What I enjoy playing and what I want to make don't have to match. They overlap a lot, but not completely.
What I play
I mostly play on Switch and PS5. My favorites are puzzle games, roguelikes, and atmospheric games with a story to discover: Resident Evil, Spelunky 2, FTL, Outer Wilds, The Witness, Opus Magnum, Soma, Void Stranger, Chants of Sennaar, Hollow Knight, and Don't Starve.
What most of those have in common is exploration. You poke at the world until you figure out how it works, and when something finally clicks, it's because you worked it out yourself.
I also like systems I can see. I want my decisions to show up as actions on the screen, not as numbers I'm holding in my head.
What about incrementals?
I've tried to make incremental games. I enjoy a few of them, like Kittens Game and Sharks Game, but I suck at designing them. My brain doesn't work that way, and a lot of the time I find them tedious to build. I gave a kingdom idler a real shot in my move to 3D, and I didn't like any of the directions I tried.
They aren't off the table, but I don't think I should focus on them unless the person I'm working with has a clear direction for the game. They're not at the top of my list, but they're not at the bottom either.
What I want to make
I named my studio Clever Cat Games because I want players to feel clever playing my games. I want them to discover something about the world.
In Echoes of the Unread, that's discovering how the singing ability works. In Ten Thousand Floors, it's discovering where the codes are and figuring out the mini "puzzles" in each area. In a sense, I'm a puzzle designer, but I hide the puzzles a bit.
That's why Resident Evil works so well for me. Horror mixed with puzzles is a good combo, and it's the direction I keep drifting toward.
How big
I'm trying to keep my projects to small commercial releases or jam-sized games. The idea is to see if there's traction before making a full-blown game. Ultimately, I don't want to spend more than a year on a game unless it's going to perform well.
That narrows things down. I love making platformers and puzzle games, but they're a tough market. So I'm aiming for a small intersection: games I want to make, games people want to play, and games I can make by myself or with a very small team.
That also fits how I work. Jams are where I actually finish things, because the deadline keeps me from second-guessing myself.
The artist I'm looking for
I'm headed into 3D, so I'm looking for a 3D artist who's at least somewhat comfortable with animation. Realism isn't as important as style.
I don't want to pin down a style, though. I like low poly and the PSX look, but I also like cel shading (I love Okami and Wind Waker), and realism too. It all depends on the game. This is where I'd mostly leave it up to the artist.
If that sounds like you, get in touch.