Google Doodle is celebrating Halloween with an adorable interactive game featuring ghosts and a magic cat, straight from the Magic Cat Academy.
Trick-or-treaters may want to spend some extra time on Google's homepage this Halloween and play the cute Magic Cat Academy game for some ghastly fun, drawing symbols to cast away ghosts.
As expected from a Google Doodle, it's not an overly complicated game. The star of the game is magician cat Momo, which sits at the center of the game and casts magic spells. Ghosts are creeping toward Momo, but you can scare them away by drawing simple shapes on the screen.
"This year's Halloween Doodle follows freshman feline Momo on her mission to rescue her school of magic," Google notes. "Help her cast out mischievous spirits by swiping in the shape of the symbols above the ghosts' heads. And you'd better pounce fast — the ghost that stole the master spellbook is getting away!"
Google further explains that four teams worked to develop the game, handling different parts: art, engineering, production and music production.
The whole game is set in a school environment — it is, after all, an academy for magic cats — and players have to work their way through five levels, trying to fight off the ghosts haunting Momo before they run out of time. The five levels are set in the school's library, classroom, cafeteria, gym and the rooftop.
Google notes that initially it had many ideas for the game, and the original concept revolved around a magic cat that made a soup so awesome that it raised the dead. Google ultimately decided to go for something less abstract and opted for a wizard school instead.
The company toyed with many other ideas such as having players draw elaborate symbols but eventually decided to keep it simple and launch a "short game against the clock."
Each ghost that creeps toward Momo has symbol or series of symbols above its head. Players have to draw those symbols on the screen in due time before the ghosts reach Momo. The game starts out simple and gets more complicated as you advance, with longer series of symbols and more ghosts approaching Momo at a faster pace.
The result is fun, engaging and adorable, and players can share their results via social media or email once they finish the game.
As for the muse for the game, the real-life Momo is a cool black cat that belongs to (read: owns) doodler Juliana Chen.
