Cat Customs

Gameplay

Inspiration

Cat Customs is a tamagotchi-style game designed for Reddit users to take care a virtual cat! I wanted to create a lightweight game that encourages people to log in regularly to care for their pet. A consistent reason to come back every day to play!

What it does

Users can feed, play, and let the cat sleep.
The cat can be dragged anywhere on the screen for silly interactions.
Simple physics with gravity

How we built it

Cat Customs was created using Devvit web and the React framework. I drew the designs of the cat and designed the UI in Figma. I then translated the design over to coding it.

Challenges we ran into

Time constraints. I joined the hackathon 2 days before the official deadline so there were additional features I had yet to implement. Using React to perform animations was tedious and buggy, and possibly could've been done more efficiently using an alternative program. Debugging interaction logic within the Devvit environment also required iteration.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Successfully building and deploying a fully playable Devvit app within the hackathon timeframe
Creating a clean, cohesive visual style from original cat artwork and UI design
Delivering a simple but complete gameplay loop that encourages daily engagement

What we learned

How to build and deploy a Devvit web app within a subreddit environment.
Managing interactive state and animations in React.
Balancing scope in a hackathon setting — focusing on a polished core experience rather than overbuilding features.