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Alpha 4.2

Hey Alpha Bees!

What was a quick little bunch of bug fixes turned into a lot more bug fixes, and then a bunch of performance changes, and then while I was there of course I had to add in some new "overview" pages to the books and... you get the idea.

The performance stuff was pretty substantial, if your computer struggled before, or slowed down when streaming, this update should improve things massively!



I've uncapped the visual FPS meter from maxing at 60 as I've been using it to test performance - try not to read too much into it though, if it's under 30 we have an issue, otherwise don't worry too much if you go from like 200 - 150 randomly, it'll jump around a lot (which is why the average number is next to it)

[h2]Changes[/h2]
  • Various changes to the game for performance increases
  • Removed the visual cap from the FPS meter, and added an average counter
  • Reduced cost of Treetaps from 10 sticks + 10 planks to 5 sticks + 5 planks
  • Added chapter separators for the main questbook
  • Grouped chapters into "sections" instead of one block of quests after the introduction
  • Added a new "Overview" section for each book so you can quickly see all the chapters / bees / flowers
  • Added chapter separators for the main questbook
  • Grouped chapters into "sections" instead of one block of quests after the introduction
  • Automatically scroll to a selected chapter


[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
  • Fixed a performance issue with picking up lots of items
  • Fixed a performance issue with having lots of dropped items sitting around
  • Fixed a performance issue with night-time in general
  • Fixed a performance issue with walking around on slower machines
  • Fixed the Town Noticeboard notification not clearing when handing in a quest
  • Fixed the Town Noticeboard UI not updating when moving around
  • Fixed a bug with cross-breeding failing, causing no children to spawn or the queen to not die
  • Fixed a rogue pixel on wooden windows
  • Fixed being able to see the tile "highlight" on the mouse through the Beeconomist issues and noticeboard quests
  • Fixed bee icon not showing in the input slots of beehives / hives
  • Fixed raintanks not showing as "full"
  • Fixed Fermenter crashing when putting mead directly in a canister already in the output slot rather than in the tank first
  • Fixed Bottler always showing it's tank as highlighted

Demo 4.1

Hey beekeepers!

Quick little hotfix today just to address a crash happening with lights - obviously our performance fixes were a bit too overzealous (although if you can't even play the game, you can't see if the performance was bad or not #lifehack)

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
  • Fixed a major issue with lighting crashing with a "gml_Script_sc_draw_lights" error
  • Fixed lanterns not immediately lighting up when placed
  • Fixed bees not leaving the hive and moving around (maybe they were shy?)
  • Fixed Drowsy Beecomomist Issue missing the player name (get it right Fred)
  • Fixed quotation marks on some Beeconomist Issues

Demo 4.0

Hey Beekeepers!

Thanks again for everyone who's been playing the new demo, and for those patiently waiting for some of the more annoying bug fixes!



This update is quite a lot of performance updates and fixes, I spent a long time chillin' with the profiler and digging into a bunch of know performance drop stuff like:
  • Picking up lots of items
  • Having lots of dropped items sitting around
  • Night-time in general
  • Walking around on slower machines


There's also a bunch of QoL updates and then a butt-load of bug-fixes, enjoy!!

[h2]Changes[/h2]
  • Various changes to the game for performance increases
  • Updated the settings menu to include an inverse scroll option, plus a bsync option (we dont know what it does)
  • Added a notice on NPCs when they have something new to say!
  • When fully conserving a species you'll now get written about in the local news! (issues 1-3 can be at your nans place!)
  • Added new sections to the bee book when hovering over the anatomy and trait sections to make things clearer
  • Added a small badges to each chapter in the bee book to mark having got a blessed bee, having got special produce, and having conserved the species
  • The game will now pause when books are open, the settings/controls menus are open, or the discovery/conservation magazines are open
  • While the game is paused you can't move and time will be frozen!
  • The bottler has been upgraded and you can now bottle all liquids to be sold!
  • Added a cap to the map/world in the demo so there's not just a bunch of empty ocean that you can complain about being empty ;)
  • Added two new intro chapters to the bee book to cover the rest of the bee traits as well as inheritence
  • Updated Skipper's dialogue for true gender neutral speech when directed at the player
  • You can now close discovery popups with ESC
  • Reduced cost of Treetaps from 10 sticks + 10 planks to 5 sticks + 5 planks, 2fer1!!
  • Gamepad mode is no longer automatic based on a connected device - you need to go to the settings menu and you'll be able to toggle it from the controls section
  • Updated the lamp sprite


