We’ve passed our 10th interview and are on to our 11th! Thank you so much for supporting the dev interview series thus far, which has (hopefully) given you a little insight into our favorite little games. For our 11th interview, we had the pleasure of interviewing UB, Estu and Apit of noobzilla games! The studio behind the adorable Cats Around Us hidden object series. Check out their games on Steam!
1. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this interview! Could we get a quick introduction to you and what you do at noobzilla games?
UB: Hey, I’m UB. Back in 2017, my wife Estu and I started noobzilla. It’s basically a family game studio (just the two of us as the core team, haha). We started out making games for advergaming or other B2B projects. Now, we’re into creating small cat-themed games for Steam and consoles. Day-to-day, I handle the game coding and pretty much everything except drawing and finances.
Estu: Hi, I’m Estu, the other half of noobzilla. I’m the 2D artist and also take care of the money stuff for the studio.
2. Is the noobzilla team working together remotely or in a studio? What does a typical day or week working on noobzilla games look like?
UB: Our setup’s a bit unique. We’re kinda remote, but not that remote. Estu works from home, while I work from a collective space that’s literally across the street from our house. My typical day starts with heading to the office before lunch to tackle admin stuff. Then I go home to have lunch with Estu, head back to the office to code games until the afternoon, and return home for dinner. After that, we might chill or take a walk until around 9 PM, then go back to the office to wrap up some work. By 10 PM, I’m playing Dota, and by 11, I’m back home.
Estu: I’m working from home, so I have a typical working-from-home routine. I Wake up at 8, buffering, butler-ing my cats and cooking, then start to work at noon by checking my tasks, some discussion on progress with UB and start to draw until evening.
3. In early #FollowFriday and #ScrenshotSaturday posts, a charming cat game called From the Summit can be found featured, did any of the mechanics from this initial prototype make it to the eventual Cats Around Us series?
Estu: Sadly, no. But From the Summit was kinda the spark for the Cats and Seek series, which later grew into Cats Around Us. We made From the Summit during the pandemic when we had some free time, and we joined the IGDX Academy with it.
There, we learned a ton about Steam from mentors. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to apply that knowledge right away since the game wasn’t finished. Wanting to put what we learned into practice, we decided to make a small game to try publishing on Steam. I remembered Cats Hidden in Paris by Travellin Cats, which we found during a market research session at IGDX Academy. It seemed like a manageable project to finish quickly. About a month later, we released our first Steam game, Cats and Seek: Osaka. Luckily, players loved it, so we kept going with more Cats and Seek titles.
UB: After a few Cats and Seek titles, it didn’t seem healthy for Estu to keep drawing them nonstop. Hiring another artist would’ve taken time to match Estu’s art style, so we decided to create a new series with a completely different style from what Estu usually does. That’s how Cats Around Us came about, with levels created by local comic artists we collaborated with. It gave Estu a bit of a break for the next Cats and Seek title. It’s been quite a journey from an unfinished From the Summit to Cats Around Us!
4. Have any personal experiences inspired the process, making, or art of the Cats Around Us series?
UB: This was our first time working with a writer to brainstorm ideas. We teamed up with Dimas Novan Delfiano from Mojiken to come up with story concepts that we pitched to comic artists.
The way we met our comic artist was pretty unique too. We were at a local comic event, and at one booth, we saw comics by Apit No Baka. The art style was super interesting and felt perfect for our game. Apit wasn’t at the booth, so we reached out via Instagram.
Oh, by the way, meet Apit, our comic artist collaborator! She’ll answer questions about the artwork.
Apit: Hi, I’m Apit, the comic artist who collaborated on Cats Around Us: Black Cat. One reason we went with this story theme is because I used to have a black cat who loved to blend into the shadows and then pop up out of nowhere. That memory inspired me to create a comic about a black cat.
5. The artwork is a key part of Cats Around Us, and the illustrations are incredibly detailed! What inspires the current art style of the Cats Around Us series and what steps need to be taken to build a level?
UB: The black-and-white style is pretty common in hidden cat games. But we also know everyone has their favorite color combos, so we added a feature to let players customize the colors however they want.Apit: The artwork’s super detailed because it’s a hidden object game, so more details mean the cats are trickier to find. Plus, there’s a puzzle minigame, so I made the paneling a bit tricky on purpose. If you look closely, each page’s panel layout is different. Some objects are drawn to spill out of the panels, while others are partially hidden by them. It’s all designed to make the gameplay more engaging.
6. Upon the release of the first Cats Around Us game, were there any happenings that were unexpected?
UB: Since our games are super small with simple gameplay and short playtime, we often got rejected when applying for unofficial Steam events. Totally understandable, since those events get flooded with high-quality games from all over the world.
Luckily, in SEA, there are events specifically for SEA developers, which were a lifesaver!
We got to join two SEA events: The Days of Ramadhan and Southeast Asian Game Showcase. We were thrilled to get those opportunities!
7. What inspires you to continue game development?UB: For me, it’s two things: money (obviously, lol) and the community. If we couldn’t make a living from games, I might’ve switched industries. Thankfully, we’re part of an awesome, supportive developer community where everyone helps each other out. It feels like a shame to leave an industry with such a great community. There’s still so much we can build together.
Before we started selling games on Steam, B2B projects referred by community friends helped us a lot. Even though we haven’t made a hit game yet, we’re super grateful that the small games we release on Steam and consoles are enough to support us right now.
8. An upcoming game was teased lately, is there anything you can tell us about the upcoming game, Pictective?
UB:Pictective is the next iteration of the hidden object games we love making. Unlike our previous series where players hunt for hidden cats, in Pictective, players examine a photo and match small image fragments to their correct spots. Ever done a CAPTCHA, like finding a traffic light in a picture? That’s where the idea came from.
It’s still cat-themed, with the main character Doma being a detective cat who chases naughty cats that appear once you solve the CAPTCHA. The game’s simple and short. Hopefully, we’ll release a demo soon for you to try. Stay tuned!
9. What can we look forward to in the future of noobzilla games?
UB: Honestly, we’ve never really planned noobzilla’s future. Everything just kinda flows naturally. Even making and releasing small games on Steam wasn’t planned, we just went with what was happening.
One thing’s for sure, we’re still enjoying making small cat-themed games. So, expect more games in the Cats and Seek and Cats Around Us series, and maybe some other small games down the line.
10. Where can we subscribe to the progress and news about Cats and Seek , Pictective, and future upcoming games?
UB: We post game dev updates at least once a month, usually on our Steam Developer Page and our (free) Patreon. If you’re into social media, check out our Twitter.
–
I’m incredibly excited to see the upcoming game and what more comes from this small and passionate team, follow them on their socials to keep up with them! And if you are a developer, I would be happy to see if we could work out a feature sometime! Just drop me an email at himetokki@gmail.com for business inquiries. Meanwhile, happy gaming, everybunny!