Richard Guest

Bee Bounce

Client

Friends of the Earth

Credits

Project Manager - Chris Jamieson
Game design, Flash development, 3D models, Sound design - Richard Guest

Technology

ActionScript3, Away3D, Flash

Date

2012 December

Bee Bounce is a fun 3D flying game that aims to engage players in the deeper issues around bee population decline by guiding them to the Bee Cause campaign.

Guiding your bouncing bee from flower to flower you collect pollen points, which are multiplied at the end of the game by reaching your home, a bee hotel.

Bees are vital to so much of our life: they pollinate our food, keep our farms in business and help our gardens, parks and countryside to thrive. To protect bees, Friends of the Earth have been campaigning to change government policy by implementing a National Bee Action Plan (pdf).

In the game we made the bee a Mason Bee, a solitary bee that makes their own nest in hollow twigs and the like. They do not make honey, but are great pollinators and being benign are safe for children and pets.

One way to encourage an increase in their numbers is to provide suitable nesting conditions, like making a bee hotel, another positive action the Bee Cause campaign encourages.


Minimal instructions on the intro screen.


The camera pans down to reveal your bee.


Pollen particles fly through the air as you bounce from flower to flower.


The game gets harder with fewer flowers to land on.


The endgame where you aim your bee at the bee hotel to gain the points multiplier.


Game over screen with exit and share links.


Process