So some exciting news - not only will there be little pets to collect in 4.0, but this is your chance to design your own and potentially get it added to the game!
If you'd like to have a chance to see your design chosen by the Hivemother, submit it using the form below before January 25th. I'll select 5 finalists from the submissions and then everyone will be able to vote for their favorite - the winning design will end up in the game along with the other pets :D https://forms.gle/14WLGpbuCqqJzFeCA
Your design must be pixel art, and is limited to 10x10 pixels! It's tough but I believe in you! Check the form above for some reference examples you can download as well as some free software you can use to make your design. You can also go old school and get out the graph paper if you'd prefer analogue.
Looking forward to seeing all the cute friends that get submitted <3
Good luck, have fun! Ell
Last Orders! Final Suggestions For APICO!
Hey Beekeepers!
As some of you might know, there is one last content update planned for the game - which will also be the last update for the game! 4.0, AKA, "Hive Of Industry" will see the honeycore process finally expanded, letting you forge your own honeycore crystals and build your own lite automation machines, such as the hopper (move items around), plopper (move liquids around), and forester (tree harvester).
There'll be lots of QoL tweaks, useful items, decoration, a few more bees and butts, some seasonal events (hivemas! hallowbeen!), a final OST, and some other lil secrets - it'll also finally let you walk through that mysterious doorway to lead to one final location to wrap everything up story and gameplay-wise...
I'll also be creating a self-hostable version of the Beenet (the multiplayer server) so you'll be able to run your own server. I'll still keep the current Beenet up for as long as I can afford, but just want to make sure there's some future proofing there.
So outside of new content this is everyones last chance to submit your 'last orders' for things you'd like added! Obviously I can't add every suggestion no matter how cool it'd be, but if there's been some QoL stuff or tweaks you'd like to see in APICO then this is the last time you'll be able to post them to potentially be added to the game <3
You can post in this thread below, or use the feedback form if you want to do some longer feedback (just ignore the other questions and dump in the last one)
~ Ell
P.S. Don't worry about any outstanding bugs as I already have a big old list for that and there'll still be some bug patches after the final update - this is purely just for features!
TNgineers - 2023 In Review
2023 is almost at an end, and it’s been a busy ol’ year looking back! Here’s a lil ellraiser/TNgineer wrapped…
Started the year off strong dropping a demo for Rift Breach, an experimental lil dungeon crawler.
This was super fun to make, and helped me get better at scoping small as well as got my out of my usual pixel art comfort zone!
Then FletchMakes hosted a 7 day gamejam + I couldn’t resist making the “APICO but frogs” I’d always joked about
Mudborne was born(e) + I was overwhelmed with how much people loved it. It also showed me just how much I can get done with a super strict scope and detailed plan!
APICO had it’s 1st birthday! From a silly concept made in HTML to now published on all platforms with over 50,000 beekeepers playing - truly never thought it would go anywhere
I’m forever grateful to everyone who’s played and shared this funky bee game
At this point trying to keep up with socials for 3 different games was getting far too much and I needed help - enter @mibyledraws who joined as the first official TNgineer!
Thank you for all your hard work, wonderful videos, and helping me keep on top of everything <3
I got round to releasing the 2nd free content update for APICO, "What Lies Beeneath”, with all sorts of weird and wonderful ocean friends
It’s been tough to keep working on this mess of a game, but it’s worth it to see how much people have been enjoying all the new content
Decided that I wanted to take the Mudborne concept into a full-game, and started planning out everything along with a new art style and vibe for it (there’s only so far a sprite-rip of APICO can go lmao)
It’s wild to see how far I’ve started to come from tiny rectangle trees!
Towards the end of the year I left my freelance contract + went full-time gamedev, not quite by choice but it was something I wanted to do for a while
I’ll now be able to spend all my time on the games, as well as all the other little concepts I’ve had bubbling away...
I moved from GameMaker to LÖVE, built a small framework for future games like Snacktorio + Mudborne, and contributed to the engine itself
Was the first time actually helping making a substantial contribution to an open-source project and I learnt a lot!
After a couple years in + out of development and a last minute engine change to LÖVE, I finally finished + released the demo for Snacktorio
We’ve had some amazing feedback and it’s been so gratifying to finally get it out and see people enjoy it
Looking ahead to 2024, it’ll be my first year as a full-time gamedev (as well as reaching lvl 30!)
I’m planning to release the final update for APICO, as well as releasing either Mudborne or Snacktorio - might even have to drop some new demos too, as a treat…
Thanks for everyone who has supported me and TNgineers throughout the year.
Whether that was playing the demos, buying the games, sharing your progress, joining the discord, posting wholesome reviews, sending me cute bee pics - I’m truly grateful to you all <3
TNgineers News - NOV2023
Hi friends!
It’s almost December, which means it’s time to recap what happened last month!
Snacktorio: Ready To Order!
