Malachi Bazan, a former Hollywood animator, and Chad Wallace – whom is best known for his work illustrating children’s books – have recently teamed up to create an edutainment game based on the lives of bees. People might not realize that roughly 70% of the top 100 staple food crops supporting human life are all dependent upon honey bees for their pollination, whose population is currently on the decline. So obviously the duo decided that the best way to curry interest in this bee dilemma was to make a 3D action title – with lush looking environments, judging from their early test footage – showcasing just how tough a bee’s life truly can be.
Nectar: A Honey Bee Quest promises to run players through the challenges of finding nectar and pollen – avoiding predators in the process – and then returning back to hive, afterwards performing a properly executed butt-dance to let everyone else know where the haul is. Also included will be management simulator elements as you attempt to keep the internal temperature of the hive properly regulated – food correctly stored – larvae fed, and intruders kept out. Speaking of those intruders, they’ve even mentioned plans for a full out war segment where you have to lead you bee swarm to battle against a bear attempting to avail himself of all your sugar-laden honey goodness.
However, what the duo has discovered is that life tends to be quite difficult – since things like not eating will make you rather cranky – when you’re creating an interesting project instead of working a day job. To this end they have recently opened a Kickstarter in order to get their project funded, of which they have so far raised roughly 25% of their $6000 asking total needed to realize Nectar: A Honey Bee Quest. While that might seem like a low figure, the people over at Dawn Publishing – a company dedicated to funding promising nature themed edutainment projects – have promised to match whatever the Kickstarter should happen to raise.
Those whom have ever wanted to fly about and view the world from a honey-bee’s perspective, or perhaps just lead an all out war upon those greedy no-good bears, should remember that funding cutoff date is November 22. Anyone whom donates at least $15 dollars will secure the chance to try their hand at leading a bee’s life when the project launches, and furthermore be forever remembered in Nectar’s credits as a supporter of all things bee-kind. For people feeling especially magnanimous – or perhaps just happen to really like bee themed swag – higher tiered backers can also get jars of honey with the game’s logo, custom iPod cases, and even 3D printed statues of the game’s main character.