[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
  • Fixed a performance issue with picking up lots of items
  • Fixed a performance issue with having lots of dropped items sitting around
  • Fixed a performance issue with night-time in general
  • Fixed a performance issue with walking around on slower machines
  • Fixed beehives not creating exact clones of the queen with some rescessive traits
  • Fixed the map being blank lol super useful map there thanks Skipper
  • Fixed microscope showing numbers being 1 off (i.e. showing a '3' but in the 4th box)
  • Fixed an issue with picking up multiple items on the ground - should reduce the bit of lag you get when picking up an entire forest!
  • Fixed game crashing when hammering Sir Sengir Statue and trying to place items on or near the tile where the statue was
  • Fixed issue with night-time lighting not scaling with the screen
  • Fixed aquatic seeds outright lying and saying that they can be planted on grass
  • Fixed being able to trash your friends (why would you tho :(((((()
  • Fixed progress in the bookshelf and file select screen being wrong
  • Fixed the music track "Cerana" not playing anything in the jukebox
  • Fixed Beenjamins hints not being told for the next undiscovered bee (so much for an expert!!)
  • Fixed Jukeboxes playing at the same time as game music, game music will now pause
  • Fixed fullscreen/window setting not saving on reload
  • Fixed auto-sort causing random single non-stackable items when sorting a bunch of stacks of the same item
  • Fixed a performance issue where lights were not being cleaned up
  • Fixed a performance issue where lighting was being drawn (invisibly) in the day (like you do)
  • Fixed bee 'icon' buttons in the bee and flower book crashing when clicked on
  • Fixed shiny bees not showing their lil flash animation (the most important feature honestly)
  • Fixed jukebox not using the music level set in the settings and just blasting music 24/7
  • Fixed flowers sometimes not being marked as discovered properly
  • Fixed being able to middle click on non-stackable items, destroy any other of that item in the menu (oops)
  • Fixed raintank not setting filled canisters as "water" even though they get filled
  • Fixed wax canisters not being able to be used in Infusers
  • Added a fix to help the game resize the window to an even number when resized manually and not fullscreen
  • Fixed a rogue pixel on wooden windows

Alpha 4.0

Here we are beekeepers, the second major update and woo boy is it a big one!

This is the "Honeycore Update", that introduces honeycore - a strange crystal that grows in the Tundra that vibrates when bees are working nearby. One of your new friends, Bobbee the Blacksmith, will be able to made you some sweet automated machines in exchange for any honeycore you bring to them!



There's lot's of other fun stuff too, new bees to discover, 'unlimited' bee storage with the new Beeboxes, gates that will transport you around the world, a whole bunch of new friends, a town noticeboard where you can help the townsfolk and solve cross-breeding puzzles, new types of frames, new flowers, new machines... it's a doozy.

As always with a major update we'd recommend a new world (as half the content won't spawn in an old world), and please let us know your thoughts via the Alpha forums in Guilded or the feedback form if you'd prefer to stay anonymous! There's also probably a whole lotta new bugs with this one, but I mean what else did you sign up for huh?

Some ideas of things to think about while playing:
How's the progression feel with the snow biome?
Are the automated machines worth the upgrade?
How's the balance of making money vs things to spend it on?
What things could make the Beebox more useful?

