Hey all!
Some exciting news today! First off, I can officially announce that Mudborne will be releasing on March 20th, aka World Frog Day!
In just over a month you'll be able to experience the world of Mudborne and uncover it's secrets - however if that's still too far away, I've also released a new demo for Mudborne that you can play right now!
This demo takes you through the first area of the game - the Spawning Pools, and contains all the lovely feedback and QoL changes that came from the playtest (thanks again for everyone who got involved in that!)
Whether you played the old demo or not, there's plenty of fresh content for you to experience. (Playtesters - this is just the first region of what you already played so you're not missing anything!)
Be sure to wishlist the game if you haven't already to be notified of release - and I'll see you all at the pond in just under 5 weeks! :D
~ Ell
[ 2025-02-12 14:05:36 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey friends!
Excited to say that the playtest for Mudborne is launching now on Steam! You can request access over on the the store page here, just scroll down a bit to the "Join the Mudborne Playtest" section and click the big button!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2355150/Mudborne/
The playtest will unlock starting this weekend <3
This will be a playtest of the full game, limited to the first 3 regions - Spawning Pools, Central Junction, and Kindergarten. If you've played the demo this will still be quite different, as the demo has it's own map.
If you can't wait to play Mudborne this is the time to get a froggy fix!
Why Playtest?
The goal of the playtest is mainly just to see how people find it, both APICO players and new players alike, and check you're all having fun. I have no expectations for anyone who wants to try it out, however there is a feedback form linked in-game that I'd appreciate you filling in when you're done! Any bug reports are also appreciated <3
The playtest is limited to 3 areas and only contains 1/3 of all frogs, mushrooms, and bugs of the full game. I'd say there's maybe 10 hours of content-ish but I genuinely have no clue! If you want to chat with other players, you can use the new shiny channel "mudborne-playtest" channel in the discord to discuss the playtest and help avoid other players getting spoilers.
It's worth noting that playtest saves will NOT be able to be used in the full game, as like the demo they also have their own map.
When Playtest?
I'll be granting access to anyone waiting in the queue starting this weekend! If you're a streamer or content creator it's okay to make streams/videos, just make sure it's clear to your viewers this is part of the playtest not the final release If you're still holding out for release to play everything then 1. I applaud your resolve and 2. you won't have to wait too much longer...
[ 2025-01-22 14:16:59 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey friends, and happy new year <3 I hope you all had a lovely break and are ready for the 2025! Here's a little recap of what I've been up to this past year: [hr][/hr]
Personal
2024 was the first year of me doing gamedev full-time, for the whole year! It's certainly different to back when I was making APICO on the side of a full-time job (and later freelance work). I feel a lot more pressure that what I make has to be 'good', and by 'good' I mean good enough to pay the rent.
With a lot of APICO's gameplay, I just did what I personally thought would be fun, and the end result is a weird combination of things but those who get it, love it. With Mudborne I've been trying to do the same thing, but I have a lot more worries about certain mechanics or moments that I wouldn't have if it wasn't tied to keeping the lights on. I can't say I'd ever go back to my old job all the time I can sustain myself making games (the big red date on my whiteboard tells me I have until October 2026 until I run out of money!), but it definitely has been a noticeable change doing art for money instead of hobby.
With APICO done, all the games I'm making are all in my own engine built on top of the LVE framework, and it's made things so much quicker to create. At the time of writing Mudborne is very nearly finished up, and it's taken only 8 months in total working full-time on it. I'd love to get into a place where I can comfortably making a game every year or so, without feeling rushed. I have so many different ideas I'd love to make, and only so much time!
[hr][/hr]
APICO
APICO had it's 3rd and final (sorry) content update, "A Hive Of Industry". This update added a bunch of automation machines, plus a lot of stuff you all asked for, including pets, decoration and a butt-tonne of QoL tweaks.
I've also done a few little bug fix patches here and there which I'm sure gave you all a bit of false hope on new content when the download queued! It was nice to finally 'finish' up APICO - sometimes I wish I never did any of the content updates but I think looking at it now I'm happy with where it ended up, even if it's still a lil janky and bloated and I think all the art looks wack.
