The Hiveswap Friendsim is a quick, loosely-canonical visual novel adventure following the efforts of the unnamed protagonist (that’s you!) to survive and maybe even thrive on the harsh surface of ALTERNIA.

1. Hiveswap Friendsim - Volume Nines
2. Hiveswap Friendsim - Volume Nine Deadly
3. Hiveswap Friendsim - Volume Nine Thousandths

Factsheet

Developer:
Fellow Traveller Games
Based in Melbourne, Australia

Release date:
April 13, 2018

Platforms:
Steam

Website:
hs.hiveswap.com/friendsim

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Description

You just crash-landed on Alternia, and you’re DESPERATE for friendship! Anyone will do..wait, who are those two trolls approaching you? A darkly comedic episodic visual novel set in the Homestuck/Hiveswap universe.
The Hiveswap Friendsim is a quick, loosely-canonical visual novel adventure following the efforts of the unnamed protagonist (that’s you!) to survive and maybe even thrive on the harsh surface of ALTERNIA. Set in the time of Hiveswap: Act 1, this episodic visual novel’s opening volume, written by Homestuck creator Andrew Hussie, is sure to satisfy Homestuck and Hiveswap fans who are eager for a darker stroll across the Alternian landscape.

History

DEVELOPER: What Pumpkin Games
What Pumpkin Games is an indie developer originally founded by Andrew Hussie, American author and artist who created the original MS Paint Adventures webcomic series including the much loved ‘Homestuck’. The team is a small yet diverse group of talented writers, artists and developers. As fans of the franchise, they lovingly create video game experiences based on the Homestuck universe for fans world wide.

Features

Videos

TrailerYouTube

Images

Logo & Icon

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Additional Links

Hiveswap
hiveswap.com.

Homestuck
homestuck.com.

About Fellow Traveller Games

Boilerplate
Fellow Traveller is an indie games label exploring the possibility space of what games can be. Passionate about the vast and untapped potential of games as a medium, its mission is to seek out pioneering game developers working on unusual games with narrative at their core, help these developers bring their creations to the world and to connect them with players looking for something different.
Formerly known as Surprise Attack Games, the label was founded in 2011 and rebranded as Fellow Traveller in 2018. You may know them for the hacking game using real unix commands (Hacknet), the surveillance thriller series that puts you in the shoes of Big Brother (Orwell), the sad game about an elderly goat farmer (The Stillness of the Wind) or the dystopian steampunk mini-golf adventure game (Vertiginous Golf).

More information
More information on Fellow Traveller Games, our logo & relevant media are available here.

Contact

Inquiries
press@fellowtraveller.games

Twitter
twitter.com/fellowtravellr

Facebook
facebook.com/fellowtravellergames

Web
fellowtraveller.games

presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks

Hiveswap is an upcoming episodicadventure game developed by What Pumpkin Games and overseen by Andrew Hussie and Cohen Edenfield. Based in the universe of Hussie's MS Paint AdventureswebcomicHomestuck, it focuses on a girl who is accidentally transported to the planet of Alternia—home of the troll species seen in Homestuck. It is the first of two games, with a planned sequel, and future installment titled Hauntswitch featuring a male troll named Dammek who was swapped onto Earth in her place.

The game was the subject of a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, raising over US$2.4 million in funding. While development initially began with developers The Odd Gentlemen, it was eventually moved back in-house under What Pumpkin's own newly formed game development studio.

Act 1 was slated for release in mid-2015; however, this release date was postponed until January 2017. It was further delayed in January to an unspecified date.^[4] On September 14, 2017, What Pumpkin Studios released Act 1. This was the release date previously announced on August 29, 2017, accompanied by a new trailer.^[2]

On October 25, 2020, a trailer was released revealing that Act 2 would be released in November 2020.^[3] Another trailer released on November 16, 2020 pinned the release date as November 25.^[5]

Two acts of Hiveswap were in development and currently has no release dates.

