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(+1)

Very fun yet simple game.  First thing that stuck out to me was how the game has such a cohesive aesthetic, a lot of time was put into the art style especially.  I'm sure it has been suggested before but I think for me it would be a lot easier to wrap my head around population control if it was limited to a number of bees instead of a % of the population.  It's easier for me at least to say I want 5 builders instead of I want 17% of my population to be builders.  Otherwise though it was a fantastic experience.

(1 edit) (+2)

Thanks for your kind words! :)

Population count is a little too transient for that kind of treatment, I think. Consider that in the short term, a slider position that represented "5 builders" would no longer represent 5 builders the moment that an existing bee died or a new bee spawned. Longer term, since going from 0% to 5% Builders for a hypothetical stable population of 100 means a lower allocation of Beesitters, the resulting new stable population would in turn be fewer than 100 bees, making 5 Builders account for more than 5% of the population by the time that stability was achieved (similarly, decreasing Builder allocation from 10% to 5% in a population of 100 would result in more Beesitters and an increased population size, making 5 builders less than 5%).

Inviting players to understand and work out how to manage proportional diversity in a scaling/fluctuating population using ratios/percentages was one of my specific goals for Hive Time, but I understand that that's not going to be comfortably accessible to all players. I hope that the explanation helps contextualise why it is the way it is.

(+3)

That's a completely legitimate point that I hadn't previously considered and I absolutely understand why you did it that way then.  It definitely seems like a lot more thought went into it than I initially realized. 

(+1)

No worries! There are so many things happening in the game that I had to pick and choose what I gave specific attention to and what I let players discover/work out on their own. I figure that what's immediately obvious as intentional will vary a lot from player to player, so there'll always be some bits that make more sense than others off the bat.

(+1)

I loved the game, the art style, and the game mechanics. I came to check the game out and was amazed that the game was free. I can't thank you enough for releasing the game with a free version, its gives people like me who don't have money to check games out and the experience was amazing. I promise one day I will release my own games on itch and earn some money, and when that happens I will pay you back double! Again, thank you for making this game free for everyone!!

Hi! Thanks for your kind words. I tend to avoid using the word "free" since I'd like people to view and judge Hive Time as a "$10 game" (whatever that means), but it's important to me that people who can't afford it aren't excluded.

I'm glad to hear that that's helped you, and wish you the best of luck with your own games!

(+1)

Hi, I've added this (very addictive) game to Cloudsaver.

Thanks for the game :-)

Neat! Thanks for sharing :)

You should add two things
1. Layers that would allow you to make new cells on top of old cells

2. "Elevator Cells" or something that would let Bees go from one floor to the next

Hi! Thanks for the suggestions. I intentionally steered away from the kind of complexity/concurrency that layered verticality would add, but something similar could be on the table for a sequel if Hive Time ever makes enough money to justify one!

You should try getting it onto the Google Play store as I feel it shouldn't be too hard to make it Mobile Friendly

also being able to hold right click to click and drag the map would also help

(+2)

You can hold middle click and drag to move the camera around as mentioned in the very first tutorial. You can rebind this in the Controls Settings menu (also mentioned in the very first tutorial).

It's probably best to not speculate about what's easy or hard for games that you haven't worked on ;)

(-9)

Speculation leads to suggestions, which leads to a better game. What your saying to me is that our opinions don't matter and any critique is wrong.

(+6)

I'm saying that you don't have the technical perspective to offer meaningful technical advice. Telling me that shipping my game on another platform should be easy is not critique.

For actual critique, I think it is important to recognise that unsolicited critique carries the burden of needing to be delivered in a way that the intended recipient can be receptive to, otherwise it's just noise and is a bit rude.

(+1)

Developing for mobile is much more different from developing for desktops. Project Catalyst that allows iPad apps to be ported to Mac can't do it in reverse, so the only way left is the hard way.

(+1)

How Could This Not Brighten Anyones Day??? 😂

Nice! Thanks for playing and for sharing :)

(+2)

Very good.
(1 edit)

Thanks for playing and for sharing. Glad to hear it resonated with you! :)

I'd be keen to know more about the crash you experienced when maximising the game. If you could send me a copy of your game log from a play session where this crash has occurred (details on where to find and send logs are in the FAQ here on the store page), that would be super helpful!

Edit: I just spotted that you're still the 1.0 branch. The 1.1 update has some changes that might address the concerns you had about the duration of some actions not being readable.

