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APICO News

Playtest Begins!

Hey Beekeepers!

The playtest has officially begun!

We've released a first batch of 100 people - Steam picks these at random, and if you are picked then you should get an email saying you've been added to the Playtest and will be able to go and download it from your Steam Library! (wahoo!!!) You can still sign up to the Playtest from the Steam page - we'll be adding more people as we go!

If you want to come chat with others as you play come join us over on Guilded!

Some things worth noting:
  • In it's current state the game is content/feature complete - we won't be adding any new major features at this point
  • Localisation is being worked on by translators as we speak but you can't pick other languages in this Beeta!
  • You'll see a "Mods" section in the homepage, but mods are not available in this Beeta so it'll always be empty
  • Achievements will be visible in Steam but they can't be unlocked in this Beeta
  • Quite a few people don't realise this but you can use a gamepad! Head to Settings > Controls and turn on gamepad mode and the game will try and detect your controller. The game changes a little bit in gamepad mode as you can't do any multiple menu magic but it's still p. chill!


If you are a Streamer or Content Creator we ask that you flag this as Beta Content with potential spoilers. We also ask that you don't stream any of the "Dream" area (the 5th gate marker), or any of the ending so others can enjoy this themselves.

Outside of that, have fun and bee safe! We're not looking for you to play in a specific way, just enjoy the game!

As the game isn't released you can't share community content, but you can post in our "Show Off Your World" forum if you want!
[h2]Feedback[/h2]
While playing the game we'd love you to think about how things could be made clearer, easier, or more fun! There's a Feedback form you can access at any time from the top-right corner of the game, next to the save button.
[h3]Feedback Form[/h3]

This form has a bunch of questions to get you thinking about different parts of the game but a lot of them are optional if you just want to put your own thoughts in here! Any and all feedback is appreciated!!

[h2]Bug Reports[/h2]
If you come across any bugs (the bad kind) you can report them to us via the Bug Report form here:
[h3]Bug Report Form[/h3]

Alternatively if you're in our Guilded (which if not, why not!), you can use the Bug Reports forum channel.

You can view all reported bugs here.

On a similar note if your machine is constantly dropping below 60FPS then we'd love to know what you were doing / where you were / what sort of potato you are running!

Thanks to everyone who has signed up to the Playtest, we hope you enjoy!
Love Ell & Jamie

Beeta 1.4

Hey Beekeepers!

This is mostly an update to clean up a bunch of stuff and get everything ready for the Steam Playtest tomorrow - it's also the last update in terms of content and story and has an actual ending so... that's exciting! And sad. But mostly exciting!

With this update you'll now be able to travel to that mysterious 5th Gate location, where you'll find... well you'll see for yourself! I also fixed a LOT of gamepad mode so if you've been waiting for that now is finally the time to be able to test it properly.

If you are a content creator/streamer we'd ask that any streams you do are tagged with spoilers, and that you don't stream anything from the 5th Gate location onwards so we can keep things spoiler free for everyone else

(For Mod Creators, I didn't add too much in this version I'm afraid as the Playtest was the priority but there'll be some new stuff soon for the custom slot logic / click / rendering I promise!)

[h2]Changes[/h2]
  • The 5th gate marker can now be used when unlocked...
  • Added an ending to the game (still missing some SFX!)
  • Added the credits to the game (still missing credits song!)
  • Updated all NPC dialogues and dialogue triggers (when they have something new to say about how cool u r)
  • Added Magazine Rack that can store magazines, got from the "Reehabilitate" quest or can be crafted
  • Added the Dresser that lets you change your appearance, spawns in Nans house
  • Added the Acclimatiser, a machine sold by Beenjamin that lets you acclimatise a bee to like rain or snowfall
  • Added special produce lore on bee items in the tooltips
  • Increased the size of the bottom library book bar books
  • Save + Quit now just restarts the game first instead of going back to the menu instantly to avoid so many issues I don't want to deal with
  • Autosave is now every 5 mins, and we no longer save every single time you claim a quest to reduce lagging


[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
  • Fixed vanilla NPC shops crashing when trying to buy/sell to them
  • Fixed the Anvil occasionally causing a crash when changing worlds
  • Fixed the Anvil sometimes just not working unless picked up and placed back down
  • Fixed paint layers being kept when deleting a save and making a new world in the same slot
  • Fixed east + south being the wrong letter on the compass (i'm v. tired leave me alone)
  • Fixed Cathemeral bees not showing "all" day icons in the microscope/stats tooltip, because I can't spell
  • Fixed Tropic climate not showing in the microscope/stats tooltip because apparently one day I changed it from "Tropical" to "Tropic" and never changed it oops
  • Fixed bees with the "Any" climate trait showing as "Climate" instead of "Any" in trait tooltips
  • Fixed some issues with using a Gamepad on the home screen settings menu
  • Fixed Beeboxes/Beebanks not working on Gamepad
  • Fixed not being able to open magazines on Gamepad (equip + press Action)
  • Fixed not being able to use the Town Noticeboard on Gamepad
  • Fixed Skipper having an invisible 3rd row of sell slots
  • Fixed notifications sometimes just not dismissing at all even though there was nothing in the book to notify
  • Fixed the bee book showing a notice symbol all the time


[h2]Modding API[/h2]
  • Added api_unlock_quest() to allow you to unlock quests by default as you need them
  • You can now pass an optional stats property to api_give_item()
  • Fixed shop_key/shop_buy/shop_sell in api_define_* methods not working, leading to shop crashes when buying custom items
  • Fixed custom quests showing the ID in the tooltip instead of the Title

Wonderful relaxing beekeeping sim APICO is opening up a playtest

Want to care for the bees? The upcoming casual sim APICO from TNgineers is opening up a Steam Playtest that starts on August 30 for anyone to give it a try.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/08/wonderful-relaxing-beekeeping-sim-apico-is-opening-up-a-playtest

Open Beeta Playtest

Hey Beekeepers!

