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Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling is an adventure role-playing video game. It was developed by Moonsprout Games and published by Dangen Entertainment. It first released for Microsoft Windows on November 21, 2019. The console release date was May 28, 2020, for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One consoles, and Amazon Luna. It was physically released on April 23, 2021 on Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4.
Plot[]
In order to form an adventuring team, Kabbu partners up with Vi to register with the Explorers' Association. After passing their initial trial, they are deployed to Snakemouth Den, a dangerous cavern and suspected home of an artifact.
In the cave, the pair find the ruins of a roach city, guarded by a monstrous spider. They also find a moth trapped in its web. Together, the two free the moth and escape deeper into the ruin. The moth, Leif, reveals himself to be able to use magic, an extraordinarily rare feat; but also admits to memory loss: he is unable to recall what happened to him in the cave to give him this ability.
Eventually, the trio manage to find the artifact and defeat the spider, barely escaping as the cavern floods. They are dubbed "Team Snakemouth" in recognition of the accomplishment, and are rewarded by the queen of the Ant Kingdom, Elizant II. Before long, the team is sent out again to find the other artifacts in different regions of Bugaria.
As they explore, Leif reveals that he served Elizant II's mother and predecessor, Elizant I, and that he had apparently been in the cave for at least a whole generation. Vi reveals her estrangement to the Bee Kingdom, who criticized her decision to become an explorer, but is later able to make peace with her sister. After exploring a ruined castle in the desert, Team Snakemouth is able to explore deeper into Snakemouth Den, where in an abandoned Roach laboratory, Leif discovers the truth about his amnesia, his magic, and his lapse in time: He is in fact a colony of sapient Cordyceps fungus created by the Roaches to channel magic, inhabiting the body of the deceased adventurer Leif, who was killed by the Spider but reanimated by the fungus.
After recovering the fourth and final artifact, the Ant Kingdom is attacked by soldiers of the Wasp Kingdom, led by the mysterious Wasp King. The Wasp King, Hoaxe, able to wield fire magic, proves too much for the adventurers, and he absconds with the final artifact.
Team Snakemouth ventures into the northern grasslands to recover the artifact from the Wasp Kingdom, an isolated and militaristic people. They pass through a dangerous swamp, during which Kabbu reveals that a monstrous centipede living in the area killed his travelling companions during his journey to Bugaria from his home to the north. Upon encountering the beast again, Kabbu is able to slay it, finally avenging his comrades.
Infiltrating the Wasp Kingdom, Team Snakemouth discovers the imprisoned and deposed Wasp Queen, Vanessa II, who reveals that the Wasp King mysteriously took control of the wasps as if by magic and usurped her. They also realize the Wasp King is not here; this was a trap set to lure the Ant Kingdom's strongest out of the kingdom so the Wasp King could return and take the other artifacts with little resistance.
The team returns to the Ant Kingdom but is powerless to stop the Wasp King from carrying out his plan and escaping to the Sapling's resting place: the Giant's Lair, the abandoned human domicile looming over Bugaria. Elizant II, broken and humiliated, admits that her true plan with the Sapling was to use it to revive and rejuvenate her dying mother, and to abdicate the throne to her, understanding that her mother was a much more beloved queen and that her own lack of diplomatic tact has led to several broken ties with other kingdoms.
Out of options, Elizant II requests that Team Snakemouth escort her to the Termite Kingdom, a powerful and technologically advanced, but isolationist kingdom located in the foggy and barren Forsaken Lands that had become estranged from the Ant Kingdom following Elizant I's alleged passing. There, they meet with the Termite monarchy, and after Team Snakemouth proves the magnitude of the threat of the Wasps, the Termites agree to provide military support and transportation to the entrance to the Giant's Lair. Team Snakemouth, other adventuring teams, Ant Soldiers, and Elizant II convene at the entrance. Once there, Vanessa II gives Team Snakemouth a personal heirloom that protected her from the Wasp King's magic.
Within the abandoned monolith, the adventurers discover a village of living Roaches, who have sworn to protect the Sapling, but were unable to stop the Wasp King from passing through. When questioned, Elizant II reveals that her new plan is to destroy the Sapling, saying its influence consumed her mother, and (backed up by Leif) had ruined the lives of countless bugs, including the Roaches who doomed themselves to living in the dangerous and dreary Deadlands to protect it.