Story[edit]

Hiveswap tells the story of a human girl named Joey Claire, who gets swapped with a troll boy named Dammek from the planet Alternia, as she tries to get back to Earth. A second game, Hauntswitch, will feature Dammek's adventures on Earth.^[6] While set in the same universe as the Homestuck comic, Hiveswap and the sequel exist in a separate storyline with only 'loose relation' to the comic, and involve a new cast of characters.^[7]

Terratech. TerraTech is an open-world, sandbox adventure game, where you design and build your own creations through a mix of crafting, combat and discovery. Explore, build, craft and battle across alien worlds in a physics-based construction sandbox. Design cars, tanks and planes from a huge library of blocks.

Development[edit]

On September 4, 2012, Andrew Hussie announced a Kickstarter to raise funds for a video game based on his MS Paint Adventures webcomic Homestuck.^[8] Development was to begin in 2013, with the finished product expected in 2014. Kotaku noted that the project had raised 'more than $275,000 in hours'.^[9] More than 80% of the $700,000 goal was pledged in the first day.^[10]

At the time the article went to print, the Kickstarter had been running for just over one day. The game reached the full $700,000 of funding in fewer than 32 hours.^[11] The campaign also reached certain 'stretch goal' amounts, whereupon Hussie added Mac and Linux support onto the proposed game.^[12]Digital Trends writer Graeme McMillan commented that the campaign was approaching, at the time, the record for most successful comics-related Kickstarter campaign, whose previous record was held by the Order of the Stick campaign with $1,254,120.^[13] The Kickstarter eventually raised $2,485,506, making it the 'fifth game on Kickstarter to pull in a full seven figures' and the third highest funded video game in Kickstarter history at the time. An additional PayPal-based fundraiser was created to accommodate those who could not donate via Kickstarter's available methods.^[8][14][15]

In December 2013, new details, a projected release date of June 2014, and concept art were posted on the game's Kickstarter blog. In the post, Hussie revealed that the game would effectively be a spin-off from the comic, with a new plot and characters that will only have loose ties to the original storyline, making it more accessible to those who are unfamiliar with the original story. Hussie also indicated that the game will not include any voice acting; he considered voice acting 'too easy to do badly', and stated that he was 'personally not that big on VA in games like this anyway'.^[7] On June 21, 2014, it was publicly announced that the game would be developed by The Odd Gentlemen—known for their game The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom. New concept art, including that of another new character, were also revealed.^[16]

In an interview with Game Informer show, Undertale developer Toby Fox, who has worked with Hussie in the past, announced that he was contacted to write music for 'the Homestuck video game'.^[17]

On October 30, 2014, it was announced that the game's official title would be Hiveswap, and that production of the game had been taken back in-house 'alarmingly well' under Hussie's What Pumpkin studio. It was also announced that the game would be the first of two distinct stories: each will be an episodic story, but there will be parallels between them, and they can be played in either order.^[6]

Hiveswap Friendsim - Volume Nines

On December 26, 2015, updates were posted on the project's Kickstarter page stating that the game was going to be using a 2D system rather than using the 3D graphics shown in the teaser trailer, asset reel, and other footage. It is stated that this is 'to make things a little more cost-efficient, and more rapidly producible over the full span of the series'.^[18]

Hiveswap Friendsim - Volume Nine Deadly

On October 6, 2016, a teaser trailer was released showcasing the game's changes to the 2D system and other various elements of the game, including combat and interactive objects.^[19] A release date for the first act was set to January 2017, but was delayed for a non-specific number of weeks.^[4] The game was greenlit on Steam on December 15, 2016, and showcased a number of in-game screenshots.^[20] On April 13, 2017 (Homestuck's 8th anniversary), another trailer for the game was released, this time showing parts of Alternia as well as more gameplay.^[21]

On September 14, 2017, Act 1 of Hiveswap was released for Windows and Mac. A patch added Linux support on October 16, 2017.

