Apico

APICO is a 2D beekeeping simulation and resource management game. Set in an archipelago where bees are commonplace, the player is tasked with discovering all of the species of bee in the world through exploration and cross-breeding. The game takes inspiration from real-life genetics and biology, with Punnett squares taking a key role in gameplay. Conservation of bees also plays into the mechanics of the game, with the player being rewarded for rehabilitating new species back into the wild.

There is also a heavy focus on menu management along with a multiple menu system, allowing for multiple menus to be open at once. A lot of the gameplay is done through these various in-game menus that have their own crafting minigames - like a "Sawbench" menu where you manually "chop" logs by dragging the mouse left and right on the interface, or a "Uncapper" menu when you "scrape" the Propolis from a Hive frame by dragging the mouse down. The developers talked more about these menu mechanics and the ability to have multiple menus open at once in an article for Game Developer.

The game is being developed by TNgineers, a small UK-based indie studio made up of Ell (ellraiser) and their brother, Jamie (metakitkat). The game's soundtrack is composed by German composer, Mothense, who has done both an official soundtrack plus a set of "bee-sides" that were ideas scrapped during the creation of the OST.

A key focus of the game was to make a relaxing, comforting game, with no real fail states or ways to lose. The developers mentioned this casual gameplay was something important to them especially with "the world being, you know, sh*t at the moment". They have mentioned that a portion of all sales will be donated to national and international beekeeping charities, and after getting their first sales through from Steam started to post their charity donations publicly.