I'd love to come back to it one day, in a seperate game. When I drew up the new credit postcards (above) I had fun invisioning a game where you do go to the mainland and help clean up the environment using your bees. I think it'd be nice to take the same APICO gameplay, streamline some of it and make it all fit better (especially the money making side), and then expand the bees to all have functions in restoring nature. However I think that'll need to wait a while as I have 2 game children screaming at me to finish, and a bunch of other ideas I want to get started on! [hr][/hr]
Synthesis
I don't often join gamejams, mostly because of the time limits they have, or I just don't personally have any time - but in 2024 I joined the LVE Jam, for games made with the framework. I was still learning the framework at the time and tinkering with the engine I'd made to create the Snacktorio demo, so I thought it'd be a good opportunity to have a break from the APICO stuff that was getting me down at the time, and learn a bit more of the framework.
I was really happy with the end result - 'Synthesis'. I wanted to make a puzzle game with different modules like what you get with old patch synthesisers. As you mess with the different modules it changes the patterns drawn until you eventually come across the combination needed to match the required shape. I also made a point not to ever explain any module's function - you just learn through doing very basic levels and then the rest you just learn overtime by doing. I wanted it to feel very experimenty for the player.
It was really fun to put this together! I had 10 days and pretty much used them all. I also did the music for it because I wanted to start practicing music creation for Mudborne, and was interesting in having the music 'evolve' with the puzzle progress.
I think it'd be cool to revisit one day as a 'full' game, as you could have lots of different module types and interactions, and let players connect modules themselves in different orders which then affects the outcome. If you want to check out the game you can get it over on itch.io here: https://ellraiser.itch.io/synthesis [hr][/hr]
Mudborne
Ah Mudborne, my beloved. I've spent what feels like an eternity working on this game, when it's only been 8 months. I think I've stared at frogs more than I have the real world, but I've enjoyed pretty much every part of it.
It's been an interesting process, first I did like concept art for the rough game, and worked on all the individual mechanics - then I worked on the actual world development and story and tied it all together. After the new demo was finished up, I spent a long time just designing the entire world and how everything connects, then piecing together the story. The writing in this one was definitely a killer as I've never written like a proper big story, let alone one with a few twists and turns.
I wanted something players could piece together themselves, and get clues from all over the place to work out certain things, so there was a lot involved in making sure it all fit together nicely. At the time of writing this I've just finished up all the final dialogue lines, and now it's just a lot of drawing and polish left to go. I'm planning to do a private playtest in the Discord this month for the first time, so I can try and streamline any tutorialisation stuff and see if I've made things a bit _too_ difficult. I'm pretty confident it's a fun game but it's weird how hard it gets to judge that the longer you work on making the game.
Once the playtest is over it'll just be some last little bits to tweak and any changes to make and it'll be ready to release! Crazy to think it'll be my second published game. If you haven't already be sure to give it a wishlist! You can also check out the demo still: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2355150/Mudborne/ [hr][/hr] As for 2025, I'm not sure yet what I'll be doing! The only thing I do know is Mudborne will be released this year, which is very exciting, I just can't say when yet. After that, I'm not sure - I'll need a long break that's for certain. I'd like to start working on Snacktorio proper and get that finished, but it depends on my brothers workload (he still has a 'real' job). He did a lot of the work on the game design of Snacktorio and has a good idea for the levels, so I wouldn't want to really do it without him.
If he is free, then I imagine Snacktorio will get polished off this year, maybe an early 2026 release! If not then I'll just have to work down the list to the next game idea and get started... A big thank you to everyone who played any of my games in 2024, all of the new APICO players, returning players for the 4.0 update, froggy friends excited for mudborne - without all of you I wouldn't be able to do this and I'm extremely grateful. Here's to 2025! ~ Ell
[ 2025-01-02 09:13:34 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey friends - IT'S NEW GAME TIME!
Im excited to announce that Mudbornes new demo is out RIGHT NOW on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2355150/Mudborne/
Im also excited to announce that the lovely folks at Future Friends will be helping to publish your new fav froggy game with me. Check out the trailer below for a sneak peak of what you're in for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJq7u9hcAUg&ab_channel=TNgineersOfficial
A spiritual successor of sorts to APICO, Mudborne instead focuses on genetic manipulation and generational puzzles to create and discover all sorts of frog species, that act as keys to let you travel between the waking and dreaming worlds - the demo takes you through the main mechanics and creating 8 different species. If you love APICO I think youll love this, theres a lot of stuff Im doing differently but you should still feel right at home.
