs or opportunities to reproduce or rear a litter – they are not people!
Neutering even if a queen is in season, pregnant or lactating can be performed and is best discussed with your vet

Resources

Case studies:

Theme: The Wanderer

Did you know?

Microchipping is essential to help cats get back home safely, unlike collars which can come off microchips don’t get lost. They can also have their details updated whenever you change your phone number or move house. Microchipping cats isn’t compulsory by law, however Cats Protection have been campaigning to make the law follow that for dogs and to make microchips compulsory for all cats. We managed to reunite 2,500 cats with their owners in 2019 but would love to see this number increase!

As well as helping cats return home microchips also enable technology which works off your cats unique microchip number. You can have cat flaps which will allow individual cats to enter or exit at different times, or a feeder that will only open for a specific cat. Pretty cool!

Thoughts to get you started

How would you design a ‘smart neighbourhood’ for a microchipped cat?
What do you think the process is to reunite a lost cat with their owner?
What campaigns have been successful in getting people to microchip their cats?

Our Microchipping guide

Lost cat advice

Casper reunited with his owner after 55 mile trip!

How to use the themes

You can submit a game inspired by any of the 4 themes above. Take your time to find the theme that sets you on a clear journey and if you have any questions, do ask in our Discord.