Meet Gilbert! A very curious cat who loves to go on adventures. Play with Gilbert is a sandbox game aimed at young children (Ages 3+) in order to help them get familiarized with 3D platform games and gameplay. The game uses a simplified control scheme which allows young gamers to easily navigate their kitty around the world. The goal is to find all of Gilbert's friends and collect all the fishies.
Play with Gilbert is meant to be a fun little kitty game designed to encourage playfulness within children. A game you can let your child play without having to worry about micro transactions, unlockables or trading cards. There currently is almost no skill level required to play as this game is not meant to be overly challenging.
The game was designed with the help and input from my own 4 year old daughter. It started out as a small personal project to get her familiarized with a controller and to take her away from mobile app based games. Don't expect any deep gameplay mechanics, it's not meant for children who already know how to play more advanced games.
Play with Gilbert does take some light inspirations from classic platformers and while adding a touch of sandbox to the mix. Gilbert, or any customized kitty can go around the levels and find their friends, collect all the pink fishies, or, manage to grab the golden fish from ninja lady.
There are four levels in the game and two new free levels added after release. Gilbert's neighbourhood, Timmy and Tommy's house, the park and Gilbert's Play Gym. Each level has it's own kitty's to be found and has tons of places to explore, fishies to discover and collect as well as meeting other inhabitants.
You can create your own kitty to play with. Complete with accessories to wear and be able to choose from a varieties of fur. You can name him or her and it'll be proudly displayed everywhere in the game. Play with... Whiskers ?
Play with Gilbert also has a completely dynamic day / night cycle system implemented. You can choose at which time of the day to start the game. The cycle can be adjusted to how long a day takes, from ten minutes to one hour.
Hi Parents! As a father myself it was important to me that the design behind this game evokes a sense of exploration. The game started as a small side project meant for my 4 year old daughter to play. She loved it so much that I decided to make it into a more full fledged experience. Everything is designed around my observations watching her play and also through her own suggestions. I hope that your own child has as much fun as mine has.
Also important to note is that there are no micro transactions, unlockables (everything is unlocked from the get go) nor are there any cards or achievements. These things are thrown at children constantly and I am personally not a fan of them so I decided to leave these things out.
The game is about having fun, trying to find all the kittens, collect all the fish or try to get the golden fish yet it won't force or push you to do so. If you do collect everything in a level, the end reward is a nice fireworks show, nothing more. I wanted to keep the rewards to a minimum and something that means more than some unlockable reward or a high score, something that can be experienced.
- Play as Gilbert or your own custom kitty.
- Fully dynamic day / night cycle.
- Start the game at whatever (in-game) time you want.
- Seasonal events (Halloween and Christmas).
- Choose which level to start and travel between levels during gameplay.
- Two in-game seasons, summer and winter. (Winter is only visible during December)
- Add a time limit for each play through
- Lock the options through a password system
- Lock the game
- Disable seasonal events
