Meet the Real Life Cats Behind Stray’s Hero

With the development of Stray, it’s probably clear that most, if not all, of the members of BlueTwelve Studios are huge fans of cats. However, if there was any doubt, a few members of the team revealed photos of their personal cats, and explained how they actually helped with the development of the game’s protagonist.

Murtaugh

The most obvious inspiration behind Stray’s hero, Murtaugh was the cat they used as a reference when designing him. He is owned by the studio’s co-founders Koola and Viv, and he actually has another similarity with the game’s protagonist — Murtaugh was originally a stray cat who was rescued by producer Swann Martin-Raget.

Oscar

Next up is the sphinx Oscar. He is owned by game’s animator Niko, so naturally he was the main reference for the game’s cat animations.

Jun

Another cat that was frequently in the studio during development was Jun. Owned by level artist Clara, this black cat (along with Oscar) helped the team constantly see the behavior of cats, so that they could make sure that Stray’s protagonist stays true to how real life cats act.

Tao and Lichi

Finally, we have the two kittens Tao and Lichi, owned by Producer Swann. While these two didn’t directly contribute to the game like the others, it is nice seeing that more members of the team had cats to inspire them during Stray’s development.

Not only do these cats show that the members of BlueTwelve Studios are cat lovers, but it also shows that they had plenty of real life inspiration during Stray’s development, to make sure that players got the most authentic experience of being a cat as possible.