Oh, Rats! is a 3D adventure-action simulator exploration where you go through 5 houses, trying to find a place to stay to escape the daily gruelling life of a rat. You’ll soon learn that surviving beyond the burrow isn’t easy. As you navigate the chaos of suburban London: run, jump, chew, and swim your way to safety.
This game isn’t a typical animal simulator. While you can run around and cause chaos, you still have quests to complete. Exploration will be encouraged between levels to motivate players to see themselves as a part of the environment, not just a force that affects it. Many players may have experienced the distress of unwanted pests entering their houses and turning that on its head, players can sympathise with the character in a way they hadn’t imagined before. Will you be able to find a home to stay in? Or will you have to do the walk of shame back to your old burrow?
Elevator Pitch
It’s a rat-eat-rat world out there. To survive, you have to infest.
Game Synopsis
As a Rat, life is tough. You are constantly under threat from cats, foxes and birds. One day, you decide you’ve had enough. You’re going to try to invade a human house. You’ve heard legends of rats finding warmth and comfort in human homes and you have nothing to lose. Setting off from your burrow, you venture into the human world.
Essential Experience
My ideal experiences for the player are curiosity and excitement. You can find a link to in-depth research about my intended experience here.
Unique Selling Point
This game takes the idea of an “Animal Simulator” and develops the experience by turning the character into something the player can relate to but also discover new aspects of the game with.
Platform
I think PC, Switch, PS5 and XBOX would suit how the game works. This game would make it easy for the player to use a controller, mouse, and keyboard. For the switch, I think this game suits some of the colourful indie games I’ve seen on the platform. The game could even include switch-exclusive content like the Undertale switch port.
On the switch, the game would play similarly to the Splatoon series, where the player has the option to use motion controls by holding and moving around with the switch (my preferred method) or like a standard controller game, where one stick moves the camera and the other moves the player.
Taking into account all the content I intend to add, the base price for all platforms would be about £15.99.
Target audience
The game overall is quite lighthearted, which will lend to its ability to curate a varying audience. Due to this, a PEGI 12 rating would be most appropriate for the game. I think it would be fun for younger teens to enjoy such as exploring and trading, but also have some things that older audiences (such as adults and teens) would enjoy: the story, characters and lore.
The equivalent of this for Canadian, US and Mexican players would be ESRB T: Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes. I think this rating is perfect for my game as it covers most of the concerns parents may have if they bought it for their teens.
A general age rating for my game is 12+.
Some games that have inspired this rating are The Sims 4, Fortnite and It Takes Two. In these games, there may be some implied references to alcohol, unrealistic violence and other innuendos. It may be inappropriate for young children to play this game despite the game looking child-friendly on the surface.