Halloween 2020

They're baaack!

This Halloween, we’re picking up right where our 2016 Magic Cat Academy Doodle left off with a subaquatic shriek-quel! Dive in with Momo the cat to help new friends and reach new depths in her adventure against the Big Boss ghost and its school of ghouls...underwater.

Feline lucky? Swim and swipe to PURR-tect the ocean and its creatures before it’s too late!

The Levels : A deep dive

Level 1 — Sunlight Zone | Aquatic foe: Immortal Jellyfish

Fun Fact: When nearing death, the Immortal Jellyfish can revert back to the polyp stage & start its life cycle all over again—and can do so an unlimited amount of times!

Level 2 — Twilight Zone | Aquatic foe: Boops Boops

Fun Fact: "Boops" derives from the Greek "boōps," meaning “cow eye.” In most languages, the fish's name refers to its large, buggy eyes.

Level 3 — Midnight Zone | Aquatic foe: Vampire Squid

Fun Fact: The Vampire squid has no teeth & doesn't hunt prey! It lives off small, organic material that falls to the ocean bottom known as "marine snow."

Level 4 — The Abyss | Aquatic foe: Anglerfish

Fun Fact: Talk about a fish gone fishin'. Instead of hunting, the Anglerfish uses its esca (or modified fin ray) to lure prey. The esca can illuminate thanks to bacteria!

Early concepts & drafts of the Doodle below

Early swimming & spells animation explorations

Early concepts for Level 1 [Sunlight Zone] & Level 2 [Twilight Zone] : the Immortal Jellyfish & Boops Boops

Early concepts for Level 3 [Midnight Zone] & the Vampire Squid

Early concepts for Level 4 [The Abyss] & the Anglerfish

Early concepts for Level 5 [The Trenches] & the Big Boss showdown!

Early Google Homepage image concept

Behind the scenes with Momo & Sugar

User testing pt. 1

User testing pt. 2 (ghosts can be SO transparent)

User testing pt. 3 (swiping ghosts proves effective)

Momo & Sugar on break from game development (sometimes ghosts can't take a hint)

A restless Momo & sugar the night before launch

Approx. 1 minute after launch — time for a cat nap

Want more adventures with a black cat, ghost and more this Halloween? Now, you can bring your favorite Halloween characters and pet trick-o-treaters into your space using augmented reality. Search for Halloween, Jack-o-lantern, human skeleton, cat, dog, or German Shepherd on your mobile phone.

Magic Cat Academy 2 Team

ART

Olivia When

Juliana Chen

Alyssa Winans

ENGINEERING & UX DESIGN

Stephanie Gu

Conner Lane

Brian Murray

Collin Irwin

UX | Anthony Irwin

PRODUCTION

Producer | Colin Duffy

Music/Sound | Silas Hite, Jacob Howcroft

Marketing | Perla Campos

Eng team lead | Tom Tabanao

Doodle Team Leads | Jessica Yu, Brian Kaas

EXTERNAL PAWTNERS

Momo (black cat)

Sugar (white cat)

Ripley (black cat)