Hello everyone!
It feels great to be in touch again and finally share some progress on Beencremental's full release!
Starting today, I'll be posting weekly development updates here on Steam. Every week I'll share what I've been working on, what's coming next, and any exciting news along the way (events, milestones, etc) . I'm really excited for the journey ahead!
A Quick Recap
Starting June, I participated in Steam Next Fest. While the results weren't quite what I had hoped for, the event still brought a lot of new players to Beencremental (around 500 wishlists), and I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who gave the demo a try.
One of those new players happened to be a scout from LevelUp Gaming, a very friendly publishing company that reached out after playing the demo. After some good conversations we reached a very interesting place and opportunity for the game, so we've officially signed a publishing deal!
With their support, I'll be able to push the game much further, especially when it comes to localization, marketing, and reaching players across different regions of the world.
(( I'm still the only one working on the game, its content and mechanics, asides from my friend Oukkurun on the music & sounds ))
Back to Development!
Once Next Fest wrapped up, I went full steam into development.
I revisited a lot of ideas I'd BEEn wanting to implement for a long time, while also taking many of your suggestions into account. After defining the new scope of the project, it was finally time to start coding!
Here's a look at what I've been working on recently:
Bigger & Collapsible Plinko!
One of the most requested features was the ability to hide the Plinko machine while playing.
Well... now you can!
I also took the opportunity to make the board larger, which gives me much more room for future mechanics and helps improve balancing.
Genetic Traits
To make each run feel more unique, I've introduced Genetic Traits.
These are unlockable passive abilities that modify your swarm and encourage different playstyles. Since you can only equip a limited number at once, choosing the right combination for each season will be an important part of your strategy.
Some examples include:
Butterflies — Friendly butterflies will join your swarm and help nearby flowers bloom.
Fireflies — Fireflies appear over time. Touching them restores some of the Queen's energy.
Pollinator Flowers — Grants a chance for special Pollinator Flowers to spawn. Collecting from one causes nearby unbloomed flowers to bloom, and already bloomed flowers to give some extra pollen.
Sunflowers — Harvesting Sunflowers grants a small burst of energy to the Queen.
New Active Abilities
I've also started adding new abilities to your mouse buttons.
🐝 Pheromones!
One of the most requested features was a way to direct your swarm.
Pheromones let you place a target point on the field, causing your bees to gather and forage around that location.
📦 Remote Deposits!
This slow charging ability lets your Queen yeet all of the pollen she's carrying straight back to the hive, allowing you to deposit your inventory from anywhere on the map.
IDA - Indie Dev Argentina
On Saturday, August 1st, I had the opportunity to attend IDA (Indie Dev Argentina), an event where 25 selected indie developers from across Argentina were invited to showcase their games in front of hundreds of people.
It was a fantastic experience! I got to meet a lot of people from the local game development industry, Beencremental was nominated for the “Creative Idea” award, and, most importantly, I had a great time meeting and talking with players who came by to try the game!
That's everything for this week's update! I left out some details and surprises, you may want to join the Discord community to know more! :D -> ( https://discord.gg/8SmVrYbrr ) <-
There's still plenty more to show, and I'm really looking forward to sharing it with you over the coming weeks.
As always, thank you so much for all your feedback and support, it genuinely helps shape Beencremental into a better game.
See you next week! 🐝
Damian.