I feel like the current bee population management system doesn't work very well I keep trying to get the population self sustaining but never did Idk really know what a fix would be but I feel like a system where each nursery has independent chance sliders might help but there's problems with that system as well maybe a system where it will produce bees that are not at full capacity but you can choose which type of bee it will produce more often. The game looks really good it has a lot of potential I will definitely keep up with the progress and wish you good luck

Hi! Thanks for your kind words.

There won't be any dramatic changes to the population mechanic/interface - it is intentionally about population diversity being a balancing act, and independent role sliders would move away from that in a way that I don't think would resonate with Hive Time's themes or its target audience.

Based on your comment, I'm suspecting that your hive and population are small enough that lifespan fluctuations are playing a large role (smaller populations are higher maintenance and represent one way of chasing increased difficulty for experienced players who want to consciously avoid growth). This becomes increasingly less pronounced as your population moves up above 50 or so. It's also worth keeping in mind that sometimes achieving a particular diversity ratio can require overcompensation in order to arrive there - as in real life, there's a big long gap between saying that a population is equal and it actually getting there. There may be other situations where the best way to achieve a particular population shape is to scale population and infrastructure rather than change balances.

If you just don't like the way that the population mechanic works, you can set the Beesitter slider above 40% and more or less ignore it for the rest of the game.

Hope that helps!

I really enjoyed this game, last time i played it! That was 3 months ago and i wanted to play again. But when i went into the load save menu it said i had no saves. I checked and in the \AppData\Roaming\hivetime folder and i found my old saves (\AppData\Roaming\itch\apps\hive-time is where i have hive time installed). I tried to open the user folder through the settings but whenever i clicked the button nothing happened. what should i do to get my saves back?

Hi! Sorry to hear that the game is unable to find your saves. If the Open User Folder button isn't doing anything, I'm guessing that means that it can't open the user folder and that's why it's unable to find your saves.

Does this happen when running the .exe directly instead of through the Itch client?

Hi! I'm still keen to follow up on this. If you're able to let me know whether anything's different when running the .exe directly instead of through the Itch client, that will start to help narrow down what's going on.

(+1)

I really enjoyed this. It does currently feel like a lovely 2 hour game, not something to go back and optimise like the Factorios of the world - and that's fine, it's great that way. I know Royal Decrees add some variance, but perhaps there's room for something like challenge maps for new queens - maybe extra small, or filled with obstacles, or lacking some upgrades. The always-cumulative nature of the current system is very kind, but it also gives it an end point where the risk is gone.

(+1)

Challenge maps are something I have planned for a future update (you can read more about that here), but the core of the game will always be about finding your own goals/constraints and pursuing them as long as they're interesting. It's totally OK that some players prefer the run to first Queen over the rest of the game - that's what the new hive option is there for :)

(+1)

Hello! I completely fell in love with your game. It's incredibly charming with really good balance and pacing. One thing I would like to suggest is having the option of  a "sticky note" population slider where you can have it as a permanent part of the hud. Like maybe under the resources bar on the upper right? It was a little bothersome having to click a nursery and then the population button everytime I wanted to adjust the sliders. Maybe it was my weird playstyle but I used the population sliders obsessively and it would have been nicer just to have it out there as part of the hud.

Anyway! I sound more complainy than I actually feel because I feel nothing but warm honey thoughts for your game. Cheers!  

(+1)

Thanks for your kind words!

At this stage, I'm not planning to expose any gameplay controls via the HUD, as that would move away from the notion of the hive itself being your interface into the game. In my mind, the game is about finding balances and responding to things that try to interrupt those balances rather than continuously micromanaging sliders, but I am open to considering a modifier key that will immediately display the Population screen when clicking on a Nursery, the Research screen when clicking on a Workshop, etc. for players who would like to play that way.

(+1)

Hi! In case its' something you're interested in, the shortcut I mentioned adding is now available in v1.1-30.

(+1)

That's unbee-lievable! (I know.. super cringe :D )  I just played the latest version and the shortcut is a great way to streamline the game without compromising your vision for it. Thank you!

Glad to hear it's working well for you :)

It was fun!

Though a bit shallow, once you hatch your first queen there is no real point in playing more, I basically had the entire tech tree except bee/queen upgrades at that point, and they cost way too much to be worth making before your queen, but once you have the means to make a queen there is no real failure possible anymore so they are a bit redundant.


The thing is that after first queen you either keep going with a hive that is capable of producing everything it needs or you start over with such a massive tech advantage that there is no risk of failure if you already did it once.