We hope you enjoy
Changes


[h2]Apiculture[/h2]
  • Added Beeboxes, a special type of storage for apiarists that let you store lots of bees of the same species!
  • When fully conserving a species you'll now get written about in the local news!
  • Added 4 new bees, all hybrids with their own conditions to meet, good luck!
  • Added two new intro chapters to the bee book to cover the rest of the bee traits as well as inheritence
  • Added a small badges to each chapter in the bee book to mark having got a blessed bee, having got special produce, and having conserved the species
  • Dream Bee is now a fixed recipe rather than being any hybrid species - check the Uncommon Bee page for the 'recipe'! (Uncommon x Common)
  • Added a new hover for the bee book anatomy and trait sections to make things clearer
  • Updated some beehive message colors (sleeping is now blue, hot/cold is now the matching temp color)
  • Updated the wording of the Uncommon Bee's hint


[h2]Floriculture[/h2]
  • Added 3 new flowers, each of them cross-breeds from tier 2 flowers! One decreases lifespan, one increases honey produced, and one keeps dawn/dusk/night bees awake longer in the mornings!
  • You can now put seeds in pots for decoration!


[h2]Machines[/h2]
  • Added the Jukebox, a special machine that plays music tracks - you'll have to find BroduxBlue to get your hands on it though! (requires a new world)
  • Added Honeycore Machines, sold by Bobbee, these machines are powered by nearby hive activity (fully automated babeee!)
  • The bottler has been upgraded and you can now bottle all liquids to be sold!


[h2]Crafting[/h2]
  • Added Honeycore Frames, sold by Bobbee, these frames increases the amount of honey extracted
  • Added Mysterious Frames, sold by the Merchant, these frames increase the amount of special produce extracted
  • Added Dyes, crafted from flowers + glue, and can be used to dye objects, machines, crates, hives, walls, and tiles!
  • Added a new spice formed by the Ancient Bee that, when infused, will speed up time
  • You can now sell honeycomb, propolis, glue, waterproof and sawdust for a small about of rubees each
  • Added durability info to crafting icons + shop icons for frames + tools


[h2]NPCs[/h2]
  • Added Bobbee, a blacksmith who works with Honeycore, a strange crystal that grows in the polar regions
  • Added BroduxBlue, a cute little musical fox who might have some interesting items for sale if you can find them!
  • Added Abbee, a florist who lives out in the swamps who sells all the flowers you've discovered, as well as a few special items that might help your green thumbs!
  • Added the Merchant, a mysterious individual that only shows up at night - they have some rare things on sale, stranger
  • Added Barnabee, Beenjamins apiarist apprentice who sells all the bees you've discovered, along with some useful beekeeping special items!
  • Added a notice on NPCs when they have something new to say!


[h2]World Generation[/h2]
  • Added random structures to the world generation!
  • Crates generated in the world now have random items inside!
  • Added the Town Noticeboard where you can help out the townfolk with making mead, solving cross-breeding puzzles, and crafting items!
  • Added Honeycore to the snowy regions
  • Added Hivemother Shrines, little shrines where you can find the Hivemother Altars, and Hivemother Gates
  • Added Hivermother Gates, once activated they provide a quick way to get around the islands - boats are for suckers
  • Added fog to the swamps oooooohhhhh spoopyyyy


[h2]Misc.[/h2]
  • Added the ability to use the following punctation / symbols for key mapping: .,`'\/-
  • Updated the settings menu to include an inverse scroll option, plus a bsync option (we dont know what it does)
  • The game will now pause when books are open, the settings/controls menus are open, or the discovery/conservation magazines are open
  • While the game is paused you can't move and time will be frozen!
  • You can now close discovery popups with ESC


