Over 200,000 views of the Announcement Trailer on VARSAV Game Studios’ official YouTube channel, over 2 MILLION views collectively, including over 1 million on UNILAD Gaming, and more than 10,000 comments and 6,000 shares that followed. Countless requests and questions about additional features and game modes. And, most importantly and overwhelmingly, the warm reception of Bee Simulator’s announcement has made VARSAV Game Studios’ team rethink their initial plan and rework their development roadmap to make sure Bee Simulator will be everything gamers want it to… BEE.
Bee Simulator’s release date was moved from fall 2018 to spring 2019, when the game will launch simultaneously on PC and at least one console with further console releases to follow at a later date. Here’s how Łukasz Rosiński, VARSAV Game Studios Creative Director, justifies the decision:
“Many positive reactions lead us to believe that we were correct in choosing a honey bee to be the main protagonist in our first game. Bees and their huge role in our ecosystem, habits prevailing in the beehive and the problems harassing them were a very strong base for the creation of Bee Simulator. At the same time, we were forced to live up to the expectations of a larger than expected group of users – mainstream gamers. We received lots of comments detailing the functions they would like to see in our game. To meet those expectations, we decided to change our schedule and push back Bee Simulator’s launch by a few months. We would like to thank you for each idea that we’ve received and we’d like to recommend that you watch our social media platforms, where we’ll present the result of our collaboration with the players.”
That’s especially because the feedback gathered o-line and during both Gamescom and PAX West led the developers to include the following changes to the upcoming development plan:
- Adding two different gameplay modes to the game. An easy one, designed with kids in mind specifically, and a more challenging one prepared for adult gamers.
- Adding a completely new combat system that adult gamers will enjoy.
- Adding new opponents.
- Redesigning the “bee dance”, so it was more in line with adult gamers’ expectations.
- Allowing our bee to actually sting people. In the end you don’t always have to be a well-BEEhaved bee.
- Making bee races more complex, so they not only for children pose a challenge.
- Adding additional maps, specifically for local split-screen mode.