Whether you played the original gamejam version or not youre in for a treat, as this is a completely new game, new art, new mechanics, new music, new engine - the whole works. Im really looking forward to you all getting your slimy green hands on it, I hop you enjoy!! <3
Dampest regards,
Ell
[ 2024-08-14 14:04:11 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hi friends, hope youre doing well!
Its already the beginning of a new month, and you know the drill: its time for a new recap!
[hr][/hr]
Celebrating Black History Month
APICO took part in Humble's Exceptional Indie Allies Bundle, along with 6 other amazing games, to celebrate Black History Month and raise money for NPower. Big thanks to everyone who supported the cause - so far youve helped raise over $25,000! (Also if youre quick you can still grab the bundle today!) [hr][/hr]
LVE JAM 2024
Ell took a little week break from finishing APICOs Honeycore Update to join this years LVE game jam with their submission, Synthesis! In Ells own words; [quote=ellraiser]this year the theme was interface so you know I had to! I wanted to make a bit of an abstract puzzle game where the player isn't taught any controls and has to learn through trial and error, and I'm happy with how it all ended up! It was also my first time making music for a game so... enjoy that lol[/quote]
You can try out the jam game over on itch.io here! [hr][/hr]
Whitethorn Winter
Whitethorn Games, APICOs publisher, held a celebration of gaming across all the games in their catalogue through a showcase and Steam event (you can catch the vod here) While we didnt have anything to show, there was some nice sneak peaks at our sibling games, like Magical Delicacy and Botany Manor! [hr][/hr]
Final Countdown
Its been a bit of a slow year so far, with not much to share while Ell plugs away at finishing the final update, however we have got some lovely things planned for the 4.0 launch to look forward to, so be sure to keep an eye out. Well also havs the Steam Spring Sale coming very soon (March 14th!) with the deepest discount to-date for APICO and the soundtracks, so a perfect time to pick up APICO and catch up with everything before the last update [hr][/hr] Aaand that was February at TNgineers! As always, thank you so much for your support <3 Take care! Manon, Ell and Jamie
[ 2024-03-01 18:55:03 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hi friends!
A new year is upon us, and its been a bit of a manic start with Ell moving house but were back on track now!
[hr][/hr]
APICO Pet Competition
As you may have seen on our socials, pets are coming to APICO along with the final Honeycore update! To celebrate, we held a design-your-own-pet competition (which receieved over 200 submissions!), and narrowed down the cuties to just five finalists, which were put up to a vote by all of you.
Although the dino was the vote winner by a small margin, everyone found it super difficult to pick - and why should they have to? Weve decided that all five designs will be winners, so youll be able to enjoy all of them as pets in the final update - congratulations to all the artists! <3 [hr][/hr]
APICO 4.0 WIPS
Ells been working hard on the Honeycore Update, and you might have seen some bits and bobs on our socials and on Discord!
New cute decor and furniture, light automation, moving crates & beeboxes without emptying them we've been very glad to see your reactions to all the new things weve planned for this last update and cant wait to let you all get your hands on it! [hr][/hr]
APICO Prime!
For those of you who use Amazon Prime Gaming, APICO is currently part of the free Prime games you can claim! You have until February 14th to claim it - once you do itll be added to your library indefinitely! This is the same as the latest Steam / PC release, so you get all of the same nautical goodness. [hr][/hr]
Coming Very Soon
Coming very shortly after this recap, Whitethorn Games (APICOs publisher!) will be having their Whitethorn Winter Showcase! This is a celebration of gaming magic across all the other sister games, so be sure to check it out to see what other new games are coming that might bee off interest to you. Theres also a new Humble Bundle where you can get APICO along with some other fantastic games, all to help celebrate Black History Month and raise money for NPower, so if youre still looking to pick up APICO as well as support a wonderful cause this is your chance! [hr][/hr] And thats it for this first recap of 2024! Big thanks for your amazing support <3 Take care! Manon, Ell and Jamie
[ 2024-02-07 08:50:33 CET ] [ Original post ]
2023 is almost at an end, and its been a busy ol year looking back! Heres a lil ellraiser/TNgineer wrapped
[hr][/hr]
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!
[hr][/hr]
Then FletchMakes hosted a 7 day gamejam + I couldnt resist making the APICO but frogs Id 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!
