A Whole New Way for Cats to Play
Here’s something you don’t see everyday.. a game for cats on your tablet! It’s from Friskies, and I’m not sure I’d want my cat scratching up my $500+ tablet to play a game..
The toy mice and yarn markets were down sharply overnight on news that Friskies® is releasing a new series of web-based games designed for cats to play on iPad® and Android™ tablet devices.
The Friskies brand is proud to be the first cat brand to launch iPad and Android games specifically made with cats and their sensory needs in mind.
The three games – “Cat Fishing,” “Tasty Treasures® Hunt,” and “Party Mix-Up” – feature virtual swimming fish and flying food or treats and were developed through behavioral research, careful consideration of what appeals to cats’ senses, and even some feline focus group sessions.(1) Watch cats Einstein, Trapper, Jasmine, and Gary play the new iPad games here.
“We’re always working to find new ways to feed cats’ senses, whether at mealtime or playtime,” said Ryan Gass, assistant brand manager for Friskies. “To develop these games for cats, we learned what truly appealed to them. Now we know their favorite colors, types of movement and their general game-play attitudes. We also found out that they cannot play pinball.”
The Friskies brand research revealed that cats are most intrigued by the intricate movements of objects as they wiggle or spin across the screen. Also, the range of colors a cat sees is much narrower than a human’s, so creating good contrast between the background and the playing pieces was crucial. And tablet devices’ glass screens stood up to the cats’ paws with no scratches.
For those owners worried that their cat will hide with their tablet devices, playing the new Friskies games for hours on end, Friskies also is releasing an iPhone® app for owners: “Here Kitty Kitty.” This app mimics cats’ favorite sounds – the opening of a can of Friskies cat food, the rustling of a bag of Friskies cat food, and perennial favorites bird chirps and cat meows – to bring cats running.
To play the games for free and to learn more about Friskies and these new games, visit www.GamesforCats.com or www.Facebook.com/Friskies. In the near future, users will be able to download the apps from the iTunes® app store. The Friskies brand plans to release additional games and apps for cats (and their owners) in the future.
About the Technology
The Friskies Games were created with HTML5/CSS3, a cutting-edge programming technique that allows for creating amazing animations with a much shorter development timeline than the traditional Objective-C-based iPad apps. Additionally, HTML5-based apps can be released directly to the public as links, with no required user account at the iTunes app store and they also work on Android™ tablets.