APICO News

Hey Beekeepers!

So we’re coming up on nearly a month since the game has been released!
We’d had thousands of people playing APICO and all round it’s been a wild time - thanks so much for everyone that’s been playing and leaving us the most wonderful reviews
In the last 4-6 weeks I think I’ve maybe had 3 whole days where I haven’t been in GameMaker for some reason and now that things are mostly stable it’s definitely time to take a break. I was already burning out from console porting earlier this year so the last month or so hasn’t helped!
This will be the last update for a while now barring any urgent bug fixes / crashes - there’s a few changes, a bunch of stuff to keep the mod creators quiet (for a few days at least), and also I updated GameMaker’s Steamworks Extension!

They have promised me that this update will fix the issues some people were having with some MacOS users crashing, and some users just not able to unlock achievements - but I won’t get my hopes up.
At the very least let’s hope it still works normally even if it doesn’t fix those issues! If you do still have issues with Steam please let me know ASAP.

Once I finally have a proper break I’ll be starting on the first proper content update for APICO, “I Can't Beelieve It's Not Butter(flies)”. This will bring in butterflies, solitary bees that don’t work in hives, and all sorts of pollination/flower madness. If you want to read more about the content updates you can check the roadmap here:
https://ko-fi.com/post/APICO-Roadmap-S6S0ADGAZ

~ Ell

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Visually show the "Respawn in 5s" countdown when holding R / L+R
  
• You now need to equip mead before being able to drink it - meaning you can now right-click to split a stack of infused mead
  
• Notice bubbles are now hidden while in Photo Mode
  
• Mods are now listed alphabetically and show the total number of downloads globally
  
• Mods now each have a banner in the description when clicked on
  
• Highlighting tabs/recipes on gamepad now automatically selects them
  
• On gamepad when holding triggers and highlighting a beehive you can now see the range radius
  
• On gamepad you can now hold the dpad on slot and book chapter selection
  
• Hammering a crate / menu object will now drop that as an item first before the contents of the menu
  
• Added the Mod Workbench, which will store all crafting recipes for all installed mods, per mod
  

[h2]Crash Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed "Cannot delete buffer, it's in use by 1 others at gml_Object_co_mods_Other_72" with mods that use api_get_data()
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed boats being deleted in multiplayer when clicked rapidly
  
• Fixed bottler liquid type not reset when draining the tank
  
• Fixed the "instance queen end" glitch with slot clicking/dragging
  
• Fixed bottler giving 2 bottles per 50ml in multiplayer
  
• Fixed closing noticeboard quests on gamepad meaning you had to close the whole menu before being able to select a quest button
  
• Fixed uncapping bench / uncapper having incorrect help labels
  
• Fixed Swarmwort seeds not saying they should be placed on water
  
• Fixed Beenjamin asking for a "behaviour behaviour" (what a rascal)
  
• Fixed Raintank menu highlight sprite not having the right outline
  
• Fixed not being able to drink Apicola on gamepad (you poor thirsty bees)
  
• Fixed ";" not being usable for a mapped key
  
• Fixed menus staying open when Save+Quitting, which could sometimes cause issues with the home screen buttons
  

[h2]Modding[/h2]

• Added the Mod Workbench, which will store all crafting recipes for all installed mods. Recipes define with api_define_recipe() will be put here instead of the vanilla workbench - you can use this as your hub crafting station as there is section for each mod. This means you can define 100 recipes for your mod (5 tabs, 20 recipes per tab)
  
• Added api_define_workbench(), which lets you set your mod's name and tab names in the Mod Workbench
  
• Added a description "banner" to in-game mod descriptions
  
• Added a few missing item sprites for larger scenery items
  
• Added api_define_item_stats() which lets you define a "default" set of stats to apply to a given item when it's created (i.e. having a canister start with 9001 max)
  
• api_define_gui() has now been modified to correctly cache sprites rather than register a new one for every machine - this means you will need to ensure your gui_key's are unique per menu object define (i.e. you can't use "progress_bar" for 2 different defines if they're different progress bar sprites)
  
• Added "has_lighting" to the flower_definition in api_define_flower()
  
• Added api_define_window() which lets you define a custom "window" (essentially just an item that has a special frame drawn on a wall)
  
• Added a create() hook, called whenever a generic object, tree, flower, menu object, or item is created
  
• Added api_define_liquid() which lets you define a custom liquid - these can be used in canisters, barrels, and your own custom tanks (not the bottler)
  
• Fixed game load hanging when leaving a mod in settings but there being no actual mod folder
  
• Fixed game load hanging when having an empty mod folder for a mod that is being loaded
  
• Fixed obj_definition with variants specified being limited to 4 frames
  
• Fixed ready() being called early during new world creation (and being called twice)
  
• Fixed modded quests being required to complete to get Grandpa's Axe
  

Hey Beekeepers!

Recently Steam has marked APICO as being able to release it's own Steam Trading Cards, and today I'm happy to announce these are now live and you should start getting cards now!



There are 8 trading cards in total! Along with the APICO badge you can get from getting all cards, you can also get 5 different profile backgrounds and 6 lil APICO emotes, hope you enjoy
~ Ell

Hey Beekeepers!

