Note: This cartridge's settings do not allow embedded playback. A [Play at lexaloffle] link will be included instead.
Yarn Cat is a slow oldschool puzzle game about a mysterious cat that is somehow also a ball of yarn, travelling through odd lands to bring love to other cats. This is my first pico-8 game, and the first game I've made in about 20 years.
Through 66 levels across 8 worlds, your goal is use your body and the yarn tail you leave behind to interact with buttons, fairies, and frogs in just the right sequence to magically awaken a sleeping cat and give them a nuzzle. But your tail might also get in the way and block your path, so experiment, mess around, and maybe try to think ahead!
Controls are simple:
Use the arrow keys to navigate menus and move your yarn cat around the level (E,S,D,F keys also work**)
The action button (X) to select menu items, and re-roll up your yarn tail under you if it gets in the way (Z,C,V,N,M also work)
Enter brings up the ingame menu, to restart or skip a level (P also works)
Yarn Cat is designed to be mentally tricky, but there are no timed elements or reflexes required, the movement is grid-based, flashy game juice is basically nonexistent, and with options for input sensitivity and to visually simplify levels; the challenge is all in working out how to solve each level, not struggling to physically execute it. And although the fun of the game is all about working out a solution for yourself, if you get frustrated you can skip any level without consequence to try again later; but they do of course tend to get harder as you progress.
Progress is saved when you complete a level, so you can take your time and come back later.
In-game Options Explained:
Speckled yarn: adds a little cosmetic flair to your yarn tail, randomly alternating its colour.
Force yarn contrast: if you enter an area where your yarn colour would blend into the background, it will be changed to a different colour with better contrast.
Simple backgrounds: changes the levels' background tiles to make the grid system much more obvious.
Outline objects: draws a sharp black outline around interactable puzzle elements to make them easier to see.
Repeat held inputs: changes behaviour of hold down buttons:
'Fast' allows for the smoothest player movement, but might be a bit twitchy for some players.
'Slow' still moves the player continuously, but with more time to react and let go of the button between grid steps.
'Off' moves the player only once per button press, needing repeated presses but allowing maximum accuracy.
These settings also apply to re-rolling up your tail and menus.
Fairy symbols: adds extra visual information to fairies and mushrooms, in case their colours are difficult to tell apart.
Extra visual effects: toggles wobbling lilypads, steam, and flickering blocks in the last area in case these are distracting.
Music beat: toggles the looping drum beat that plays in the background of levels (and the chords of the last world too).
Sound effects: toggles the sounds of bumping into things, hearts, and rolling up.
FAQ:
Why does the yarn tail act like it's solid?
You can loop back over it in a perpendicular direction (or if some external power compels you), but otherwise yarn cats are very particular about the kinds of mess they make. (And also that is the core puzzle mechanic of the game!)
What is the point of the mess highscores?
Just for a little extra fun if you want to play around with it, to see how much yarn you can cover the level with and still complete it!
What's the difference between the cats?
The different cat colours for the player and the sleeping goal cat are just cosmetic, so play as whichever one you like. The same is true for yarn colour on levels without colourful fairies, it's just for fun.
**Why don't the ESDF controls work in the pause menu? Why not WASD?
ESDF are the player 2 controls used by pico-8, which I added to maximise convenience because the web browser doesn't allow input remapping, and for some reason they don't work in the pause menu. If you download the cart and run it in the pico-8 program, all controls can be fully remapped with the keyconfig command. If anybody knows a workaround or how to run keyconfig for the browser please let me know! (also as a quirk of token-saving input handling, player 2's Q and W work in levels, but not on the menus)
What are the yellow hearts? / These cave levels are too easy!
Optional hard challenge spoiler! Even though you can freely re-rollup your own tail, it is possible to 'perfectly' complete every level without doing so. This makes many levels significantly more difficult to complete, some taking me quite a while to even verify! If you want to aim for this very optional extra challenge, levels completed in this way will be shown with a yellow heart only after you have cleared the final level. There is no other rewards for getting yellow hearts, just the challenge.
Special thanks to Jacqueline Rose for testing and support; and thisismypassport for shrinko8, which was necessary to fit all the level data into one cart.
Nice game! There's something very satisfying about the way the yarn threads through the buttons. At first, I didn't realize I could cross over my own tail (making the second level seem impossible) and even after I wasn't entirely sure why I could or couldn't, though I did eventually get it. But I think the color variation threw me off. Very nice overall feel and polish!
Very, very nice. I'm not a big puzzle game guy but this one is just too satisfying with the yarn stuff. The reeling in of yard is a very interesting mechanic that I'm still figuring out but that's been a lot of fun.
