An Independent Game Studio — Grundy Center, Iowa

Five Cats Studios

Cozy Games, Crafted with Care

We make slow, systems-rich games for players who want to breathe, explore, and discover.

A Note From Nathan

The Smoke & Honey Kickstarter is coming down early

After a lot of thought, I've decided to close the Smoke & Honey Kickstarter ahead of schedule. The honest truth is that the game is still too early to have built the kind of audience a crowdfunding campaign needs to take off, and I'd rather pull the page down now than pretend otherwise.

This doesn't change anything about the project. I'm still here, still heads-down on the code, still planning Cedar Bend one hive, one character, one season at a time. Campaigns come and go — a Kickstarter that didn't reach its goal isn't going to stop me from making my dream. Smoke & Honey is getting made. It's just going to happen the slow, steady, Iowa way.

In the meantime, the funding search continues — just off Kickstarter. I'm applying to indie game grants, looking at dev fund programs, and open to publisher conversations. If you know someone who funds cozy, systems-rich games at the early-but-working stage, I'd love an intro: nathan@5catsgamestudios.com.

If you wanted to support the game, the most helpful thing right now is simply to follow along — join the newsletter below, wishlist when the Steam page goes live, and tell a friend who'd love a cozy beekeeping sim. Thank you to everyone who backed, shared, or even just watched along the way. I'll see you in the devlogs.

— Nathan

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About the Studio

A one-person studio with five furry co-founders

Five Cats Studios is an independent game development studio founded in 2026 by Nathan in Grundy Center, Iowa. The studio is the long-overdue culmination of a lifelong hobby: Nathan is a coder by nature — it’s what he did before he entered the ministry — and Five Cats is his way of finally turning that side passion into a real thing.

Before founding the studio, Nathan served for years as a senior pastor and then spent decades in hospice work as a chaplain, walking alongside people in the quiet, tender moments of life. That perspective runs through everything we build: slow, systems-rich games and apps that give people room to breathe, reflect, and settle in.

Our flagship title, Smoke & Honey, is a beekeeping farm simulation built in Godot 4 with handcrafted pixel art — realistic apiary management, warm NPC relationships, and a peaceful Iowa small-town setting. Alongside the game, we’re releasing two Android apps — PrayerNexus and BibleNova — designed to make daily prayer and scripture reading a little more joyful.

Nathan lives in Iowa with his wife, a hospice nurse, and their three kids — the oldest heading into the U.S. Navy this year. And, of course, five cats who are listed as co-founders on all official paperwork.

The Co-Founders

🐾

Bones

Chief of Debugging & General Chaos
⚡

Tesla

Head of Electrical & Keyboard Interference
🐕

Oi

Director of Demanding Attention Mid-Deadline
👑

Baron

VP of Looking Regal While Doing Nothing
🗡️

Odin

Chief Strategy Officer & Window Watcher

2026 Founded

1 Developer

5 Cats

Current Projects

What We're Building

Two Android apps and a cozy PC game — all handmade in Grundy Center, Iowa.

Spring 2026 — Android · Google Play

BibleNova

Nine ways to memorize. One app that makes it stick.

The spaced-repetition Bible-memory app built around grace, not guilt. Nine game modes — from fill-in-the-blank to full recitation — adapt to how your brain works. Verse Trees Garden lets you watch your memory grow. The Legacy Vault turns your memorized scripture into a keepsake you can pass down. Shared Packs let you memorize with friends. 100% offline-first, 7 bundled translations, no pressure tactics.

Bible Memory 9 Game Modes Spaced Repetition Verse Trees Garden Legacy Vault Shared Packs Offline-First Android

Learn More See All 9 Modes

🔥 Join the alpha

“I will hide thy word in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

Psalm 119:11

9 Game Modes

12 Starter Packs

10 Faith Levels

13+ Achievements

7 Offline Bibles

100% Offline Core

Spring 2026 — Android · Google Play

PrayerNexus

Private prayer groups. Eleven ways to pray. Together, or alone.

