Story of Cats are Liquid - A Better Place
Published on theThis document spoils the entire story of Cats are Liquid - A Better Place. You should really play the game first. It’s $1.99 on Steam and itch.io, and free with ads on Google Play and the App Store.
Text in highlighted blocks like these is “insightful commentary” and is not actually a part of the story. Some of them have been lifted directly from the original story documents, but most have been written specifically for the Cats are Liquid 10th anniversary celebrations.
World 1
Room 1
The cat had just arrived to this world.
It was built by her and her friends.
It was still incomplete.
But she knew how to fix that.
The game sets itself up as a prequel right here at the start. Note the “just arrived to this world” versus A Light in the Shadows’ “going through these maze like rooms for what felt like forever”.
Room 2
This was better.
Obstacles.
But nothing too difficult just yet.
Room 3
Everything still felt a bit dull.
Too boxy.
The cat got another idea.
The environment transitions from 90° angles to more curved shapes.
That’s better.
This concept of the transforming rooms was one of the very first ideas thought of for the game. Originally the plan was to morph the room geometry dynamically at runtime, but the much simpler solution of positioning the texts mentioning the changes to matching static sections of the rooms ultimately prevailed.
Room 4
The rooms were starting to get a bit more difficult.
At least the consequences for failing weren’t that bad.
The cat could just respawn.
And get right back to it.
Fun fact: this is the only point in the story of the series where the term “respawning” is explicitly mentioned as an actual part of the in-game universe.
Room 5
The cat wondered where her friends were.
She hadn’t seen them anywhere yet.
And she knew they were somewhere in here. Not necessarily in this world.
At least hers was starting to feel more complete now.
Room 6
Introduction of the green cat.
The cat had found one of her friends!
They were both excited to see each other.
The cat’s friends have been working on their own worlds.
Soon they would all get to explore those worlds together.
There’s a whole choreographed sequence here with the cats moving around, etc. These were planned out in detail in the scripts but never ended up in the game exactly as originally written, apart from one exception: this introduction scene for the green cat.
Room 7
Introduction of the red cat.
The cats had found one more of their friends.
There was still one missing…
Room 8
Introduction of the blue cat.
Now their group was back together!
Room 9
The cat felt much better adventuring with friends.
Going through these rooms alone just wasn’t right.
Room 10
Now that her friends were here…
They could all just stay.
As long as she wanted.
And everything would be fine.
Previous line gets interrupted by a glitch effect. Background goes dark, non-player cats disappear, music stops.
What just happened?
Where did her friends go?
Did they just leave her?
They couldn’t have left. It wasn’t the time for that yet.
Something was wrong…
Her only way forward was through that door.
World 2
Room 1
The cat was now completely alone.
She felt… something.
She wasn’t quite sure what she felt.
She felt numb.
Like a cloud.
In this game, the actions and emotions of the cat tend to drive the themes and elements of the rooms, whereas in A Light in the Shadows its usually the inverse.
Room 2
These rooms felt colossal.
And empty.
Were the previous rooms this big as well?
Room 3
She wished her friends were here.
She wondered which one of them had built this.
Room 4
The longer she was alone, the more she got used to it.
She wasn’t feeling so numb anymore.
Room 5
Maybe being alone wasn’t so bad.
Room 8
She had gotten used to the emptiness, and being alone.
It wasn’t so bad anymore.
Room 9
She was feeling a lot better now.
But she still didn’t know where her friends had gone.
Room 10
She could hear her friends over in the next room.
World 3
Room 1
The cat had found her friends.
She asked them where they had disappeared to.
Her friends were confused.
They didn’t understand what she meant.
This wasn’t right.
Something was wrong.
The cat decided that she wanted to be alone for a while longer.
Maybe spending time with her friends wasn’t the right thing to do, at least right now.
Her friends understood.
They agreed to meet up later.
If there was one thing I would change about the presentation of the story in this game, it would be to make these long story sequences interactive and not lock the player’s controls. These thankfully aren’t that common, but they are absent when playing the game in speedrun mode for a reason.
Room 2
The cat didn’t feel numb at all anymore.
She felt like she was being watched.
Room 3
Her friends were different.
The rooms felt hostile.
This wasn’t something that she or her friends had created.
Hmm, I wonder how this world might have come to be?
She needed to stay low.
Room 4
It was getting harder and harder to hide…
It was overwhelming.
She had to do something.
Room 5
The cat wouldn’t stand down.
