Frequently Asked Questions for Cate West: The Vanishing Files
1.What is Cate West: The Vanishing Files?
Cate West: The Vanishing Files (TVF) is a seek-and-solve puzzle game on Nintendo DS and Wii. It features Cate West, a budding crime novelist, and the story of how she helps the Arcadia City police to solve a number of linked crimes.
2.Why is it called the Vanishing Files?
In the game, the press call the crimes the Vanishing Files because there are no physical traces of evidence or the criminals at the crime scenes. We can’t tell you why this is though as it will spoil the plot of the game.
3.Who is Cate West: TVF designed for, and why?
With Cate West we are trying to reach both core gamers and the broader mainstream gamers who are looking for an easy to pick-up and play puzzle game that can be played for any amount of time. It is mainly designed for adults wanting a challenge when they get a break, youngsters looking for a fun travel Nintendo DS game and Wii families who want to co-operate and compete as detectives at home.
4.What’s the inspiration for Cate West?
There’s an increasing number of civilians helping the police to solve crimes, in both real life and fiction. We wanted to create a modern character based on the likes of fictional characters like Jessica Fletcher (Murder, She Wrote) and real-world police helpers like Allison Dubois.
5.How long has the Cate West game been in development and what has been the greatest challenge?
Cate West: The Vanishing Files was in development for roughly 6 months on Wii and Nintendo DS, with another 4 months being used for localisation and translation for the European market. The biggest challenge for Cate West was with the script. As well as providing players with a range of puzzles, Cate West: TVF also tells a story and because of this a considerable amount of time was dedicated to proofing to ensure text was displayed correctly.
In addition to that, the script was translated in to five languages which was tricky at times as we were dealing with American slang.
6.Are there any particular parts of the game that players should particularly look forward to?
There is a key turning point in the game when a famous painting (which we can’t reveal for fear of ruining the story) is stolen. Cate and Ben track down the culprit, and after reassembling the crime scene, put her behind bars. At that point something strange occurs, and the criminal hands over a clue to something larger saying, “the voices told her to deliver the item to Cate and Ben”. This is when the whole story of the game starts to unfold, and the seemingly random crimes no longer seem to be so random. In fact, they are possibly even connected somehow…
7.How does looking for a trumpet, a hot-dog or a rabbit at a crime scene help Cate find the clues and criminals?
All of the crime scenes Cate comes in to contact with have been tampered with to remove the evidence. However, Cate can examine objects in the scenes that aren’t part of the crime and using her intuition is able to discover clues to key pieces of evidence and where they have been hidden. From this, she is able to uncover information that leads her to track down information on the perpetrator and his/her hideout.
8.Is Cate West a game you can just pick up and play or do you need to dedicate some serious gaming time to get the best out of it?
Both really. You can pick-up and play Cate West for any amount of time – the game saves whenever you want to take a break. However, with 15 chapters and 5 investigations in each chapter, there’s enough depth in the Cate West story to keep dedicated players interested!
9.Is the game “mission” based or are people able to pick and choose certain parts of the game to play?
There two main modes. The first is Story Mode where you help Cate solve Arcadia City’s crimes and in time unravel the mystery linking them together. The second is the Quickplay Mode where you can return to your favourite investigations to see if you can improve your skills and score. Each investigation has different objects randomly hidden each time, so there’s plenty of replayability in both Story and Quickplay modes.
On the Wii version you can play through Story Mode co-operatively with a friend or challenge each other in Quickplay Mode to see who the best detective is!
10.What is the history of Cate West and what made Oxygen Games want to get involved in this title?
Oxygen had been looking at making a mystery game for the Nintendo DS and Wii for some time when we met with Destineer Games at E3. Cate West started life as a PC game in the USA but Destineer have created the console version because the Cate West story is perfect for the recent influx of mainstream gamers keen to play video games. Being able to play an inspirational character in an exciting mystery game while on the go or at home with friends, makes perfect sense for DSs and Wii owners. Destineer were looking for a partner to release Cate West in Europe and after playing the demo we jumped at the chance to get involved.
11.Is there a sequel in the pipeline?
It will depend on the players. However, we have already begun early with Destineer about the possibility of a sequel!
12.How many difficulty levels feature in the game?
The difficulty increases as you go through the game – either through the way objects are hidden or due to the fact that you have to search for more items in an increased number of locations in the same time frame. We have designed the game to be challenging and fulfilling throughout all 15 chapters. Of course, on the Wii version you can also recruit a friend to help in Story Mode.
13.What do gamers think of Cate West so far?
The early signs in Europe from the online pre-orders is that the game is highly anticipated – the DS version has been in the top 10 since we announced the game in June and the Wii version is now breaking into the top 20.
14.When will Cate West: The Vanishing Files be available?