The demo for our factory-cooking simulator, Snacktorio, has finally been released! Thanks so much to all of you chefs, players and content creators for your support <3
If you’d like to get a taste of what’s in store you can watch the trailer below, or just go try out the demo on Steam!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIsDeQQokwM
Cozy Quest Steam Festival
In the middle of the month we snuggled up and celebrated cozy games through the Cozy Quest Festival hosted on Steam, with APICO and Mudborne!
The organizers, Secret Mode, hosted a lovely stream to try out some of the games and demo taking part in the festival, and played the Mudborne demo while interviewing Ell, which you can watch here.
10,000 FROGS 🐸✨
Our little froggy nature-sim reached 10,000 wishlists last month! We are so happy and thankful to each and every single person who’s supported Mudborne, played it, and wishlisted it on Steam. Here’s all 10,000 of you, live in-game:
Aaand that’s it for this month’s recap! Thanks for sticking with us and keeping the soups coming :)
Take care!
Manon, Ell and Jamie
Nautilus 3.2.2 Hotfix 1
I broke divepoints oops sorry
Nautilus 3.2.2
Hey Beekeepers!
Beeeen a busy bee working on the demo for Snacktorio but now that’s finishing up I had some time to work through the backlog of various bugs and some MP fixes - thanks for all your patience!!
~ Ell
Changes
Updated Steam Achievement descriptions to say 'half' rather than specific numbers as the numbers are now outdated
Increased the pickup range of dropped items
Crash Fixes
Fixed "Variable .species(100014, -2147483648) not set before reading it" (sc_beehotel1_change)
Fixed "Unable to find instance for object index 129284" (sc_slot_shift_click SLOT_LDOWN)
Fixed "Variable .oid(100032, -2147483648) not set before reading it" (sc_util_get_obj_at HIGHLIGHTER_STEP)
Bug Fixes
Fixed salinity level of coral tanks being set to the ph level in multiplayer games
Fixed sludge + coral achievements not unlocking when playing in a friend's game in multiplayer
Fixed a duplicate boat being made in multiplayer when a client player dived back to the surface near a boat
Fixed butterfly mutation cuases duplicate flowers
Fixed Cultivator Bee entry showing the wrong sprite for the required Honeycore item
Fixed Coral Flower items saying you could place them on grass, the liars
Fixed Ashthorn not being able to be used to calm Stubborn Bees
Fixed "Tier 3" label in the flower book overlapping chapter icons
Fixed a couple of rogue PLAYER.NAMEs in magazines instead of showing your own lovely name
Fixed Coral Tanks trying to process Prismatic Slivers
Fixed beehives sometimes keeping the grumpy status after a queen ends its lifecycle
Fixed time not going back to normal if you click a gate or boat while sleeping/benching (and in MP)
Fixed being able to open the Butterfly Book by clicking the empty book slot before its unlocked
Fixed being able to place Ocean Lanterns underwater in the cave walls
Fixed footstep sound for grass playing when using the rubberring in deep water
TNgineers News - OCT2023
Hi friends!
A month passed by since our last newsletter, here’s what’s been going on!
FROG CON
We joined the Frog Con, an online convention for frog lovers that mixes educational panels with creative works, in the middle of the month. Mudborne was one of the froggy games and got played during the convention!
For the occasion, we shared more about the game on our socials, as well as some redesign work-in-progress sneak peeks!
APICO Checklist Tracker
A fellow beekeeper created a checklist tracker & guide spreadsheet for APICO! It’s truly an amazing resource, and includes the Ocean Update (3.0) new content.
Thank you so much DeluxeGremlin for this!
APICO Community Spotlight
Fellow beekeeper Hazel shared this screenshot of her base in our community discord! Between the rainbow hive garden and the Mothense concert for the NPCs, it’s a dream place to bee. If you want to share you’re own cute pics you should come join us!
In other APICO news, the lovely Chelsea, that you may know as myPotatoGames on Twitter, wrote a very wholesome review of our beekeeping sim! It’s always heartwarming to hear such nice feedback <3
Beemoji Mashup!
Last month, our discord bot beebot started sharing a beemoji mashup everyday, and that gave us an idea: what if you could make your own mashup, and beebot could send it to the server?
You can now submit your mashup by filling this form, and it’ll get added to the bot’s daily posts! :D
That’s it for this month’s recap! Thanks for sticking with us and keeping these hives buzzing, it’s been a quiet month but we have some exciting stuff coming next time!
Take care!
Manon, Ell and Jamie
Nautilus 3.2.1
Hey Beekeepers!
