Hive by blank_3D

[raw]
made by blank_3D for Ludum Dare 53 (JAM)

So I was distracted and only noticed the jam was on literally 24 hours in. Not a lot of sleep the past 40 odd hours. hopefully not too many bugs, apart from the bees.

banner_A.png

I made a game where you take control of a bee and have to go gather pollen and DELIVER it to your hive.

D.png

In the hive you can spend the pollen you have delivered to fill hexagon cells with honey to spawn new bees in your hive, or build new hexagons

F.png

(just because hexagons tiling is great)

B.png

The game takes 12 minutes. Heart.png

FINAL RELEASE VERSION:

Thanks to everyone who played and gave feedback!

changes in final version: - smoother movement - updated tutorial - HUD UI elements now more accurately represent game mechanics - added options for volume control - a few graphical tweaks - reworked end screen

BEE well everyone!

I will also upload all the models from the game to Sketchfab for free later this week: https://sketchfab.com/JivkoChterev

Ratings

Overall 484th 3.667⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Fun 496th 3.538⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 420th 3.538⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Theme 435th 4.064⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 293th 4.128⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Humor 712th 2.875⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Mood 178th 4.051⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 65🗨️

Feedback

Norah
02. May 2023 · 17:13 UTC
The game is really cute and soothing, really liked the idea !
LDJam user 336560
02. May 2023 · 17:47 UTC
Cool graphics, and placing down the cells is satisfying. But I would like to be able to get more friend bees and faster - have like a 100 BEES all around me buzzing collecting pollen together. :D
shadowbrain
03. May 2023 · 10:05 UTC
For some reason I can't play this one- it just says "Re-bee" as if I've died and clicking it does nothing?

It looks cool though, just can't actually play it!
LDJam user 158900
03. May 2023 · 10:11 UTC
It doesen't start on my pc. I am stuck on this screen and can't do anything

![Screenshot 2023-05-03 121106.png](///raw/4bc/62/z/5afc2.png)
Divi
03. May 2023 · 10:56 UTC
Clicking on Re-Bee resets the numbers on the right to 1/0/1 and that's it, nothing happens, as if the game started and reached the end immediately.
🎤 blank_3D
03. May 2023 · 11:23 UTC
@shadowbrain @maxi1234 @divi
Sorry uploaded a wrong build. Fixing it now.

EDIT:FIXED should be playable, hopefully no issues.

EDIT 2: there were issues. now hopefully no issues.
Divi
03. May 2023 · 12:08 UTC
The flying sensation is good and the game is very cute, but 12 minutes is very long, especially with no twist along the way, and only being able to carry 2 honey at once, you end up doing a lot of back and forth on a loop. The construction part was fun at first, just because hexagons building is cool, but after a certain point, I couldn't construct anymore and the honey on my bee was spent automatically as soon as I entered the hive for some reason? The honey in hive counter wasn't going up at first, and I'm still very unsure how it was going up, or how/when the bee counter was going up too.
🎤 blank_3D
03. May 2023 · 12:44 UTC
@divi the pollen(honey) in the hive not going up was a bug. I have fixed it in the current upload. Thank you so much for playing and giving feedback!

EDIT: as for the honey "on bee" it goes automatically to "in hive" when you enter the hive and you spend from the "in hive".

I looked into the not being able to build and its an artifact of my stupid design more than it is a bug.
when you click a cell it activated and stops you from activating other cells while it is active. It can deactivated by clicking again. However when the cell is full of honey the green plus disappears and if the cell is surrounded then there is no longer a visual indication if it is active or not. Thank you so much for pointing it out!

