[Mew-Genics] Team Meat wants you to breed some absolutely fucked-up cats

cloudeagle

So the folks behind Team Meat, who made the masochistic Super Meat Boy and (at least one of them) the wildly disturbing Binding of Isaac, have finally revealed what their next game will be. It is...

...a cat-breeding sim.

But not just any cat-breeding sim. A very, very messed-up one.

Team Meat has finally unveiled Mew-Genics' true nature, after 17 weeks of teasers and tidbits. Dubbed a "cat lady sim," Mew-Genics will blend elements of "The Sims and Pokemon with a sprinkling of Animal Crossing and a dash of Tamagotchi," as creator Edmund McMillen puts it on Team Meat's official blog.

Sounds like just about the most wholesome thing ever, right? Well, not exactly -- McMillen describes a typical Mew-Genics session, during which a cat is unfrozen from a "Cryo-cube" and paired with another cat for breeding. The unfrozen cat attacks the second, and because the attack took place while the second cat was eating, the second cat then associates food with pain from that point on. As a result, the second cat starves to death in the attic.

Later, a stray is brought in and successfully mated with the unfrozen cat, which results in a pregnancy. Unfortunately though, the stray suffers from narcolepsy, a trait that is then inherited by the two kittens born from the union. This condition causes one of the kittens to fall asleep during a kitty beauty pageant, losing the competition.

After the stray cat runs away, it is discovered that it infected the unfrozen cat with "feline aids." As the treatments are too expensive, the cat is re-frozen into a Cryo-cube and put back into storage. Completing missions for a doctor, however, could help find a cure. The game then ends with the player being arrested by animal control.

There's a lot of interesting gameplay elements contained within that tremendously upsetting story, like the fact that cats can inherit traits from their parents and that those traits can lead to failure or (presumably) success during missions. It also made us want to cry. Mew-Genics will launch on Steam, iOS and Android sometime before the end of the year.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/02/23/mew-genics-revealed-as-a-cat-lady-sim/

FELINE AIDS. How you react to that will probably let you know whether or not this game is for you.

MordaRazgrom

McMillen gets all my money, guaranteed. As long as he creates, my wallet is a revolving door for him.

I had WAY too much fun in Isaac, bought Super Meat Boy, and then the Basement Collection. I've been on the edge of my seat since he stopped livestreaming to work on "a project" about 6 months ago or so.

Totally not for everyone, though. His style and humor are...can't even call them acquired taste, if you hate it, nothing will make you love it.

Zephiran

Sounds like the extreme but logical endgame for a game about breeding cats.

This is why the Old Man always just seems to find a Mysterious Egg. Arceus figured this shit out in advance.

Skull2185

I think McMillen is a pretty cool dude, and I adore Super Meat Boy. This sounds like a very weird but interesting game to me.

I just wish Team Meat didn't have such a bad experience with Microsoft, though so I could maybe pick it up on Xbox. I don't know what the deal was, they were a pain to work with I guess? Indie Game: The Movie kind of just glossed over it, but it didn't seem all that bad. I can still pick it up on iOS when it launches though, so I'll probably do that.

Stormwatcher

The games sound really cool, but I don't think I can play it.

MordaRazgrom

It almost sounds more Creatures to me than anything else.

Drez

cloudeagle wrote: »

So the folks behind Team Meat, who made the masochistic Super Meat Boy and (at least one of them) the wildly disturbing Binding of Isaac, have finally revealed what their next game will be. It is...

...a cat-breeding sim.

But not just any cat-breeding sim. A very, very messed-up one.

Team Meat has finally unveiled Mew-Genics' true nature, after 17 weeks of teasers and tidbits. Dubbed a "cat lady sim," Mew-Genics will blend elements of "The Sims and Pokemon with a sprinkling of Animal Crossing and a dash of Tamagotchi," as creator Edmund McMillen puts it on Team Meat's official blog.

Sounds like just about the most wholesome thing ever, right? Well, not exactly -- McMillen describes a typical Mew-Genics session, during which a cat is unfrozen from a "Cryo-cube" and paired with another cat for breeding. The unfrozen cat attacks the second, and because the attack took place while the second cat was eating, the second cat then associates food with pain from that point on. As a result, the second cat starves to death in the attic.

Later, a stray is brought in and successfully mated with the unfrozen cat, which results in a pregnancy. Unfortunately though, the stray suffers from narcolepsy, a trait that is then inherited by the two kittens born from the union. This condition causes one of the kittens to fall asleep during a kitty beauty pageant, losing the competition.

After the stray cat runs away, it is discovered that it infected the unfrozen cat with "feline aids." As the treatments are too expensive, the cat is re-frozen into a Cryo-cube and put back into storage. Completing missions for a doctor, however, could help find a cure. The game then ends with the player being arrested by animal control.

There's a lot of interesting gameplay elements contained within that tremendously upsetting story, like the fact that cats can inherit traits from their parents and that those traits can lead to failure or (presumably) success during missions. It also made us want to cry. Mew-Genics will launch on Steam, iOS and Android sometime before the end of the year.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/02/23/mew-genics-revealed-as-a-cat-lady-sim/

FELINE AIDS. How you react to that will probably let you know whether or not this game is for you.

