I know you’re probably thinking: “when will she stop talking about cats?” The answer is: Never. And with this news making the morning a little brighter, you just can’t complain. Annapurna’s upcoming title, Stray, has given so much to those looking forward to today’s release. The collaboration merch was insanely cute, the giveaway to help real-life stray cats, and now, the main event. Our lead character gets in the spotlight today. The reason? The cute orange feline has been revealed as an homage to a real-life cat. And nos just any cat.
Through a blog post on PlayStation’s website, Swann Martin-Raget, Producer at BlueTwelve Studio, revealed that his cat Murtaugh inspired the lead character in Stray. The kitty looks a lot like the one on the video game, and it’s so cute I couldn’t keep it to myself. Check out this furry beauty:
And what’s even more heart-melting about this is Murtaugh’s story. It turns out that this cutie pattotie, pretty much like the one in the video game, was found on the streets, under a car in Montpellier, France. After Martin-Raget rescued him, Murtaugh began a new chapter in his life, going from stray cat to the lead character in Stray. Today, the little furball keeps Swann company at their video game studio.
Even though Murtaugh is not precisely the same cat as the one in the game, his personality traits served as an inspiration to create the virtual kitten. This way, the game could provide a character that resembled a cat’s behaviour in real life. This is what Swann had to say about the creative process:
“Even though we knew we weren’t aiming for a 100% precise representation, having a character that feels really believable, especially for cat owners who are so used to seeing their companion every day, requires a lot of work. Viv and Koola did a lot of very subtle iterations on the appearance of the game’s cat to really try and capture the cuteness but also the liveliness and playfulness of a cat.
Miko and Rémi, our cat programmer, worked countless hours together just on the basic movements of the main character, iterating and fine tweaking every little jump and transition to find that perfect sweet spot between great-looking animations and fun and responsive gameplay. Having real cats under our noses during the development was extremely helpful in many ways.”
Stray is coming out TODAY for PS4, PS5, and PC, so go now and check out little Murtaugh in his leading role!
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