PrayerNexus brings your small group, family, or church team into a shared prayer list — invite-only, no chat, no feed, just intercession. Tap “I prayed for this” and they’ll know. Record yourself praying for them by name and send them the audio. Outside the group: 11 polished prayer modes, daily gratitude with photos, answered-prayer celebrations, and 100% offline solo use. Every tradition fully at home.

Prayer Groups Voice Prayer Sharing 11 Prayer Modes Gratitude Journal Offline-First Android

Learn More See Prayer Groups

🙏 Join the alpha

“Pray without ceasing...”

1 Thess 5:17

Grow in gratitude. See God move.

11 Prayer Modes

30+ Famous Prayers

65+ Badges

5 Faith Traditions

Groups + Voice Sharing

100% Offline Solo

In Design — Android · 2026

Novara

Build the life skills you'll actually need — one quest at a time.

The gamified life-skills app for ages 15–19. One app with two interfaces — one for the teen, one for the parent — with a proof-first verification loop that turns real-world tasks into practiced skills. Eight skill categories from money and cooking to career and civic life. Earn tiered badges, unlock parent-defined rewards, and graduate with an Adulting Readiness Report that travels into college applications, first jobs, and first apartments. AI-assisted, but parent-verified.

Life Skills Teen Teen + Parent Parent Verification Badges & Rewards AI-Assisted Android

Learn More See the Comparison

🌱 Join the early alpha

Teen · Parent · One App

“Because ‘adulting’ shouldn't mean Googling it at 2 a.m.”

Proof-first · Parent-verified

Quests for life. Skills for real.

50+ Quests

8 Categories

2 Apps

15–19 Ages

3 Badge Tiers

Android Platform

In Development — Godot 4 · Steam PC/Mac

Smoke & Honey

A Cozy Beekeeping Farm Sim

Your uncle keeps bees on the edge of Cedar Bend, Iowa — population 1,847, one stoplight, zero strangers — and he needs your help. Manage Langstroth and Warre hives, breed queens, craft honey and mead, and become part of a small town where everyone has a history and help arrives before the need is stated. Twelve characters. Five years. No fail states. Only time, patience, and the slow hum of a healthy hive.

Farming Sim Cozy Beekeeping Pixel Art Story-Rich Godot 4 Steam

Learn More Join the Mailing List

12 NPCs

60 Quests

Q4 '26 Alpha

32 Scenes

98 Scripts

35.6K Lines of Code

Smoke & Honey · Development Log

Latest Updates from Cedar Bend

A running log of what's being built, fixed, and designed on Smoke & Honey, our flagship cozy beekeeping sim. PrayerNexus and BibleNova updates live on their own pages.

April 4, 2026 LATEST

Feature

Year 1 quest infrastructure across all 8 NPCs: 15 new quest definitions spanning Darlene, Frank, Silas, Ellen, Carl, Rose, June, and the CVBA. Full chain system with ordered quest progression, counter tracking for attendance and sightings, and automatic side-quest activation when conditions are met.

Feature

Four seasonal holidays with community events: Quickening Morn, Founder's Beam, Reaping Fire, and Long Table bring Cedar Bend to life with unique multi-line scenes, NPC dialogue, standing rewards, and attendance tracking. Each holiday features character moments that deepen over time.

Feature

Winterization equipment system: Seven components (entrance reducer through vent shim) with four craftable workbench recipes. A new winterization overlay lets players apply components to each hive, and spring damage checks assess mouse, moisture, and starvation risks based on what was installed.

Redesign

Invisible fatigue system replaces energy bar: The numeric energy display is gone. Players now see qualitative descriptions like "Feeling good" or "Getting tired," with five speed tiers and idle animations (stretching, yawning, sitting) that communicate fatigue through behavior rather than numbers.

Feature

Annual Beekeeping Catalogue ordering system: June delivers a yearly catalogue during Kindlemonth with seven items from package bees to motorized uncappers. Year-gated item filtering and an early-order queen quality bonus reward players who plan ahead.

See full devlog for more 377+ entries total

Development Stats

32 Scenes

98 Scripts

548 Scene Nodes

35.6K Lines of Code

1,980 Asset Files

377 Changelog Entries

Project Phase

Active Development

12 NPCs · 60 Quest Chains