Homestuck spin-off Hiveswap starts in September
Finally...!
Hiveswap [official site], an adventure game based on megahit webcomic Homestuck, is finally genuinely almost here for real after several years of development hiccups and delays. September 14th is really the release date for Act 1, developers What Pumpkin Games have announced. Hiveswap is a '90s-style laff-o-adventure set in the world of Homestuck but not directly adapting it, so prior knowledge is unnecessary. Homestuck isn't to my tastes but I am still impressed by how it was a webcomic which could only be on the web, seamlessly splashing in animations and videos and games and other technobits. But here, see what Hiveswap is about in this new trailer:
Your brother's trapped in the treehouse and you're, well, trapped in an alternate dimension. Both of you have problems. Naturally, these are solved by clicking on things.
Hiveswap will come in four episodes, carrying saves and choices over between them, and be accompanied by another series, Hauntswitch.
Undertale fella Toby Fox, who has contributed music to Homestuck, has whipped together some music for Hiveswap too.
This saga of a Homestuck game has been a long and messy one. In 2012, the pitch raised raised $2.5 million (£1.9 million) in crowdfunding on Kickstarter, with the aim of launching in 2014. The game was initially in the hands of The Odd Gentlemen, the makers of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom and the new King's Quest. What happened with The Odd Gentlemen isn't clear -- Ian Video Games has spread rumours, of course -- but in 2015 the Homestuck gang formed their own studio, What Pumpkin Games, to take over. They had planned to launch Hiveswap in 2015, then January 2017, and now hey, here we are in August 2017 and it's due out in two weeks.
Hiveswap: Act 1 will cost $7.99 and hit Windows and Mac.