[hr][/hr]
APICO had its 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
Im forever grateful to everyone whos played and shared this funky bee game
[hr][/hr]
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
[hr][/hr]
I got round to releasing the 2nd free content update for APICO, "What Lies Beeneath, with all sorts of weird and wonderful ocean friends
Its been tough to keep working on this mess of a game, but its worth it to see how much people have been enjoying all the new content
[hr][/hr]
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 (theres only so far a sprite-rip of APICO can go lmao)
Its wild to see how far Ive started to come from tiny rectangle trees!
[hr][/hr]
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
Ill now be able to spend all my time on the games, as well as all the other little concepts Ive had bubbling away...
[hr][/hr]
I moved from GameMaker to LVE, 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!
[hr][/hr]
After a couple years in + out of development and a last minute engine change to LVE, I finally finished + released the demo for Snacktorio
Weve had some amazing feedback and its been so gratifying to finally get it out and see people enjoy it
[hr][/hr]
Looking ahead to 2024, itll be my first year as a full-time gamedev (as well as reaching lvl 30!)
Im 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
[hr][/hr]
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 - Im truly grateful to you all <3
[ 2023-12-20 11:41:49 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hi friends!
Its almost December, which means its time to recap what happened last month!
[hr][/hr]
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 youd like to get a taste of whats in store you can watch the trailer below, or just go try out the demo on Steam! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIsDeQQokwM [hr][/hr]
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. [hr][/hr]
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 whos supported Mudborne, played it, and wishlisted it on Steam. Heres all 10,000 of you, live in-game:
[hr][/hr] Aaand thats it for this months recap! Thanks for sticking with us and keeping the soups coming :) Take care! Manon, Ell and Jamie
[ 2023-11-30 15:57:59 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hi friends!
A month passed by since our last newsletter, heres whats been going on!
[hr][/hr]
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!
[hr][/hr]
APICO Checklist Tracker
A fellow beekeeper created a checklist tracker & guide spreadsheet for APICO! Its truly an amazing resource, and includes the Ocean Update (3.0) new content.
Thank you so much DeluxeGremlin for this! [hr][/hr]
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, its a dream place to bee. If you want to share youre 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! Its always heartwarming to hear such nice feedback <3 [hr][/hr]
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 itll get added to the bots daily posts! :D [hr][/hr] Thats it for this months recap! Thanks for sticking with us and keeping these hives buzzing, its been a quiet month but we have some exciting stuff coming next time! Take care! Manon, Ell and Jamie
[ 2023-10-31 20:09:43 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hi friends!
September is already gone and oh boy, what a month! APICOs second major update came out - What Lies Beeneath :D
[hr][/hr]
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 youre a console player, no worries! The update will eventually come to you, and well make sure to let you all know when it happens <3 [hr][/hr]
APICO Steam Sale
To celebrate the new update, APICO and its amazing soundtracks (Im not the one who composed it so I can say it) are currently on sale on Steam! The game is 45% off, and the soundtracks are each 50% off until October 10th [hr][/hr]
Bee Butts?!
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 its a little surprise everyday! Weve 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 [hr][/hr]
Whats Next?
In October, well 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 Be sure to check it out, along with the other amazing froggy games well be alongside! [hr][/hr] And thats a wrap for September! We wish you all a good spooky month! Take care, Manon, Ell & Jamie
[ 2023-10-02 17:44:40 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey friends!
August came and went, my first month technically doing gamedev full-time! Both exciting and terrifying :'D
[hr][/hr]
APICO 3.0 Coming Soon
Unless youve been living in a pineapple under the sea, youve probably seen that the APICO 3.0 update, aka, What Lies Beeneath has been announced as coming soon! Bee sure to check out the new trailer! If youre a content creator or streamer interested in trying out the new content you can also fill in our creator preview form. [hr][/hr]
MibyleDraws Joins The Gang
Pleased to say that the lovely Manon (also known as MibyleDraws) will be joining us as our PR & CM! If you've been enjoying anything posted on socials this last month (like all the new cute tiktoks), then you have Manon to thank for it! [hr][/hr]
G.Round Playtesting
G.Round is a playtesting platform where you can get your hands on a bunch of different indie games and feedback directly to the developers! Currently you can playtest both Mudborne and Rift Breach, and give us feedback as well as chat with other players in the G.Round discord! [hr][/hr]
Socials Consolidation
Now that weve got 4 different games being juggled about, its impossible to manage 6 different accounts on each platform (we know, weve tried) Weve now combined all games into a single TNgineers account on each platform, so be sure to follow to not miss anything! (Tiktok, Twitter, Instagram, Steam) [hr][/hr] So thats a wrap on August, bee safe and well see you next month! Love, Ell & Jamie & Manon
[ 2023-09-02 13:48:57 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey friends!
