browser games are fun and i miss them: part 2 :D

howdy yall !!! im back-- sorry for my impromptu blog break; a combination of focusing more on applying for jobs, a dip in my mental health, and general forgetfulness left me unable to make any posts but im back now! and i wanna continue my little browser game explanation series, because i think its really fun and i like explaining things 

while the last browser game i talked about was directly connected to a pre-existing property-- homestuck, specifically, today's game is entirely self-enclosed! Pixel Cat's End is the second browser game i gained an interest in, as one of my online friends was really into it around the time i got into WrigglerSim..  out of the 3 browser games i play (almost) daily, this one is probably my favorite aesthetically ! its really cute, and i enjoy it a lot.. however, as the site itself states, it can take a while before you're able to make more substantial progress in it

Pixel Cat's End is, as you could assume, centered around pixelated cats ! specifically, it's about maintaining a colony of cats that you oversee. there are two "main" things you do in PCE-- your "Daily Activities," and going on "Adventure[s]"

this is the "Daily Activities" menu, which you can see above your profile's bio after making an account

i'll start with the Daily Activities first, since it's multiple things in one !  each activity does something different but equally important for your cat colony.. each of these happens daily, so make sure to log on at least once to do them (or dont !! its just a game, dont commit urself to it if u dont feel like it )

this is where the first option in the "Daily Activities" section brings you to..

the first option on this list is the "Meeting Grounds," where you're greeted with this large moose-like fellow called Nestor (he's the guardian of the forest you and your cat colony resides in, and is happy to help you out ) he gives you a randomly selected item every day-- and when i say random, i truly mean random; it could be a resource, a piece of decor (i'll elaborate on that later,) some food, or even a new cat you can let into your colony !! hes very handy for the early days of your accounts life, when resources are harder to come by due to a lack of options

this is where the second "Daily Activities" option takes you-- i love the art of the cats around a table, its so cute X3

the second option is the "Luncheon," which is important for the next option under the category !!  this one doesn't need quite as much elaboration to understand. with the food resources you gather, you can make foods with special buffs that can help your cats !!!

now, in all the sections before this, i've mentioned "resources" a couple of times. this next part is where that comes into play !!!

"Daily Activities" section number three !!

this is the "Gather Resources" tab! arguably one of the most important parts of the Daily Activities, this is where you send all the cats in your colony to gather more resources  resources for what, you may ask ? well, some of the resources you gather go directly back into other jobs (ex. Huckleberry the Hunter has gathered bones from his trip. the Craftscat job that Ray has requires bones to complete ! there are many important jobs that require you to gather materials from one task to use in another )

however, resources serve another important purpose, to... and thats with the crafting !!

the "Crafting Workshops" page banner-- unlike the previous 3 options, this can only be found under the "Village Activities" dropdown tab above where the main game's functions happen

crafting is another important aspect of Pixel Cat's End  in this menu, you're able to create clothing to dress your cats up with, items that give your cats buffs/debuffs, decor items, and (most importantly,) large buildings/decoration pieces that unlock more jobs upon crafting them !! (jobs like the Craftscat seen in the last image can only be obtained upon creating the associated Craftscat job decoration )

the fourth "Daily Activities" option... depending on how many cats you have in your colony, this could either be the longest or shortest part

this activity-- the "Daily Scenarios," is a fun & unique way to get to know your colony. every day, you'll get a random assortment of events between randomly chosen cats you have (the number of scenarios is determined by the size of ur colony.. the smaller it is, the fewer things u see !! )

since each cat can have drastically different (randomly assigned) personality traits, it makes every single interaction you see feel really personalized to your group !! also, for the record in case someone reading this is worried-- this isn't "AI," it's essentially just a ton of RNG

an example of the "Cats" list option-- this is where you can view all the cats in your colony, as well as their personality, relatives, & stats

 a lot of different things can happen from these interactions; you could see friendships, rivalries, and even romantic relationships blossom forth  if you're lucky, you could even get two cats who are in a relationship to have a litter of kittens !!! while maybe less important then crafting/resource gathering and the "Adventure" thing i still have yet to explain, it still def adds to the site experience

the last "Daily Activities" screen, at the time of this blog entry's creation (the very last option under there is currently unavailable; iirc, that option will allow you to move your colony to different locations once implemented !!)

