The making of The Catch: Part I

A lot of Total Carp readers will start to recognise the name Dovetail Games within the fishing industry. Not for the latest wonder bait or the newest way to find and locate our precious quarry but for allowing us to get our fishing fix from home via computer games when we can’t get on the bank. In this current climate, their authentic simulators have never been more appropriate and they have just announced that a brand-new title; The Catch: Carp & Coarse is coming this summer. In this four part ‘digital special’, we talk to the people behind the making of the game and understand what goes into making a fishing simulation video game!

In part one, we talk to Darren Nokes, the brand and partner manager for Dovetail Games fishing franchise to understand the journey the company has been on to get to this point and what The Catch will have in store for players.

“The Catch: Carp & Coarse will be the third title that we have released at Dovetail Games. Our first title was ‘Euro Fishing’ which was received really positively and was the first dedicated fishing game to have been released on next generation consoles for a long time. We used the most up to date gaming engine - Unreal Engine 4 - to make the game, which meant literally making the game from scratch and not being able to use any code or animation from our sister franchise (Train Simulator). This was great fun but also a great challenge and set the foundations for everything we do now. Euro Fishing introduced the idea of catching ‘boss fish’ or as anglers may know them, ‘target fish’ and the most iconic fish we made was ‘The Big Plated’ from St Johns Lake on the Linear complex.”

 

“After the success of Euro Fishing, we moved onto Fishing Sim World which then became Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour. This title allowed us to introduce bass fishing to the title as well as continue to improve the European aspect of the game; this remains our latest title available to purchase. As well as still having named fish in the game, the real focus is on competitive angling with a huge career mode to take part in and compete against famous anglers from the carp and bass world. Working with real world partners has always been a huge part of our games and Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour contains over 60 different manufacturers and 120 anglers from across all styles of fishing.”

 

“Now, we have just announced ‘The Catch: Carp & Coarse’ which will be a brand-new game we are releasing this summer. The emphasis of The Catch is all about the pursuit of known named fish, the strategy that goes into hunting those elusive fish and as the name suggests it's all about Carp and Coarse fishing again! There are five venues in the game and each venue contains 25 boss fish for the player to locate, work out how to catch and then successfully land. Of the 125 boss fish across the 5 venues, there are 11 monster boss fish which are the most elusive, hardest fighting fish in the game.” 

 

“Utilising the different approaches, equipment, baits and pegs on each venue are vital in the game to be successful. As in real life, you won’t be able to target species such as pike and trout in the same way that you can carp and if they are in the same venue, they are likely to be in different areas of it. Each venue is designed to be very different to each other and contain different species and weights of fish. We have Oxlease from Linear and the most sought-after fish on the venue, ‘The Big Common’ to target. The River Ebro is a huge venue where you might have to go out in a boat to find the biggest catfish and then we have the contrast that is street fishing in Rotterdam where you are fishing in an urban environment in between boats or next to bridges. There is also Pearl Lake, based in Malaysia that has exotic monsters such as arapaima or the openness of Loch Mickle in Scotland full of trout and salmon.

 

Overall, there are 35 different species of fish in The Catch: Carp & Coarse, each with their own behaviours that the player will need to work out. There's even brand-new species of fish new to Dovetail Games fans, meaning a new experience for everyone! Carp, predator and coarse fishing is the focus with fully customisable tackle boxes to make up from hundreds of different pieces of equipment to choose from.

In next weeks section of ‘The Making of The Catch’, we focus on the different venues in the game – why those venues and what goes into recreating famous lakes in the carp world.

Click here for - Making of The Catch, PART II - VENUES

 

Stay up to date with all the latest from The Catch: Carp & Coarse across their social media:

www.thecatchgame.com

www.facebook.com/playthecatch

www.instagram.com/dovetailfishing

 

 

X