Another month flies by, it feels like I was only just writing the June recap! Here's whats been going on.
[hr][/hr]
APICO Wholesome Games Sale!
The lovely people at Wholesome Games have organised a Steam Sale thats host to all sorts of cosy games, with some sweet discounts on offer! As part of the sale, APICO will be 40% off until 7th August, with both OSTs 50% off as well. [hr][/hr]
APICO at /r/place
For the redditors among you, you might have heard of a little thing called /r/place - a community canvas where everyone can get involved. Thanks to the help of the community, we were able to get APICO immortalised in a small section with a bunch of other indies you might know! [hr][/hr]
Itch.io Selects
We were lucky enough to have APICO selected for the Itch.io Summer Selects Bundle, a special bundle containing APICO and 5 other cool indies! Thanks to everyone who bought the bundle and supported us, we hope you enjoy all your new sweet games <3 [hr][/hr]
APICO 2.2.3 for Xbox/Playstation
For our console friends, 2.2.3 is now live on Xbox / Playstation. This was a small update but contained some important fixes and means the consoles are now in-line with PC! Unfortunately Nintendo wasnt as kind with approval and still wont let the patch through, however youre not missing out on anything major! [hr][/hr] So thats a wrap on July, bee safe and well see you next month! Love, Ell & Jamie
[ 2023-07-31 20:49:36 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey friends!
We're now halfway through the year, which is a scary thought given all the things I still want to get done in 2023... better get to it!
[hr][/hr]
APICO releases on Xbox!
So after a very long time, APICO has finally released on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. This is the latest version of the game, and includes all the beeautiful butterfly content! We hope all the new beekeepers enjoy their stay at Port APICO <3 [hr][/hr]
Rift Breach at NextFest
Rift Breach got a bunch of new updates, and the demo was re-released for Steams Nextfest, which you can still try out! Unfortunately it didnt really gather any response or interest, so itll be going into cold storage for a bit while we work on the other games. [hr][/hr]
Mudborne Indie Cup Nominee
Mudborne got nominated for the Rising Star award in the 2023 UK Indie Cup! We didnt win in the end, but the fact that a little 1 week froggy demo managed to get a nomination is still amazing to see! [hr][/hr]
Hello Snacktorio
Feed The Beasts is now Snacktorio! We had to change the name for legal reasons and we asked the Factorio team as a joke, but they said yes. Its weird having to call it something different after 3 years but here we are - you can find us in all the same places just a different name and logo. [hr][/hr] So thats a wrap on June, bee safe and well see you next month! Love, Ell & Jamie
[ 2023-07-02 09:32:04 CET ] [ Original post ]
====MESSAGE_STARTS====
hey researchers! to celebrate NextFest you'll be able to watch a playthrough of the updated demo here! you can read the patch notes for the new update below ~ ell https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2267410/view/3663162167656759517
====MESSAGE_ENDS====
[ 2023-06-19 22:30:02 CET ] [ Original post ]
====MESSAGE_STARTS====
hey researchers! just a few little final tweaks and fixes before nextfest next week ~ ell =[changed]= - exit icon now flashes in door menu when ready to use - prevented being able to farm kill points after elevator arrives - reduced general time limit to 500s (down from 600s) - any time spent over 500s will incur penalty points - made clear power interface is "breached" when room is =[fixed]= - fixed breached power rooms counting as powered - fixed card convertor giving a yellow card instead of a green one - fixed leftover treasures remaining after pods are removed - fixed typo in SAVE poster
====MESSAGE_ENDS====
[ 2023-06-15 08:56:20 CET ] [ Original post ]
====MESSAGE_STARTS==== hey researchers! to celebrate NextFest you'll be able to watch a playthrough of the updated demo here! ~ ell ====MESSAGE_ENDS====
[ 2023-06-14 19:28:35 CET ] [ Original post ]
====MESSAGE_STARTS====
hey researchers! nextfest will soon be upon us, so it was time to give this old demo a little bit of dusting! i've revisited the demo and made a few tweaks that I think should help make it more interesting and keep the puzzle focus, plus some general tweaks to the "boss" - main change is that to use the escape door slots you need to add, activate, and connect 3 different yellow power rooms. Activating all three will let you then use the escape option in any door as usual. there's also now a leaderboard - sadly demos are not allowed a leaderboard page like normal games, but you'll be able to see the 10 ten scores after you beat the game, so now you can prove your status as employee of the year! glhf! ~ ell =[ changed ]= - scores are now saved to a leaderboard, shown at victory - yellow rooms are now power rooms, connect 3 to proceed - minibosses will spawn in yellow rooms, be sure you're ready! - minibosses will grant a green treasure card on defeat - having powered rooms on your network gives some new benefits to help you - shops are now found in blue safe rooms, but now require power to be active - green rooms are now treasure rooms, same function as before - you can now access the keycard index with [H], which explains the different cards - increased knockback and impact on enemies - added freeze barrels that will slow nearby enemies when exploded - equipping an upgrade of the same weapon will auto-scrap the old one - reduced elevator room time to 1:30 instead of 2:00 - reduced tentacle spawn rate in elevator room - removed some of the more "holey" room layouts - added various scenery objects and a couple of "posters" =[ fixed ]= - fixed some notices dismissing even though they're still needed - fixed the visual glitch with the final elevator (missing floor) - fixed the sound button not toggling during first few seconds of a new run - fixed hitboxes on a couple of enemy attacks - fixed enemies spawning in walls (maybe?)