I wouldn't see it as a problem to have a short focused experience like that if "making your first queen" wasn't presented as the end of the tutorial, when anything beyond that is in fact new game +

Aside from this nitpick it was a very wholesome and enjoyable experience! And the way building upgrade did keep me playing a bit to satisfy my optimization obsession =p

Oh I guess I can add another thing, I think the map is actually a bit too big. At first I wanted to do a second hive and just fill the map in a beautiful optimized pattern, but I ended up just giving up in boredom after I did about half the map and had enough ressource production to create way beyond any ressource I'd ever need (by that I mean I could make the 600 jelly for a queen in a matter of seconds)

I think a map 2/3 the current size would fit more with the scope of the game without being excessively restricting.

Well I hope that was useful and interesting feedback!

Thanks for the game~ buzz buzz

Hi! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

If you haven't spotted, the Royal Decrees upgrade provides a mix of positive and negative effects that last the duration of that Queen's lifespan, providing more variation in the kinds of balances the game asks you to find. This is particularly impactful for new hives, but can also shake things up for larger hives depending on the combination of effects (particularly with the increased number of concurrent Queens that the Royal Apprenticeships upgrade allows).

First Queen represents a sustainability milestone rather than the "end" of a game. There's nothing wrong with not finding enjoyment playing beyond that though - every player's subjective experience is different!

I'm not sure that reducing the playspace is of any real value outside of possible challenge scenarios. I've been considering allowing the playspace to expand infinitely, but at this stage, that's lower priority at this compared to other changes I have planned.

(+3)

It's un-bee-lievable how nice this game is. The vignettes add a lot of charm, as do the cute events.
As much fun as it is to watch the bees in real time, it'd be nice to have a speed up for when I'm just waiting for things to happen.

(+1)

Hi! Thanks for your kind words.

I did briefly experiment with time controls before release, but found that they were moving the game away from what I wanted to make.

(+1)

Your game is awesome! Just found a small bug, it's not breaking but limits gameplay a bit, if a screen pops up while moving the camera around it'll end up with the mouse cursor dissapearing until you open the game again.


Just a little bug, love the game regardless!

(2 edits) (+1)

Hi! I'll take a look at that for the next patch. Thanks for the report and apologies for any inconvenience!

(+1)

I'm having some trouble reproducing this. Could you please email through your system specs and a copy of the game log from a play session where this has occurred to the address listed under the "Technical help" section here on the store page?

Heyo! Yes I was playing for a bit and it seems that the problem wasn't from the tutorial screen popping but rather moving around the camera, it seems to get fixed whenever I move the mouse outside the game window.

Thanks for the extra clarification! If you could send through a copy of your game log and system specs, I'll be happy to look further into this.

I am getting this issue as well but I am not sure what's causing it. Sometimes I think it's the mousewheel scroll to move the screen but then it doesn't happen at all.... Cursor comes back into visibility after leaving the game window and coming back.

(+1)

Thanks for the report. I really need to see game logs and system specs before I can look further into this. If you could send something through to the address listed under the "Technical help" section here on the store page, I'll be happy to look into it.

Following up, this has now been resolved in v1.1-30. Thanks to spartanchick316 for sending through some further information!

(+2)

this game was awesome! as a huge lover of bees, i knew i had to give this one a try and it's been excellent. thanks for the fun and adorable experience! i've had a hard time putting this one down.

(+2)

Thanks for your kind words :)

(+1)

Thanks. Really love this game.

(+1)

Glad to hear you're enjoying it :D

(+1)

Absolutely love this game! Thank you for adding it to the charity bundle. I will definitely be paying for this game individually when I have the resources.

Thanks for your kind words! Glad to hear that you're enjoying the game :)

(+1)

An really nice game I must say, very adictive ^^ I enjoyed it a lot. 

Thanks for your kind words :)

(+2)

your game is cool, and you are very kind man bc you selling it for free!

(+1)

Thanks for your kind words!

I don't see the game as free - it's $10, but still accessible to people who can't afford that. If you haven't checked the FAQ here on the store page, there's an item discussing that.

(+2)

if i could i donated you but now im too young

(+2)

That's OK! It's important to me that people who can't afford the game can still play :)

(+1)

Hello there, I started playing your game and even want to make a series out of it on my channel.
I wanna see for how long my Hive can survive so if your interested about my gameplay, feel free to check my video below. Maybe even the videos that I will make in the near future.


Thanks for sharing!

(+2)

Really nice job!

Thanks!