Some exciting news - we're going to be running a Steam Playtest for the game, and you can sign up right now!!



Now the game is pretty much finished we're looking to do some serious testing and bug hunting and just make sure all round that we're making APICO the best game it could possible bee.



[h2]What's a Playtest?[/h2]
If you haven't heard of Steam Playtest, it's essentially just a new way that Steam lets devs do playtests of their game without having to mess around with keys.

You sign up to join the Playtest, then when it's available Steam randomly picks a bunch of people who have signed up to give them access to the game! You can sign up right from the APICO Steam page (and maybe give it a lil wishlist if you haven't already while you are there? :D)

Sign up here!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1390190/APICO/

[h2]Why Now?[/h2]
Now the game is feature + content complete we are still picking away at a few little bits but overall the core game is done! (yippee). We're still getting things like the localisation added and setting up things for consoles, but in terms of the full game it's all there and waiting to bee explored!

We want to take this time to get any feedback from players - what isn't obvious, what was boring, what was confusing etc, as well as find any major bugs that we've overlooked.



Obviously at this point any major features or ideas won't be added right now (although we have plans for future content), this is more just for sense checking and bugs and also giving some people the opportunity to play further than the demo!


[h2]How Long[/h2]
The Playtest will run from the 30th August to 12th September - we'll also be running our proper QA with Whitethorn at the same time so you can expect little updates during the Playtest to fix any major breaking issues too!

After that we'll be closing the Playtest so we can take on any feedback, make any changes, fix a hella lot of bugs, and finally prepare ourselves for the console slog.

We can't wait to see what you all think of the full game, good luck and bee good!

Love, Ell & Jamie

Beeta 1.3

Hey Beekeepers!

Mainly updates for the modding API with this update, with exciting things like being able to add your own custom NPC! I did also fix a few longstanding bugs with Windows and window resizing so it's nice to finally take them off my list.



For Mod Creators, the Sample Mod and API Docs have been updated along with update.

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
  • Fixed Windows not resizing in windowed fullscreen properly the first time
  • Fixed bees in hives not in the swamps being turned into lightning bees when they shouldn't be
  • Fixed settings menu being drawn twice on home page and not drawn at all in-game
  • Fixed conservation status title in the book being "Special Produce"


[h2]Modding API[/h2]
  • Added the ability to specify modules to load in your register() hook - these must be modules in a /modules/ folder in your mod root
  • Added api_define_npc() which lets you create a custom NPC along with shop + stock
  • Added api_get_menus_obj() which lets you get a menu object inst for a given menu inst
  • Added api_get_game_size() that returns the current game window size (accounting for scale)
  • Added api_create_bee_stats() which lets you create a stats obj for a given bee species to use in api_slot_set() or api_create_item()
  • Added api_set_tooltip() which lets you change the tooltip for a given oid's dictionary definition
  • Added api_get_inst_in_circle() which lets you find instance ids in a given circle
  • Added api_get_inst_in_rectangle() which lets you find instance ids in a given rectangle
  • Added api_play_sound() which lets you play a sound from the game
  • Added an optional "alpha" argument to draw_line, draw_rectangle, and draw_circle
  • Added an optional "oid" argument to api_get_menu_objects() and api_get_objects()
  • Added an optional "coordinate" argument to api_get_menu_objects() and api_get_objects() to use a given position as a center instead of the player when specifying a radius
  • Fixed api_set_menu_position() not working correctly with a valid menu inst
  • Fixed api_define_menu_object() and api_define_object() not being able to have the invisible property set correctly
  • Fixed sc_mod_api_get_menu_objects() not working properly
  • Fixed game crash when destroying a highlighted instance
  • Fixed draw_script argument being wrong position in api_define_object()
  • Fixed draw script not being called for api_define_object() obj instances
  • Fixed place_water and place_deep on obj definitions
  • Tutorial will be skipped if dev mode is enabled to help speed up testing world gen
  • You can now only allow certain species in slots by using "bee:species" as your slots allowed input item i.e. {10, 10, "Input", {"bee:common"}}


[h2]Modding Docs[/h2]
  • Updated the Sample Mod on Github with examples of using module loading, defining a fake book, and defining an NPC
  • Updated with above changes
  • Updated worldgen() hook example to show how to loop through the world tiles
  • Updated api_get_menu_objects() to show an example specifying an oid
  • Updated api_get_objects() to use specifying an oid
  • Updated obj_definition to show the correct properties for place_grass/place_water/place_deep instead of nature/aquatic/deep