the last, and one of the simpler activities, is the "Post Office." when you choose to send a cat traveling the world instead of keeping them in the colony, they may occasionally send letters addressed to cats they have connections to  these letters may occasionally have items you can use !

now, this was only the first half of the game-- the second half, the "Adventure," is a bit more complicated...

upon clicking the "Adventure" option under the "Explore" drop-down, you'll be greeted with the screen above !

before getting into the adventure itself, you need to make your party first  each cats personality and stats (which can be seen either in the "Cats" menu or when selecting a cat to use in ur party,) will effect the abilities and skills they can use (for ex. cats with a higher benevolence stat will be better at using the healing ability, and will be able to use the "Befriend" skill more effectively then a cat with low benevolence.)
explaining each of these abilities & skills would take a VERY long time, so i highly encourage you to look for yourself !  this is a part of the browser game that gets easier to understand when you yourself engage with it

the "Edit Party" option; clicking on each cat allows you to view their adventure-relevant stats, as well as choose their class, abilities, & skills

as you can see above, there are quite a few different things that can effect what skills/abilities you should have your cat use  (ex. Pond has a high range attack stat, so i have his class as Ranger ! the Ranger rewards cats with a high range attack stat.. Prickle is a Scout since xe has higher movement speed, Sterling has a high melee stat which makes her a Fighter, etc.)

after getting your party set up how you like, you can check your inventory for items you can use during your journey (tldr: food items heal/buff, you can use certain trinkets to boost stats during skill checks, & you can utilize extra items to get extra damage on enemies ! all of these can be crafted in the "Crafting Workshop.")

then, after you've done all the preparation you can, its time to go on your journey !!!  to help you get an idea of what adventures are like, ive recorded a short video showcasing a skill check event, as well as a (pretty short) battle:

ill go over the skill check event first, since it's the first thing that happened in the video above-- these events present you with a scenario that directly correlates to a skill the cats have (ex. the scenario in the video allows you to use either your Spite or Benevolence stats to resolve it-- since Partridge has good stats in both, I elected to utilize her "Intimidate" skill, which requires high Spite.)
upon selecting the cat you want to use for this event, the game ""rolls"" to see how well that skill does  it's similar to Dungeons & Dragons, in that you roll to see how successfully you perform an action; the skills your character has buffs in gets extra points/chances to get a more desirable roll, and you can use items like the "Frightening Mask" to buff yourself as well !!  there's skill checks for a ton of different things in the game, so make sure u have a well-rounded, balanced team..

the D&D style gameplay extends into the battles, as you can see in the second thing i do in this video. upon entering a battle, your party is dropped onto a 7x7 board (i can't remember if the board can be different sizes, oops ) the turn order will be very different depending on the initiative stat your cats/the enemies have; regardless of what the turn order is, you must use the abilities you've given each cat to defeat whatever foes the game gives you !!
ill give you a small tip-- Claw and Swipe can only be used if your cat is on a square in one of the cardinal directions (North/above, South/below, East & West/to the side) directly next to the enemy. additionally, Growl and Bolt can only be used if there's a space between you & the enemy, or if you're next to the enemy on a diagonal. i've lost a couple games before by forgetting these rules, so... learn from my mistakes, don't forget about that  

well... that's about it, i think !! as you can tell, PCE is a LOT more detailed then WrigglerSim; while i enjoy both, i think acting as though they're the same in quality/complexity wouldn't be very honest  however, i hope my blog post can encourage at least one other person to check it out !! the game has specific timeframes when people can join, so make sure to check when you can/when the next time you can is... here's my silly little PCE profile to close this off, ill see yall next time i need to ramble for a super duper long while 

this is my PCE profile-- feel free to add me as a friend !!!