Hiveswap Act 2 & Friendsim
So! It’s that time of the year! And I think it’s time to talk about some things regarding the state of Hiveswap right now, since I occasionally see people asking for what happened to it and such, and I imagine the complaints may ramp up soon given we just reached the 1-year Anniversary of Hiveswap! First let me add, however,
Happy Hiveswap Day!
With that out of the way, for those less informed about what’s going on, or those who need a recap, I’ll be talking about a brief explanation of Hiveswap’s development, speculation, and predictions.
The Kickstarter, Hiveswap 3D, The Odd Gentlemen
For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Hiveswap was the Crowdfunded Homestuck game, if I recall, it was 5, now 6 years ago that the Kickstarter was funded several times over with a budget of over 2 million dollars. We got Concept Art and some promising screenshots and the idea of an adventure game set on Earth and Alternia before the events of Homestuck, it was going to be cool! But then there was silence for a while, and a leak of some sort suggested that the company Hiveswap had been given to, had been redirecting funds from the Kickstarter to make another game.
This has never been proven, but given the legal nuance behind this, it seems very likely there was some issue of this kind that set Hiveswap back. Further into development when Hiveswap was being made by WhatPumpkin, we got more images of the Beta concept of the Half-Harley Manor, the Monsters and the Cherub Portal, but ultimately this was dropped as it didn’t have the feel the Team wanted for the game. The staff doing 3D assets was laid off, and development began on Hiveswap 2D.
And so, after 5 years, Hiveswap launched with a charming, fun… But rather easy and short First Act.
People liked it, but they, obviously, wanted more. Bugs were fixed, support for other OS was added afterwards, it wasn’t perfect but it was nice and it promised that there was going to be more of it soon!
Spring 2018, VIZ Media, Friendsim
Not long after the game’s release, we got news that Act 2 would be coming on Spring! This set the Volumes to be a bi-anual release or something around that range, and building up hype towards the launch, there was the Troll Call, showcasing some of the most important Trolls for Act 2! However… Soon enough, this was set to become a missed deadline, with development on Act 2 halted for reasons unknown.
Many were quick to point their finger at VIZ Media’s ‘restructuring’ of the company, however there’s actually no proof of this being a thing. It simply came at a time where VIZ Media was showing itself more prevalently around Homestuck stuff- With the creation of the books and the redesign of the Website, many entered in Panic Mode. I have my gripes with the new Website, however it’s a necessary change and it’s still in development, so I’m giving them time.
Regardless, the most likely reason for Hiveswap’s Stopped Development is… Money. With stolen money, a re-start of the project half-way, and not too impressive sales, it’s very likely the team simply didn’t have the resources to continue production on Act 2. This doesn’t mean the project is dead though- Because that’s where Friendsim comes in. A good way to get to know these main Trolls on Act 2, a way for WP to get some funds, and just generally more fun content for the Fandom to sink their teeth into! I’m loving every and each of the Friendsims so far, and it shows that the Team is still there developing these characters and making content for us. However, Friendsims have come and gone, and while we’re a bit over half-way through the Friendsims, today is Hiveswap’s Anniversary…
Celebration, Future, Predictions
As I write this, the WhatPumpkin Website has not made a formal post celebrating the anniversary or updating the state of the game or saying anything, so this could all become obsolete in a few hours/days.
However, let’s talk about a few things regarding the state of Hiveswap- The Friendsims have definitely softened the blow. A year ago I told myself and everyone they weren’t going to spend half as much time developing Act 2 as they did Act 1- But then the issues happened. And that’s the thing- These issues, likely monetary, have stopped the development for the time being. Hiveswap is not being actively worked on, but when it is, again, it will likely come to us in a few months. I am really frustrated because I see there’s some issues going on, the game’s not taking long, it’s just not being worked on because of these issues, and we have things to fill the gap in the meantime, so in a way we’ve been constantly getting Hiveswap stuff! I still want to go back to Joey but… I can wait and keep supporting the Devs if it means we’ll eventually get a quality product.
This being said, I am hopeful Hiveswap will come back soon. Why? Well a few things! First of all, it seems that the Friendsims have been getting more and more quality as time goes on. This is to be expected I guess, but at the same time just. The art style sort of getting more consistent, the larger amount of backgrounds and more intricate story bits, the more detailed Lusii as time goes on, it’s been great building a world around the MSPA Reader in Alternia, but it’s also been telling me that they’ve been putting more care and attention in them- They’re enjoying making them, yes, but they’re also likely starting to recover at least a little bit from them.
On top of that, the latest post in the WhatPumpkin Tumblr said that “So yeah. Nothing new. Except, well … the volume itself.“ Hussie and WhatPumpkin are kind of notorious for long periods of silence- But they’re not for no reason. They don’t report on things when there’s… Nothing to report on. It may be a bit anxiety-inducing, but it’s how they’ve been doing things. Their statement either tells me that they still have nothing, but are aware of this and are working towards actually getting us some news- Or they’re teasing us and about to drop an update. My expectations are tempered, and I won’t be disappointed if there’s just a little Anniversary post, but still we’ll see.
That being said? The mysterious second DLC in the story, and JamesRoach’s last video make me think there may be some sort of update soon. For those of you who don’t know, our boy James uploaded a video on the dynamic music of Act 2, and it confirmed a bunch of stuff! That there’s a lot more Trolls we haven’t seen that are only sort of background characters, he’s teased some important Trolls we may not have seen yet, but namely, dropping this kind of stuff for the anniversary of Act 2… It tells me there may be news incoming quite soon.
Either way, whether I am right or wrong, the constant flow of these Friendsims has really been reminding me of the Upd8 culture surrounding Homestuck. Maybe at a smaller, tamer level, but that is completely fine. The memes, the surprise and excitement, the little misshaps and paranoia. It may not be always perfect, we may still be waiting, but hey.
I am glad to be here and part of the Fandom, and I am happy to see what may or may not be updated by WhatPumpkin soon!
Again, as I said before, Happy Anniversary, Hiveswap, and hope everyone has been enjoying this weird, wild ride too! <3