First safe shape appears at the same time as the line above.
She would fight back.
Room 7
The world kept changing.
Room 9
It was hard for the cat to keep up.
Yet she did.
Room 10
She felt like she was almost back in control.
All this had been really exhausting.
Maybe she could ask her friends for help.
But they seemed different.
Yet they were still her friends.
She was sure she could get help from them, if she just asked.
World 4
Room 1
The cat saw her friends up ahead.
They looked cheerful.
The cat told them how she felt.
The other cats didn’t understand.
They could tell that she wasn’t feeling well.
They moved back to talk amongst themselves for a while.
The other cats had come to a conclusion.
She needed a distraction. Something to keep her mind occupied.
One of them excitedly volunteered a world of theirs for this task.
Her friends were all glad that they got to help.
They left, promising that they would check up with her at the start of the next world.
She wasn’t sure about this.
But maybe this would help her.
During the initial stages of creating the game, the non-player cats had quite comprehensive character profiles created for them. These were used throughout the development process, especially for the choreographed scenes. Over time, as the focus of the story shifted more towards the playable cat, a lot of the nuances included in the profiles was left out. On a positive note, that ultimately ended up giving players more space to create their own interpretations of the characters.
Room 2
She just needed to focus on what’s in front of her.
And nothing else.
Room 5
She was starting to feel tired…
Room 7
Maybe her friends weren’t right about this.
Room 8
She didn’t really feel any better.
Room 9
She actually felt a lot worse.
Room 10
She was completely exhausted.
This wasn’t right…
She knew herself best.
She knew she didn’t need something like this.
She decided to go somewhere else.
A faraway place where she wouldn’t have to worry about what her friends thought was best for her.
Was this wrong?
She didn’t want to disappoint her friends.
She didn’t want them to think she didn’t appreciate them.
She’d make up an excuse for disappearing later.
World 5
Room 1
The cat was now far, far away from everyone else.
Room 2
She was completely on her own now.
It felt liberating.
Room 4
She kept thinking about her friends.
Room 5
She was supposed to meet up with her friends, yet she didn’t.
Room 6
She tried to ignore those thoughts.
But they didn’t go away.
Room 7
She shouldn’t have felt so terrible.
Yet she did.
Room 8
Her friends were just trying to look after her.
And she had let them down.
Room 9
Maybe she should find her friends and apologize…
Room 10
All this had been tiring for her.
Switching between being with, and then not being with her friends.
But she could still fix this.
Her friends were in here with her.
They wouldn’t leave.
She had time.
World 6
Room 1
She didn’t have the exact route to get back.
But she knew the general direction.
Room 2
Maybe she shouldn’t have gone so far away…
Room 5
She wasn’t sure what she was going to say to her friends when she got back.
Should she just apologize?
Would that be enough?
Room 9
She still wasn’t sure what she should do.
Room 10
Maybe she didn’t need to worry.
They were her friends after all.
She could just be honest with them.
They would understand.
She hoped they would understand.
World 7
Room 1
The silence was awkward.
Suddenly, the green cat spoke.
They told how happy they were to see her and how worried everyone had been.
They had realized what they had done was a mistake.
And they were all sorry.
The rest of the group were in the next couple rooms.
She was welcome to join if she wanted to.
The cat gave her own apology.
She tried to explain how she had felt, but found it difficult.
Yet the green cat understood.
She didn’t need to explain anything.
The cat wanted to go through these rooms together.
The green cat shared this feeling.
Fade to white, fade back, the green cat has disappeared from the screen.
The cats could now adventure together.
This scene was much shorter in earlier versions of the story, but was extended due to being described as “too blunt” by multiple playtesters.
Room 2
Everything was starting to look better for the cat.
She had gotten one of her friends back.
And they were heading for the other two.
She couldn’t be happier.
Room 3
The blue cat was waiting for them by the door.
There wasn’t a need for words.
Fade to white, fade back, the blue cat has disappeared from the screen.
The cats could now adventure together.
Room 4
Another one of her friends had rejoined.
She was overjoyed.
Room 5
The red cat was waiting for them by the door.
There wasn’t a need for words.
Fade to white, fade back, the red cat has disappeared from the screen.
The cats could now adventure together.
Room 6
All of her friends were now with her.
They could now finally do what they first intended to.
Adventure through these worlds together.
Room 7
They could all just stay.
As long as she wanted.
And everything would be fine.
These words sound quite familiar, don’t they?
