TOEBEANS: FOSTER

‘Toebeans’ is a single-player video game intended for mobile and tablets in which the player fosters and cares for cats until they are ready to be adopted into their ‘forever home’. The aim of the game is directly and purposefully linked to Cats Protection's goals which is to improve people’s understanding of cats and their care, encourage the neutering of cats and find good homes for cats in need.

I designed Toebeans while I was at Kingston University (January - February 2019).
The artwork used is by Rus Hudda.

Designed: January - February 2018

Genre: Casual

Team Size: 1

Duration: 1 month

Platform: Mobile

Designed as a casual “check-in” game with easy gameplay, toebeans is a game you can open during downtimes or bathroom breaks. The timeline is asynchronous, giving a certain level of autonomy and unpredictability to the cats. Players are able to play the game for a short or long period, then close the app and come back later without pressure.

To be adopted, a cat must meet the following criteria: clean (no fleas), vaccinated, neutered and microchipped. After each of these criteria are met, a cat is available for adoption. The game will include examples of real cats who have been waiting to be adopted for longer than 1 year, in the hopes that the game may encourage some players to adopt cats who need a home. As it is possible to foster examples of real cats, the 'certificate' the player unlocks will be different than a fictional cat: ‘Congratulations! Cat1’s in-game ‘copy’ was adopted!’

After looking up information on spaying/neutering for my own two cats, I found Cat’s Protection, a charity whose goals include:

Homing: Finding good homes for cats in need.
Neutering: Supporting and encouraging the neutering of cats.
Information: Improving people’s understanding of cats and their care

Cats Protection have rehomed 1.5million cats in 90 years, and by connecting an app to the real world, we could increase that and donations. Using an app or game and connecting it with the real world, one could use examples of real cats to receive real donations. One of the most popular Tamagotchi clones on the market is Neko Atsume with more than 10mill downloads (2018). Neko Atsume is a free app with in-app advertising and purchases between 66p - £2.66. Hypothetically, if half the people who downloaded the game donated the occasional 66p to a related charity that would be £3,300,000 donated.

An image of the designed game flow. It shows the different rooms available, as well as planned icons for notifications like "litter tray needs cleaning".

An image showing how the player would scroll through the main room. A section of the room is highlighted, it is the size and shape of a phone screen.

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