CATHULHU- Collaborative Game Project
Cathulhu is a whimsical and eerie underwater adventure where you play as a deep-sea diving cat, tasked with catching fish to appease an ancient, hungry sea god, Cuthulhu. Fight off predators with a harpoon gun, upgrade your gear to dive deeper, and face the moral dilemma: feed your starving village, or satisfy Cuthulhu’s hunger?
🐈 Locomotion: Running & Swimming 🐈
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Designed and implemented fluid running and swimming animations with additive layers and blendspaces
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Developed a custom swimming system where motion leads with the cat’s head, achieving a more natural underwater flow
🎯 Harpoon Gun Animation System 🎯
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Animated the full harpoon interaction set: equip, aim, shoot, and dequip
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Integrated animations into the gameplay loop using Unreal Engine’s animation state machines for responsive and satisfying combat
🛠️ Additive Procedural Physics 🛠️
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Applied procedural simulation physics to enhance secondary motion in the cat’s ears and tail, adding realism and charm
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Created procedural tentacle animations for Cuthulhu, emphasizing its otherworldly weight and presence
🎭 Facial Animation System 🎭
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Built a spritesheet-based facial animation system using Unreal Engine 5’s dynamic materials, material instance parameters, and animation notifies
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Expressions driven by UV-offset sprite switching on a flat facial plane (similar to The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker) allowing expressive, stylised faces without rigging
Software: Maya
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Production time: ~8 weeks
Responsibilities:
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Character Animation & Rigging
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Animated core movement sets: running, swimming, jumping, aiming, shooting, and combat combos
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Rigged and skinned the cat and Cuthulhu characters, iterating with 3D artists using proxy rigs for rapid development
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Animation Systems & Blueprints
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Built complete animation blueprints, state machines, blendspaces, and motion warping systems for both swimming & running
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Developed responsive locomotion using additive layers and procedural animation
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Procedural Animation & Simulation
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Implemented dynamic physics for the cat’s ears and tail, and Cuthulhu’s tentacles to enhance realism
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Combat & Weapon System
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Animated all harpoon mechanics: equip, aim, shoot, and dequip, with smooth transitions integrated into gameplay flow
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DESIGN
Alfie Ellis- Design Lead, Sound, UI
Lucy Elliot Darling- Producer, Design
Michael Fadare- Level design
Amy Cooper- Design, Tech
Anisur Rahman- Design, UI design
Chris Simpson- Design
TECH
Amelia Hamari-Filby- Tech Lead
Kal Ansah- Tech, Tech art, Concept art
Connie Barker- Tech
Haven Blakely-Rivers- Tech
Michael Gordon- Tech
Toly Gilman- Tech
Leah McMillan- Tech
Jay Molloy- Tech
Harry Read- Tech
ART
Jonny Renaut- Animator
Gian Subrt Holly- Art Lead
Maggie Combes- Character art
Dylan Carrol- Art
Nathaniel Landon- Hard surface art
Jack Maver- Hard surface art
Pixx Sachdeva- VFX, Tech art
Arminas Orlavicius- Environment art
CONCEPT
Kyle Kenyon- Concept Art Lead
Dilara Altindas- Character Concept
George Yoxall- Concept Art