Cate West is already available in the USA but will be available from September in Europe.
1.What is Cate West: The Vanishing Files?
Cate West: The Vanishing Files (TVF) is a seek-and-solve puzzle game on Nintendo DS and Wii. It features Cate West, a budding crime novelist, and the story of how she helps the Arcadia City police to solve a number of linked crimes.
2.Why is it called the Vanishing Files?
In the game, the press call the crimes the Vanishing Files because there are no physical traces of evidence or the criminals at the crime scenes. We can’t tell you why this is though as it will spoil the plot of the game.
3.Who is Cate West: TVF designed for, and why?
With Cate West we are trying to reach both core gamers and the broader mainstream gamers who are looking for an easy to pick-up and play puzzle game that can be played for any amount of time. It is mainly designed for adults wanting a challenge when they get a break, youngsters looking for a fun travel Nintendo DS game and Wii families who want to co-operate and compete as detectives at home.
4.What’s the inspiration for Cate West?
There’s an increasing number of civilians helping the police to solve crimes, in both real life and fiction. We wanted to create a modern character based on the likes of fictional characters like Jessica Fletcher (Murder, She Wrote) and real-world police helpers like Allison Dubois.
5.How long has the Cate West game been in development and what has been the greatest challenge?
Cate West: The Vanishing Files was in development for roughly 6 months on Wii and Nintendo DS, with another 4 months being used for localisation and translation for the European market. The biggest challenge for Cate West was with the script. As well as providing players with a range of puzzles, Cate West: TVF also tells a story and because of this a considerable amount of time was dedicated to proofing to ensure text was displayed correctly.
In addition to that, the script was translated in to five languages which was tricky at times as we were dealing with American slang.
6.Are there any particular parts of the game that players should particularly look forward to?
There is a key turning point in the game when a famous painting (which we can’t reveal for fear of ruining the story) is stolen. Cate and Ben track down the culprit, and after reassembling the crime scene, put her behind bars. At that point something strange occurs, and the criminal hands over a clue to something larger saying, “the voices told her to deliver the item to Cate and Ben”. This is when the whole story of the game starts to unfold, and the seemingly random crimes no longer seem to be so random. In fact, they are possibly even connected somehow…
7.How does looking for a trumpet, a hot-dog or a rabbit at a crime scene help Cate find the clues and criminals?
All of the crime scenes Cate comes in to contact with have been tampered with to remove the evidence. However, Cate can examine objects in the scenes that aren’t part of the crime and using her intuition is able to discover clues to key pieces of evidence and where they have been hidden. From this, she is able to uncover information that leads her to track down information on the perpetrator and his/her hideout.
8.Is Cate West a game you can just pick up and play or do you need to dedicate some serious gaming time to get the best out of it?
Both really. You can pick-up and play Cate West for any amount of time – the game saves whenever you want to take a break. However, with 15 chapters and 5 investigations in each chapter, there’s enough depth in the Cate West story to keep dedicated players interested!
9.Is the game “mission” based or are people able to pick and choose certain parts of the game to play?
There two main modes. The first is Story Mode where you help Cate solve Arcadia City’s crimes and in time unravel the mystery linking them together. The second is the Quickplay Mode where you can return to your favourite investigations to see if you can improve your skills and score. Each investigation has different objects randomly hidden each time, so there’s plenty of replayability in both Story and Quickplay modes.
On the Wii version you can play through Story Mode co-operatively with a friend or challenge each other in Quickplay Mode to see who the best detective is!
10.What is the history of Cate West and what made Oxygen Games want to get involved in this title?
Oxygen had been looking at making a mystery game for the Nintendo DS and Wii for some time when we met with Destineer Games at E3. Cate West started life as a PC game in the USA but Destineer have created the console version because the Cate West story is perfect for the recent influx of mainstream gamers keen to play video games. Being able to play an inspirational character in an exciting mystery game while on the go or at home with friends, makes perfect sense for DSs and Wii owners. Destineer were looking for a partner to release Cate West in Europe and after playing the demo we jumped at the chance to get involved.
11.Is there a sequel in the pipeline?
It will depend on the players. However, we have already begun early with Destineer about the possibility of a sequel!
12.How many difficulty levels feature in the game?
The difficulty increases as you go through the game – either through the way objects are hidden or due to the fact that you have to search for more items in an increased number of locations in the same time frame. We have designed the game to be challenging and fulfilling throughout all 15 chapters. Of course, on the Wii version you can also recruit a friend to help in Story Mode.
13.What do gamers think of Cate West so far?
The early signs in Europe from the online pre-orders is that the game is highly anticipated – the DS version has been in the top 10 since we announced the game in June and the Wii version is now breaking into the top 20.
14.When will Cate West: The Vanishing Files be available?
Cate West is already available in the USA but will be available from September in Europe.