Couple more bug fixes including a bunch of minor stuff I was putting aside in favour of more breaking issues! Thanks again as always to all your reports <3
~ Ell
Changes
You no longer get sent back to your spawn after the credits, and remain in front of the (now open) door (could this be a setup for the 4.0 update I wonder)
Updated steam cloud mapping, should now sync the saves+modsfolders between all OSs properly
Bug Fixes
Fixed SteamDeck not using the full height of the screen
Fixed new bee produce being disgustingly undervalued by those ungrateful NPCs (x10 sell price)
Fixed the new idol not being able to be used in the dream shrine
Fixed the beehive breeding slot not being fully hidden when a queen was inside
Fixed Filtration Hives filling sludge filters when not underwater
Fixed lag on beebox/buttbox/beebank with lots of friends inside
Fixed Filtration Hives filling sludge filters when no sludge tiles were nearby
Fixed some NPCs getting ahead of themselves and congratulating you on finding all bees/butts early
Fixed some rogue {PLAYER.NAME}s showing in dialogue instead of your own beeautiful name
Fixed not being able to pick up flora with most tools (exception being nets on flowers for obvs reasons)
Fixed being able to set your spawn point with a bed underwater or in caves
Fixed being able to use the rubbering in the dev/dream areas
Fixed coral species not generated hives when fully restored
Fixed fishing then using a gate or divespot causing a weird ghost fishing menu
Fixed not being able to dive back down a spot on gamepad when no shallow/boat nearvy
Fixed heater/cooler icons overlapping with the moon icon in the top-left
Fixed corrupted players.json files causing issues on start-up
Fixed Shipsbane showing "thorny" butterfly as the req when it's "stippled"
Fixed some fishing achievements being locked+relocked when changing between saves
Fixed not being able to open non-beehives with a hivetool equipped
Fixed being able to use the pencil on a backpack
Fixed coral restoration not immedietely being detected in some situations
Fixed coral that was pincered not counting as needing to be restored in that session
Fixed Golden fishing rod having no tooltip info
Fixed TDRAW hook being broken with modding
TNgineers News - SEP2023
Hi friends!
September is already gone and oh boy, what a month! APICO’s second major update came out - “What Lies Beeneath” :D
APICO 3.0 Makes A Splash!
What Lies Beeneath launched on September 26 on PC! Beekeepers can now explore the ocean, restore coral reefs, clean the seabed, fish… and, of course, discover all the new bees (including underwater ones!!). You can check out the patch notes here to see all the new stuff added.
If you’re a console player, no worries! The update will eventually come to you, and we’ll make sure to let you all know when it happens <3
APICO Steam Sale
To celebrate the new update, APICO and its amazing soundtracks (I’m not the one who composed it so I can say it) are currently on sale on Steam!
We experimented a bit with the discord server this month: after a short career in sending cute bee pics, beebot switched to beemojis creation. Some are cuter than others, but it’s a little surprise everyday!
We’ve also been very happy to see the players enjoy the update and sharing tips (and bugs) in the server, feel free to stop by! <3
What’s Next?
In October, we’ll join Frog Con, a lovely online convention for frog lovers that raises funds for amphibian conservation. In the middle or froggy cams, the artist alley and educational streams, Mudborne will take part to the con as a froggy game, October 13-23
And that’s a wrap for September! We wish you all a good spooky month!
Take care,
Manon, Ell & Jamie
Nautilus 3.2.0
Hey Beekeepers!
Some more bug fixes and a couple a tweaks, hopefully this should be all of the major stuff sorted out! I’ll still be doing patches but less frequently now as things have got more stable (especially after the influx of new bees, welcome all!!)
If you’ve been enjoying the new content and want to see more don’t forget to leave a nice review for the game! There’s still one last big free content update to come next year - if you’re interested in knowing more you can check out the roadmap here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1390190/discussions/0/3414305314950533292/
~ Ell
General
Added a check to make sure frosty/fiery beehives get spawned properly
Changed solitary bee item tooltip to show the beehotel/habitat rather than beehive/hive
You can now hammer glitched beehives (especially ones that rudely spawn in your beeautiful base)
Removed "hydrophobic" from prismatic bee's hint as it caused confusion (myself included)
Crash Fixes
Fixed selling to Bobbee with JP or CN language set crashing
Bug Fixes
Fixed being able to use the shovel underwater
Fixed coral tanks not being able to go back down to 0% salinity
Fixed butterfly hotels not picking up nearby algae/kelp preventing sunken admiral usage
Fixed the beebank being a bit wonky in multiplayer
Fixed butterfly box setting lifespan to 0 when removed. You can put 0 lifespan butts back in buttbox if you want to reset the lifespan back
Fixed shell scaffold in calcified bee entry always showing as discovered
Fixed coral tanks not being able to go down to 0% salinity
Fixed bug hotels in the caves saying the native flora used was wrong
Fixed prismatic bee magazine showing "$magazine_prismatic_b" instead of the second paragraph
Fixed cultivator bee entry in book crashing once you'd discovered Honeyed Root
Fixed sea cauliflower not applying the +2 lifespan
Fixed tidewort not applying the +2 stability
Fixed honey visual on hives not disappearing after using a hivetool
Fixed tooltip for kelp + algae flora items being the wrong way round and saying they come from shrubs
Fixed walking near the hivemother's door after opening it retriggering the opening sequence
Fixed being able to move stuff into an invisible backpack/trash slot on steamdeck when opening another menu
Fixed being able to see the quick queen button on steamdeck (you just use the r-stick control as displayed to QQ on gamepad)
Fixed butterfly box UI going weird when removing butterflies on steamdeck/gamepad
