Hide That Octo! is a casual game about manhandling an octopus to stuff it into jars of various shapes.
The objective is to place the entire octopus inside of the given glass jar
within the time limit. The octopus can be dragged freely, by grasping any
part of its body and either moving it or repositioning it.
The various parts of the body are connected and somewhat unpredictable:
every choice can lead to more unintended movements which the player must
work around, adapting their strategy on the fly. The resulting gameplay is
frenetic and chaotic, but lighthearted and fun.
Each of the three levels presents the player with a differently shaped jar.
The increase in difficulty is achieved, alongside a shorter time limit,
through the rising complexity of the jars, which become more twisted
and thus require more precise manoeuvres to properly place the octopus.
The game was created to emulate mobile casual games, with a specific focus
on polish. It features an intuitive ruleset, using simple dragging mechanics
and a time-based challenge that lends itself to extremely short, high intensity
sessions. It awards stars depending on the player’s speed, pushing them to
try multiple times in order to achieve a perfect score.
The gameplay is tactile and made satisfying by the many reactive sound effects.
The interface is decorated by many visual effects and animations, further
enhancing the cartoonish and addictive quality of the gameplay loop.
