- Getting Ready for the Crowd - 8 September 2026
Hello everyone! Another month, another devlog. This month, we’ve been focusing on small improvements and additions, supporting the ongoing playtest, and preparing for the next big content drop. So, this diary entry will be a bit more chill, just to touch base and let you know what we’ve been up to. There is also some info at the end about an upcoming expo.Playtest ProgressGamescomCatchMaker Trailer ProductionUpcoming Live Event in LuxembourgPlaytest ProgressWe are planning to end the first round of internal testing soon. After that, we’ll go through the feedback and see how we can improve the game. So far, it seems like the tutorial does its job well in showing how to play. We have discovered only a handful of game breaking bugs that we have immediately released hotfixes for.GamescomSome of us had the opportunity to visit the Gamescom with Creative Europe Media. It was super interesting…
- New Friends - 3 August 2026
Hello everyone, and welcome to another devlog! We are buzzing to share the latest updates with you all! This month, we are going a little bit more in-depth about the character design process, sharing some news regarding the new trailer, talking a little about the progress on the playable demo, and introducing our two newest critters. New Characters, aka how John and Jean became SvenWe were working on adding two new villagers from our list of characters, but things didn’t go exactly as planned… One was John, a very fashion forward, glitzy and glamourous fashion designer, who needed a break from living in the big city. His profile and design alone went through a couple changes. John’s initial concept art John’s second concept artThen there was Jean. He would stand out through his extreme optimism and kindness that seemingly no one could take away from him. Even when faced with negativity…
- New Forest, Who Dis? - 2 July 2026
Hello everyone, this month we’ve been working on a couple more mechanical reworks, an additional biome, and added a feature requested by the community. So let’s get right into it!Red Bug, Green BugSince catching bugs makes up a big part of the gameplay we wanted to make the mechanic a bit more engaging. So we implemented a “red light, green light” system.When approaching a bug, an eye icon will appear showing the bug's attention. When it is closed, the bug is distracted and you can approach it. When it is open however, it is on the lookout for any suspicious movement (like a woman with a big net approaching it). So you need to hold still until the eye icon closes again. There is a 3 strike system so the bug will not immediately disappear, but run around too much and the critters will flee!Sprucing Things UpIf you’ve seen last month’s entry, you know we added a Birch Forest to the map. W…
- The Dating Bar (not the kind with drinks) - 2 June 2026
Hello, future entomologists! It’s time for another quick update on CatchMaker. Aside from trying to get some funding, we have been rethinking the way we approach dating, so let’s get right into it!Dating ReworkedWe felt the date UI wasn’t giving the player sufficient information. While you could gain a general sense of how the date was going, it was hard to understand why it was going that way and what impacted the process. This made it hard to predict whether the outcome would be failure, an OK match, or a perfect couple!So, we decided to rework how dates work and also how we represented its progress during the actual date itself. Each bug has attributes they LOVE, others that they HATE, and a bunch that they are INDIFFERENT about. During a date, they will make comments about the traits of the OTHER bug, e.g., “I love your colorful body.” or “I hate that you have a hard shell.”, etc. D…
- Postcards, Polaroids and Pre-Alpha - 6 May 2026
Hello hello hello and welcome to the devlog! Today I’m gonna pull back the curtain a little to give you guys an idea on what we have been working on behind the scenes. I’m also going to give you a sneak peek of the postcard collectibles and the game’s polaroid cutscenes. Vertical Slice DemoSo what is a vertical slice? In a nutshell, a vertical slice is a demo of the game in its raw form. It serves as a sort of proof of concept, both for the tech and gameplay. We’ve been working hard on polishing and refining a bunch of mechanics, many of which will still probably change over the development of the game, but we’ve reached a point where we can send a demo to publishers so we can show off what we have and talk about a potential collab.You can find a short video presenting the current state of the game on YouTube:PolaroidsWe’ve also added polaroids that work like cutscenes for more dynamic…
- A Map to My Heart - 26 March 2026
Hello everyone, so this month we’ve been working on a couple things that aren’t ready to be shown off just yet. However we’d like to hear your thoughts on what we can share already.Island MapAs Loddie, the main character, explores the island, she will sketch a map in her journal marking any points of interest. You will also be able to add stickers to make note of things like what lures or insects can be found there. New Character Models and AnimationsAlong with reworking all the animations for Loddie to make them more readable for the high camera angle we added 3D models and animations for some of the NPC. Here are just a couple of them.On the left is Terry having a look at a clipboard that has very important sciency stuff on it no doubt. And next to her is Nick looking dapper in his new chicken hoodie.My personal favourite however might be the new animations for the sheep.Concept ArtWe…
- You and I makes UI ❤️ - 3 March 2026
For this month’s update we’re going to take a look at some of the new and updated UI we made. Please keep in mind that everything is still very much a work in progress and subject to change.InventoryWhile you are exploring the island you can collect decorations and lures that you will use to increase the success rate of dates. Lures, as you might have guessed, can also be used to attract bugs. Each lure will attract different bugs so it is up to you to find out who likes them apples. Bug InformationWhen catching a bug that has traits you have not discovered yet there is a mini-game to add them to your journal (but I won't spoil it just yet!).Every bug species has a different set of possible traits such as wings vs. no wings, number of eyes or color variations.In your journal you will see the traits you have discovered and how many you still need to find.Bug PreferencesOnce you have two…
- Working on the Beta - 4 February 2026
Hello everyone and welcome to the first devlog of 2026!The team has been hard at work on the demo of the game. We are very excited to get out an early version and get your thoughts. But it will still take a couple months until we get to that point. So we thought we would share our plan for the playtest.The first beta will not be publicly available so make sure to read the rest of this post to learn how you can participate when it arrives!What Will be in the Demo?StoryThe demo will skip the opening scene and pick up from the moment gameplay starts when you land on the island. You will be introduced to some of the island’s inhabitants and be familiarised with the part of the island available in the demo.As you head out into the wild you will meet a special NPC that will show you the basic gameplay loop of catching and matching the island’s tiny inhabitants.You will then go on a couple of…
- Happy Launch Day! - 9 December 2025
We are super excited to finally announce CatchMaker! Thank you for joining us on our journey so early on. Of course this is just the beggining. We're already hard at work to get out a demo as soon as we can. If you want to get more frequent updates make sure to follow us on our socials and sign up for the newsletter. You can find all our links on our Steam page and website.