That is fucked up, I'm appalled at the insensitivity. Do they even realize how devastating it can be to sleep through a beauty pageant? I lost two that way. Thanks for the trigger warning, Team Meat.

Donnicton

I wonder if you will be able to customize the cat house over the course of the game. Make up my own custom cat baroque architecture.

Drez

Feline AIDS = FAIDS as in your cat FAIDS away unless you do the proper medical research.

MordaRazgrom

The kinds of customization available in Isaac has me absolutely giddy about how much CRAP Team Meat will allow you to do in this game. I mean I'm thinking mutations here, subtle and over-the-top, lasers!

Magic Pink

i am stupid excited for this being a crazy cat lady in training as i am

i will play with both my cats snoring and farting directly on the keyboard as usual

Madpanda

Had me interested until

The unfrozen cat attacks the second, and because the attack took place while the second cat was eating, the second cat then associates food with pain from that point on. As a result, the second cat starves to death in the attic

Not even buying on sale. If it was just silly things like the narcolepsy beauty pageant I might give it a try. Animals dying is way too dramatic of a subject in something I play for enjoyment.

milski

I guess the sense of humor isn't for everybody, and there's no way I'd say this game is tasteful... but what's special about animals dying compared to people dying? It seems odd to draw a line at "animals dying is too dramatic" when you're playing games about gleefully making people die.

You also have a link to mincraft in your signature, where animals do die and can be put into some pretty efficient but gruesome harvesting mechanisms.

EDIT: To pre-empt a response, while there are potentially arguments about why animals dying in Mew-genics is worse than blasting people in Borderlands or creating machinery for moderately-industrial scale animal harvesting in Minecraft, your post was purely about animals dying, which is very broad (broad enough, in fact, that Borderlands and Minecraft both have animals dying).

Skull2185

Magic Pink wrote: »

i am stupid excited for this being a crazy cat lady in training as i am

i will play with both my cats snoring and farting directly on the keyboard as usual

Hmm. Decent.

I shall play this game while all four of my cats... are off somewhere, probably sleeping away from me because they don't give two shits about me until it's time to eat.

Those little bitches...

Sterica

Dude, bitches are female dogs.

You are already so bad at this game.

MordaRazgrom

Magic Pink wrote: »

i am stupid excited for this being a crazy cat lady in training as i am

i will play with both my cats snoring and farting directly on the keyboard as usual

Until they look on your screen and see what you have planned for them...you'll have a mutiny!

Donnicton

milski wrote: »

I guess the sense of humor isn't for everybody, and there's no way I'd say this game is tasteful... but what's special about animals dying compared to people dying? It seems odd to draw a line at "animals dying is too dramatic" when you're playing games about gleefully making people die.

You also have a link to mincraft in your signature, where animals do die and can be put into some pretty efficient but gruesome harvesting mechanisms.

EDIT: To pre-empt a response, while there are potentially arguments about why animals dying in Mew-genics is worse than blasting people in Borderlands or creating machinery for moderately-industrial scale animal harvesting in Minecraft, your post was purely about animals dying, which is very broad (broad enough, in fact, that Borderlands and Minecraft both have animals dying).

I also don't think the intent of this game is to purposely kill/abuse your cats, since you can get animal control on your ass. At least going by the information available from the devs so far.

Certainly it appears to be a thing that's present that you can do, but I don't think it's going to be an actual objective to get your cats killed, as opposed to trying to breed superior cats that live longer and better(hint: it's in the game name).



So far.

Madpanda

I guess the idea that you are "raising" the cats and your choices affect life/death. It looks hyper focused and the main point of the game. Borderlands 2 the worst part of the game I remember was the sherrif of somewhere talking about killing bricks puppy.

If the game was about raising babies by the bushel and some of them associate food with pain so they starve I would have a similar problem.

MordaRazgrom

I do think that the intent here is to have happy cats, just like in GTA it's not the intent of the game to kill hookers, however it is possible and is done.

Donnicton

Madpanda wrote: »

If the game was about raising babies by the bushel and some of them associate food with pain so they starve I would have a similar problem.

Ideally I would imagine that whatever sort of psychological issue present in the cat that would cause this behavior would be a deleterious trait that you could breed out of future generations, so that this sort of thing eventually doesn't occur at all.

Dr. Chaos

I want to be the very best cat lady like no one has ever seen!

To cure their aids is my real test. To play god with them is my cause.

Sterica

There really is such a virus for felines.

milski

Madpanda wrote: »

I guess the idea that you are "raising" the cats and your choices affect life/death. It looks hyper focused and the main point of the game. Borderlands 2 the worst part of the game I remember was the sherrif of somewhere talking about killing bricks puppy.

If the game was about raising babies by the bushel and some of them associate food with pain so they starve I would have a similar problem.

Your choices also affect the life and death of animals in mincraft, though you aren't really "raising" the animals so much as forcefully spawning them into a deathtrap repeatedly.

