When looking at what games were coming up over the next year, I stumbled onto this fascinating game called Bee Simulator. Now, simulator games are a dime a dozen, and wonky controlled animal simulator games (a certain series focused on the mammalian Capra genus) exist just to appear to give the simulator genre a bad name.
Bee Simulator looks different than all of those other simulators. For starters, it’s about bees! And, it’s about exploring the world around us from the perspective of a vital creature that exists in the world. I immediately emailed the kind folks at VARSAV Games Studio S.A. and asked them a few questions.
Founder Lukasz Rosinski gave us a deeper look into how Bee Simulator came about, and what the benefit of family friendly games are.
The Curb: Where did the idea to create a bee simulator come from?
Lukasz Rosinski: The idea to create Bee Simulator was born in very interesting circumstances. About two years ago, when I was reading my then two-year-old daughter the book “Bees” by polish author Piotr Socha, I came to the conclusion that here I have a ready scenario for a potentially very interesting game! As I have been actively playing games for about 25 years, I have seen in my life many very successful indie games based on a unique idea and very good implementation. A perfect example is for example a game like Flower, Limbo or Polish Superhot and The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter. None of these games needed a giant budget to interest huge number of players. The world of bees and a beautifully told story about their role in our lives has not been present in the world of games in the quality I expect as a player, so there is perfect place for Bee Simulator.
The Curb: What kind of educational elements can players expect from Bee Simulator?
Lukasz Rosinski: I think that Bee Simulator is unique because it connects worlds that normally are completely separate. I mean the world of arcade games, educational games and simulators. We try to connect those three genres in a smart way – balancing between them, so that fans of all genres will be satisfied.
Educational elements are focusing mainly on bee habits in beehive, their ways of communication and the way of development and gaining experience by each bee.
The Curb: How much did the current global threat to bees play into the development of the game?
Lukasz Rosinski:We are aware of how the great role play the bees in our environment. Problems with dying out bees in some regions of the world obviously have their reflection in the game. I assure, however, that we have also come to this aspect very creatively.
The Curb: What was the most surprising thing the team learned about bees as the game was being developed?
Lukasz Rosinski: I think that the team was surprised by the level of complexity of communication inside the hive – bees use pheromones and waggle dance to communicate with each other. We were also surprised by the way that bees fight with their greatest insect threat – hornets. I will not spoil it, but YouTube shows it perfectly.
The Curb: How important is it to have a game that encourages players of all ages to play together?
Lukasz Rosinski:I remember the times that I used to play with my friends such games as Rayman, Mario Kart, Worms or Fifa on one couch for hundreds of hours. That is why we have focused in Bee Simulator on local multiplayer. We think that playing together on one screen in split-screen mode is the best way to develop relations between people. When we see the reaction of the other player, we may shake hand immediately after a good score – the emotions are on the highest level. It is in my opinion very important in current times when we have mainly Facebook friends and Twitch relations.
The Curb: When can players get their hands on Bee Simulator?
Lukasz Rosinski:All I can say for today is that we plan to have the game finished on as many platforms as possible in 2018.
To find out more about Bee Simulator, head over to the website here.
