Chloe Austin-Hawkins - Critter Cafe, Thalassa, Vixen Valley and Hedgehog Home Game Projects

Critter Cafe

Critter Café is an educational café simulator game for PC and Android! Cook 15+ different types of meals and make smoothies for a wide range of wild customers!

The player runs a café with their staff member, Bunny. The café is divided into 3 sections: 

- The dining room section, where customers spawn in and wait for their food 

- The player’s bedroom, which they can decorate, and sleep to end the day. 

- The kitchen, where all food is stored and prepared.

I started working on  Critter Cafe in late September, and am currently still working on updating, with the plan to add 4 new levels of gameplay - featuring new animals and meals! Critter Cafe was my third year Final Major Project, for my Games Technology BSc (Hons).

Critter Cafe was inspired by Lemon Cake, a Café Simulator game​ developed by Cozy Bee Games, and Animal Jam, a Educational Multiplayer Game ​developed by WildWorks. I am heavily inspired by nature, and want to create games that help raise awareness about animal conservation, and make people more aware about nature. 

Critter Cafe was created with two target audiences in mind:

18–24-year-olds​ - Students and Graduates, able to make change​.

​8–12-year-olds​ - Primary School Children, to educate the younger generation.

I was the solo developer for Critter Cafe, responsible for designing and programming. In May I asked another student at UCA, Rasmus Ross, to redesign my assets. All assets featured in the game aren't mine.

All Other Credits, including for other assets and audio, can be viewed on Critter Cafe's itch.io page.

Critter Cafe Links

Itch.io Page (Downloadable for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android)

GitHub

Portfolio Page

Critter Cafe Gameplay Progress Playlist 

Thalassa

In the ruins of an old cruise ship, you must find your way to the surface! Solve puzzles and escape before your oxygen timer runs out! 

Thalassa is a puzzle escape simulator, inspired by the titanic. The theme for the game jam was "Rise"

Thalassa was created for a 4 day game jam, hosted by my university. I was the solo programmer in my team, working alongside 4 team members, who focused on art. Thalassa won Best Overall in the Games Category.

Team Members:

Chloe Austin-Hawkins - Programmer

Emily Purusram - 3D Artist

Fernanda Calvo Gomez - 2D Artist, Music

Rasmus Ross – 2D Artist

Tom Budd – 3D Artist 

Thalassa was created in Unity, using C#.

Thalassa Links

Itch.io Page (Downloadable for Windows)

Portfolio Page

Vixen Valley

You are a fox. Restore order and recollect your tails to shape the world around you, stance switch and manipulate elements to build an idyllic world. Vixen Valley is a 3D Isometric Puzzle Platformer, solve the puzzles by using the correct elements and configure the world around you.

 Vixen Valley was a 3 month long project, with the game being completed in January 2023. Vixen Valley's restrictions were that it had to be designed for mobile, and be either a Vertical or Horizontal Shooter, 3D isometric puzzle, 2.5D platformer or 3D runner. We decided to create a 3D isometric puzzle.

I was the solo programmer on the project, alongside 5 team members, who focused on art. Additionally, I designed the tutorial level. 

Team Members:

Chloe Austin-Hawkins – Programmer

Rasmus Ross – Textures, Concept + UI Artist and Visual Novel Dialogue

Jinwei Zhang – Concept and UI Artist

Candice Dennis – 3D Modeller, Rigger, Animator, Clean up

Dazhou Zhang – 3D Modeller, Textures

Gongqui Li – 3D Modeller, Textures

Vixen Valley was created in Unity, using C#. 

Vixen Valley Links:

Itch.io Page (Downloadable for Windows)

GitHub

Portfolio Page

Hedgehog Home Demo

Hedgehog Home is a educational virtual pet game, about looking after a European Hedgehog!

In July 2022 I started working on the demo for Hedgehog Home, and released it for browser in September 2022.

The Demo contains:

Health, Hunger and Fun meters

Night and Day time modes

Night Time:

Feed Option - player can feed their hedgehog using a variety of food. Cost of food scaled with the hunger it restores

Play Option - player can play with their hedgehog to restore fun meter. Two mini-games available:

Worm Hunt - player can run around collecting coins, worms that restore their hunger and can get damaged by poisoned slugs.

Leafpile Rummage - player can use 1 gold to get a random item to decorate their garden with.

Vet Option - player can restore the health, hunger and fun bars of the hedgehog, for gold.

Daytime:

Work Option - Question Time - player answers a series of true or false questions about hedgehogs. For example "Hedgehogs are Rodents" - in which the player is meant to answer that this is false. Answering correctly gives the player 2 gold.

Decorate Option - The player can use the items they won from Leafpile Rummage to decorate their garden.

If the hedgehogs fun or hunger reaches 0, their health bar slowly goes down. If their health bar reaches 0 the hedgehog runs away and the game is over.

Hedgehog Home was inspired by a hedgehog that lived in my parent's garden, and became ill. I realised that despite being passionate about nature, I knew little about hedgehogs. I researched and decided to make Hedgehog Home, to teach others about hedgehogs. 

Hedgehog Home Demo was made in Unity, using C#.

I am currently designing a full version of Hedgehog Home:

Hedgehog Home is an educational virtual pet game about looking after a European Hedgehog. Play mini-games with the hedgehog, and a variety of other animals! Unlock new mini-games and decorations for your garden! Learn more about the wide variety of species native to Britain!

The full version of Hedgehog Home will feature 12 new minigames, and will be aimed at teaching the player audience about more animals native to Britain!

Hedgehog Home Links

Itch.io Page (Playable in Most Browsers)

GitHub

Portfolio Page