Just a couple quick fixes on MP games, and a tweak for modders!

~ Ell

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed "new" hives found or placed by clients not activating until the host walked nearby
  
• Fixed clients not visibly seeing the progress bar of a host started machine even tho input+output of the machine was fine
  
• Fixed being able to use pickaxes on trees and have them be just as effective (lol)
  

[h2]Modding[/h2]

• Mod console is now toggled through "CTRL"+"." instead if just "."
  
• Mod logs are now added to the "mod-logs.txt" file in real-time so you can view logs outside of the mod console in-game
  

As some of you may know, we've partnered with Makeship to make our very own APICO plushie!!



If at least 200 of you beeautiful bees pledge then this foot-long Beeatrice brick can finally be brought to life (and into your loving arms)! Like Kickstarter if the goal isn't reached then your pledge is refunded (and we'd be very sad to not have an army of beeatrices brought into the world).

If you're interested in owning one of these beeauties, you can check out the campaign over on Makeship here!
https://www.makeship.com/products/beeatrice-plush

Hey Beekeepers!

Just a few little bits in this one, some tiny QoL tweaks (including a pencil that lets you relabel things!), some balancing and a couple fixes for multiplayer.



There’s also a bunch of new stuff and some API fixes for modding!
There’s been some really cool mods in progress, including an APICO version of Minecraft’s NEI, so hoping these new modding APIs help encourage more people to get stuck in!

~ Ell

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• You can now craft a Pencil (on PC) that lets you relabel menu objects! i.e. you could relabel your trash can to say "Wasp Storage" >:)
  
• Smokers now have their own icon bubble, that also matches the one shown by Empress bees
  
• Targeted menus now have the extra label highlight like when you drag them
  
• Beeboxes/Beebanks no longer show traits until you've microscoped the species
  
• Standard honeycore crystals now sell for $2 rather than $3, and Crystal Bee honeycore shards sell for $5 instead of $1 - there's a bigger piece around honeycore processing planned!
  
• The good news is Barnabee is looking to buy a house of his own! The bad news is the deposit was huge and they have to put their prices up soz
  
• Rocky Bees now spawn in a hive when mined, and there's now a 50% chance of a hive vs 100% always getting a bee (after your first hive)
  
• Sorting menus now orders bees by their bee book order - same for magazines
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed machines giving duplicate items when the progress bar finished in multiplayer when host should have "won" (sawmill, beehive, centrifuge etc)
  
• Fixed being able to pause while in multiplayer as pausing your time meant time desynced
  
• Fixed newly placed items not being interactable until the player moves (in multiplayer + while modding)
  
• Fixed right-clicking to split stacks and dropping items on an existing stack not syncing in multiplayer
  
• Fixed being able to get infinite cargo boats in multiplayer, putting Skipper out of business (and making him sad)
  
• Fixed game crashing on gamepad when highlighting a non-menu object and pressing Y / Triangle
  
• Fixed The Merchant not showing their post-credits dialogue (im so sorry over how not worth it this is now you can finally read it lmao)
  
• Fixed Sacred Idol showing as the wrong sprite in the Altar overworld sprite
  
• Fixed Beehive Lamps not having an item sprite in your inventory
  
• Fixed acorns planted in hallows not showing as the correct sapling sprite (at least SOMEONE has been replanting)
  
• Fixed NPCs not remembering that they already told you something and eagerly telling you again next time you booted up the game
  
• Fixed Beebank tabs not showing the species name on hover
  
• Fixed being able to hammer beds/benches while in them (why did you even try this)
  
• Fixed music layering when sleeping through several nights
  
• Fixed birbs not flapping when flying away (high quality stuff gang)
  
• Fixed species with "Any" climate not showing in the beebook or stat cards
  

[h2]Modding[/h2]

• Added a new set of methods, api_describe_*, which get various game metadata (both base game and modded)
  
• Added a new set of methods, api_all_*, which gets all instance IDs in the map of trees/flowers/objs/menu objects (super dangerous, don’t make me regret it :D)
  
• Added api_refresh_tooltip() to refresh to tooltip cache (i.e. when updating tanks / gui)
  
• Added api_get_language() to return the players chosen language (i.e. "en", "jp", etc)
  
• Added a new destroy() hook, called when objects/trees/flowers/machines are destroyed
  
• Added a new scroll() hook, called when the mouse wheel is scrolled up/down
  
• Added "hp" as a new property to obj_definition's so you can make objs with "health" (like trees, shrubs, rocks etc)
  
• Added a "claim_script" parameter to api_define_quest(), called when the quest is claimed
  
• Changed ready() to call when the player is directly in the game (after intro cutscene)
  
• Changed worldgen() to call both before all objects are created (post-tiles) and after all objects are created
  
• Fixed api_get_definition() returning some properties as ds_ GM ids rather than values
  
• Fixed loading a different file than the preloaded save not calling ready() properly (and not having a splashscreen)
  
• Fixed api_define_flower_recipe() not working
  
• Fixed api_blacklist_oid() not affected player movement keys
  
• Fixed api_define_bee_recipe() not returning the menu object inst. in the mutation script
  
• Fixed "durability" on obj_definition showing as "health" in tooltips