EDIT: Also, I assume Dwarf Fortress is a game you hate conceptually, given this line of thought.

Dr. Chaos

Stormwatcher wrote: »

The games sound really cool, but I don't think I can play it.

I wouldn't blame you.

Issac is pretty awesome but it's a pretty disturbing and disgusting game in motion.

MordaRazgrom

I don't think it could be argued that McMillen's style, no matter how solid the gameplay, will definitely turn off some folks, by a LOT. You are pretty much guaranteed that your cats will have hideous mutant offspring, or die horribly, or eat their own babies, or something vile...it's kind of what he does. Don't go in thinking this is some sort of crazy cat simulation with an oddball thing thrown in here and there, it's going to be FULL of oddball stuff that will make most :shock:

BloodySloth

This sounds pretty amazing. If the game can actually deliver on that level of complexity, I'm absolutely sold.

Morninglord

Sounds like a realistic take on cats to me!

I actually love cats.

But they are horrible monsters and it's the truth.

MordaRazgrom

Binding of Isaac was actually a pretty complex game, considering all the random things you could get on yourself and the collection of enemies and to have it all work well together without glitches (mostly...guy's not perfect). I have high expectations for these cats, they better deliver!

Madpanda

milski wrote: »

Madpanda wrote: »

I guess the idea that you are "raising" the cats and your choices affect life/death. It looks hyper focused and the main point of the game. Borderlands 2 the worst part of the game I remember was the sherrif of somewhere talking about killing bricks puppy.

If the game was about raising babies by the bushel and some of them associate food with pain so they starve I would have a similar problem.

Your choices also affect the life and death of animals in mincraft, though you aren't really "raising" the animals so much as forcefully spawning them into a deathtrap repeatedly.

EDIT: Also, I assume Dwarf Fortress is a game you hate conceptually, given this line of thought.

The only animal "raising" I did in minecraft was having cows for leather. Egg farming or whatever looked way too complicated when I could just setup a sweet underground wheat field.

I didn't even get to animal raising in Dwarf Fortress as the game itself is very obtuse and the payoff for learning it doesn't seem that great to me personally.

If the only purpose of these games was raising animals which may die horribly I wouldn't play them. Minecraft is a small small part that you could probably completely ignore of playing on a mp server (trading for leather or whatever items you need).


I think you are taking my opinion on a video game a little too personally to be honest. This one just isn't "for" me, which is sad because I enjoyed super meat boy so much that I double dipped.

milski

I'm not taking it personally at all. Frankly, I couldn't give a damn about whether or not you find the game morally objectionable if I tried. I just wanted to understand the logic that can result in a post saying "Animals dying is way too dramatic of a subject in something I play for enjoyment" on a person whose signature contains two examples of games played with animals dying. At this point I'm still not certain if there's really any logic to it beyond "it feels morally objectionable," but that's pretty much all you need to dislike the game and it's your opinion.

Sterica

I'll cut in right now and suggest people not get snippy with each other.

What is with the internet and cats, I swear.

BloodySloth

Well, I mean, all things considered, there's a pretty vast gulf between killing a cow in minecraft and this game, where you can traumatize a cat until it's afraid of food and then let it starve to death in your attic.

MordaRazgrom

Totally, being an observer, and possibly a contributor, of some poor creature's descent into fatal madness...a bit different than poking cows for beef.

Drovek

BloodySloth wrote: »

Well, I mean, all things considered, there's a pretty vast gulf between killing a cow in minecraft and this game, where you can traumatize a cat until it's afraid of food and then let it starve to death in your attic.

That would make you a monster, not the game.

I mean, you can create cat fountains on minecraft.

BloodySloth

Except, being Team Meat, you can assume horrible things happeining to your cats is going to be business as usual, rather than something you'll have to stretch for.

All I'm saying is I can understand people being turned off by this game and not other games that happen to include animal death. Personally, I'm still really eager for this title.

MordaRazgrom

I can see a LOT of very disturbing scenarios coming from this game...like a LOT.

Morninglord

Rorus Raz wrote: »

I'll cut in right now and suggest people not get snippy with each other.

What is with the internet and cats, I swear.

It's just humans and animals. People are protective of their pets.

Also cats are cute and fuzzy and purr. It gets them a lot of free protection points.

surrealitycheck

FIV is actually a serious problem in cats

people laff but its one of those things most people dont know about but a huge percentage of stray american cats have it

Drovek

surrealitycheck wrote: »

FIV is actually a serious problem in cats

people laff but its one of those things most people dont know about but a huge percentage of stray american cats have it

Yeah, FeIV itself is a serious issue. In fact, my cat has it and he requires some special care to make sure he has a nice life. Has ups and downs, but he manages and I love the heck out of him. He's a fighter, though.

(And yet I find this game interesting.)

MordaRazgrom

I'm super-intrigued by that "put cat in cryostasis and then help scientists to work out a cure"

That sounds delicious.

Delphinidaes

As someone who works at a Veterinary Hospital, this game looks hilarious

I didn't really get into meatboy much but from what I did play it was impressive, I'll probably check this out.