Ukrainian indie developer Driko has announced a cozy 3D puzzle game called Catomino, which has attracted over 5,700 wishlist additions in the first ten days since its Steam page was launched. The project combines classic polyomino mechanics with elements of interaction and care for virtual cats.
Ukrainian indie developer Driko has announced a cozy 3D puzzle game called Catomino, which has attracted over 5,700 wishlist additions in the first ten days since its Steam page was launched. The project combines classic polyomino mechanics with elements of interaction and care for virtual cats.
The author spoke about this in the Reddit community, sharing details of the development, technical solutions, experience working with dubbing actors, and using artificial intelligence to localize the project.
Initially, the developer worked on the game independently, but over time he brought in a concept artist, a 3D artist, and a sound engineer on a part-time basis. To create the audio, the team is collaborating with the Ukrainian dubbing union Vocal Games, whose actors voice the cat’s meows.
«After many attempts to find ready-made sounds and running around with a microphone behind my cat Rubik, I came to the conclusion that it is very difficult to convey the personality of cats with original sounds. The spectrum of their emotions is limited, it is almost impossible to make a cat make the desired sound. So we decided to use the services of actors. They were quite surprised when they were asked to meow for dubbing, especially considering that we initially approached them without providing any context,» Driko noted.
Our first game on Steam hit 5,700+ wishlists in the first 10 days after announcing
by u/driko_gamedev in IndieGaming
Although the game seems visually mature, the project is still in its early stages of development. The gameplay is designed for over 80 diorama levels with no timers or failure screens. In addition to placing cats on the field, players need to consider their temperament: their need for sunlight, soft mats, or toys. If you place animals that don’t get along well together, they will hiss and run away to empty cells.
On the technical side, Catomino relies entirely on procedural bone animation instead of hand-drawn frames. The game features over 40 cat species with unique skeletons and proportions, making it impossible to reuse pre-made animations. According to the author, the procedural approach allowed for significant speed-up of development without sacrificing quality.
The developer also openly stated that part of the localization of the game’s Steam page into 30 languages was done using artificial intelligence. All text will be checked by native speakers before the release.
The Catomino page on Steam was first presented during the Ukrainian online event Ukrainian Games Festival (UGF) 2026. The release is planned for PC, the release date is currently being specified.
