Catly has direct ties to AI/NFT/blockchain gaming

[Natalie]

I know this is sort of a different thing than normal here, but I just spent time researching this and I wanted to have someplace to save and share it in case it doesn't end up fitting anywhere else. Context for anyone who's confused: this is about Catly, a game which received a bizarre trailer at last night's The Game Awards.



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There's been a lot of talk about Catly, the fever dream of a trailer revealed last night at The Game Awards. Rumours are swirling about the project's origins and intent, and claims have been made about the use of AI and other Web3 technologies. This post collates various sources and evidence that have come to light, some of which I've not seen anybody else talk about anywhere, which demonstrate that the game and its developer have strong ties to the use of generative AI and NFT/blockchain implementation.

Right off the bat, I want to make clear that I'm not going to be talking about the trailer. I'm not an expert in generative video, I have no way of knowing whether that tech is at this point yet. Lots of dissent is flying around. The trailer is not relevant to my findings.

First, the game's site: playcatly.com. The elements from the trailer, again, I'm not commenting on, but several of the assets throughout the site, such as the purple visor, the macaron bag, and the very strange vest-wearing cat for the gold sunglasses image under the Chic collection, have very strong indications of the type of poor physical logic and conceptual bleeding that's common in generative images. Not a smoking gun, but a point of interest.

On Catly's Steam page, there's a testimonial from League of Legends and Arcane producer Thomas Vu:

"This cat MMO is a triumph of innovation and heart, delivering an enchanting world that stands as a testament to the brilliance of its creators."

- THOMAS VU, Producer of League of Legends, Producer of Arcane, 2022 Emmy Awards Winner.

Vu is a prominent angel investor in the "GameFi" space, a term which is commonly associated with Web3, cryptocurrency, NFTs, blockchain, and other such technologies. Again, not a smoking gun, but we're building a pattern of associations here.

Information about the company, SuperAuthenti Co. Ltd., is very scarce, but we do know Kevin Yeung is their co-founder. Yeung previously co-founded TenthPlanet, a studio reported in 2022 to be working on multiple "metaverse" blockchain games. One of these was Alien Mews, a game described as a "digital cat life simulation metaverse." An archive of the company's github page from May 17, 2024 confirms their intent to use NFTs as a centerpiece of their other title Mech Angel.

We do, however, know that prior to adopting the name SuperAuthenti Co., they published another game: an app called Plantly: Mindful Gardening. Official info about Plantly has been scrubbed from the web pretty thoroughly, including its official app page, so I can only refer to this secondary source about it. (This site links to the URL https://www.authentigame.com/ for more info, but I can't find a trace of that site anywhere.) We know from this page that Plantly used these assorted GameFi technologies, from the description:

Your plants are not just digital tokens but emotional mementos

But we can go further. Note that Plantly uses the exact same font in its logo as Catly, but that's obviously incidental. But Plantly is listed here as being developed by Shanghai Binmao Technology Co., Ltd. It happens that we can find a resume for developer Yingzi Kong that lists three months of work experience for Binmao Technology working on "a metaverse game about cats" which is explicitly specified to be Catly. (Please don't bother Kong about this; I've not made contact and do not intend to.)



I suspect we could more conclusively tie these corporate entities together through this webpage which I believe contains business filing details for the Chinese company. I was able to briefly scroll through it once and did see SuperAuthenti Co. listed, but the site kicked me out for not being in mainland China and I'm unable to access it. If anybody is able to confirm this, it would help put a bow on the whole thing.

Conclusion (tl;dr)

Between the use of likely generative AI in assets used to market Catly, the co-founder's well documented history pursuing GameFi development, the attention of known Web3 investors and publications, and direct documented ties to previous blockchain app Plantly: Mindful Gardening, it is exceedingly likely that Catly, in whatever form it may eventually take, is aiming directly for a share of the AI/NFT/Web3 marketplace and will make extensive use of those methodologies. I hope this helps to clarify the coverage of this project going forward and confirms that this is not merely an unsubstantiated rumour.

I want to acknowledge a couple sources that were instrumental in this research: /u/retronomad_, who first made me aware of Plantly in this post, and Bluesky user @bleakvision.info, who identified the investing habits of Thomas Vu. Your work is very much appreciated.

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Edit (2024/12/14)

Because of the attention this got on reddit (some of which was even positive!), I want to shout out a couple additional pieces of info people contributed that I found interesting.

I wanted to give some props to /u/Invertex for coming up with even more original research into both the game and Yeung's background and collaborators, including these unpublished webpages on the *Catly* website that show much less refined generative images:

https://www.playcatly.com/p2/detail/1 (Backup: https://archive.is/NxvrX)

https://www.playcatly.com/p2/detail/2 (Backup: (https://archive.is/Ikcou/image)

https://www.playcatly.com/p2/detail/3 (Backup: (https://archive.is/Cvrcj)

https://www.playcatly.com/p2/detail/4 (Backup: (https://archive.is/Rpqqn)

Please check out their full comment here if you find this rabbit hole interesting.

Also thanks to folks for reminding me about the Griffin Gaming Partners venture capital aspect - this comment from /u/happyhumorist and this one from /u/ikkir sourcing the Felicia Day connection are both great additions.

[Eveline Gwen T. Allison Fate Hepburn (Valentine Z)]

Oh hey, I have just been thinking about this and saw it in another server. I like your write-up, well-researched and all. 

Also yeahhhh I know you are not talking about the trailers, so nothing against that. From my personal perspective, I looked at the trailer, went "Aww this looks so cute" to "Okayyyyy why does this look a little AI-esque?" AI pictures have that kind of look that you can just tell from get-go. Not that the ability to detect is a bad thing, I'm fascinated that we can catch it so quick.

I kind of feel a little bad at first like "Hey, maybe it's actual art but just looks like it?" But most of the time, it just turns to be AI generated.

[Natalie]

People continue to debate whether the trailer itself is AI-generated or assisted. I'm still not an expert in generative video and still not inclined to take a side on it, but if I had to make a wild guess, I'd say they created AI concept art and hired a team to flesh it out. But who knows? If someone shows examples and explains their claim, I could believe that the trailer uses generative AI in some capacity.

I appreciate the kind words. This sort of writing and research is fun, and it's rewarding when people get something out of it. My goal with this was to see if I could influence the discourse around Catly by doing the research that mainstream outlets weren't willing to, and tonight the gaming website 80 Level published an article based on my findings so I'm feeling pretty satisfied.