(1 edit) (+2)

What a delightful game even if I'm not an expert in this genre, I would like to help in my own way by offering a free French translation if you are interested in that? I used to study languages in college and i'll be happy to play a small part here :)

Hi! Thanks for your kind words :)

Localisation isn't something I'm moving ahead with right at this moment, but feel free to send me an email for further discussion.

(+1)

As a French player, I'd be pleased, this is a good game ! :)

Do you have a place for us to report bugs? Using an iMac on Catalina 10.15.4, scrolling the map with a middle mouse button sometimes causes the mouse pointer to disappear completely (unless it's over the dock icon bar) whenever the game window is the active window. Only workaround I've found is to quit and reload the game.

Hi! Sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems. There's an email address listed under the "Technical help" section here on the store page.

I'm not specifically supporting anything above 10.14 (I'm surprised to hear that it runs!), but if you can email me details, I'll take a look and see if I can't a fix!

I've corresponded with sunkzero via email, but for anybody else who stumbles across this, the problem should be addressed in v1.1-22.

Do you plan on releasing on Steam?

No plans at this stage. I'm committed to PWYW with a minimum of $0 and a default price, and to allowing purchases/downloads without an account. If Valve implements these features, I'll definitely consider it (that seems unlikely though).

Hey there! First things first, AMAZING game <3 Love it to bits! A friend told me that Steam appears to offer the option to set the game to free and add "Support the Devs" DLCs. While it won't allow people to add custom prices you could set like 1$ 5$ 10$ XX$ DLCs as an option? That way you'd probably get way more exposure to this fantastic game than itch on its own.

Thanks for your kind words!

I'd rather chase exposure outside of distribution platforms.

Thallanor is correct. 

But you are chasing exposure on Itch, which is a digital distribution platform, so I'm confused. Can you explain that?

Sure. Looks like your confusion comes from conflating exposure with distribution, which are not the same thing.

In case that's not clear enough, I'm not chasing exposure on Itch. I'm using their storefront infrastructure so that people who find out about my game outside of Itch have somewhere to buy it with fewer strings attached than any other distribution platform.

FWIW, I tested that Hive Time runs through the Steam client when added as a non-Steam game before release. If you really want to play it via the Steam client, that's an option.

(+2)

Best $10 I've spent this year. Love the game. Excited to see what comes next.

Thanks for your support and your kind words!

(+1)

Easily worth the $10 and a delight from start to finish. Looking forward to the update!

Thank you :D

(+1)

I tested it because it seemed cute and was made with Godot (and was available for Linux) and it's pretty polished, didn't expect it, good job, I'm paying all the way up to those $10

(1 edit) (+1)

Thanks! If you didn't know, it was also made on Linux :)

I had no idea, how was the experience?

Best I can say is "normal" - Linux has been my primary desktop OS since 2006, so I don't have any current experience with anything else to compare it to ^_^

(+1)

Very great game!
But I don't know which effort it takes, if you found a new hive. Are these hives in any form connected? :)

(+1)

Thanks for your kind words!

Subsequent hives are only connected through your imagination and the continuity of your lineage of Queens. It's a way for players who enjoy the early part of the game "start again" without feeling like they have to quit or abandon their game. Research stays unlocked (but building requirements are still present - you still need an Updateded Workshop before you build a Barracks, etc.), so you also have an opportunity to build and design new hives in a way that you wouldn't be able to for a first hive.

In future updates, there will be some content that won't appear until multiple hives have been created.

Hope that helps!

Thank you for your detailed informations!

You're very welcome ^_^

(+1)

Fun

Glad to hear you're enjoying the game :)

(+1)

This game is fantastic fun!

Yay, glad to hear you're enjoying it :)

lol, I was bored so I filled the entire map with cells...

(2 edits)

my map have 1681 spots :/

over 1000 of them are empty

all defended tho...

1,681 sounds like a normal map size once obstacles are taken out! Feel free to share a screenshot (the default binding for whole-of-hive screenshots is P, and pressing Shift+P should give you a screenshot that shows the whole hive) :)

If you're keen to go bigger, you can select "Skip obstacles" when starting a new game (that'll let you go up to 2,000 cells).

Yep, but i'm realizing i missed a few...

(4 edits) (+1)

aah... my picture is too big for itch.io...

ill try anyway give me a minute

got it down to 3.9MB...

ahh got it:

might have to use the classic browser Ctrl+Plus


(+1)

gonna make a hive with no obstacles now

Nice :)

when i click on the application that i suppose to click it just dont work

Hi! Sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems.

Can you give me some more details of what you've tried/what you're doing? It would also be helpful to know what operating system you're running (Linux, Mac or Windows).