I added a visual indicator when a cell is active

![FIX.png](///raw/3d4/95/z/5b08f.png)
Obe Dot
03. May 2023 · 16:15 UTC
Looks great! Nice idea.
Samoussa
03. May 2023 · 16:17 UTC
Very cute game, I straight away love the mood and graphics!
I loved the idea of playing a bee and gathering pollen all around.
Even after reading the "How to bee", I was still about confused at first! I nonetheless enjoyed buzzing around and collecting pollen to bring it back to the hives.
It was a very cute experience! :bee:
Rjdrag
03. May 2023 · 16:27 UTC
Really cool. I ended up with over 100 honey and 50 bees. I'm not sure how I was getting all the honey in the hive, but it let me build a lot.
spacemyname
03. May 2023 · 17:30 UTC
I love Bee games, had a blast playing this! Honestly it's better than Bee Simulator for the Switch. 5 stars :)
DJTequila
03. May 2023 · 17:50 UTC
Really cute graphics. Super relaxing vibe with all the scenery to explore and the satisfying hexagons. I think it could use some variation though, it did get a bit repetitive. Great entry overall!
Hunter Van Brocklin
04. May 2023 · 01:52 UTC
this was really lovely, a relaxing little world to spend 12 minutes in. i love the colorful, blocky 3d graphics and the attention put into all the different flowers. and the background music is very soothing and subtle. great work :D
ruddgasm
04. May 2023 · 02:39 UTC
This game is un-BEE-lievably cute. I really like flying around as a bee and listening to the nice music. The atmosphere of the game was very relaxing and I liked it. As far as art, it felt nice and I liked the style of it. The one thing I would say is that the blocky hard edge looking ground didn't really feel like it fit with the rest of the assets, but overall the game looked great.
Sam Gorman
04. May 2023 · 04:15 UTC
The game is absolutely stunning. Amazing work, especially for starting late!

It's very relaxing, but I feel the tutorial could've been clearer.
LDJam user 342640
04. May 2023 · 04:19 UTC
Really cute game - I would've liked something like a sound indication when you collected pollen because I couldn't tell that I was actually doing it the first time around, haha. That being said, really great job!!
🎤 blank_3D
04. May 2023 · 13:43 UTC
@drainkid I am sorry I don't know why you didn't get the audio effect. Thanks to your comment in the final release there are now volume options for the music and sounds

@sam-gorman @samoussa Thanks to you the tutorial has been reworked. I hope for the better, but I honestly have no idea how to judge this by myself.
drazil100
04. May 2023 · 16:42 UTC
Congrats! I think you are the first person I have given a 5 to on innovation! I never considered the possibility that the player would be the recipient of deliveries! Nice take on the theme!

Also the controls were spectacular! They were just bad enough (by design) to be engaging but also good enough to be relaxing at the same time. I eventually learned that it was quicker to do a fly by than it was to specifically try to re-aim at every one I just barely miss.

The level design was also spectacular. When you first leave the hive you are introduced to what feels like a very small areas with a few flowers. As you start running out of pollen to collect you start noticing the world is bigger and bigger than originally noticed. You don't get overwhelmed with where to go while at the same time you never feel like you have run out of places to explore. Your vision is at all time focused on the goal and you don't get lost in the world but you also don't get bored of it.

10/10 game!
🎤 blank_3D
04. May 2023 · 17:32 UTC
@drazil100 Thank you so much for the kind words! I am happy you enjoyed it.
SerialKamikaze
04. May 2023 · 18:47 UTC
Very nice graphics and fun to play. Little laggy on my old laptop, but could play a little at least. Bee happy!
DurkaGames
04. May 2023 · 18:57 UTC
It is a very cute bee simulator!
🎤 blank_3D
04. May 2023 · 19:05 UTC
@serialkamikaze I knew this day would come :) I am not a programmer. I would love to optimize it to run on any machine but I have no idea how I will look into it for the next jam for sure.
chocoland.tv
04. May 2023 · 19:43 UTC
perfect game, good job, i like the design, mechanics and gameplay, only the rigidbody was sometimes anoying, it feel, that you don`t fly, but really polished !! awesome i got 6 full first time =D
Lomby
04. May 2023 · 20:58 UTC
Thanks for submitting your game on the stream!
Here’s the stream if you wanted to re-watch initial thoughts (timestamps in the description to jump to your game!) [youtube link](youtu.be/urgNg4JO17M).
🎤 blank_3D
04. May 2023 · 22:16 UTC
Thank you @lomby for playing and sharing your thoughts!
branung
05. May 2023 · 05:09 UTC
Lovely game! Enjoyed the feeling of growth that came with getting more and more pollen as more bees were added. I also had a chill time just exploring the map fully, it was a lot more open than I initially thought it was. Impressive stuff!
LDJam user 317992
05. May 2023 · 07:21 UTC
My GTX 1060 in difficulty xd
normal for jam game, the game is chill and fun
Vilius
05. May 2023 · 07:24 UTC
What a beautiful and charming idea!

