It may not be greenlit on Steam yet, but with four days to go, CatFish has secured its crowdfunding goal, and is currently sitting at a smidgen over $6,000, which means it will be coming to Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs one way or another.

Developers Hamhock Games have released quite a few updates between the time that they launched the kickstarter and now, so we’ve rounded up the new info and put it below.

World, sailing, and clothes

“Catfish is an open-world adventure in which you set out to sea in search of fish, collectibles, and more,” the narrator explains in the above video. The demo starts in the harbor, where players purchase equipment, clothing, and upgrades with the money they earn from their fishing.

The dynamic nature of the game is highlighted: in addition to the weather and time of day changing, the developers claim that school populations will change, depending on how the fish interact with each other and, of course, what the kitty cat does to them.

The video goes on to demonstrate some of the costumes already in the game, including the pirate costume; a dress; a pair of water wings and an inner tube; and (“my personal favourite”) nudity. Costumes will be discovered in the environment, dropped by fish, and be available in harbor stores.

Fishing and items

When a player spots a fish they want to catch, they drop anchor, and bait and throw a line. The curious thing about the fishing in CatFish is that it involves an audience: fish in the vicinity will circle and watch the struggle. That audience will also apparently influence the fight, although how exactly it does so has not been explained yet. Items can be used to control the audience and influence the target fish. Items aren’t only usable during fishing, but can be dropped at any time, and players will be able to return to see their effects later.

Two items have so far been explained: the Canned Tornado and the Mushroom.

The Canned Tornado can be thrown into the water to create a water spout such as we see in the video above, which will throw fish out of the water. This is helpful for fishing, as a fish’s ability to fight back is “severely hindered” once they’re up in the air.

The Mushroom is a nod to Mario: whatever fish eats it becomes bigger and more powerful. Although more difficult to catch, that fish is also worth considerably more. However, players will have to think about when to use it, as fish could become too strong to overpower.

Boats, bombfish, sandcastles, and harbors

In the above video, the developers reiterate that there will be various boats from which to choose, and demonstrate the tugboat, which is different from the default boat in that it has a turbo mode that makes it move faster.

We also get a brief look at the bombfish in the game, a sandcastle, and the harbor to which players will return to sell their fishing haul.

The most noteworthy thing in the above video, perhaps, is that the area they show represents one cell of the 49 that compose each new instance of the game.

You can see some more screenshots and artwork from the game below. It’s worth noting that the assets seen so far are all pre-alpha. The textures used here are 512×512 pixels, which will be doubled for the final game, the cat will have a slightly higher poly count than it does now, and the polywork will generally “be smoother”, the developers replied to inquiry.

CatFish‘s kickstarter is here, if you’ve been waiting until it’s a sure thing, and its Greenlight page is here, if you’re interested in voting.