Moved by this, the Roaches allow them to proceed, and eventually they find the Wasp King just before he unlocks the Sapling. Using his fire magic, he incapacitates everyone except Team Snakemouth, who are protected by Vanessa's relic. Without his strongest weapon, the team defeats the King, but they are unable to stop him from unlocking the Sapling. However, the Sapling is withered, only growing a single shriveled seed. Despite this, the Wasp King consumes the seed, granting him incredible strength and vitality, and destroys the Sapling. Even with this, Team Snakemouth is able to defeat him, and, having exhausted all of his power, the Wasp King is transformed into a harmless, nonmagical tree, implied to have died.
Back in the Ant Kingdom, Team Snakemouth is rewarded with a grand celebration, and are officially knighted by Elizant II, who, thanks to reopening relations with the Wasps and Termites, is now seen as a much better queen. While talking with Leif, she admits that while not fully satisfied that she was unable to bring her mother back, she is glad that she was able to fulfill her greatest wish.
Gameplay[]
As players explore Bugaria, they will utilize the skills of each main characters' set of unique Field Skills, which can be used to interact with objects and solve puzzles in the overworld. Coming into contact with an enemy will start a turn-based battle, in which players utilize timed button presses to power up moves or block attacks from enemies. The party can spend Teamwork Points (TP) for stronger attacks, or use Medal Points (MP) to equip medals, which can grant special abilities. Winning a battle grants Exploration Points (EP), which allow the party to rank up, and choose whether to upgrade their HP, TP, or MP.
Development and Release[]
Bug Fables was developed by independent Panamanian developer Moonsprout Games, a team formed by Jose Fernando "Genow" Gracia and Marcio "Mar" Cleiton. Jose and Marcio first met each other in 2010 on a Pokémon Nuzlocke community forum, where the two made comics on the topic, eventually becoming friends.[1] According to Genow, the name "Moonsprout Games" came from a friend who suggested 20 names, with Genow liking the suggestion of "Moonsprout". [2]
The two had made several scrapped projects prior to development of Bug Fables.[3] Such projects included one that starred a witch[4], one that starred an estranged bee,[5] one that starred a lizard and a jellyfish,[5] and, most notably, a concept about dreams only known as "Project Dream Divers".[6] Genow and Mar, alongside another friend named Oma, made a comic that starred three bugs; a moth, a beetle, and a bee. This comic would become an early version of the plot of Chapter 1 of Bug Fables. Several unrelated comics were also made featuring bug characters.[7] According to Genow, the team didn't start with the idea of creating a game similar to Paper Mario initially. They wanted to make an RPG, that was similar to their likings and that was easy to code as well. They had then thought about Paper Mario's system, described as "fun, simple, and attractive".[8]
Development on the game began in late-2015[9] and was tentatively titled Paper Bugs. An early prototype demo was released on Itch.io in 2016, and is often referred to as version 0.1. This version of the game's code would be scrapped, with the final game being built from scratch (though using a prior project as a basis) with version 0.2.[10] [4] Development was described to have been "very chaotic", as Genow was still in university at the time, and thusly didn't have any boundaries[11]. During this time, in a Discord server, Genow would call on for a composer, to which they would meet indie musician Tristan Alric. [12]
Updates on the game's development would be released on the project's official Tumblr account. The finalized name of Bug Fables was revealed in January 2018, alongside a crowdfunded IndieGoGo campaign with a goal of $20,000 USD. Within the first week, the higher tiers sold out. By the end of the IndieGoGo campaign, the project had raised $24,690 USD, 123% percent of its goal, with a total of 627 backers, allowing the game to successfully continue development. Around that time, a person Genow was close to introduced the team to Dangen Entertainment, a Japanese indie video game publisher founded by former Capcom employee Ben Judd.[13] The company, in addition to giving them some funding and porting the game to consoles, also helped promotion, translation into Japanese, and even merchandising.[8]
Bug Fables' gameplay and aesthetics were inspired by the first two Paper Mario titles. Other role-playing games which influenced Bug Fables include Persona 5, Tales of Zestiria, Golden Sun, and Xenoblade.[14]
After a delay from its initial release date of May, the game released on Steam on November 21, 2019 and its soundtrack was later released on Bandcamp on October 31, 2019. On May 28th, 2020, the game released on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Playstation 4.
Bug Fables was met with positive reception upon release. Many reviewers have positively compared it's qualities to its inspirations.[15]. It also currently holds an "Overwhelmingly Positive" review rating on Steam.
