🏠 CatBox Games

What is CatBox Games?

CatBox Games is a custom game platform in the vein of JackBox Games, aimed for use on Desert Bus for Hope.

Available Games

The system currently supports games of This or That and Only Connect. Jump in to any game "episode", featuring community curated questions. Games can be played with optional score tracking, differing numbers of teams, and optional audience support.

Local, Remote, and Audience Controls

Each game can be played either with players using their own devices, or run fully by a Game Manager inputting choices. Each type of control/view gets its own four-letter room code, ensuring that streamers and chat don't accidentally end up in the wrong places. (Note: "Audience" members will need their own browser device).

The Game Manager also has the power to change the sequence of the game, skipping between rounds in the game, or ending it immediately, in order to keep the flow of the show moving.

Content Management System

Users can log in (with Twitch) and create their own episodes. Editing an episode reuses the game play systems, giving it support for collaborative editing between multiple users.

Episode information is versioned, with reviewed and published versions being locked from editing.

Moderation

Once a episode is submitted from the CMS, it needs to be approved by a moderator before being listed on the main site.

In addition, the game manager can preview the content of an episode to check for any specific concerns before playing.

Credits

CatBox Games is available as a free and open source project (except the Desert Bus shift banner image, which is distributed on a specific license). You can find the source code and all details on GitHub.

CatBox Games is brought to you by:

  • Ben aka "Kitteh" (Development)
  • avi_miller (QA + Test Episode Content)
  • Anarchofluffle (QA)
  • ExachixKitsune (QA)

We would also like to thank:

  • Desert Bus For Hope, for Desert Bus For Hope.
  • MangledPixel, for digging out the colour palette details.
  • Tim Lindvall/Graham Stark for the Desert Bus shift banner background.
  • Julie's Cursed Cord, for being the test player group.

This or That

"This or That" is a game with a very simple premise: given two categories, can the players sort the various clues into them. Starting from the original "Magic Card or Metal Band", This or That has a...long tradition? Sure.

  • Support for one to four teams, or disabling scoring.
  • Support for audience members to act as an extra team.
  • Questions consist of a clue and answer information, both of which can be text, and image, or both.
  • The game system automatically displays possible options, from "this", "that", "both", or "neither", based on all the answers in the episode.
  • Vote interfaces are available for each team, and the audience, along with a streamable view of the current question, and a DB-compatible score overlay.

Only Connect

Only Connect is a British game show known for being "deliciously devious and maddeningly abstract", in which connections must be made between apparently unconnected things.

  • Support for either one or two teams.
  • All four rounds (Connections, Sequences, Connecting Wall, and Missing Vowels) are supported but optional.
  • Note: the connecting wall will be skipped when playing with two teams if there is only one wall.
  • Picture / animated image questions are available in the Connections and Sequences rounds.
  • Features a heads-up view for the players (which can be used as an input for the connecting wall), and a DB-compatible stream overlay.