catch-cat

Inspiration

The fast-paced, always-connected modern lifestyle often leaves us feeling stressed and overwhelmed. We wanted to create a peaceful sanctuary right inside the browser—a gentle, offline-first escape that offers a moment of mindfulness. Inspired by classic grid-puzzle mechanics and a universal love for felines, we set out to build a cozy, healing mini-game that turns a quick work break into a delightful, stress-relieving experience.

What it does

catch-cat is a cozy casual puzzle game built as a Google Chrome extension. Players click on the blue grid dots to erect walls, strategically charting a path to trap a playful, escaping cat before it slips off the board.

Key features include:

• Highly Addictive Gameplay: Easy to pick up, yet deeply engaging as you challenge yourself to corner the cat in the fewest moves possible.
• Personal Leaderboards: Automatically tracks your scores, recording your lowest move count and fastest times for self-improvement.
• Cat Collection Room: Discover and unlock 35 unique, charming cats with distinct personalities as you play.
• Privacy-First & Offline: Runs 100% locally in your browser. No internet required, no ads, and zero user data collection.

How we built it

We developed the extension using standard web technologies (HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript) to keep it lightweight and fast. The core game logic relies on a pathfinding algorithm (like BFS or A*) that calculates the cat's optimal escape route in real-time, adapting instantly to the player's wall placements. We utilized Chrome's Local Storage API to securely save the player's personal high scores and cat collection progress entirely on their device without needing a backend server.

Challenges we ran into

Balancing the cat's AI pathfinding was tricky. If the cat was too smart, the game became frustrating; if it was too predictable, it lost its replay value. We spent a lot of time fine-tuning the algorithm to make the cat feel lively, reactive, and just the right amount of "sneaky." Additionally, ensuring smooth asset loading for 35 different cat illustrations within a lightweight extension popup required careful image optimization.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are incredibly proud of creating a seamless, distraction-free user experience. Achieving a 100% offline workflow means the game loads instantly and respects user privacy flawlessly. Designing the progression system with 35 collectible cats adds a wonderful layer of long-term reward to a simple casual game.

What we learned

We learned a great deal about optimizing pathfinding algorithms for real-time grid games, ensuring the AI behaves dynamically without causing frame drops. We also gained deeper insights into building secure, private Chrome extensions by relying strictly on local state management rather than cloud databases.

What's next for catch-cat

We plan to introduce special "power-up" tiles on the grid (like catnip that temporarily slows the cat down, or pre-built obstacles) to add more strategic depth. We are also looking into adding custom theme packs so users can change the appearance of the grid and walls to match their mood.

Built With

• javascript