The game was also a financial success, and Genow has stated that the next game likely will not require crowdfunding.[16]
After its initial release, Bug Fables received several software updates that fixed bugs or tweaked content. Most notable was the 1.1. update, released on November 11, 2020, which added new content and features. A physical edition for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 was produced by Limited Run Games and released on April 23rd, 2021. There were two versions of the Limited Run Games release, designated as the Standard Edition and the Collector's Edition. The Standard Edition included a physical version of the game and a manual. The Collector's Edition included the Standard Edition, as well as a diorama, a soundtrack CD, enamel pins of the protagonists, a Vi plush, and replicas of certain Spy Cards. A vinyl of the game's soundtrack produced by Limited Run Games was released on November 28th, 2022.[17].
On July 2nd, 2022, the game would collaborate with fellow indie game Abomi Nation.[18] This collaboration featured enemies from Bug Fables being included into Abomi Nation. Notably, this crossover included new designs of enemies that were not included in Bug Fables.
Currently, work on a sequel has not yet started, but Moonsprout Games has shown interest in creating a sequel after they work on different projects first. Some basic concepts and ideas for the sequel, as well as a potential Team Mothiva DLC, have been mentioned.[19][20]
Reception[]
The level design and combat were praised. The writing was considered one of the game's highlights. The flat, paper-like art style was enjoyed, as well as the soundtrack. The main criticism revolved around difficulty controlling Vi's Beemerang in the overworld to solve puzzles, which was exacerbated by the unchanging camera angle.
The PC version received a score of 86/100 on reviews aggregation website Metacritic, and the Switch version received a score of 85/100. Nintendo Life gave the Switch version 8/10 stars, while Nintendo World Report gave it a 9.5/10 rating. RPGamer rated the game 4/5, and TouchArcade gave it a 4.5/5 score.
Trivia[]
- The game uses Bubblegum Sans as its font.
- According to Genow, creating the trailers took a whole week due to it needing different versions for different consoles, languages, and social media websites, which almost crashed his old laptop.[21]
- In order to keep the story at a consistent pace, some chapters (such as Chapter 2 & 3) were swapped. Additionally, an unspecified chapter was created as an optional side quest before becoming mandatory.[22]
- According to Genow, he initially wanted the game to be significantly shorter than the final game.[8]
- According to Genow, the team initially didn't plan on releasing Bug Fables on a specific platform. However, they defaulted towards PC due to difficulty publishing console games in Latin America.[8]
- According to Mar, the team had asked Nintendo for software development kits (SDKs), but they refused.[23]
Credits[]
"Dan Luffey
(KiddFrog)
To our dear families and friends who supported us when none did. To everyone in the Discord for being with us all the way. To Carson “LightningAcorns”, Leaffen and Aldelaro5 for all your help. To Tad "LMTYA" Becker, for everything really. And to you, player! |
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Gallery[]
Trailers[]
Promotional artwork[]
References[]
- ↑ https://youtu.be/8pp5wPoyWng?t=241
- ↑ https://youtu.be/8pp5wPoyWng?t=573
- ↑ https://youtu.be/8pp5wPoyWng?t=290
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 [1]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Bug Fables: The Art of Bugaria
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ https://youtu.be/38Ef0Mvu068?t=110
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 [3]
- ↑ https://paperbugdev.tumblr.com/post/170453913280/how-long-has-this-game-been-in-development-so-far
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20230929143417/https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/490418628957831178/1045385955617550458/image.png
- ↑ https://youtu.be/fNELQqN9z6w?t=975
- ↑ https://youtu.be/8pp5wPoyWng?t=341
- ↑ Reddit AMA
- ↑ https://www.redbull.com/int-en/bug-fables-nintendo-switch-interview
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeAM_fiWwVY
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20230929143630/https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/490418628957831178/1045380934737854464/image.png
- ↑ https://limitedrungames.com/blogs/news/a-very-cyber-monday-2022
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s5H10ChBiw
- ↑ https://twitter.com/EluTranscendent/status/1578221762092867586?s=20&t=Hwklrq5OlhgxLRBfyXQ-dQ
- ↑ https://twitter.com/EluTranscendent/status/1578221803620777986
- ↑ https://youtu.be/fNELQqN9z6w?t=1192
- ↑ https://youtu.be/y1U4cMRD7fA?t=2660
- ↑ [4]