====MESSAGE_ENDS====
[ 2023-06-13 16:25:39 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey friends!
May has flown by, and it's an important anniversary month for both APICO and myself personally, marking the start of me making games 3 years ago. Here's whats been going on:
[hr][/hr]
APICOs Birthday
May 20th was APICOs birthday! We had lots of deals and sales to celebrate - dont worry if you missed out though as we have an Itch.io one still to come! The hive doubled in size in just a week, so thank you to all the newbees that have joined us - we hope you enjoy <3 [hr][/hr]
Butterfly Design Winner
Voting has now ended for the Design A Butterfly competition, and the winner was @Hollibees Sunset Butterfly Everyone had such a difficult time deciding, thank you for all the artists for their wonderful entries! [hr][/hr]
APICO On Xbox
So its been confirmed APICO will be coming to Xbox soon, stay tuned next month for some date announcements! Xbox initial release will include the 2.0 butterfly update by default <3 [hr][/hr]
APICO 3.0 Beegins
The groundwork for 3.0, aka What Lies Beeneath has started, with a hefty devlog you can read over on Ko-Fi or Steam! No dates to announce yet but were still aiming for Q3/Q4 this year <3 [hr][/hr] So thats a wrap on May, bee safe and well see you next month! Love, Ell & Jamie
[ 2023-05-31 12:07:05 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey friends!
April has been and gone, finally bringing some sunshine and bumblebees to the garden! Here's what we've been up to:
[hr][/hr]
2.0 Update For Consoles
In case you missed it, a release date for consoles for the 2.0 Butterfly Update has now been announced! I Cant Beelieve Its Not Butter(flies) will be fluttering over to Nintendo Switch & Playstation on May 11th - save the date! [hr][/hr]
Butterfly Competition
The Design A Butterfly competition has now ended! Thanks so much to everyone who took part. Well setup a post soon for voting to let you all decide your favourite that will be added into the 3.0 update! [hr][/hr]
Mudborne
Mudborne has now already reached over 1000 wishlists! Thanks so much to everyone whos checked out the demo - well absolutely be coming back to this one later in the year, and start planning a full game! <3 [hr][/hr]
Family Gaming DB
Were super happy to say that the Family Gaming DB gave APICO the family gaming award + recommendation for 2022 Weve spent a lot of time making sure APICO is enjoyable for all ages, so it means a lot to be given this! [hr][/hr] So thats a wrap on April, bee safe and well see you next month! Love,Ell & Jamie
[ 2023-05-01 09:09:17 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey friends!
March has flown by, and with it the weather has slowly turned from wet and rainy to... well still wet and rainy cos it's the UK baby!!!! Here's what's been going on
[hr][/hr]
Mudborne
Another friend joins the gang! Ell took part in a week long game-jam, and the result was Mudborne, an APICO-like focused around frogs + mushrooms. You can read more about the development of the game over the 7 days, or just try the demo out for yourself on itch.io or Steam! [hr][/hr]
Beenus
Speaking of friends joining the gang, we have a new TNgineer! Some of you might recognise StarVenus/Beenus from Discord or /r/APICO, were delighted to announce shell be joining us as a social + community manager! Its getting a bit hectic managing 3 (now 4) games, so reinforcements were needed, and have arrived! [hr][/hr]
FTBS Steam Page!