Room 8
She would make sure that they could stay as long as she deemed necessary.
They had plenty of time to keep adventuring together.
Room 9
The cat could feel that something wasn’t quite right.
Room 10
One of the cat’s friends wanted to talk.
The green cat spoke.
They thanked the other cats.
They mentioned how helpful this all had been.
But…
They didn’t need this anymore.
The green cat was fixed.
They could now leave this place. Just as they all had planned.
The cat was confu-
A glitch effect cuts off the line.
The other two friends joined in.
They themselves weren’t quite fixed yet. But they were close.
They congratulated the green cat, and then left to prepare.
Portions of the story were originally written in Finnish, a language that doesn’t have gendered pronouns. Consequently, the non-player cats didn’t have genders assigned to them. This in turn lead to some awkwardness in the text from the constant switching between singular and plural “they”. In retrospect, this could have been remedied with better writing.
The cat didn’t
Another glitch effect cuts off this line.
World 8
Room 1
The cat couldn’t comprehend what just happened.
She was confused and scared.
She needed something to keep her anchored.
Room 2
The cat wasn’t sure what that square thing was.
But it helped her progress.
Room 8
…
This wasn’t right.
Room 9
This room has two doors. One which loops back to the start, and a hidden door that goes to the next room. The text below is shown when the player approaches the hidden door.
She had to fight it.
Room 10
She needed to find her remaining friends.
World 9
Room 1
That thing had pulled her quite far away.
The way back was going to be difficult.
But she had the motivation to find her friends.
Fun fact: this room introduces the light ability, which was originally supposed to be in the very last world. But as things got moved around during development it ended up here in World 9.
Room 2
She had found them before.
She could do it again.
Room 5
All this back and forth had been tiring.
First she was with her friends, and then she wasn’t.
Then she found them, and right after that she lost them.
It was a complete mess.
But she was going to change that.
Room 6
She was going to make sure that all her friends were safe.
In here.
Room 10
Someone was in the next world…
World 10
Room 1
She felt a presence.
Only one.
And it was weak.
Room 2
Her friend was in danger.
And she was going to save them.
Room 5
This world was asking a lot from her.
But she knew she could get through it.
Room 9
She was close.
Room 10
She had found her friend.
But she was too late.
She couldn’t reach out to them.
Her friend didn’t need this anymore.
They were fixed.
They could now leave this place. Just as they all had planned.
The cat didn’t understand.
But her friend did.
Fun fact: the non-player cats were originally intended to have a beam of light emit upwards from their bodies when they left.
They left her something to remember them by.
This is the point where the cat’s color in the liquid state is switched from white to blue.
World 11
Room 1
She still had one friend left.
They were in danger.
And she was going to save them.
Room 5
She could feel her friend’s presence.
It was much stronger than what she felt in the previous world.
Room 6
What she felt was still distant.
Yet incredibly close.
If that made any sense.
It made sense to her…
Room 9
She was close.
Room 10
She had found her friend.
But she was too late.
She couldn’t reach out to them.
Her friend didn’t need this anymore.
They were fixed.
They could now leave this place. Just as they all had planned.
The cat didn’t understand.
But her friend did.
They left her something to remember them by.
This is where the damage color of the cat gets changed to red.
World 12
Room 1
She had lost all her friends.
She couldn’t save them.
What was she going to do?
Room 2
She had been alone earlier.
But this was different.
Her friends were really gone now.
Room 3
She was anxious and worried.
Room 4
This place wasn’t meant for just one.
These worlds were supposed to be shared between friends.
Room 5
She used to be able to get through these worlds alone.
But could she do that now?
Room 6
Maybe she just needed to be determined?
Maybe she just needed to stay strong?
Room 7
But she didn’t have anyone to stay strong for.
Room 8
She didn’t have anyone.
She lacked motivation.
She lacked everything.
Room 10
The cat was tired.
She barely had the energy to move.
Why am I still here?
Everyone else is gone.
This place wasn’t meant for just one.
…
I don’t need them.
I don’t need anyone else.
I can get through anything.
I’ve already proven that.
I just need to smile…
And everything will be alright…
I’ll create my own place.
A place which no-one can leave.
A place where I could experience all of this again like it was brand new.
A better place.
Oh hey look, that’s the name of the game.
And…
And I’ll just lock myself in there.
That place might not be as good as this one…
Who am I kidding.
It won’t be as good as this one…
But… It’ll be enough.
I don’t need anyone else.
I can do this myself.