FRAME PERFECT

A lot of development time has been invested in the camera, and it shows: bearing in mind Stray’s protagonist, we keep a watchful eye for any moments when the action is unclear. After a while we realise we’ve stopped looking: during our demo, at least, it doesn’t put a foot wrong. “There’s a whole range in people’s imagination of what the cat can actually do,” MartinRaget says. “Some players are really downto-earth and don’t want to jump on anything, and some players imagine that they can jump on the leaves of a tree to try to reach something. So we’re trying to find a good balance of realistic behaviour and [making it] fun and easy to roam around.” Having the camera so close to the ground emphasises the scale of the place, while encouraging the developer to tell more of the story through environmental detail. “With a human [character] you could just be walking through the streets and kind of ignoring everything. Being a cat, you’re really close to the action and to the detail, and you have to find your way by observing really closely.”