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A jam submission

Bee YoungView game page

Pollenate or become dust
Submitted by Ramen Sea (@ramensea) โ€” 5 hours, 50 minutes before the deadline
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Bee Young's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Aesthetics#34.4814.481
Sound#43.7043.704
Overall#133.4073.407
Gameplay#232.9262.926
Theme#452.5192.519

Ranked from 27 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

If you posted a link to your game on twitter paste it here so we can retweet it!
https://twitter.com/ramensea/status/1650488705294147585

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

The atmosphere is soothing and relaxing. Though the controls are a bit off. Nice game

Developer (1 edit)

๐Ÿ Thanks! Is your issue with the controls mostly about W/S going up and down and not forward/backwards? I appreciate your feedback!

Submitted

Yep.

Developer

Thanks!

Submitted(+1)

That sound track is amazing. Did you make it yourself.

Developer

haha in my dreams, it came with the level assets.

Submitted(+1)

Really interesting game! I like that it is a 3D game since most games are 2D here so it stands out a little... The controls felt a little weird but I learned it after some time...

Developer

๐Ÿ Thanks! Yup the controls are a bit off ๐Ÿ˜”

Submitted(+1)

This is a very fun peaceful game. The visuals and sound are both wonderful. It was a bit difficult to control at first, but very fun once I figured it out. I don't see how this fits the theme though.

Developer

๐Ÿ Thanks! I'm glad you could figure the controls out, it certainly needs some work there.

Someone else had a similar question about the stealth aspect so I'll repost that: The stealth aspect of the game is hiding from the hawks. I know its not a traditional "stealth" game, but it felt fitting. Actually having the hawks in the game is pretty critical to the game's balance. Since flowers grow each year in a similar area to where they have been pollenated, I wanted a system that would punish a player who only pollenated flowers near their hive. The number of hawks that fly around is based on a few factors one of which is how many flowers will grow that year. If the number is low, you'll start getting tons of hawks and thus probably end up dying, either from starving or from the hawks themselves.

Submitted(+1)

Hey, I got calmer with the sound and the feeling like flying. I think it's a good idea of game. It was hard to control the bee but after some time I managed to get a flower. I don't think it matches with the jam theme. Anyway, hope you keep working, it would be interesting to see it more polished.

Developer(+1)

๐Ÿ Thanks! Ya I think I'd need to work on the controls a bit. I'm glad you could see the promise of a more full featured version of the game. I feel like I could take the game in a lot of different directions.

The stealth aspect of the game is hiding from the hawks. I know its not a traditional "stealth" game, but it felt fitting. Actually having the hawks in the game is pretty critical to the game's balance. Since flowers grow each year in a similar area to where they have been pollenated, I wanted a system that would punish a player who only pollenated flowers near their hive. The number of hawks that fly around is based on a few factors one of which is how many flowers will grow that year. If the number is low, you'll start getting tons of hawks and thus probably end up dying, either from starving or from the hawks themselves.

Submitted(+1)

Nice, well explained! Thanks Ramen

Submitted(+1)

Beautiful game! The art and sound make a really calming mood that juxtaposes nicely with the kind of stressful gameplay. There were definitely a number of times where I lost track of where the hive was, though, so I'd recommend putting in a compass feature that could point you back in its direction.

Developer(+1)

๐Ÿ Thanks!

Ya losing track of the hive is definitely an issue. It was on my list of things to fix, but I cut it to meet the deadline. I would have loved to molded the level a bit more to help guide the player to the hive.

Submitted(+1)

The visuals are very nice and pretty. Quite an interesting and fun submission!

Developer

๐Ÿ Thanks!

Submitted(+1)

Looks very good but very hard to control. Reminds me of first attempts at flying a plane in GTA :D

Developer

๐Ÿ Thanks! GTA's flight controls definitely were considered while making the game.

Submitted(+1)

really nice game! A bit hard, i didnt manage to don't die of frozen but it is challenging in hard mode!

Developer

๐Ÿ Thanks! Ya survival is hard in the game, I tried to ramp the points gained a bit towards surviving each year.

Submitted(+1)

This is the most beautiful in the whole jam.

I didn't get a good hold of the controls...

Developer

๐Ÿ Thanks!
Yup yup you aren't alone, gotten a lot of feedback on the controls both in person and on Itch.

I'll attempt to explain them here for you, but hopefully I'll get an opportunity to make some improvements after the jam.

Space moves the bee forward, W/S moves the bee up and down in the world, A/D moves the bee left and right. You can steer the bee via the mouse. Let me know if that helps!

Submitted(+2)

I loved the graphics and the relaxing music, I REALLY want to play this on VR

Developer

๐Ÿ Thanks! You don't think it would make you sick in VR?

Submitted(+1)

Liked the aesthetics and sound a lot, and liked the movement once I got used to it. Always found myself losing where the hive was and not being able to find my way back and getting eaten by a bird or freezing to death. Would be good if there was some beacon showing where the hive is, or indicators so you know the general direction it's in. Also think the stealth aspect could be improved like showing indicators of where the birds are and ways to evade them

Developer

๐Ÿ Thanks!

Thanks for the good feedback. I definitely get lost where the hive is as well and I made the game lol. I was a little afraid of cluttering up the UI and game by having a solid hive indicator. I think if I made more of a natural spot for the hive, it would help the players naturally find it. I imagine if I ever made this into a full fledged game tho I would let the players place their own hives.

AFA as the stealth aspect, I don't like that you can't escape the birds as soon as they see you. I wanted to make it so you could lose them in the forest, but that just got way to complicated. Its definitely hard to tell where they will be going and to dodge them. They kinda end up just forcing the game to have a natural end vs really anything else.

Thanks again for the feedback. ๐Ÿ

Submitted(+1)

Really nice looking game took me a while to get used to the controls but after that quite liked being a bee.

Developer

๐Ÿ Thanks! The bee controls definitely need some work, I'm glad it eventually worked for you.

Submitted(+1)

Love the atmosphere, and really interesting camera movement.

Developer

๐Ÿ Thanks! I missed your comment here, but I responded in the other place comments are.