Promotion for Act 2 includes the 'Troll Call,' a feature of troll characters slated to appear in the installment,^[22] and the 'Extended Zodiac', a feature of 288 symbols, including the original astrological signs as used by Homestuck characters, as well as symbols used by Hiveswap characters, complemented by a personality quiz to determine the quiz taker's Extended Zodiac sign.^[23] The characters from the Troll Call were later featured in a spinoff video game called Hiveswap Friendship Simulator. Starting on September 4, 2019, a sequel to Hiveswap Friendship Simulator called Pesterquest began. The story picks up where Hiveswap Friendship Simulator ended and it follows MSPA Reader (the playable character) as they interact with the kids and the trolls from the original webcomic Homestuck, such as John Egbert and Karkat Vantas.

On October 31, 2019, the first teaser trailer for Hiveswap: Act 2 was unveiled, with a targeted release date in 2020.

On October 25, 2020, another teaser was released revealing that Hiveswap: Act 2 would be released in November 2020. Three weeks after that, on November 16, 2020, a gameplay trailer was livestreamed revealing a release date of November 25, 2020.

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abc'Credits - HIVESWAP - An Adventure Game'. Hiveswap.com. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
2. ^ ^ab'HIVESWAP: ACT 1 LAUNCH TRAILER'. What Pumpkin Studios. August 29, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2017. We’re excited to let you guys know that HIVESWAP: ACT 1 has a release date, and it is September 14th!
3. ^ ^ab'HIVESWAP: ACT 2 LAUNCH TRAILER (NOVEMBER 2020)'. October 25, 2020. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
4. ^ ^ab'Hiveswap delayed several weeks'. MS Paint Adventures. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
5. ^'HIVESWAP: Act 2 Gameplay Teaser (OUT NOVEMBER 25 2020) - YouTube'. www.youtube.com. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
6. ^ ^ab'Homestuck Adventure Game Update'. October 30, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
7. ^ ^abTach, David (January 4, 2014). 'Homestuck creator details, debunks conjecture on Adventure Game'. Polygon. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
8. ^ ^ab'Homestuck Adventure Game'. Kickstarter. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
9. ^Cox, Kate (September 4, 2012). 'Homestuck Kickstarter Raises Over $275,000 in Hours to Make Game of Comic That Makes Fun of Games'. Kotaku. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
10. ^McMillan, Graeme (September 5, 2012). 'Homestuck Kickstarter Nears Game Goal In Less Than Three Days'. Comics Alliance. Archived from the original on September 7, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
11. ^Rigney, Ryan (September 6, 2012). 'What The Heck Is Homestuck, And How'd It Get $750K On Kickstarter?'. Wired. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
12. ^Davis, Lauren (September 9, 2012). 'Crowdfund a Homestuck video game, gruesome dog costumes, and Golden Age baked goods'. io9. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
13. ^McMillan, Graeme (September 6, 2012). ''Homestuck' heads towards new Kickstarter record'. Digital Trends. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
14. ^Curtis, Tom (October 4, 2012). 'Homestuck becomes the third highest funded game on Kickstarter'. Gamasutra. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
15. ^Tipps, Seth (October 5, 2012). 'Homestuck Kickstarter closes at $2.4m'. Develop. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
16. ^'Homestuck game now in development following $2.4M Kickstarter'. ShackNews. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
17. ^'GI Show Yoshi's Wooly World, Minecraft: Story-Mode, Undertale's Toby Fox'. YouTube. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
18. ^'A New Look - Homestuck Adventure Game'.
19. ^Homestuck Official (October 6, 2016), HIVESWAP: ACT 1, retrieved October 9, 2016
20. ^'Steam Greenlight :: HIVESWAP: ACT 1'.
21. ^Homestuck Official (April 13, 2017), Hiveswap: ACT 1: Trailer #2, retrieved April 13, 2017
22. ^'Happy 11/11!'. What Pumpkin Studios. November 11, 2017. Retrieved November 28, 2017. Today’s the first installment of the weekly TROLL CALL [..] New trolls will be revealed every Wednesday…and you can see them all in HIVESWAP: ACT 2, coming Spring 2018.
23. ^'You might have wondered about the symbols you've seen on the new HIVESWAP: ACT 2 trolls..'What Pumpkin Studios. November 27, 2017. Retrieved November 28, 2017.

External links[edit]

Hiveswap Friendsim - Volume Nine Thousandths