Purrfect plan: why a young couple made a video game about dating cats

Oliver Hindle and Ruby-Mae Roberts mined the lessons of their own relationship to create Purrfect Date, a passion project that redefines offbeat

Two years ago, over a quiet Christmas break, Oliver Hindle and Ruby-Mae Roberts decided to make a video game together. The twentysomething couple were both keen gamers; Oliver even worked at a development studio, Bossa, the company behind offbeat hits such as Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread, making their YouTube videos and trailers. It seemed like a fun idea - it's just that Oliver had never coded a game before and Ruby had never written anything.

The result is Purrfect Date, a game in which you " well, date cats. It was released on PC in December and iPhone earlier this month, where it was recently made App of the Day and is attracting rave reviews from players. Given the popularity of cats on the internet and throughout social media, its success might not seem that surprising. But for Oliver and Ruby, its creation was deeply personal. As passion projects often do, Purrfect Date became about life and relationships and helping each other. It's not a game about cats: it's a game about love.