Feed The Beasts finally has a steam page, so you can get those wishlists in and follow us for updates on the progress of the game! Were slowly edging towards a demo release, and cant wait to share it with you all! [hr][/hr]
Butterfly Competition!
Some of you may remember our Design A Bee competition back before the butterfly update - well were doing another one, and this time its for designing your own butterfly! The winning design will be added to the game, plus the designer will win a bunch of prizes too - check the announcement post for more info! [hr][/hr] So thats a wrap on March, bee safe and well see you next month! Love, Ell & Jamie (AND BEENUS) <3
[ 2023-03-30 12:21:32 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey friends!
February has been and gone - I know it's the shortest month but damn that was quick! Here's what's been going on:
[hr][/hr]
Moth Symphony
Our favourite moth composer released their debut album, Moth Symphony! Moth is currently three for three on composing TNgineer game music so might as well be one the family and they deserve the shoutout! If youre a fan of APICOs music then youll very much enjoy this, you can grab it on Bandcamp, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon Music. [hr][/hr]
Ocean Views
As you might have seen, weve started planning out the next major content update for APICO - What Lies Beeneath! This update will cover fishing, deep sea diving, coral reefs, more bugs (and actual bugs), and a whole lot more! Follow along on Ko-Fi for the February devlog thatll be out in the next week or so to find out what were up to <3 [hr][/hr]
Toktik???
God help us all Ive only gone and make some Tiktok accounts! But fret not, for next month well be introducing our first new TNgineer to join the team wholl be taking over our social media + community management and will be at least 40% less cringe than me* If you want to get in early you can follow APICO, FTBS, and Rift Breach over there RIGHT NOW [hr][/hr]
Achievement Unlocked!
This month we also applied for the Xbox Dev programme and got accepted! Were still signing some paperwork but once settled it means well have our own Xbox DevKit, Hivemother help us all We got accepted from proposing Rift Breach (so guess thats happening now) - but should also help us sort out APICOs Xbox build, which has been in limbo for a hot minute/hour/day/year/century [hr][/hr] So thats a wrap on February, bee safe and well see you next month! Love, Ell & Jamie <3 *thats a big ask I know
[ 2023-03-01 22:09:08 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hello friends,
A new year has begun! Id like to say I eased back into things slowly after having Christmas off but I literally started the month by releasing a new game lol. Heres what weve been up to:
[hr][/hr]
Butterfly Charity Donations
With the butterfly update for APICO we had a new influx of players beeing introduced to the wonderful world of bees! This also meant we could make a new batch of donations to various conservation, pollinator and butterfly charities. New donations included Pollinator Partnership, Regional Science Consortium, and Butterfly Conservation! You can view all the donations made from APICO sales here. [hr][/hr]
Lunar New Year
To celebrate the Lunar New Year on 15th January, we finally released a Simplified Chinese localisation for APICO! This had been a long time coming and we can thank Whitethorn Games for helping arrange this. You can check out this language option in version Papilio 2.2.0+ [hr][/hr]
Rift Breach
So like I mentioned, a new game is here! Sadly not Feed The Beasts just yet (although thats well on its way!). I wanted to work on a much smaller scope game to help me creatively, and the result was a small player-cedural sci-fi dungeon crawler called Rift Breach that I made in 3 weeks. You can read more about the thinking behind the game as well as the development here, and you can go play the demo over on Steam now! [hr][/hr]
New Website
Well I say new, but truth be told weve never had a website for TNgineers, only APICO! Now that we have 3 games to keep on top of I wanted to make a one-stop shop for all things TN to try and keep on top of things. You can check it out over on tngineers.com, which has some general information as well as links + presskits for all 3 games! [hr][/hr] So thats a wrap on January, bee safe and well see you next month! Love, Ell & Jamie <3
[ 2023-01-30 12:20:37 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey Researchers! Thanks so much for everyone who's been checking out the demo and giving me their feedback! This is just a small patch to cover a few bugs plus some balance tweaks that should help you with your escape... ~ Ell =[ changed ]= - increased boss grenade throw cooldown slightly - increased total number of health crates in the boss room a bit - decreased boss room enemy spawn rate a smidgen - reduced enemy spawns per room before your first override key - prevented health crates being usable if you're at full health - added little arrows to speech bubbles - signposted that you can/should seal breaches the first time - opened doors in breached rooms will now jam to prevent accidental sealing =[ fixed ]= - fixed the "perform event recursion depth failure" error - fixed exploding enemies glitching out when leaving the room while exploding - fixed exploding enemies not adding some friendly fire - fixed X tier weapons not dropping a yellow card when scrapped
[ 2023-01-22 14:46:41 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey Researchers! So I can't yet get the game to be reviewed by Valve for compatibility with SteamDeck yet, however I have spent a lot of time making it work nicely on deck as it's my preferred console atm! Steam let's you link an event to the SteamDeck's compatibility notes for a game so this is literally just me writing a post to say "yes it works great" lol Any issues, give me a shout!