Bug Fixes
  • Fixed "target" menus not being reset when moving away / closing them by clicking their overworld sprite, meaning the inventory didn't automatically shift click to the next open menu
  • Fixed undiscovered shiny bees not showing the black "undiscovered" sprite
  • Fixed rehabeelitator showing slot "confetti" when a bee is released when the menu is closed
  • Fixed NPC's not showing their appreciation when you buy stuff, so rude!
  • Fixed shiny bees not showing their lil flash animation
  • Fixed microscope showing numbers being 1 off (i.e. showing a '3' but in the 4th box)
  • Removed the hacky town lanterns from the world gen now that windows act as light sources, if your world was made before this patch then woooo free lanterns :D
  • Fixed walls being highlightable (thats a word) through a menu
  • Fixed the "Queen has finished her cycle" message showing when no bees are in the output slots
  • Fixed the beehive help menu not showing correctly
  • Fixed Beenjamins hints not being told for the next undiscovered bee (so much for an expert!!)
  • Fixed Jukeboxes playing at the same time as game music, game music will now pause
  • Fixed slots with 99 of an item showing the "change" effect when picking up more of that item
  • Fixed bottler not working with exactly 100bl inside–
  • Fixed being able to trash your friends (why would you tho :(((((()
  • Fixed aquatic seeds outright lying and saying that they can be planted on grass
  • Fixed NPC menus not closing when you get too far away
  • Fixed beehives not creating exact clones of the queen with some rescessive traits
  • Fixed NPC dialogue not resetting when closing the menu but not saying goodbye (rude that you didn't say bye but okay)
  • Fixed Infuser showing "need to add resin" error message when no items in the input
  • Fixed machines cancelling a canister filling/draining when adding items to a slot
  • Fixed progress in the bookshelf and file select screen being wrong
  • Fixed hives not showing the "sleeping" message when bees are asleep
  • Fixed auto-sort causing random single non-stackable items when sorting a bunch of stacks of the same item
  • Fixed bee 'icon' buttons in the bee and flower book crashing when clicked on
  • Fixed being able to move the title screen menu around (lol)
  • Fixed being able to open the home screen menus in the top left corner of the map (how do you people find this stuff)
  • Fixed player customisation not resetting when creating a new world and you have an existing world
  • Fixed the map not caching properly on windows, causing a lag when opening the map for the first time
  • Fixed menus that were targets and then hammered messing up the automatic quick target
  • Fixed hivesbane not buffing mutation chance correctly
  • Fixed wax canisters not being able to be used in Infusers
  • Fixed an issue with picking up multiple items on the ground - should reduce the bit of lag you get when picking up an entire forest!
  • Fixed rogue "dev wall" being left underneath the Sir Sengir statue when hammered
  • Fixed fullscreen/window setting not saving on reload
  • Fixed a performance issue where lights were not being cleaned up
  • Fixed a performance issue where lighting was being drawn (invisibly) in the day
  • Fixed jukebox not using music level set in the settings
  • Fixed flowers sometimes not being marked as discovered properly
  • Fixed being able to middle click on non-stackable items, destroy any other of that item in the menu
  • Fixed raintank not setting filled canisters as "water" even though they get filled
  • Added a fix to help the game resize the window to an even number when resized manually and not fullscreen

Demo 3.7

Heya!

Thanks so much to everyone who's been playing the demo, we've now had over 1000 people playing this new one!!! SO. MANY. BEES.

Thanks for everyones bug reports and feedback - we've got a lot of fixes in this update but the most important thing is we fixed the Dream Bee being impossible to actually get, whoops!

We've also changed the hybrid criteria, you'll need an Uncommon-Common / Common-Uncommon queen, with the same Dream Bee conditions as before. This is to help make it clearer how to get the Dream Bee and give it an actual 'recipe' in the bee book, before it was any hybrid under the right conditions but it caused more confusion than intended!

[h2]Changes[/h2]
  • Fixed the Dream Bee being literally impossible to get, I'm so sorry :(((
  • Dream Bee is now a fixed recipe rather than being any hybrid species - check the Uncommon Bee page for the 'recipe'! (Uncommon x Common)
  • Added the ability to use the following punctation / symbols for key mapping: .,`'\/-


[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
  • Fixed hives not showing the "sleeping" message when bees are asleep
  • Fixed being able to move the title screen menu around (lol)
  • Fixed being able to open the home screen menus in the top left corner of the map (how do you people find this stuff)
  • Fixed NPC's not resetting when talking to them
  • Fixed swarmer showing the bee icons in slots even when items are in there
  • Fixed being able to interact with menus or clickable objects from the home screen
  • Fixed being able to click on the murky bee icon from the flower book
  • Fixed player customisation not resetting when creating a new world and you have an existing world
  • Fixed the map not caching properly on windows, causing a lag when opening the map for the first time
  • Fixed menus that were targets and then hammered messing up the automatic quick target
  • Fixed hivesbane not buffing mutation chance correctly
  • Fixed rogue "dev wall" being left underneath the Sir Sengir statue when hammered