Bee Simulator is on its way to PS4 and Nintendo Switch, so I got in touch with Lukasz from Varsav to talk a bit about the game. Come check it out!
PS4Blog: Good afternoon! Welcome to PS4Blog.net. Could you please help us get started by telling our readers a bit about yourself and your work?
Good afternoon! We started Varsav Game Studios 2.5 years ago with the idea of developing unique games and, due to our previous experience, investing in other studios. Currently, our emphasis is on our development team, which is now 40 people big and working on Bee Simulator. We have also started prototyping our new games.
Based on the knowledge gained from the team’s work on several very successful polish games, but also our own experience as players, we concluded that success in the industry begins with choosing a good specialization. We first decided to direct our team to creatively combine the world of simulators with other types of games. Bee Simulator is such a project – it combines a typical simulator with an action game and very non-invasively smuggled educational elements. During our work, we crystallized the studio’s motto as “games from a different perspective,” showing the player a unique perspective of the main character, previously unknown in other games.
PS4B: Bee Simulator is on its way to the PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch. How would you describe this game?
Bee Simulator is an action-adventure game with simulation and education elements, designed to entertain children and adults alike, giving them the opportunity of playing together. It includes a specially-designed Easy mode with simple-to-learn and child-understandable gameplay mechanics, as well as a Hard mode for more experienced players that want to face a more significant challenge.
In our interactive story, players will get a chance to look at the world from a completely different perspective as well as the opportunity to learn about the habits and the important role of bees in our environment. The primary location in the game is inspired by Central Park, in New York, which was an extremely interesting place for designing the gameplay mechanics. Something else that makes our game stand out is its very relaxing music composed by Mikolai Stroiński (responsible for the soundtrack games such as The Witcher 3 and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter), recorded by a 48-people orchestra.
PS4B: How long have you been working on Bee Simulator? Have there been any big changes to the game between the initial concept and the version we’ll get to play later in the year?
Those are very good questions! In the beginning, we assumed around a year to a year and a half working on this game. After last year’s Gamescom and PAX West, and based on players’ feedback, we decided to move Bee Simulator’s release date to expand the game and add more features to meet players expectations for the title. Their reactions on the announcement trailer were extremely positive and have been expressed in thousands of comments that gave us as a developer a huge boost to fulfill the expectations of all the players.
Between Gamescom 2018 and 2019, we have added two different gameplay modes, new maps for our local split-screen mode, we recorded new music for the game, and worked on porting it to the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. As for your initial question, it took us 2.5 years of prototyping and having fun developing Bee Simulator.
PS4B: Are motion controls going be used for Bee Simulator on PlayStation 4 or Nintendo Switch?
No.
PS4B: And that’s all the time we have for today. Is there something else you’d like to add before we go?
During the development of Bee Simulator, we learned a ton about bees. They are a lot of friendly animals, which face many problems, mainly caused by people. We did our best to show the challenges that bees face right now, and during the game, we even give players some small tips about what they can do to help wild bees survive. It will be extremely positive for us if our game will increase the awareness of these issues among players!