[ 2023-01-20 21:34:16 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey Researchers! Today, Rift Breach is announced to the world and the playable demo is live for the first time! This project is the culmination of me wanting to try designing a smaller game with a very strict scope - basically a personal gamejam. I always find it difficult to be done with things and spend far too long tweaking stuff no-one notices, so I wanted to use this to practice getting better at letting go. If youre interested in reading more about my thoughts behind doing this I did a full write-up over on Ko-Fi here: https://ko-fi.com/post/Concept-Game--Rift-Breach-O4O8HUFS2 Im super happy with how things turned out, and I hope you enjoy the game! If you like the concept & want to see more, please give it a wishlist to let me know If enough people are interested, Id love to turn it into a full game, with stuff like:
- A whole range of friends + foes to meet and fight (or fight and meet who knows)
- Different buffs and debuffs for having certain pods connected or chained together
- Lot's of different melee / ranged weapons plus misc. "weapons" like shields, dodge-roll
- More type of keycards, doors that require multiple keycards, more NPCs
- Harder, more unforgiving modes: faster breaches, quicker spread, breached keycards...
- Several floors, taking you through Personnel, Engineering, Research and Containment
[ 2023-01-20 20:32:23 CET ] [ Original post ]
WARNING...
CONTAINMENT BREACHED...
PLEASE PROCEED CALMLY TO YOUR CLOSEST ESCAPE PODS...
Rift Breach is a "player-cedural" sci-fi dungeon crawler where YOU choose the next room. Your options are rarely beneficial, with random traps, puzzles and enemies lying in wait. Act quickly, for failure to manage your situation will cause a rapidly-spreading, merciless threat to the entire facility itself...
It's your first day at Pocket Rift Inc., what could go wrong? Everything apparently.
While being shown the ropes one of the facilities containment zones is breached, leaving you stranded from the rest of the crew with nothing but a handful of keycards and your wits. The good news is you remember from the training video something about escape pods?
The bad news is you don't exactly know how to get there...
- 2D top-down dungeon crawler
- "Player-cedural" generation, you build the rooms you need
- Fight your way through various enemies and puzzles
- Manage containment across the floor to prevent disaster
- Dynamic music system (music by Mothense!)
Rift Breach is a small game made by me, ellraiser, as part of a personal 1-month gamejam to help improve my game development skills! Taking inspiration from roguelikes, dungeon crawlers, and metroidvanias, I wanted to experiment with having the player decide the proc-gen of the dungeon, and how that would effect "keys" as a resource.
You can read more about why I wanted to make this game and the design process behind it over on Ko-Fi.
Currently this is just a prototype / demo to prove the concept, so there's only one main floor + boss, but future plans include:
- A whole range of friends + foes to meet and fight (or fight and meet who knows)
- Different buffs and debuffs for having certain pods connected or chained together
- Lot's of different melee / ranged weapons plus misc. "weapons" like shields, dodge-roll
- More type of keycards, doors that require multiple keycards, more NPCs
- More puzzle / trap rooms, think LoZ old-school style dungeon puzzles
- Harder, more unforgiving modes: faster breaches, quicker spread, breached keycards...
- Several floors, taking you through Personnel, Engineering, Research and Containment
If you like the demo and want to see more please give it a wishlist so I know! <3
If you want to follow along with the project you can catch me on Twitter, or hit up the TNgineers Discord, links are in the sidebar.
- OS: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
- Processor: Intel Core i5 (4th Gen)Memory: 4 MB RAM
- Memory: 4 MB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD Integrated
- Storage: 250 MB available space
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