I love the flying and how it feels. Great style too!

Well done!
BezedH
05. May 2023 · 13:08 UTC
it became fun from the first second ! i would have played a game like that , just flying and chilling around for hours as a kid :D GG for this entry especially that you dit that with 24 hours less !
LDJam user 202408
05. May 2023 · 14:04 UTC
![2222.PNG](///raw/8a6/13/z/5b61b.png)

I'm the kind of bees!! I love this game it kept me engaged he entire time, the level design is pretty good too, I had difficulties navigating at first and the camera made me a bit dizzy (might wanna change that) but other than that I had so much fun! I was the collector at first, then I just sat in the hive building while other bees did the work lol, I see people conplaining about lag, but it worked fine for me with about 30Fps with my ancient gt 1030
StephanSchue
05. May 2023 · 18:16 UTC
Looks absolutly stunning. The pollen collection was a bit hard. Are the hitboxes are really small?
Overall stunning. Please continue on that.
🎤 blank_3D
05. May 2023 · 20:32 UTC
@stephanschue I wouldn't say small exactly.

![Screenshot 2023-05-05 232805.png](///raw/3d4/95/z/5b6b2.png)

it would help if you can say how was it hard. did you have trouble flying? or trouble aiming at the pollen? How fast were you flying?
hwaet
06. May 2023 · 05:22 UTC
What a lovely chill game! I could play this all night. It gives me katamari vibes a little bit, but without the timed panic. No non-bee bugs were encountered ;)
LDJam user 334002
06. May 2023 · 14:24 UTC
I couldn't play it bc of the low framerate, but i could see the map and the graphics and i enjoy them. Good job!
someone
06. May 2023 · 15:23 UTC
A fun relaxing game. Great models. The garden was fun to explore and it was nice seeing all the other bees around and getting stuck on the scenery as bees do. I ended up with 44.
I had real trouble flying at first. It took a while to get vaguely competent. Only being able to go forwards made it tricky.
The hive editing was very clunky, mainly due to the super smoothed pointer movement and the lack of manoeuvrability. Having to select a cell to build something next to it seemed needlessly complicated and prone to confusion if you have another cell selected, which stumped me for a bit thinking it was being unresponsive.
superzoom
06. May 2023 · 20:36 UTC
I really enjoyed playing this game; it's a great idea and it was really cute! The controls were a bit jerky for me, and clicking where I wanted to in the hive was a bit tough, but the graphics were great and it was still really fun. Great job!
Lisek Gagatek
07. May 2023 · 11:25 UTC
Wow, controls and camera work are really good. It is of course pretty annoying to be precise with reaching pollen but when I think of that it really looks like bee movement irl (they don't stop mid air like hummingbirds lol). The game looks really impressive thanks to this camerawork.

Models are also really good, the idea is there and it is on theme. I wonder how the game would be if there were some deeper mechanics added (like resource management and maybe further time limitations?). I would love to see this project expanded because I had fun playing. It is a really cool jam entry, gj man!
Sodoj
12. May 2023 · 19:17 UTC
This is a very nice game with a decent idea! The colors are great and the music playing in the background is relaxing. The only thing that bogs it down is the camera. It took me a solid minute to get out of the beehive the first time around because the camera is too close, and when I got out the camera felt too sensitive to control despite me tweaking the sensitivity in options. Speaking of which, I really appreciated that you can go to the options in the middle of a game and tweak settings, that was super cool of you to include! Anyway, back to the camera, I think the main issue is that the camera doesn't stop when I stop the mouse movement, but instead it continues moving a bit like it has some kind of momentum. I think I get why you decided to do it that way, to simulate the flight of a bee, but in my opinion it made the game much harder to play. Despite that, I enjoyed the game and I had good time collecting pollen and expanding the hive! Great job!