If you need to send any screenshots or videos through to show what's happening, feel free to email me via the address under the "Technical Help" section here on the store page.

(+1)

I've played this game months back, and it was already an amazing game. 

Now, it's even better. It's cute, its strategic, and it has a decent progression system - and it got bees!

Yay! Thank you for your kind words ^_^

(2 edits) (+1)

Really enjoying the game so far and i just wanted to ask, is there a way to rotate buildings?

Thanks!

There isn't a way to rotate cells - I wanted there to be a light jigsaw puzzle type aspect to construction, where different cell types would need a little thought and planning to fit together nicely. That said, with the exception of Honey and Jelly refineries (which mirror each other), every cell type currently in the game is horizontally symmetrical. Similarly, every cell type is vertically symmetrical, with the exception of the Upgraded Map Room, which leaves a little space for a non-upgraded Map Room to slot into the gap.

(+3)

Made with Godot and works on Linux, I haven't even played and I already love it.

(+2)

Well it's definitely fun and I'll see how far I can get.

Enjoy!

(1 edit)

Ok! Run on windows Going to post a link to my problem can't get it to run

you might think my problem is dumb but i have technical problem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Vk5ed3dwI

(2 edits)

I can see from the video that the game is successfully extracted, but I can't see where you're trying to run the game - is there a timestamp for that that I'm missing?

Just to keep things tidy, you can reply to this comment rather than making a whole new comment thread.

I right clicked it *try* to get the run thing to pop up can't find it imma make new vid if im just dum

I believe the normal way for launching applications in Windows is to double click it (or to right click and select "Open").

(1 edit)

found what went wrong 

buuut i need a more powerful gpu f it imma still follow and like

(1 edit)

Okeydokey! If you turn off shadows and turn off antialiasing from the game's Video Settings menu you might find that the game will run faster.

(2 edits)

Can't get game to work/start I can't get it to run just says open

(1 edit)

Hi! Sorry to hear that you're having troubles.

Can you give me some more details of what you've tried/what you're doing? It would also be helpful to know what operating system you're running (Linux, Mac or Windows).

If you need to send any screenshots or videos through to show what's happening, feel free to email me via the address under the "Technical Help" section here on the store page.

my workers won't make wax and im not sure how to make them

(3 edits)

Hi! Sorry to hear you're having trouble.

If you can send a copy of your save file to the email address listed under the "Technical help" section of the store page here, I can offer more specific advice, but the main things to keep in mind are that wax costs pollen and nectar to produce, and that Worker bees (the ones that by default have no hats) are the only ones that can work at production facilities.

You can also view the production screen by clicking on a Wax Assembler to see what the current production status (whether that's producing, waiting for workers, waiting for resources, or inactive because storage is full).

Hope that helps!

oh sorry i thought the workers (with hats) could also work at production facilities thank you for replying. 

No worries!

Builder bees (the ones with yellow hard hats) do faster construction and can research at Workshops.

Cool game! Certainly fun to play! Is there a way to increase difficulty? Or will you inmpelemt it some time?

Thanks for the game!

Hi! Thanks for your kind words.

Hive Time is intended to mostly be a relaxed experience, but setting your own constraints, such as trying to build building the smallest possible sustainable hive, or avoiding research/cell upgrades. For players who aren't good at finding The negative effects of the Royal Decrees upgrade can provide some further challenges and variations (for example, halved Beesitter efficiency can have a big impact on a growing hive).

If you're interested in future changes, you can read about currently planned additions over here.

Hope that helps!

(1 edit) (+1)

finally made a full map



and the game is good

Thanks! :)

Dear Cheeseness, my game just crashed midway through before it could autosave, the most recent saved file is corrupted and I only have a file that dates back to yesterday. Is there a way to get my progress back?
Corrupted file: https://gyazo.com/1ad91ba42e1a9c8a724f39f8c3e88d9a

Hi! Sorry to hear that you've experienced a crash.

Can you please email the corrupted save file to the address listed under the Technical Help section here on the store page and I'll see if there's anything recoverable in there (it looks like you've only shared a screenshot here). If one exists, I'd be keen to get a copy of the game log from that play session. Details of where to find logs and save files are listed under "Log, save, and config file locations" in the Technical Help section.

While I think that the autosave system should be reliable and I'm concerned by this crash, it should ideally be used in conjunction with manual saves rather than as the primary/only save mechanism.

Hi there! Just wanted to touch base again. I haven't seen a copy of your game log or save file come through.

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